The Sport is by far the most focused TT there is. By ditching the rear seats and spare wheel, and replacing perfectly adequate front seats with perfectly supportive, deep-sided, fixed-back Recaros, some 49kg is saved. Practicality most definitely takes the back seat (or it would if there was one), but driver enjoyment is brought to the fore with bespoke suspension settings to go with new rims, and a mild-yet-effective upgrade to the 20-valve 1.8 turbo four, lifting power from 222 to 237bhp and torque by 30 points to 236lb ft.

The tweaked motor is, sadly, no more vocal than standard, and it was only when OY05 DNO was run-in that the extra urge became apparent. Right from the start, though, its uncompromising cockpit was both a delight and a handicap to our erstwhile publisher, Allan Pattison; it was great to be in, with its huggy seats and Alcantara-trimmed wheel, but a disappointment to his kids, who'd enjoyed riding in the back of the quattro 225 he'd run years earlier. As Allan discovered, the fat aluminium brace-bar strung with cargo netting that spans the rear arches rules out any chance of retro-fitted child seats.

From a purely selfish perspective, the quattro Sport delivers like no other TT. As the numbers suggest, it goes pretty much as hard as the 3.2 V6, and the four-wheel-drive chassis rarely calls on ESP to help out. It's still not the most malleable, talkative chassis, but there's much satisfaction to be had from the way it's been firmed-up and polished, the precise feel that permeates it. Mr P found it a little too understeery when he let it loose at an evoactive trackday, but the upside was that it always displayed great control and surefootedness in the most awful weather.

When it went back, the first service was still 9000 miles away. The rear tyres were barely a third worn, the fronts a little over half, and fuel economy had dropped below 30mpg on only a few occasions. Best of all, it looked and drove like new.

The attentions of quattro GmbH haven't quite enabled the TT to make the leap to brilliance, but for anyone who is beguiled by the TT's looks but disappointed by its dynamics, this is the car that offers much of the missing depth and focus.