Audi A1 1.2 TFSI – The best cars of 2011

When does the money from Premium Tailoring? This question has recently probably also responsible for sales of the Audi. Because of the small car A1 is obviously overpriced. The selling at least not as hoped. We drove the base model.

“Golden Steering Wheel”, “Car of the Year,” “The best cars of 2011″ – awards for the smallest model for Audi is there. The car was recently knighted even: Belgium’s King Albert II visited the factory in the Brussels district of Forest, where the A1 is being built for over a year. The occasion was the hundred-thousandth model that was there that day by the band. Hundred thousand cars within a year that does not sound bad. The only problem is that cars must be built and sold.

Audi A1 - The best cars of 2011

And it does it with the Audi A1 not seem like the producers hoped. According to the Federal Motor Vehicle Office in the past year (the A1 came onto the market in September) 8440 newly registered models, this year through May 11 140. So you would still be in the original plan to strike 20000-25000 copies of the A1 in the first year in Germany. However, reported “Manager Magazin Online” only a few days ago that about a third of new cars are so-called self-approvals – cars, then, for no money is still flowing back to Audi.

Why is the A1 sold so slow? The car may not actually lie. The car looks modern and sturdy, and reduces shrinking, a clear line of Audi to 3.95 meters in length. Externally, there is nothing wrong on the car – except you will find a model in which the customer has chosen from the approximately 800 color and pattern variations, which can be ordered over an A1, a daring combination too. And sometimes there just when manufacturers already offer factory-appropriate opportunities for customization.

Inside, it is of course continue with the variety of colors and shapes. The model driven by us but turned out to be safe taste neuter. Foreign silver painted one color, especially black inside and stylish. After small-car standards and cockpit fittings are great, there are intricate details like the chrome door lever handle, gear knob, steering wheel hub or the three-dimensionally designed the striking air vents. Just for little things there are not enough storage space. Nevertheless, the A1 Erzkonkurrenten declared the Mini in terms of interior trumps unambiguous.

As for the space, the two meet again at eye level. The A1 is the same as the Mini in principle a two-plus-two-seater. The entry into the fund, despite the tight forwards sliding front seats, and sitting first in number two, is it any better. Those looking for a car with a usable rear should wait until the five-door model comes to market.

A city car with the vote of a sports car

Even with the vote of the chassis were based on the standard meter, the Ingolstadt, Munich. The mini-marketers are not tired of emphasizing their car drive like a go-kart. What it means is that it provides only minimal comfort spring and the steering responds to the slightest movement. So similar it is with the A1: The car rattles over bumps hearty, and who wants to pack up once again correctly, should take over cobblestones. On the other hand, makes these crunchy kind of driving great fun when the road surface is smooth and the front passenger tolerant.

Fast forward to get to the A1 are already using the entry-level engine, the 1.2-liter gasoline direct-injection turbo engine with 86 horsepower. The machine is, if one calls it, a bit grumpy, but the car drives forward quickly enough and agile. Start-stop system and regenerative braking are standard equipment, the average consumption is 5.1 liters. However, we were not even close to this value. 8.0 liters, the onboard computer reported at the end of the test phase – and not because of speed or pace of orgies, but because the car was usually full.

Perhaps this would help even a six-speed manual transmission with fuel savings, but unfortunately there is only the base-A1 with a five-speed box. Which is after all so finely tuned and supple, and requires only minimal hand movements that each gear change is a joy.

A small car for well over 16 000 €

€ 15,800, the Audi A1 1.2 TFSI costs in the basic equipment – making it the cheapest copy of the series. But even our test car was considerably more expensive, which among other things, the metallic paint (plus 480 €), the aluminum wheels (1750 €), the air conditioning system (900 €) and the body-colored outside mirrors (70 €) was – and so are still far enumerated, not all genuine Yamaha details that put else in the car.

Audi A1 as does the number of pieces charm, if the ambitious goal to sell up to 2020 per year worldwide more than two million cars, is to be achieved. Currently, the Ingolstadt-based car emissions is more than half. That the Audi people have recognized the value problem shows, the recent round of price: while the prices rose slightly for all other model series, remained at the A1 all the same.