In 2010, Audi be taught into the tiny premium fray – in all their markets but the Allied States, Canada, and China – with the A1 range which goes on the same version of the small-car architecture as used under the Volkswagen Polo and other wee chestnuts of the VW Group family. The A1 has sold all right, but not quite as well as was trusted on, mainly due to its price with personalized options and to the VW Polo being such a marvy car costing less.
But Audi needs to make high-buck S trims of the whole shooting match nowadays and so, right on schedule, I’m driving the new S1 quattro. Under the gumdrop colored bonnet is the unequivocally popular 2,0-litre TFSI motor. In this circumstances, the powertrain is set at 231 horsepower and 370 Newton metres of torque at zaftig between 1.600 and 3.000 rpm. That’ll be good for an acceleration run from a terminus to 100 kilometres per hour in just 5,9 seconds. It looks fifty-fifty faster doing it while painted Viper green, too. (i.e. Vipergrün)
This enterprise was supposed to be happening on a sub-zero frozen lake in sweet Sweden, simply Audi hadn’t called Mother Nature and asked her to engross off on springtime. It would have turned into a slush urgency and then a submarine test had I been told to stick to the first plan. It was dusty, soggy and gravel-y pavement instead, and this cause to functioned out to be better for a real-world test of the S1 quattro. The car got even cuter when it was gross.
A pretty heated-up little thing for well-off Euro kids.
The Match
While the A1 is meant for mass consumption by people who might else buy a Mini Cooper or a Fiat 500, the S1 gets special assigned colors assigned to it, wheel design, exterior and interior Quattro term packages, and feels overall like a denser and more isolate car. There is substance here for your price premium, and that’d be upstanding about at €30.000 for starters for this pocket rocket.
The fit and closing of the S1 is very convincing, very Audi, and in such a tight container as this that “Audi effect” is even closer in, encompassing me a bit. The sense is that of a really cozy pod that hightails it kindly when pushed. The S sport suspension is standard here and is standardized very nicely to find the happy medium between fun and cushion. The 18-inch wheels and Dunlop winter treads for this trial were not compromising at all on comfort.
The Drive
At ignition, the sportier drain off frumps to life with its proud and decided boil. The courteous part is that the determined bigger-car voice doesn’t silken out too much as the revs get real. The newly treated VW six-speed directions shifter is outstanding to fiddle back and forth, which is a exact good thing since the S1 quattro will only at any point be offered with this transmission. No six-speed S-tronic automated box command be made available. A gifted but slightly confusing choice for this style-conscious cram for the S1.
The S1 is better on gravel and scruffy tarmac than on the hot tiny laps I was doing on the thoroughly and smooth pavement of the land circuit in the Molanda complex. Heave it loosely around off-piste showed the strengths of this belated front-biased Haldex Quattro. Make all the torque-shifting assembly manipulate harder to balance things out and the car excels. On the clean stuff, unchanging with traction and stability controls off and in Dynamic mode of the Audi Move Select, the 1.315-kg tyke felt a bit slower in reactions Again, on the unctuous dryness I was not expecting on this trip, launching in first appliances and then into second up to near a 7.000-rpm blitz, all was well. But chunk it to third at that point and the progress unusually took a hit and had to climb back up.
The Audi MMI is the most basic smaller veil and it works fine, no major excitement there. The Audi Handle Select is also the most basic form of that, too, and it could do with an Separate mode. Efficiency, Normal, and Dynamic work fine, but there’s at best really need here for a Dynamic On/Off switch, to be honest. One particle silly bit is that the button for the ADS settings is now practically hidden away down next to the 12v power loophole plug. This should be a large red button like on the cardio cabals at the gym, but Audi gives it all a bewildering short shrift.
Conclusion
Essentially, yes, what’s not to a charge out of prefer about the S1 quattro in these colours and with so much pep, a extraordinary manual shifter, and good-looking Quattro exterior package with, magnitude other touches, the blackened roof assembly and pillars, added to the nastier looking rear wing? As trimmed up, however, the cost on the S1 would climb as high as €40.000.
Any version of this Audi-ette would be relevant to in the Sportback configuration in North America anyway. Which expenses more. It’s better than the Mini John Cooper Slog aways setups and would remind you a little of the hottest Abarth 500. I’m stripe of waiting for the second generation of this A1/S1 already, to see if it gets fixed a little more effectively in the marketplace. Still, it’s fun as is this yet around.
VITAL STATS
Engine: 2,0L turbo 4cyl
Power: 231 PS / 370 NM
Transferral: 7-Speed automated dual-clutch
0-100 km/h: 5,9 Seconds (est.)
Top Scramble: 250 km/h
Drivetrain: All-Wheel Drive
Kerb Weight: 1.315 KGS (est. unladen)
Capacity: 2+2
Cargo: 210-860 lts
Fuel use: 7,8 avg. HWY/City
Foot Price: €30.000
Price as tested: €40.000 (est.)
