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"   Sports coupes are our dream cars. We will likely lust after a sports sedan for its blend of practicality and performance, but what we really love is the sexy seriousness of a no-frills 2-door \u2014 a car whose shape is formed for beauty and speed, not practicality. Spry fender-flared, arched-roof coupes have always been the icon for youth and the mid-life crises. For good reason, as these are the cars that will never be a practical choice, only an emotional one.   In the world of sports cars, few names are as revered as . Not just as the builder of fast, sleek coupes, but of expensive ones; the least expensive model being the Boxster. A convertible that we&amp;#039;ve always found to be a superb choice \u2014 for a convertible. Typically the has been discounted as a serious performer because of its open top. Enthusiasts have long wished it had a fixed-roof counterpart, so that it could be taken seriously as a performance car. Porsche has obliged with the sublime and now with the Cayman, the least-expensive Porsche with a fixed roof. In contrast, Audi already has a coupe and convertible of the artfully styled TT. But it was never a Porsche competitor. Its well-rounded looks translated into well-rounded performance, as might be expected of a platform designed for front-wheel drive and featuring a nearly 60/40 weight split. Audi has worked to this and brought forth a TT with near 58/42 weight distribution and featuring full-time Quattro all-wheel drive. Combined with a new style that squares off some of those round contours, the 2008 TT has emerged as a sharper tool.   I flew to Munich and met up with Frenchman Stephane Foulon, photographer extraordinaire. Before making our way to Audi&amp;#039;s headquarters in Ingolstadt to pick up the new TT, we had to squeeze our luggage into the Cayman, which Porsche had conveniently left at the airport. As in the Boxster, the Cayman has two storage areas, one in the front and one under the rear hatch. To fit test equipment, camera gear, two travel bags and a suitcase resulted in an uncomfortable passenger holding some of the gear.   Once we had both cars, we shuffled all the luggage easily into the . It is bigger than the previous generation, being 5.6 in. longer and 3.1 in. wider. With its rear seats folded, there is more than double the storage space available in the Cayman. According to Audi, two bags of golf clubs will fit with the rear seats folded. Good thing, because no adult is ever going to sit back there.   With baggage fully squared away, we took a moment to do our first comparison. The Cayman sits lower by an inch and is smaller than the TT in every way other than length. A limber back helps when getting into the Cayman. The TT is a tad friendlier with a slightly higher seat and D-shape steering wheel. The flat part on the bottom of the wheel doesn&amp;#039;t just look cool; it increases leg clearance to ease egress. Seating in both is suitably low, with the Porsche&amp;#039;s 5 in. of ground clearance being about as low as is prudent for real-world driving. The TT&amp;#039;s driver sits lower than in its predecessor, but not quite to the level of the Cayman.   Once behind the wheel of each car, it became clear that picking one as a winner was not going to be easy. Interior quality and styling are at their best in each. The Cayman&amp;#039;s interior is starkly white and black. Black leather abounds, which is nice, but the Audi does just as well and blends materials. The TT 3.2 comes standard with leather featuring synthetic Alcantara inserts, which give the otherwise plastic and metal-like surfaces warmth. Where the Porsche gives the driver an encapsulated feeling, the Audi offers more elbow room. Both cars have superb instrument clusters. The tachometer and speedometer are front and center in the TT, but the Cayman in classic Porsche form keeps the tachometer squarely in the middle.   Both cars had optional navigation systems. &amp;#039;s Multi-Media Interface uses a knob and a few key buttons to navigate. Anyone familiar with another Audi MMI system would feel right at home. For those uncomfortable with the monochromatic display, an optional and more expensive color navigation system is available. Porsche&amp;#039;s is the same Porsche Communication Management found on its other models as well. Both provide similar functions and have equally quirky interfaces that require way too much eyes-off-road time to use effectively while driving. Programming each system for our next destination, Hockenheim, was equally time-consuming and resulted in identical routes.   Following our navigation down the Auto-bahn we managed to hit top speed in both cars. The TT has a soft limiter that keeps the car at a steady 250 km/h (155 mph), while the Cayman just runs out of breath as it gets into 6th gear, which is roughly at that same speed as the TT. Similar performance, but they are achieved in vastly different ways. The TT was optionally equipped with what Audi calls the magnetic ride damper system. It uses a magneto-rheological fluid instead of conventional shock oil and varies the viscosity of the fluid with an electric charge. This is the same Delphi-licensed technology used on the new , and on many GM products, where it was introduced. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/car-comparison-tests/reviews/a12521/audi-tt-32-quattro-porsche-cayman/>