I've talked to a few people with the Audi TT, as I was looking at them for a wife car, too. Everybody said they break often and expensively, that they'd never buy another.
So I bought her a Chrysler Crossfire. Nice car, but also a maintenance whore (what German car isn't?), and an orphan: Chrysler dealerships won't touch them because they're basically a Mercedes, and Mercedes dealerships don't like them because they're a lowly Chrysler. I ended up solving a recurring ABS problem on my own, and the FSM was almost no help.
If you're set on a German car, make sure it's well under 100k miles, IMHO. Otherwise the constant repairs will drive you crazy.