Refreshed a1 roomier

Pleasantly surprised at 1.0TSI manual’s pulling power

TO THE delight of young up-andcoming professionals around the world, instead of stretching budgets to jump into an A3, traditionally the smallest and cheapest Audi hatchback for quite some time, the A1 made it possible for many people to drive a “cheaper”, yet still “premium”, four-ring car. As oxymoronic as that sounds, in South Africa the A1 has done remarkably well over the years, considering the cheapest derivative (1.0TSI) currently sells for around R350 000. Sold in three-door and five-door guises, with petrol and diesel (now a dirty word at Audi) engines, manual and S-tronic, as well as tar-melting S1 formats, the old A1 seemed to have all niches covered; young moms and dads that needed extra doors for small kids or easy access to baby seats, or petrolheads that live their lives a quarter-mile at a time… there was an A1 for everyone. Heck, let’s not forget the limited edition Quattro model that wasn’t sold here.

For 2019, though, the secondgeneration A1 is going to do things slightly differently. Globally, there will only be a five-door model, the Sportback, and there won’t be an S1 or Quattro. I sampled two of the three Audi A1 derivatives that are coming to South Africa at the world launch in Spain last week: