So, I drove one of those today, a 2017 A1 5dr 1.6TDI (the one with the 115hp and 250 Nm) S-Line.
It was white, with 215/45R16 Bridgestone Turanza tyres which was the first thing that caught my attention. Then I opened the rear door which was feather light. That was the second thing I noticed. I threw my coat in and opened the driver's door. I sat in and then many things caught my attention.
The seat, an optional extra, felt quite firm where my ass sat, but fluffy on my back, which I didn't really like. Volvo's "sport" (as in "more comfortable") seats' lumbar support has spoiled me. The steering wheel is smallish and in the perfect spot. It's been quite a long time since I managed to find a perfect driving position in a car. That was a pleasant surprise. I touched all the plastics, knocked on and smelled all materials and then I fired the engine up.
"Fck, it's a diesel", I immediately thought, but it's less noisy than the A6 3.0TDI, I recently drove. It's also significantly slower. Diesels are supposed to have tons of torque and on paper this one had 250 Nm. My S60 has 240 Nm. I expected that after a slow turn with the third gear just above idle, it would easily build up revs. Oh boy I was wrong! Then, I hope that it would -at least- have a strong second gear and it was laughable.
I don't know what is considered short or long gearing for a diesel, but this one felt like it needed at least four more gears to be quick enough. But it was unexpectedly frugal with fuel. There's a long uphill straight I pass every day. At 80 km/h with 5th gear, my S60 has a fuel consumption of 12 l/100km. The A1 said 4.5 l/100 km. Wow!
So, the engine is terrible, underpowered and burns diesel. The gearbox looks like it could use shorter gearing and the lever (lifted straight from a 2001 A4) felt like a Playstation controller. I've driven a couple of A3 and A4 models and the lever has a solid mechanical feel when you put in a gear. This one felt quite plastic.
Still, quite a lot better than most cars in its class. But then there's Honda, the company that would win the Nobel of gear lever feeling every year, if there was one. Or Renault, whose 1.5DCi engine feels like it has twice the power of VAG's 1.6TDi, yet makes three times the noise, and the gearbox is most likely the same as my 27 year old Clio. And there's the Mazda 2, a brilliant car to drive, but not much to look at, or the Peugeot 208, the most boring thing to ever come from France, or the Citroen C3, the worst built thing to ever come out of France. Or the Fiat Punto, which drives brilliantly when it's not broken.
So, how does it ride? Actually quite good. It comes with S-Line suspension, which is a fancy way to ask for 1500€ for a set of stiffer springs and dampers which normally cost about one third of that. The S-Line is firm, but is pleasant and didn't feel uncomfortable at any moment. Yet, our roads are terrible and I felt sorry for the car, so I was driving slow over tarmac anomalies. With my cars, I'm not that gentle. It was raining a lot today, so roundabout and handbrake were like Pizza and beer, therefore I quickly realized how nice a quick electric steering can be in such conditions. Catching a slide with an unassisted steering with 4 turns from lock to lock isn't always pleasant. But 2.5 turns are nice! I didn't go full bananas on the little car, but it handled neutrally and safely. That was very nice.
So, I mentioned the steering but I didn't say how much I hate electric steering. I believe I've said quite a few times, but one more doesn't hurt. I hate electric steering.
Moving on, let's talk about materials. The dashboard is soft and nice, the matte black plastic parts around the dashboard are of very high quality. The top of the door panels as well, but everything else is pretty much cheap. If the door had a cloth (or leather) insert to match the seats, I believe it would look much better and less bland.
All in all, the car felt as if it's screwed together very nicely. No squeaks, no nothing. And the optional infotainment system with the (actually little) colour screen is very nice, with many info, good enough graphics and surprisingly easy to use. Though it costs the monetary equivalent of an arm and a leg. A shame actually, especially given the fact the speakers were terrible.
Bottom line, the A1 I drove costed 27000€. It's absolutely nuts. What I drove today should be sold or 15000€, not 27000. It's extremely overpriced, it's not fun to drive, it feels cheap (in some places) and it's slow. It's not a bad car, but it's not a good deal either.
Sadly, all the people I know who bought an A1, all did for the same reason: They wanted an Audi, and they had no idea that for the same (or less) money they could buy the much much better A3.
