Audi Tt

I wasn't entirely sure about getting this book, because of some negative comments. But I'm glad I ignored the latter, and bought it.The Audi TT really is one of the great post-war sportscar designs, up there somewhere with the 1961 E-type Jaguar in terms of its visual impact and the 'wow' factor. The author writes objectively, and not as a biased fan. If anything, the text is slightly conservative; the book was published in 2002 and he avoids gushing over what was at the time, and unquestionably, a sensational product which was receiving an unusually strong and positive market - as well as cultural - response. That said, he does cover aspects of the latter, which are a useful if unavoidably brief record of how the car was seen in the early days.A great deal of information is given about the development of the TT, from the start of the design process what was being done some 8 years later in 2002, by which over 100,000 examples had been sold. Funnily enough, even the section on 'how to clean your car' told me something I didn't know, so the book was probably worth getting for that alone.Is this the 'ultimate' book on a late 20th century design icon? Frankly, no. Such a publication will presumably come some time in the future, when the motoring historians will be better able to contextualise it. Writing about the TT in 2002 was unavoidably too early for that. To be more comprehensive, it would be necessary to include production numbers of each model by year, the chassis number sequences, the body colours and interior combinations, details of the manufacturer's brochures, and so on. But despite not having such details (and of course 2002 would have been way too early to give such details anyway) I think few people even now would read the book and think it was substantially incomplete.Being out of print, buying this book can prove rather expensive because of limited supply. Putting that thorny issue to one side, my assessment is that, as a book, it does the job and it does it surprisingly well.

This book is an eye-opener, for all the wrong reasons. It is a compendium of decent photographs and early design sketches, connected by the most appalling text. The short, choppy sentences don't make sense, ignore most rules of writing style, and are littered with grammatical and punctuational errors. I am staggered that any editor could allow publication of something in this state.The 'chapter' on looking after your TT is laughable; it's a section on how to wash your car!On the suspension modifications introduced after some fatal crashes, the author includes two drawings that summarise the changes, adding: 'no further explanation is necessary'. Since one of the drawings is captioned in German, not English, this is less than helpful to the reader.In summary, this book contains some nice illustrations and drawings. If you enjoy looking at the pictures and just reading the captions, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are expecting anything approaching an interesting read, I suggest you save your money.