2004 250hp Audi TT 3.2 DSG
The numerals indicate the displacement of the narrow-angle V6 engine that replaces the four and DSG stands for Direct Shift Gearbox.
The engine is the first application of Volkswagen’s award-winning VR6 in an Audi. This same unit is also now used in the 2004 Porsche Cayenne. By placing the two banks of cylinders in a very narrow vee - 15 degrees apart instead of the conventional 60 or 90 degrees - and topping the block with a single cylinder head, VW came up with a six that takes up no more space than a four. Now a decade old, the design and engine have won fans around the world for silky smoothness, torque production and longevity.
For this application, Audi has developed a 3.2 litre version producing 250 horsepower and shoehorned it sideways into the limited space in the TT. The VR6 has always been one of our personal favorites and it earns even more respect in this application. Silky smooth, strong and ultra-responsive, it is a sweetheart. But the big story here, one that we’ll likely see in many other vehicles and applications in the future, is the Direct Shift Gearbox.
Tied to the more powerful 250-horsepower 3.2, DSG transforms the TT. This is what this car needed all along - performance to match its look. The smooth VR6 has power aplenty at all places on the rev band. Most appreciated is the instant response. Want a really quick launch? Step on both gas and brake and the DSG allows engine revs to rise to just over 3,000 and when the brake is released engages the clutch. Audi calls it Launch Control, but pays no royalties to NASA. There is also a Sports mode which holds gears longer - for many minutes judging by my run through the lovely twisty roads in the hill country here.
The 2004 Audi TT 3.2 DSG is priced at $60,450 for the coupe and $64,950 for the roadster.
There have been two approaches to these new manumatic transmissions. The most common is to modify an automatic with electronics and a second gate in the centre console that allow the driver to think he has some input. But most, if not all, simply go about shifting up or down, slowly, when they please. DSG is an entirely different approach since it involved modifying a manual transmission. It looks like an automatic, there is no clutch and the lever sprouting out of the centre console has a Drive position and a spring-loaded gate into which it can be placed for manual-type selection. But that lever is connected to an imaginative gearbox similar to those in use by high-end Ferraris and Formula One cars. There are also a pair of paddles on the steering wheel which allow you to shift up or down. Using them places the transmission in manual mode regardless of the position of the lever. Nothing too new there, plenty of paddle-shifted gearboxes in high-end sports cars.
But DSG is distinctly different in that inside the gearbox there are four shafts, two each for input and output. There are two multi-plate clutch packs, each of which connects an input shaft to the engine, allowing whichever is engaged to pass power through to the Quattro drive system. The various gears are divided among the output shafts with first, third, fifth and reverse on one and second, fourth and sixth on the other. Place the lever in drive position and the transmission selects first gear, but the clutch is not engaged until you step on the gas. Since the entire workings are running in oil, there is no fear of clutch slippage causing damage. In fact, the TT actually crawls when in gear just like an automatic. Once the clutch is engaged in first gear the system automatically locks second gear to the output shaft but the clutch on that input shaft is not yet engaged. When the computer decides it is time to shift, it disengages the clutch on first and engages that for second - incredibly quickly. It then immediately engages third gear but not that clutch, in anticipation of the next shift. The process continues with the system pre-selecting the next gear - whether accelerating or decelerating.
Since no movement is necessary to get from one gear to the next, shifts are lightning quick - 0.03 seconds in fact. The very best race driver can almost match that on occasion, but DSG will do it every time, for hundreds of thousands of kilometres. You can upset the computer by deliberately trying, for example accelerating through first and second at full throttle and then stomping on the brake asking it to go to first when it had pre-selected third. But even in these worse case scenarios, it acts just like an automatic, taking only fractionally longer to change. Audi first tested the engineering and concept in 1985 at Pike’s Peak and has been working on the computer mapping and other aspects continually since. This is one well-sorted transmission allowing you to have the engagement, control and performance of a manual with all the advantages of an automatic.
Audi has a well-deserved reputation for innovation and engineering. Last year it brought us the CVT in the A4 and now the DSG in the TT. Obviously the engineers in Ingolstad have this whole transmission issue on the front burner!
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