Audi A1 Review: 2010 Model | A1 | Car Buyers Guide

It’s hard to believe just how small Audi’s range was not so long ago. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, it consisted of a handful of mid-size and large saloons and estates, with the occasional interesting coupé or convertible variant to spice things up. But since the Ingolstadt marque resolved to no longer play second fiddle to its German brethren BMW and Mercedes-Benz, we have seen an ever-growing lineup of Audi coupés, ‘Sportbacks,’ SUVs, convertibles, supercars and executive saloons emerge onto the market.

Now, with its new A1, Audi is stepping into the latest premium-brand battleground, the luxury small car. This segment was once the exclusive preserve of BMW’s new-generation Mini, but new entrants such as the Alfa Romeo MiTo have recently joined the fray, and it looks set to be hotly contested for the foreseeable future as more and more of us trade down to smaller, more efficient transport.

Of course, we can’t talk about the A1 without mentioning Audi’s first foray into the supermini segment, the now-defunct A2, which was the smallest car the company had produced until now. Introduced in 1999, the A2 drew high praise for its outside-the-box styling and innovative aluminium body, but the average small-car buyer just didn’t ‘get it’ and it slipped out of production in 2005 after failing to achieve the hoped-for sales numbers. The steel-bodied, three-door A1 is a much more conventional effort than the A2 was, but, conversely, it looks like it will do a lot better.

One of the main reasons for this is that Audi has got the A1’s styling, a crucial quality with these chic superminis, bang on. Despite featuring much of the corporate design language you’ll find on larger Audis, the A1 doesn’t look squashed, shrunk or awkward – it’s sharp, sophisticated and eye-catching. Our black test car benefited from the €475 option of a contrasting silver roofline, but the 17-inch alloys come as standard if you go for the Sport trim level.

Audi is offering three engine options in the A1 – 1.2-litre, 85hp and 1.4-litre, 125hp TFSI petrol units; and a 1.6-litre, 105hp TDI diesel. Thanks in part to stop/start engine technology, all A1s save for the manual-gearbox version of the 1.4 fall into Band A for road tax (€104 per annum).

We tested the 1.4-litre TFSI, which is a responsive and punchy little motor, if a little noisy when you push it hard. The optional seven-speed S-tronic semi-automatic gearbox (available only on the 1.4 petrol) is a boon and gives the car a real Jekyll-and-Hyde personality. Stick it in D and you can cruise around town painlessly and economically all day, but if you’re off the beaten track and fancy a bit of fun, simply flicking the gearknob to the side activates manual-shift mode, which enables rapid and precise upshifts via two steering-wheel-mounted paddles.

A meaty 200Nm of torque produced low down in the rev range makes for very sprightly acceleration, and an S-tronic equipped A1 is also quite adept at motorway cruising thanks to tall sixth and seventh gears. It’s happiest around town, though, as a certain amount of road noise and vibration manifest themselves at high speeds.

Unlike some manufacturers, when Audi says ‘Sport,’ it means it, and opting for this trim level on your A1 gets you a firmer and lower suspension than that on the standard model. When combined with the A1’s nicely weighted and very precise steering, it makes for a great handling car, but the unfortunate reality is that the Sport suspension is just too harsh for your average lunar, sorry, Irish, road surface, which means buyers who value comfort should probably avoid it.

So it’s a good drive, then, but the A1’s real trump card is the quality of its interior, which is on a par with that of Audi’s executive saloons. The cabin materials manage to feel simultaneously soft and solid, and the controls are all well-placed and intuitive. Plus, if you have a few grand to spend on optional extras, you can cram practically every gadget you can think of into the A1, including a 10-speaker stereo system; sat nav and Bluetooth functionality controlled via a swish multimedia screen; and steering-wheel-mounted controls.

A word of caution, though – if you go into the showroom with the €18,995 base price in your mind you should be aware that a couple of ticks on the options list can quickly ramp things up into the high 20s for what is still a three-door supermini. The boot is on the small side and would struggle to swallow a family’s grocery shopping, but the rear cabin is deceptively comfortable and spacious, as long as the front-seat passenger doesn’t move their seat back too far.

For this reason, more practically-minded folk may prefer to wait for the five-door Sportback variant, but there should be plenty of hip young urbanites signing on the dotted line for the three-door A1 in the meantime.

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Audi A1 1.4 TFSI Sport