Has Audi injected enough fun?

ROADTEST AUDI  A1:A CAR FOR every whim and budget. Well, every well-to-do budget. That's the ambition of the premium car brands as they all engage in full-blown product offensives these days. The template for the premium brands like Audi, Mercedes, BMW and the rest is simple: get them young with a couple of smart, smaller cars and follow their progression up the career ladder.

Simple, at least in a marketing presentation in Germany. When these grand plans are drawn up, the crystal ball can never fully take account of situations like the economic tailspin that the Irish – and potentially other European nations – are facing.

Under the plans you should find yourself in a Mini or A1 as you scoot around university before progressing into an A3 or 1-Series in the early days, perhaps an A5 or 3-Series coupé when you hit the rocky roads of a mid-life crisis, and then it is plain sailing to the A6 as you enter management. Finally, as you ascend to the boardroom, an S-Class, 7-Series or A8 awaits you in the car park.

It all looks perfectly logical on paper, even if the reality is quite different for the vast majority of us. The A1 is aimed at the young and affluent, the sort of people who bought Minis in the last decade. Hence the advertising shows smiling models barely out of college enjoying an A1 lifestyle.

The problem for Audi – and the rest – is the great chasm between marketing plans and reality. How many new graduates have €20,000-plus to spend on a new car? And if they did, why would they choose to ignore the Mini – a car steeped in heritage and iconic imagery – and opt instead for a relatively unknown, albeit well-built Audi?

Since it became part of the BMW family of brands, the Mini brand image has been managed with the sort of masterly marketing that would make the Mad Men of Madison Avenue go green with envy.

So how can the A1 hope to compete? There’s no question but it has a mountain to climb. It will be bolstered by the reputation the four rings has garnered for quality engineering over the last decade or so. Once the third-in-line to the premium throne in Germany, it can now claim to be wheel-to-wheel with its rivals.

The expertise is evident in the build quality of the A1. As a piece of engineering and as a small car, it’s one of the best we’ve seen.

It doesn’t wow you with its looks – a rather bulbous supermini that’s smart but hardly radical in terms of design.

Instead, you get the impression of solidity from the moment you open the door and sit inside. Unlike the A-Class, which is a poor relation to the rest of the Mercedes range, Audi has delivered a proper premium fit and finish to this market segment. In that regard, it’s also a better proposition than the Mini.

I suspect Audi sales staff know the real story behind the A1’s potential. It’s not in the car parks of Trinity or with the interns at the IFSC. Instead, it’s with the middle-aged families seeking a second car or the empty-nesters who want to opt for a premium brand but can’t justify the added cost or the extra space of bigger models. Downsizing is a badge of honour these days and the A1 should reap some rewards there, albeit at the expense of A3 or A4 sales.

On the road, the A1 feels remarkably controlled, never wavering from its feel of complete competence. It’s bordering on clinical, but that’s not a complaint and at all times it feels like a proper premium package.

From the handling to the ride, the impression is one of engineering pedigree. It might be smaller than its four-ringed kith and kin but behind the wheel there’s absolutely no feeling of compromise. In that regard, it’s an enormous success.

Yet, partly because of its utter German competence, it lacks the character of its Mini rival.

The Mini is simply more fun to drive, more in tune with what you want from a small car. It doesn’t seek to be a shrunken version of a premium family saloon, but to espouse the virtues of small cars: nimble, nippy and a little cheeky. The downside with it is that you don’t feel like you’ve got your money’s worth. Compared to the Audi, it feels rather cheap. Yet it has heritage where the A1 has proper premium finish.

The A1’s initial prices are tempting, with the car officially starting at €18,995, but that’s for the 1.2-litre petrol version, a car that would cause concern about the power output being really up to the task at hand.

The reality is that if you want to treat this as a premium car – and cater for a decent resale value later on – then you’ll need to study the options list and you are unlikely to leave the showroom with much change from €25,000. The buyers of this car in the used market will expect Bluetooth, a leather steering wheel with audio controls, and the like. A quick perusal of the list shows that it’s not all that expensive to apply a decent package.

The test car had Xenon lights at €1,219 which would seem an extravagance, but the multifunctioning wheel was only €179, climate control only €475, and the Bluetooth system €406. In total, there was nearly €4,500 worth of extras in the test car but that bill could easily be halved with a little common sense.

For many, the idea of buying a new car might seem like financial lunacy in the current economic situation, but for all the warranted media focus on households on the edge, there are still many others for whom the likely future cutbacks will be painful, but manageable.

Within that group there will be some for whom a car is a necessity and the financial imperative to replace their car makes sense while it retains some resale value. In cutting their budget to fit the new economic situation, they may find a smaller car makes sense.

But will they opt for the likes of the A1? The problem faced by this car is twofold. While it’s one of the best-built superminis on the market, its arch-rival remains more fun.

Its price tag will encourage many to look at what else is on offer without too much trade-off in quality or image. That’s where the Volkswagen Golf comes in. You can get a well-equipped Golf for A1 money. What’s more, the Golf has always had a quasi-premium image amongst the mainstream family hatchbacks.

While it’s an example of Audi’s engineering prowess, the A1’s master plan for a family of models might well suffer from the logic of comparing it to its cousin, the Golf, while it has a Herculean task ahead if it hopes to overcome the character and charm of the Mini brand. On paper it makes logical sense and on the road the engineering shines through, but in reality it doesn’t deliver enough fun, emotion or financial incentive to topple the Mini from its perch.

FACTFILE

Engine1,598cc four-cylinder, 16-valve diesel engine with five-speed manual transmission putting out 105bhp at 4,400rpm and 250Nm of torque at 1,500rpm. Front-wheel drive.

Performance0-100km/h in 10.5 secs

Max speed190km/h

Bootspace270-920 L

L/100km (mpg)Urban - 4.7 (60.1); extra-urban - 3.6 (78.5); combined - 4.0 (70.6)

Emissions (motor tax)105g/km (€104)

SpecificationStandard features include ESP stability control; front and side airbags; ISOFIX rear child-seat anchors; electric windows; 15-inch alloys; 3-inch control display screen; auto start/stop fuel-saving system. Sport pack (€1,950) adds: 17-inch alloys; aluminium finish on interior; sports suspension; front sport seats; leather sport steering wheel; front foglights.

S Line pack (€2,500 above sport): S Line interior trim features and S Line suspension; LED interior lights pack; rear spoiler; Xenon headlights with LEDs.

Price: €23,550 (test car final price €28,004)