Does anybody have an Audi A1?

We are thinking about getting the 1.2 petrol for my wife and I thought I would ask on here for owners opinions. She doesn’t do many miles and doesn’t like the look of other superminis. It is a good price and the road tax is very cheap on the face of it the car seems spot on.

Does anybody have any experience with these? What are they like to own? Will the service costs be as scary as the Audi badge suggests? What are Audi like with warranty work, we will buy the car new and may well only keep it for the 3 years of the finance deal so out of warranty problems shouldn’t be an issue.

Neither of us have had a premium brand car before so are there any other pitfalls I need to think about?

Thanks.

My Sister has one, as does my aunt. Fantastic little things.

road tax is very cheap

Rather irrelevent if you are buying a new Audi…

Why is it irrelevant br? She needs a new car the Audi is on budget, surely I would be stupid no to want to minimise ongoing costs?

Its an A1 not an RS6.

Some previous thoughts here (and also a link to an even earlier post)

Audi’s are not expensive to service now they have fixed price servicing. My Audi a3 2.0TFSI Quattro, is the cheapest car I have owned in terms of servicing costs. Even cheaper than my new VW up!

My Audi has been fantastic not a single fault in 6 years from new and they dealer is very good IMO, I would happily buy again. Depending on mileage type of driving, I think the Up! Is as better bet than the Audi, the A1 is very expensive for what it is, whereas the VW is cheap as chips for what it is.

She doesn’t do many miles and doesn’t like the look of other superminis.

This part overides all the other queries.

no such thing as road tax

Good news that servicing is cheap thanks. As above we have looked at other cars and she doesn’t like any other supermini. Current options ar C-Max, Scenic and A1 After the quote on the C-Max yesterday coming back at more than we want to pay and the Scenic costing a grand more to begin with (I can’t see Renault getting the price as low as we want) the A1 is looking good with a very reasonable finance example on their site for a more expensive model.

I know the other two cars arnt anything like the A1 but we were going to use them as the main car and relegate my Focus to a bike mover. We had a rethink and are looking at the A1 to replace her Micra.

And yes Darrell I know its called a road fund license but everybody, apart from pendants, calls it road tax. 😉

There are service plans available at the time of purchase that cover you for the first 5 years of servicing – they start at £250.

I’m guessing an A1 is a VW Lupo?

If that’s what she really likes, and the budget is ok, then go for it! *

Sometimes it’s nice to buy with the heart as well as / instead of purely with the head. There is a lot to be said for getting something a little bit special (to you), after all, a car is a reasonable chunk of money to throw at something mundane and “tolerable”.

mrs rkk01 has an Abarth 500. By any sensible analysis we would have got a lesser model 500, or cheaper, second hand “other” car – but the Abarth is something a bit special. Every trip is fun

* normal test drive caveats, etc, etc

walleater its a Polo/Ibiza/Fabia.

I will have a look at that m already worked out that the insurance and tyres (not that they will wear out) are cheaper than the other two options. Will have a look at that service package and compare to the other cars later.

Rkk01 I’m trying to be as sensible as possible but still keep the essence of why she likes the car. As you said its a significant amount of money so it seems stupid to spend it on something we/she doesn’t really like.

Andy mate…. hope you’re healing well and we can go and play bikes soon.

how did you end up with a scenic, cmax, and A1 as your choices? lol… 😉 can understand the cmax and scenic knowing you are a family man but how did the A1 end up in the mix?

I’ve driven one. They’re great little cars, but are seriously small. Check you can get the girls in it first.

Getting there mate, I can walk short distances again now but it will be the end of October before I can ride again. 🙁 How are you? I’m planning a ride at CyB in Jan and will txt you the details when I’m organizing it.

Wife has a Micra at the moment and we were looking at getting a people carrier and use that as the main car. That way when I replace my Focus I could have got something a bit sporty. The C-Max was a bit more expensive than we wanted to pay so we had a rethink and have come up with the A1 to replace the Micra. This will mean I can’t get something quite as sporty (unless I come into some money and buy an M5 Touring) but as a straight swap for the Micra it shouldn’t be a problem as far as size goes.

If a high list price, numb steering, crashy ride and zero driver enjoyment are your thing then the A1 should be right up your street. If you want to save money and actually enjoy driving a small car then I’d look elsewhere. I’ve driven one for a week and didn’t like it. Two friends also have them as company cars. One had just got shot, the other misses their previous Mini. Afraid A1 is for badge snobs only. Sorry – you wanted an honest opinion 🙂

Good news, do text…

Good luck with the decision.

Nissan will put the skyline engine and everything into a patrol for £150k? 😉

TBH if I could afford £150k I would rather a Skyline and a Range Rover.

Edit: Pathfinder not patrol.

I’m guessing an A1 is a VW Lupo?

I wouldn’t buy a lottery ticket with guessing like that.

Why is it irrelevant br? She needs a new car the Audi is on budget, surely I would be stupid no to want to minimise ongoing costs?

Its irrelevent, because whether its £0, £30 or £100 pa it will barely impact the total-cost-of-running when it’ll depreciate £5k over the 3 years you own it…

Compared to her current Micra 1.4 which has an annual road tax of £190 the £35 of the A1 seems very reasonable and that is a factor when it comes to choosing what engine is in the car.

Judging by your other posts on A1 threads it seems you have a strange dislike of Audis and wish to troll about them. Either way it is you that is irrelevant and not the low road tax cost.

No A1 experience, but we have the Fabia with the 1.2 TSi engine. which I presume is the one you are looking at.

Our is attached to teh 7 spped DSG autobox, and was a revelation – Mrs was refusung to look at anything less than a 1.6 due to her past experiences with small autos, but it has lots of grunt to get moving,(even with 4 adults on the motorway) and if I miss the rush hour my commute into Nottingham can get close to 50 mpg – about 40 in the rush hour

Great little engine

Yea its the 1.2 TFSI I am assuming its the same engine as the Fabia with around 86bhp we would be getting the manual box but they don’t do the auto with that engine.

I’ve got a the 1.6TDi Sport. Had it for eight months now from new. When reading this please bear in mind that it was a head over heart purchase and the first sensible-ish car I’ve had (came from a 60-plate RS Clio Cup).

It’s a good car if you just want to get from a-b (quite, comfortable, feels more refined than a car of it’s size should) but if you like going via z then it’s so so dull. No steering feel, suspension goes to bits when pressing on. Having said that the 1.2 is meant to be the pick of the range for handling, the big lump in the front of mine can’t do it any favours.

If you want to take people in the back then get the 5 door. Getting in the rear of my 3 door is awkward and head room is tight (at 5’8″ my head brushes the roof). Boot is small too. Other superminis do the whole supermini thing much better.

Don’t be fooled by all the nice, touchy-feely plastics in the showroom. It’s a cheap car covered in expensive plastics. Build quality seems to vary with some people on the A1 Forum having alsorts of problems even leading upto rejecting their car, to others having trouble free motoring. Mine creaks and rattles (never had a squeak out of the clio despite the rock hard “suspension”). I’ve got terrible condenstion problems, steams up on a whim regardless of weather conditions and also had electrical glitches. I’ve also had problems with the engine but I’ll not go into depth as it’s irrelevent to the 1.2. By comparsion my fiancee bought a new Fiat 500 at the same time and it’s been faultless.

Take Audi mpg figures with big pinch of salt. Mine gets 57mpg (offical combined is 74) but overall it’s cheap to run. Service costs shouldn’t be an issue as they do service packs. I paid £250 for a five year one (can be transfered to an new owner too).

If all this sounds a little negative then yes, I wish I could get rid but until the finance and depreciation curves start to meet I’m stuck with it.

Blimey. I think that was the first negative review of one that I have seen.

Good thing is that it won’t be bought as a driver’s car and I doubt that any adult will get in the back. Apart from me when I’m cleaning up the kids mess. We would get the 5 door because of access and most of the time there will be two car seats in the back. Luggage space isn’t a consideration as long as we can get a couple of bottles of wine and a pizza in the boot. They do have cup holders don’t they? I can see her mind changing quickly if she doesn’t have anywhere to put her coffee.

I really like the A1 from a style and practicality perspective.

I’m personally not a fan of the 3 cyclinder concept, not sure if the A1 only uses the 4 pot 1.2L – seems like it from what you say.

We have done 100,000 miles in our A6 trouble free, serving is very reasonable. What I would say is that our local franchise is very poor, so make sure you pick a decent dealer. We’ve been so infuriated we no longer take the car to Audi but to a local specialist. Our neighbour warned us to buy the car and have it serviced at a dealer slightly further away but we didn’t take his advice.

My guess is total cost of ownership of the A1 will be much less than a Ford or Renault as it will hold it’s value much better.