The TT 2.0T is simply a more effortlessly pointable machine, helped by an engine rather better endowed with low-speed energy than the V6

Less is more, sometimes. The Volkswagen Golf is a good example. The R32 is the one we should all covet, with its VR6 engine and four-wheel drive, but most people prefer the front-drive GTI with its 197bhp, turbocharged four-cylinder motor. It’s more subtle, more supple, more fluid, more talkative – and little slower.

We’ve already tested the 3.2 quattro version of Audi’s longer, wider, new TT (094), the high-tech, high-glamour version whose powertrain is broadly that of the R32. Clearly it’s the most desirable TT. How could it not be? Or does that first sentence sow doubt seeds here, too? Time to find out.

First off, the new TT is not just a Golf coupe with a posher badge, even if the last one pretty much was. The structure is mainly TT-unique, 69 per cent of it (by weight) in pressed or extruded aluminium, making a lighter TT than before, with the remaining steel parts towards the back to the benefit of weight distribution. The suspension is similar to a current Golf’s, with a Ford Focus-like ‘control blade’ arrangement at the rear, but parts of it are aluminium, the tracks are wider and the roll axis is higher relative to the driver.

The effect is to make the driver feel more in control, with each steering input having an immediate steering effect instead of initially making the car lean. Such is its heightened responsiveness, you’d swear the TT had a different steering rack to the Golf or the A3, but it doesn’t.

That responsiveness isn’t quite matched by steering feel, because the electric assistance (which works directly on the rack rather than, as with most such systems, the column) is short on feedback. However, this 2-litre TT weighs 150kg less than the 3.2 quattro, thanks to its lighter engine and front-wheel-drive transmission, and this adds more to its agility than the lack of all-wheel drive takes away.

There will be a quattro 2.0T later, but right now I’m wondering why I’d want one. True, this TT won’t do the little tail-flick out of a corner that you can coax out of the 3.2, but the whole car feels lighter on its feet and it flows better as you co-ordinate accelerator, clutch, brakes and steering. The TT 2.0T is simply a more effortlessly pointable machine, helped by an engine rather better endowed with low-speed energy than the V6. In these relatively lightweight surroundings, that near-lagless VW Group turbo feels better than ever.

The TT I’m driving also has the optional Audi Magnetic Ride, whose dampers are filled with magnetorheological fluid that gets more viscous when a magnetic field is applied around it. The viscosity can change in just five milliseconds for near-instant adjustment of each individual damper.

The principle is wonderfully simple and very effective. The TT can become taut or supple as required by road topography or driving style; switch the system to Sport and it remains adaptive, unlike some lower-tech systems which simply go stiff and stay there. Here, the ‘map’ simply shifts up the stiffness scale and the feeling of fluidity isn’t ruined. If you know the old TT, with its stiff-jointed, hunch-shouldered motion, you’ll be amazed at the way the new one moves, breathes and flows. No TT has ever felt this composed before.

The new TT is a big advance in other ways, too. Its styling may be less instantly arresting, being a clear evolution of the old car’s, but it looks mean on the road, especially when its widened (by three inches), flattened form appears in your rear-view mirror. It no longer feels claustrophobic inside and is as beautifully built as ever.

Could you justify a TT now? Maybe you could. The new one has made the crucial leap into evoness, but only as a 2-litre with front-wheel drive. Seems that less really is more.