It's Dreamy, if You're the Driver

2008 Audi TT 2.0 coupe (Courtesy of Audi)

Cars such as the TT speak to our inner control freak. That is why Mary Anne, an elegantly mature woman and elementary school teacher, abandoned all of the other metal in our Virginia driveway to get behind the wheel of the red TT 2.0 coupe. She is a woman who steadfastly has resisted every entreaty, every effort to get her to drive a car with a manual transmission. That means she is not, by conventional definition, an automotive enthusiast.

But she could not contain her enthusiasm for the TT 2.0 coupe when she learned it was equipped with a six-speed transmission that could be used automatically and manually.

"The keys, please!" she demanded, and off she went.

Ria spends her days caring for a large family, working for The Washington Post, for me, and teaching tai chi at a community center. You might say she is a bit overburdened. But behind the wheel of the TT, without the boys, she becomes "hot and . . ." -- well, you know the rest. Which is why she almost came to tears when the TT went away.

Fantasy and reality, we need both. One helps us escape, at least for a little while, the hardships of the other. Fantasy is expensive, which is why it often comes wrapped in luxury, as is the case with the well-appointed TT 2.0 coupe. Fantasy is impractical, which is why it makes little sense to buy a car such as the TT 2.0 coupe with expectations of maximum utility. Fantasy speaks to hope and joy -- the hope that there is an unencumbered road somewhere, and the joy when that rarity is found behind the wheel of a hot and sexy little car.

ON WHEELS WITH WARREN BROWN Listen from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesdays on WMET World Radio (1160 AM) or http://www.wmet1160.com.