Tough plastics are far from A1

AS is so often the case, Mrs Goodwin is right.

This car should be a Skoda. It’s actually a new Audi A1, the upmarket supermini originally launched in 2010. Why the Skoda reference? Because the plastics in the interior of this car, particularly those on the lower dashboard and doors, are hard and scratchy.

This is fine in a Dacia Sandero costing seven grand but Audi is charging you premium money for the A1 – around £1,400 more than a VW Polo with which the Audi shares its platform and oily bits.

Audi no longer makes a threedoor version of the A1 so five-door or nothing.

And while we’re talking about what you can’t have, diesels are out, too.

Under Audi’s new ridiculously confusing numbering system our car is a 116bhp 30 TFSI.

The 30 refers to the power bracket the car falls into – 107-127bhp in this case. A 25 TFSI has less power; a 45 TFSI more. I’ve heard that the numpty at Audi HQ who thought this up has been moved to cleaning the loos at the factory.

For now, the 30 TFSI is the only it’s Audi A1 Sport 30 TFSI five-door hatchback

£20,010

1.0-litre three-cylinder, 9.5sec 57.6mpg

116bhp

engine that you can have in the A1 but next year the 25, 35 and 40 engines will be available.

While the hard plastics make the A1’s interior feel cheap, the equipment certainly doesn’t. If you like technology in your motor you’ll love the A1. You get digital instruments, a first class infotainment system with an impressive 8.8in touchscreen that’s easy to use, clear graphics everywhere,