Well, what do we have here?

What you see is the new Audi TTS (essentially, it’s the beefier version of the latest TT design).

And it packs some impressive stats:

A two-liter TFSI engine delivering 265 hp propels the TTS Coupe zero to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds and, a governor-limited top speed of 250 km/h (155.34 mph).

Not bad, huh?

I know, there’s been a lot of criticism of Audi’s design direction for quite a while, and the TTS is further down that same path, so that won’t win it any friends. And I got to say, I’m not really on board with the way they’ve been going.

I applaud Audi for making the R8, and I think any car maker that wants my attention should be making an all out, top of the line, sports car like the R8 (at a minimum). But I gotta say, somehow, Audi has been designing cars that are simultaneously more bland and more ugly.

They really went down that whole fish-mouth grill route - something about trying to tie in with their Auto Union heritage (an impressive heritage, sure), and that sure set off the whole front end … and then the rest of the car … well, what, too much surface tension, not enough working of form versus void?

I dunno … but for all of the on road capabilities that newer Audis, and this new TTS, have, they sure seem to wrap them in a mediocre package.