OK.... after looking at the forum area of edmunds.com for the TT...... I finally realize how in over my head I may really be.
Could someone please clarify all of the problems possible with the TT? So far all I know about is the instrument panel and the timing belt....
Guess the TT will be a "best case scenario" car for me, meaning I'd need to have a ton of spare cash. >.>

Anyway, what do you guys think I should get instead? Thinking of the eclipse, integra, 240sx (if i can still find a decent one in a few years), and 08 lancer (hate how the older ones look) which will hopefully be cheap used by the time I get a car.


^ Think I mighta hit my head while working out and finally realized wtf Im thinking. >.>

 

Well here's a post from VWVortex that basically states all of the "annoying little problems" that come with owning a TT, excluding the timing belt and water pump.

"Yes, your car is falling apart. This is just one of the plethora of things that are now going to start breaking on your TT.

The glove box handle has broken on practically every TT on this forum. I think what happened to you is that the little gear that makes one side pull right and the other side left has broke off of its pin. SO now it wont hold it shut. It sounds like your handle is still on, correct?
Then your windows will squeel as they go down, such a charming attribute of the high dollar car. (There is a fix for this on Jeff Bipes page.)
Next will probably be your cluster, whether it be a guage not working right, or perhaps the center display will have lines start failing. (Uber annoying)
Then, Your windows will probably start going nuts(rolling up and then down then up again, when you hit the switch.
Then your turn signals will start going nuts when you use them (This will be your hazard relay causing this problem).
Then your fog lights will start acting up ( When you turn the headlights on they will be on no matter what. You will lose the ability to turn them on separately when the headlights are on.
Then (my personal favorate) the two doors in the back seat area will stop staying closed. They will pop open whenever you hit a bump.And I am sorry to say that I have not left the interior yet.
Now to the engine bay (The engine is actually a pretty solid engine)
Coilpacks go way to often (When one goes bad, just replace them all)
MAF's fail quite a bit (Alot of times cleaning will fix this)
Secondary Air injection System will start causing a squeel on startup.
The engine is just noisy, which will probably drive you nuts. And it will sound different whenever it feels like it just to make you think there may be something wrong with it (which there probably will be)
You should install a "catch can", so your intercoolers dont fill with oil.
Suspension/Exhaust
This car is without a doubt the noisiest car I have ever owned (And there have been many) This car has more noises and rattles then I think it has parts. The suspension creeks, the exhaust rattles(even the stock one). And I know that there are fixes for all this ****, but should we all really have to replace all of our bushings with Poly? Couldnt they have just done that from jump street?
This seems like a new one lately, Wheel bearings at abnormally low mileages. What a bitch these are to replace yourself. And annoying as hell to have to listen to.
All of the above things happened to me on my 2002 TT in the short less then 2 year ownership I have had. I am sure that I missed some things but you get the gist of it. If you can look past all of these problems, then I guess the TT is a really fun car to drive. But I simply cannot. There is not enough money in the world for me to afford to own this car. I am entirely too picky. I have done every maintanance and then some and kept her so shiny that you could go blind if you looked at her the wrong way, and for all this she still hates me.But it looks hot as hell though, doesnt it? Inside and out, a work of art within itself. It is a shame that they concentrated on that one aspect when they built it..
Thanks for opening the door for this one. I really needed to vent some frustration. This car keeps me awake at night calling "Kenneth, come fix some more broken ****". And thats just really ****ed up right there, I dont care who you are."

I've owned my TT for about 2 years and out of all these problems that this guy ranted about, I've experienced these problems personally:
1) The glove box handle broke2) Windows Definitely Squeel
3) My gas gauge doesn't work right so I ran out of gas the second week that I had the car... haha not fun. I learned to rely on the digital readout instead of the analog one.4) And on that digital readout,a few of the lines don't actually come on so it doesn't display everything properly, especially when it's cold.5) My windows were twitchy for about a week, but thankfully they corrected themselves.6) The "two doors in the back seat area" that this guy is refering to are the little plastic covers that conceal the first-aid kit and CD changer. My First-aid kit latch broke so I've had to replace it in an impromtu fashion, but my CD changer latch is holding strong.7) There are definitely noticeable funky noises that the suspension makes when you hit a speed bump too hard when it's cold, and I think it's caused by the rubber bushings being stressed (just a guess).8) The one thing I agree with more than any other on this guy's little rant is when he said, "... the TT is a really fun car to drive."-Agreed


I'm 17 years old and I love my car. I learned to drive manual on a porsche so I can't really describe the difficulty of learning to drive a manual on a TT, but all I know is that it is easier than a porsche haha. To get an idea on how easy it is to drive, my mom loves to drive my car and not to be mean to my own mom, she just straight out sucks at driving manual. It's a pretty forgiving transmission comparatively speaking to many other cars. I would recommend getting a loaner and learning to drive a manual on a loaner car so that if you are terrible, you can get the hang of it without the chance of frying your own clutch (dick move I know...). The TT is my first car and although I can't attest to changing the belt/pump/etc (because I'm only at 56k miles as of today), I do know that my car has been very good to me and is running strong (besides all of the little annoying breaks and such). One thing that you do need to take into account though is that (A) with a 4-banger you have the potential of getting ridiculously good gas mileage if you want to, and (B) with a manual, you entirely make that decision by the way that you drive and your gear selection. With high gas prices, I think that that is something that you should take into account. Also, in New York it snows...do I smell the perfect environment for that good ol' Quattro to be put to use in the winter? I think that the Quattro system shouldn't be underrated, because it really will save you if you F up pretty bad. I mean if you accelerate a little too much around a corner in a heavy-azz mustand you WILL get your back end coming around on you, and if you don't have much experience behind the wheel, that could just be the end of your car. The quattro on the other hand will give you a lot of leeway because it's much more difficult to spin out an AWD car.


Basically I love my car and I think it's a great car. Although the upkeep apparently is horrendous in higher mileage TTs (from what I've heard), I personally have not experienced it because I do everything I can, myself. Although I live in Houston and don't know what drivers are like in New York, I think that TT is a great car for traffic because it's very small and can merge into small spots in traffic. I think it's a good, all around, safe car: not too much hp, but enough to be fun; AWD to help save the newer driver; and the combination of a small frame for agility in traffic and ease of parking, along with good gas mileage and crash test ratings (just incase... haha). In short, I love it.

 

hahahah definitely did not realize that my post was that long... sorry guys

Oh about the other cars. I would say either the Lancer because it's the newest and probably the most reliable, or the instead of the 240SX, I would suggest the Nissan 300ZX simply because I'm under that assumption that newer technology (such as ABS, power breaks, etc) would be desireable and perhaps safer. Not to mention if you are lucky enough to find one of the early 90s versions that was twin turbo, you could run laps around any stock Audi TT, as you will be getting to 60 in the low 5's haha... and it seemed like it was about in your price range. Hope my long and rambling comments helped.

 

02+ mr2 spyder, del sol, cilica are all good first cars.

 

Ya I'm 19 and I am going to be purchasing a TT soon also. Lets see the TT will be my 4th car. My first car was a 97 nissan sentra GXE then a 2000 Ford Taurus no power at all but had alot of fun with it lol then my current car a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT which is not that bad other than the FWD thing... So I've been threw a few car's since I've been driving. As far as a TT being a good first car, uhmm.... it would be ok if you knew alot about cars and or had a really good job to pay for stuff you can't fix yourself. Luckily I have a good job, have driven a TT for a month, and know someone that owns a TT.

 

Im 18 pay 315month insurance
I have lotta tickets including wrecklessdriving for doing a wheelie at 120mph in a 45mph zone. HAd my licensese suspended twice...anyways ya i pay big bucks for my insurance
I bought a tt for 14 with 96k miles its an 01 225 i traded a 2500 avalanche to get out of debt..long story anyways clutch went bad guages died timing belt broke i suggest a 350z pm me for me info

 

It might not be a bad first car. I dunno what insurance would be -- I pay about $650/year, but I'm 38 with a good record and 2 other cars. Fuel mileage is poor for such a small car, if you really baby it you can maintain around 19 in town w/o AC...'normal' driving with ac will net you 17 or so.
I have 2001 which I bought in 2003, and there are some expensive maintenance issues which really should be recall items. If you can find either a newer one (2003+) or verify that a few things have been fixed in a 2000-2002 then you may not be in bad shape.
Lots of people report problems with the glove box and some other interior plastic bits and squeaks/rattles. I have not had any of those issues, but then I rarely use the glove box.
The gauge cluster will fail, and it can be expensive to repair. The part is ~$400 and depending on your relationship with your garage labor can range from $150-500. Once replace it will probably not fail again. The window control unit will fail, it too will cost $400-600 to replace. There's a chance it will fail again.
The coil packs will fail, they are ~$100 each+labor. If they have been replaced recently though, they will probably be good for at least 30,000 miles, maybe many more.
my turn signal relay has failed, which seems common too in many audi's and vws. I'll probably replace it myself.
The heated seat on the drivers side only heats in a few spots now. I don't know if this is common, though.
There is some noise from the suspsension/exhaust, but I do not find it to be excessive.
The engine typically needs to come to a reasonable operating temp (225) or else the ECU will retard the timing dramatically during acceleration at about 3000rpm. I find this unusual since my 1.8t VW does not operate in this manner, but Audi tells me it is normal.
The engine often burns ~1qt of oil between changes, or after about 2000 miles.
With < 1/8 tank of gas, it may be hard to start (even though the filter has been changed and audi 'cannot reproduce the problem' for the past 3 years)
most audi service centers are a pain in the *** to work with.
The front turn signal lights will fail, you can replace them yourself, though the driver side one is challenging. They are about $12.
The car should have adequate room for your frame. I have several friends your size or larger who have no trouble fitting in the vehicle.
Many consider the ride a bit rough, especially if your roads are a little on the pot-holed side.
It can be challenging to upgrade the audio system, which is nominal at best.
There are no cupholders, or even spaces for a bottle of water.
The headlight washers, while neat and effective, will drain the entire contents of the washer fluid reservoir in about 4 uses.
Sometimes when it is very cold out, a few seconds after starting, the engine will display the over-temp warning, seems common with many 1.8ts.
turbo lag can be annoying in traffic, especially when combined with heat soak.
virtually every part is expensive and/or hard to get.
But they are fairly rare still and appear to be more expensive than they are.
7 years and 35,000 miles and still have the OEM brake pads...

 

"There are no cupholders, or even spaces for a bottle of water."

What? There are cupholders, they just suck and drinks fall out of them easily, especially waterbottles. I have a love/hate relationship with the location of the cupholders in my car, because I love that they don't get in the way of shifting at all even when they both contain a large drinks, but when I finally do decide that I want to take a sip it's quite an ordeal to reach behind me and down to get it.

I've experienced some, but not all, of the problems that you have (and I have about 56k miles versus your 35k...), but I guess every car is different.

 

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