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BIG PINE — Just outside this hiccup of a town, State Route 168 starts a steady ascent into the White and Inyo mountains. The road is tight, demanding. At times, it provides graceful glimpses of the valley to the west and the Sierra Nevada range that stands broad-shouldered above it. Elsewhere, it cuts narrowly into the rock, making driving like going through a tunnel that’s without a roof.

After a dozen miles or so, the turnoff to White Mountain Road appears. Featuring more sweeping turns than 168, it also climbs toward the sky. At 9,000 feet, there’s a wind-whipped overlook that parades a 100-mile stretch of the Eastern Sierra for your eyes and camera lens. Then, at 10,100 feet, there’s the Schulman Grove, home to the southern end of the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. These gnarled specimens are the oldest things on Earth, some estimating them to have lived for more than 4,000 years.

On the way up, you check your car’s gauges for signs of over-heating. On the way down, you sniff the air, hoping not to smell burning brakes.

And that’s how it is — for four days and three nights — as you explore Highway 395, California’s backbone that runs from the Nevada border all the way down to the desert.

Getting here is a six-hour journey from Silicon Valley, depending on which mountain pass (Monitor, Sonora or Tioga) you choose. Leaving here isn’t an easy thing to do. The sights and the road — especially the side roads, like Highway 168 — are addictive.

That’s especially true if your traveling companion is the 2000 Audi TT coupe. Over 1,100 miles — some of it on dirt, sand and gravel roads, which nobody really recommends — the car never faltered. Fast, flamboyant and fun, the TT easily stands out as the most exciting vehicle I’ve driven in months.

The TT — the name comes from the Tourist Trophy road race, first staged in 1905 on the Isle of Man — is Audi’s answer to the BMW Z3 Coupe 2.8 and the Mercedes-Benz CLK coupe. Its shape is unmistakable. Think of a streamlined New Beetle perhaps, but where the new Bug is hip, the TT is hypnotic. Its sensual lines appeal equally to men and women. The aircraft-style fuel-filler door is the perfect exterior accent.

And, on the inside, it’s perhaps the most stylish car on the market with aluminum rings around the air vents, shiny pedals on the floor and even an emergency brake handle that’s a work of art covered in metal and dimpled rubber.

Our tester — with its denim blue pearl exterior, a perfect match with an alpine lake, and denim blue and black interior — The car drew gawkers in mostly desolate country. That most of them “knew” the car — either by name or shape — is testament to both the strength of the comeback of Audi and its parent VW in this country as well as the strength of a design that sticks with you from the first time you see it in a car magazine.

Price is surprising

Most surprising was the TT’s price. The very well-equipped base car goes for $30,500, plus a $525 destination charge. Our TT came with an upgraded stereo (a Bose system plus a 6-disc CD changer) for $1,200, the comfort package (heated front seats plus a trip computer) for $700 and the performance package (those ethereal blue headlights plus 17-inch tires and wheels) for an even $1,000.

All told, sticker price for the car we drove was $33,925. Most of the gawkers guessed higher; some, much higher.

With its delightfully overdone design comes a high-tech engine.

The 1.8-liter four is found elsewhere in the Audi-VW lineup, but this one is dual-cammed, 20-valved, inter-cooled and turbo-charged to create 180 horsepower. That’s not a big number on today’s market. But on the road, often at high elevations, the TT was never short of power. When the need to pass arose, there was a ready reservoir of acceleration. When it was sible to drive very fast, the Audi TT was a willing participant.

To be truthful, the car’s appeal made it easier to overlook its faults, which include a small cabin that’s a bit hard to get into, a ridiculous back seat and only adequate gas mileage. We averaged just under 22 mpg in our drive — and paid more than $2 a gallon for unleaded premium in some spots in the high Sierra.

Car and Driver wrote that the TT “is perhaps the most extraordinary and interesting vehicle we’ve driven since the Plymouth Prowler.” I don’t disagree at all, and if I had to choose between the two to travel over 395, I’d take the TT.

A trip up and down Highway 395 had long beckoned, and the combination of never having seen Mono Lake or Manzanar or Mount Whitney and the scheduled arrival of the Audi TT, proved irresistible.

As Mercury News Travel Editor Zeke Wigglesworth says, the true beauty of 395 is not the highway itself, but the many side roads that stick out like small branches on a mighty redwood. Highway 395 is the conduit. The scenery is often beautiful, from snow-covered peaks to broad expanses of high desert to the looking-glass reflections of Topaz, Mono, Crowley and other lakes. But, it’s a four-lane highway in many places and mostly a straight stretch of pavement.

So, if you’re thinking of taking a Great Drives trip to Highway 395, it’s important to pull out a map and study the tributaries as well as the big river.