By the end of this year there will be a full range of six engines available, including a 2 litre, 142bhp diesel and an economy-biased variable-cylinder petrol unit, which cuts to two cylinders from four when power demand is low. On offer for the moment, however, are perky 1.2 and 1.4 litre TSi petrol units (85bhp, 120bhp and 184bhp), and the version that’s the subject of BCM’s test, the 105bhp 1.6litre TDl diesel Sport.
Audi executives profess themselves to be not at all worried about pricing levels, predicting the entry-level Sportback SE to account for only 10 per cent of sales; the mid-range Sport for 60 per cent, and a hefty 30 per cent going to the top-spec S line.
Add to the ‘premium’ image of the A1 some of the sector’s lowest CO2 emissions and BIK rates, CAP’s projected best-in-class 59 per cent residual value after three years for the 1.6 diesel (51 per cent for the MINI Clubman), and congestion charge and first-year VED exemptions, and the car makes a convincing case for itself to business users, claims Neysan Vahdat, Audi’s UK product manager. Some 30 per cent of last year’s 18,500 UK sales of the three-door went to business users. The 5-door, he predicts, will lift the fleet and business share to 45 per cent.
Vahdat does admit to having one tricky problem with the A1, however – even if it is one that some other car makers would love to share. With Audi’s Forest factory near Brussels, where the A1 is made, running flat out, “the biggest issue for us in the UK is getting enough cars; we could sell many more.”
What’s hot?
- Two-tone paint option – unusual and it works
- Build quality a sector benchmark
- Aspirational appeal of Audi family ‘face’
- Petrol engines frugal, too: 50-plus mpg with standard stop-start
- 60.1mpg from incoming 140bhp variable-cylinder petrol engine
- Those must-have options….
- ….Google Earth and Street View “real-world” satnav;
- ….Mobile wi-fi; the internet for every seat; web radio
- ….On-line live traffic information
- ….Voice control that (mostly) works
- ….14-speaker Bose surround-sound;
- 13% BIK company car tax for 1.6 TDI; 10% company car tax for entry-level 1.2 TFSI petrol
- Brisk performance and agile handling
- Steering among Audi’s best
What’s not
- Ride still not optimised for UK roads
- Optional larger alloy wheels make it worse – avoid
- Interior well planned, high quality – but slightly funereal
Business Car Manager road test rating
Business car managers and user-choosers alike will be lured by the 1.6 diesel’s zero VED and congestion charge credentials, and the low company car tax BIK which come with its 99g/km CO2 and 74.3mpg economy ratings. A downside is that the figures are achieved only by means of a five-speed manual gearbox and that the slick, double-clutch, seven-speed S-tronic semi-automatic is not available as on other A1s. But even then there is some compensation, the torque band being broad and brawny enough to allow acceptably brisk cross-country progress with a minimum of gear-shifting, despite the modest 104bhp and 184 lb ft at which the engine is rated.
