Hello,
Sorry if this is a daft question; I was reading some old posts in this group about tyre fitting and there was some controversy over whether to move tyres from front to back and then someone started talking about the Audi TT and said he did not recommend anyone should drive one. Was this a lighthearted remark or is there something terrible about TTs? Perhaps it was a comment about them being RWD and the whole skid, tyre issue?
Thanks.
Stephen gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
AIUI, it was more a case of the back lifting off.
You do know it's just a Golf?
That's in the US. In Europe, it was FOC under the recall.
No, I didn't. Never owned nor driven an Audi of any type.
So unless one or two people somehow missed the recall, all models on UK roads should be safe? I'll feel a bit safer next time I see one heading towards me ;)
Stephen gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
Depends on if the ESP's detected a fault and turned itself off, dunnit...?
TBH, I suspect the modified geometry is probably the more significant fix, with a small influence from the tail spoiler to cut lift at the rear. The ESP will only come into play if/when the rear starts to lose grip, since it'll detect a difference in wheel rotation speeds between front and rear wheels and cut power/apply brakes to bring the speed (and rear) down.
Indeed. The issue with the car was that the body generated considerable lift at the rear of the car, which caused big problems when maneuvring at speed, for example straightening after coming down a sliproad, or changing lanes. The new TT has more of a fastback shape, which generates less lift and drag.
The Golf generates far less lift than the TT, and less drag. I can see why people really dislike the TT... The TT generates 418N / 567N of lift front and rear at 120mph, whilst the Golf manages 19N / 340N. Or, back of the envelope rough working, the TT is 56 kilos lighter at the back end when it's doing 120mph rather than stationary.
IMO it's not a case of taking your chances - the TT shouldn't be a car with lairy handling. It's based on a MK4 Golf, and comes with either front wheel drive or quattro. It should be as tame as a tame thing. However, the aerodynamic design was rather dodgy, meaning handling characteristics altered for the worse the faster you went.
How does applying the brakes bring the rear down?
So at 70MPH, it'll be the equivalent of putting a bag of sugar in the boot.
That's a bit pays your money & takes your choice though, interestingly handling coupes have always existed, historically it was a selling point.
How did you calculate that?
"Duncan Wood" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
It slows the car down, negating the lift. The ESP can also apply brake to only certain wheels, helping to keep it in line.
Very Crudely :-)
Thanks. BTW Where did you find these figures?
Autozine. I think they cited one of the German car magazines.
IIRC aero forces normally vary with the square of the velocity, so it's probably somewhere around 15-20 kilos of lift at 70. In my book, it's not that unlikely that someone who buys a sports car will travel at the kind of speed where lift becomes an issue. It's difficult to do in the UK, but could be part of someone's daily commute in Germany.
I wonder how the four wheel drive version of the TT hangs on?
"Mrcheerful" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:
The early TTs were all 4wd. The 150bhp FWD didn't arrive until quite a while after that.
oh dear, I had rather assumed that the ones that fell off the road were fwd only!!
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