Installation: (14,800 miles) Dieselgeek has published wonderful instructions on the installation of the Sigma Short Shifter for the 6-speed manual transmission for the Audi TT. The installation took me about 2 hours including numerous coffee breaks and pauses to take pictures. A focused mechanic, or for that matter if I had simply been focused, could easily do this in an hour or less. I found the Dieselgeek instructions to be very well written and detailed – I can’t elaborate much. If you have trouble moving the rubber boot and plastic ring to expose the end of the shift cables completely (I did – see the “Install Sigma shifter” section of the instructions, step 2), here’s a hint: place a short piece of rubber hose over the shift cable threads, grab it with a pair of pliers, and then wiggle the plastic ring with another pair of pliers to get it to slide further up the cable and expose the necessary threads and smooth cable noted in the instructions. Once loose the ring was moved very easily. Everything else went as described in the instructions. Absolutely no problems with the adjustment procedure either.

Test Drive and Initial Impressions: Great feel. No problems finding the gears and there is a very noticeable and pleasant reduction in gear shift throws. You can feel the linkage/transmission a bit more than with the stock setup and I guess that this is what some will refer to as notchiness. Everything feels a bit tighter. I understand that things will get smoother with time.

AudiWorld Forum: http://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/1430824.phtml

Long Term Impressions: (28 December 2006 – 17,886 miles) Shifting has smoothed out a bit since the installation of the Dieselgeek short shifter kit. No regrets here.

Installation: (14,782 miles) The H&R 21 mm Adjustable Rear Sway Bar was a Christmas gift from my father. I ordered it from ECS Tuning on 9 December 2006. Because ECS Tuning has the bar drop shipped from the West Coast, the ensuing mix-up with the purchase order (on ECS or H&R’s part), and the intervening holidays, I didn’t receive the sway bar until the evening of Friday, 13 January 2006 (5 weeks after the initial order). As one might expect, I was very anxious to get this installed. So, bright and early the next day, I completed the installation.

Test Drive and Initial Impressions: Great feel and noticeably stiffer than the stock sway bar. I haven’t had a chance to really push the car, but already it feels like it has reduced the understeer a bit.

AudiWorld Forum: http://forums.audiworld.com/tt/msgs/1423451.phtml

Long Term Impressions: (28 December 2006) No issues with the rear sway bar. I’m anxious to see how things change when I install the Defcon 1+ kit.

Installation: (14,781 miles) After browsing many photographs of intact and debadged TTs, I decided that the elegant looks of the car deserved to be cleaned of the dealer’s sticker and the two factory badges.

Evaluation: I think that it looks much nicer. Consistent with the less is more philosophy of many German cars.