2000 Audi TT Rally Cross experiment

I remember when this car was unveiled; sometime in the late 1990's one of the mucky-mucks from Audi announced that this new car was the type of car "James Dean" would have driven (much to the chagrin of the Porsche mucky-mucks, who historically owned those bragging rights). Well I have always been passively interested in this fascinating little car. This particular example, an all-wheel-drive, turbo 5-speed model presented itself to me recently for very cheap and I had to have it. I've never owned or driven an old Porsche 356 or 550 spyder (Dean's car), but when I'm hunkered down in the low slung, chopped roof cockpit of this little bomb-shell, I feel distantly connected to that piece of German sports-motoring heritage. This car in 180hp trim with a 5 speed and all wheel drive is responsive, grippy, slightly under powered, and spectacular in twisties. It is also highly modifiable and pretty simple to work on.

 My car had 199k miles on the odometer, but looked to have been well maintained, so I figured it was  at least a 50-50 chance of it not blowing up in my face...I replaced the timing belt, gave it a full tune-up, and completely rebuilt the cooling system.