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Post by racingteatray on May 3, 2019 15:36:28 GMT
This year’s Easter wheels courtesy of Avis at Bologna airport turned out to be a brand new (two week old) Audi A1 30 TFSI in what the key fob tells me was “Admired” trim. Apparently “30” in this instance translates to a 115bhp 1.0 triple coupled in this particular example to a 7spd auto box.
First impressions are of a design that, in a dark metallic grey at least, is not particularly successful. It manages to be very bland from the side (especially on small 16” alloys) and rather fussily ugly at the front. More than once I thought glancing at the car in low light that the bonnet was open. The rear design is probably the most successful and that’s merely generically Audi. The previous generation A1 did a much better job of not simply looking like a lightly gussied-up Polo.
It’s better inside but rather unnecessarily angular and perhaps more Seat than Audi. The steering wheel and other touchpoints are all suitably “qwality” but some of the plastics (in particular the door cappings) are surprisingly hard and shiny. The ergonomics are good though, with a fully digital dash with excellent resolution and a sizeable central screen angled towards the driver which, equipped with Apple CarPlay, gave you an admirably crisp and usable display. The steering wheel was rake/reach adjustable but I found the rather flat seats to be uncomfortable - I got an irritating and persistent ache in my left thigh if driving for any length of time. Did like the haptic interior lights though - which you merely have to touch to turn on.
It’s all reasonably spacious for such a small car. Managed to cram 5 average-sized adults in without complaint, and the boot is fine, if a bit shallow.
Reasonably well-equipped too. This one had climate control, the aforementioned CarPlay, cruise, rear parking sensors, folding mirrors and exceptionally bright headlights. One thing that irritated me though was that you couldn't electrically fold the mirrors without using the adjustment knob on the driver's door, and you could only do it with the ignition on.
Where it also shone brighter was in driving. I found the 1.0 turbo triple to be pleasingly capable and well matched to the 7-spd ‘box (DSG I guess). It could be made to accelerate quite smartly, even five-up, and the gearbox changed smoothly and effectively, helping more than anything else to imbue a premium feel. Yes the engine is a little rattly initially (there are better sounding triples) but for the most part is fairly silent barring an increased thrumming when called upon to exert itself.
The ride on (I think) 16” alloys was decent if a little firm on cratered Italian back-roads. Certainly it felt suitably assured and stable on the motorway, even at “oh my God I’m going to miss the plane” speeds.
Handling is pretty good - it’s almost handy - feeling small and agile, and cornering decently flatly. It’s not fun, per se, but entirely respectable.
So, all in all, a decent little car that would suit someone looking for a small car without compromising too much on quality and motorway capability. Just a pity it’s not got very attractive styling. Perhaps I'm going on too much about this, but I parked next to a previous-generation A1 at one point, and that just really highlighted for me what a retrograde step it is styling-wise. I couldn’t see a single angle from which the newer design looked better. Ok so design is subjective, but I think this is a pity.
As usual my car photography is not up to the level of others, so you must make do with photos taken for other purposes (house-hunting) which just happen to show it.
heads or tails flipper
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Post by ChrisM on May 3, 2019 17:25:16 GMT
..... I parked next to a previous-generation A1 at one point, and that just really highlighted for me what a retrograde step it is styling-wise. I couldn’t see a single angle from which the newer design looked better. Ok so design is subjective, but I think this is a pity. Indeed.... I prefer the shape of my daughter's 2014 A1 sportback (5-door) to the new A1 and share your view that newer looks worse, by far Still prefer my Fiesta to her A1  |
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Post by Big Blue on May 3, 2019 18:40:16 GMT
House hunting for the Racings or other family members?
I’ve had an A1 on hire before: as you say entirely respectable.
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Post by cbeaks1 on May 3, 2019 20:46:05 GMT
The local Audi dealer have been doing product placement at the gym for many weeks now with A1’s. The first 2 were fairly low spec with what I assume were 16” wheels and they, to me, looked really cheap and unattractive. This week they have swapped for some sort of sport model with a different front bumper and large anthracite snowflake wheels, and it is much improved.
I’m struggling to think of a recent new car that looked ok in Pov spec.
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Post by Roadrunner on May 4, 2019 7:44:26 GMT
Other than the styling it sounds good.
If you go into the settings menu you will probably find an option to auto fold the mirrors when locked. Such a setting exists and is activated on my A4.
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Post by racingteatray on May 4, 2019 14:26:22 GMT
Other than the styling it sounds good. If you go into the settings menu you will probably find an option to auto fold the mirrors when locked. Such a setting exists and is activated on my A4. I tried that but to no avail. That said, there's only so much effort one is prepared to but for a rental car you only have for 8 days. |
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Post by alf on May 20, 2019 8:56:09 GMT
What is this badging nonsense on Audis currently? I had not looked into it because it would mean wasting time investigating 4-pot engines, but I see many badged "35" now. I thought: Is that 350 bhp? Or the power equivalent of a 3.5 litre NA engine? Now you say it's a tiny 3-pot. What BS. It feels like kids adding pointless badges to an undeserving car...
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on May 20, 2019 10:58:52 GMT
What is this badging nonsense on Audis currently? I had not looked into it because it would mean wasting time investigating 4-pot engines, but I see many badged "35" now. I thought: Is that 350 bhp? Or the power equivalent of a 3.5 litre NA engine? Now you say it's a tiny 4-pot. What BS. It feels like kids adding pointless badges to an undeserving car... - 30 for models with between 81 and 96kW (107 and 127bhp) - 35 for models with between 110 and 120kW (145 and 159bhp) - 40 for models with between 125 and 150kW (165 and 198bhp) - 45 for models with between 169 and 185kW (223 and 244bhp) - 50 for models with between 210 and 230kW (278 and 304bhp) - 60 for models with between 320 and 340kW (423 and 449bhp) - 70 for models with more than 400kW (529bhp) Following this number will be the engine technology: either TFSI, TDI, g-tron or e-tron. I'm actually amazed you couldn't work that out, seems pretty obvious to me.  I expect it's all to do with downsizing, hybridisation, electrification etc |
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Post by bryan on May 20, 2019 11:08:48 GMT
But there are some significant gaps in that scale so would they have a 47.5 for a car with 260bhp?
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on May 20, 2019 11:37:59 GMT
But there are some significant gaps in that scale so would they have a 47.5 for a car with 260bhp? I can't think of any recent Audi with 260bhp? |
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Post by bryan on May 20, 2019 12:06:05 GMT
But there are some significant gaps in that scale so would they have a 47.5 for a car with 260bhp? I can't think of any recent Audi with 260bhp? I was pointing out the flaw with their naming system rather than thinking of a specific car ie they have a gap from 244bhp to 278bhp and I would have thought 200kw or 250bhp would have been popular (although I thought the 3.0tdi was in that range along with various tunes of the 2.0 tsi about the 250-60bhp level)
Just seems odd that they are limiting themselves in the future with the naming system - but then the whole thing is odd
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Post by Martin on May 20, 2019 12:06:43 GMT
Only Jaguar have a naming system that makes any sort of sense.
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Post by racingteatray on May 20, 2019 13:10:53 GMT
What is this badging nonsense on Audis currently? I had not looked into it because it would mean wasting time investigating 4-pot engines, but I see many badged "35" now. I thought: Is that 350 bhp? Or the power equivalent of a 3.5 litre NA engine? I expect that's precisely why they do it. |
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Post by PG on May 20, 2019 14:40:21 GMT
The only one point that almost makes sense at is a 244 hp car badged 45 - as in damn nearly 245 hp. The rest is just plain silly. No doubt designed by some 18 year old on work experience.
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Post by Martin on May 20, 2019 15:34:18 GMT
Someone I work with was very impressed by the 5.0 litre engine in the Q8 he had on loan......
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on May 20, 2019 15:48:15 GMT
I'm sure the internet forums were awash with comment when cars stopped being referred to by their hp and manufacturers switched to cylinder size. Who could understand what a 1.3L Escort was? I mean, what power does it turn out?
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Post by johnc on May 21, 2019 12:44:10 GMT
I came up behind a Q2 that had the 30TFSi badge yesterday and at first thought it was a 3 litre until the single pea shooter exhaust reminded me of the daft Audi naming system.
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