My own car had to be serviced (again!) so I've just been driving around in the new A1 5-door version. I am not impressed. It feels extremely basic inside, with the controls surprisingly flimsy and cheap. The plastics are, however, soft to the touch (got to keep the motoring journalists happy!).
The steering doesn't feel as if it's connected to anything, and the ride is very firm ("Sport" variant). This gives the car a slightly nippy feel to it, but a Mini it ain't! Things are not helped by the old-fashioned narrow power band to the 1.6 litre diesel engine. It means you have to work the rubbery-feeling manual gearbox hard to maintain progress. I've driven small hire cars on holiday that felt a lot better. (The Hyundai i20 in Greece last year springs to mind) The diesel engine makes an agricultural racket at idle and low speeds, but fades into the background on the move.
As for practicality, well the boot is tiny, and the rear seats are very cramped. For part of the time, there was passenger in the rear seats of less than average build, and she was not amused. Mrs L in the front seat is quite petite as well, yet she and I were frequently rubbing elbows.
Driving around North London I only got 35.8 mpg, and this was in ight traffic, and with stop-start enabled. Utter carp fuel economy. (I get more than that in the A5 in the same conditions)
I know it is a cheaper car but you wouldn't think that it was the same company making it as my A5. I know that people sometimes claim that Audis are overpriced and overrated, but whilst I would defend the A5 against this allegation, I have to say that as far as the A1 is concerned then it is spot-on.
In conclusion, I reckon that you must really be desperate for an Audi badge to buy an A1! What is the point of this useless car?
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