Audi A1
by David Finlay (21 October 2010)
Not surprisingly considering how good the company that builds it is at this sort of the thing, the Audi A1 has arrived in the UK surrounded by a cloud of marketing talk, not all of it very convincing. It's said, for example, that the new supermini shows that big is better than small (I don't remember anyone saying that when the massive Q7 came along), and that the very name A1 - which was the obvious one to choose, given Audi's badging strategy - implies the highest possible quality (which isn't great news for the R8).
There is, or will no doubt prove to be, more substance to the claim that the A1 will maintain a higher proportion of its list price after three years than the fabled MINI or the much more recently-launched Citroen DS3, but it's not really a direct rival to either of those, since they were intended from the beginning to be rather sporty. The A1 has more mundane roots, since it is basically Audi's way of creating a car from the platform which has already given us the Volkswagen Polo and the SEAT Ibiza.
Platform-sharing has nothing to do with styling. Audi has gone its own way here, and to me the front end of the A1 shows that the designers - none of whom currently employed were around when Audi's last equivalently small car, the 50, was created several decades ago - struggled to fit their regular styling cues into something as small-proportioned as this (a problem BMW had, and partly fixed at its second attempt, with the 1-Series).
The other end is more successful, I think, and here Audi has also made a radical departure from The Way Things Are These Days by providing adequate rear side windows. The rear pillars are still too thick, but by the miserable standards of present-day superminis the A1 actually has reasonably good visibility.
Other highlights are the Sport seats, which are fitted to higher-grade A1s and are absolutely excellent, the very good noise suppression (even the diesel version is whisperingly quiet) and the impressive amount of room in the front. Space in the rear is limited, and although the luggage volume of 270/920 litres (seats up/down) is in the supermini ballpark, it's a little shy of what the most obvious rivals offer.
The seats and the lack of engine noise help make the A1 pleasant enough to drive, and the smooth steering - very like that of the SEAT/Skoda/Volkswagen cars - adds to the appeal, though I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say that the Audi is significantly better than the Polo in this respect. There's also a major problem, but we'll come to that shortly.
First, there's the line-up to talk about. Future A1s will include a low-CO2 diesel which may or may not be called the TDIe, a high-performance version with over 180bhp and an S1 derivative with more than 200. The battery-powered etron is about to undergo trials in Germany and isn't likely to go into production in the near future, but a five-door will definitely be added to the list, probably in 2012.
For now, the range consists of three-door models only, with a choice of 85bhp 1.2 and 120bhp 1.4 TFSI turbo petrol engines and a 104bhp 1.6 TDI turbo diesel. Six-speed manual transmission is standard, though the 1.4 TFSI has the option of the seven-speed S tronic semi-automatic known elsewhere in the Volkswagen Group as DSG. CO2 emissions range from 105g/km for the diesel to 124g/km for the 1.4 manual, so in every case the A1 is exempt from first-year Vehicle Excise Duty. For fuel economy, the diesel is of course the one to go for, with its combined figure of 70.6mpg.
In typical Audi fashion, the trim levels are called SE (which isn't available for the 1.4), Sport and S line. Sport is predicted to be by far the most popular, with a take-up rate of 60%, with the S line trailing on 30%, but in one respect the S line doesn't deserve even that because its specification includes 17" wheels with 45-section tyres, and these are quite appalling. They transmit a fantastic amount of noise into the cabin and make the ride quality absolutely dreadful. They turn the A1 into a quite horrible little car, so please, don't have anything to do with them.
The 16" wheels and larger tyres on the Sport are much, much better, and since the SE sits on 15s it is probably better still, though Audi doesn't have any SEs in the country yet, and very few people will buy them in any case. The SE also has what's called Dynamic suspension, which is probably a hopeful-sounding name for a set-up that's milder than the Sport suspension of the more expensive models. The Sport also gets front foglights, a multifunction steering wheel and a Driver's Information System (which, amusingly, lets you press a button to call up the navigation system and then tells you that it's not fitted if it isn't). Most of the £1545 extra you pay for the S line gets you various styling upgrades, plus those damned wheels and tyres.
The models available from launch range in price from £13,420 (1.2 SE) to £18,665 (1.4 S line S tronic), and of course there are many opportunities to pay more, such as an audio upgrade costing £255 (probably worth it, because the sound quality is excellent), electric climate control for £330 and, for the S line only, Xenon Plus headlights at £765.
It's possible, for these and other reasons, to have a rather magnificent A1, but that's only because the range of options is extensive, not because of any inherent qualities. Since Aston Martin feels it can make a success of the Cygnet, which is really just a Toyota iQ with an enormous amount of extra equipment, I have no doubt that a much watered-down version of the same idea will work for Audi. On the other hand, once you've stripped away all the costly stuff from the A1 and persuaded yourself to ignore the badge, all you're left with is a supermini that's not noticeably better than a VW Polo.
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