The Audi TTS is the sporty top of the sleek Ingolstadt coupe. So far so good, but apparently not everyone in the development department got it that way. What does the Audi fan have to read at sport auto 06/2015? Defects in the brake. Of all the 310 HP flagship athlete.
But now comes the big BUT of the new TTS. The braking system does not digest more than four quick laps on the small course. Despite cooling laps between the timed laps, the brake pedal travel becomes longer and longer - noticeable fading occurs. Already with the TTS comparison test (sport car 4/2015) this was noticed in Hockenheim. The almost identical Supertest TTS confirms this problem again. Source: ams online
It is really bitter. An athlete who fails on the brakes. Definitely a wonderful feeling. But what do I philosophize a lot? Exactly this problem, the defective effect of the brake, I already described in September 2014 after the presentation of the Audi TTS in Spain:
After the fifth lap, the TTS rolls with me into the pit lane. It smokes from the front wheel arches. Small flames lick the brake pads. Racetrack? Certainly not the home of the TTS with standard brakes and standard tires. Source: my-car-blog
auto, motor und sport confirmed the defects in the braking system of the Audi TTS 9 months after my post.
How can that be? All of the press representatives had the dynamic presentation (driving event) of the Audi TTS on the Spanish circuit Ascari near Malaga. All motor journalists should have experienced the same fiasco there. The assembled Hankook tires stretched the rubber sausages desperately into the air after two turns and the brakes had clear fading after two laps, despite the cooling break through the pit lane. It is strange enough that at Audi such a tuning and design of the brake system is to be released into the series - but it is even more strange that no press representative read about these defects.
Cheer first, then test seriously?
The suspicion is obvious that the established media have concluded a gentleman's agreement with the premium manufacturers. New models? First of all “roughly” positive, you have a responsibility for future advertisements and only during the “test” after a grace period put your own competencies in the test field on the table and really put the test person on the tooth.
Sounds unlikely?
But it is not. When automobile manufacturers introduce a new model, you have “budget” - you have advertising money to launch the vehicle. This advertising money must be placed. In ads. In special supplements. When the first year of the model's introduction is over, the “publishers” seem to return to their responsibility and want to impress the readership with test competence.
The automotive blogger as a bogeyman?
Freelance journalists and online users are still a problem in many press jobs - because we have no advertising department and no editor-in-chief. Defects in a new vehicle? We write about it - without fear of our advertising budget.
In the end, however, we often come to an agreement with the big publishers - as in this case. Okay, it took a full 9 months with the motor press to address the “problem” with the brake - but in the end our first assessment was confirmed.
