I came out to my car in work this afternoon and parked next to mine was the above. It was dark blue. Wish I could have took a picture but didn't want to look like a prat

I like Audi a lot, having had 2 in the past, but the A1 doesn't look that nice to me

I know that everyone has their own opinions , but I couldn't help think that the owner of that was robbed considering that it's basically the same platform as the Fabia.

I can honestly say that the Fabia VRS (well mine anyhow) looked way better than this car from any angle. The rear of the A1 looks hideous in its proportions

The cost of having the badge eh ?

A similar spec to my car on the Audi configarator is -

£23K

Buy 2 vRS's instead

Badge price is phenomenal these days!

But... they're selling. Well. Very well.

Audi UK have asked for 1000 more than their allocation this year from Dast Mutterland!

But... they're selling. Well. Very well.

Audi UK have asked for 1000 more than their allocation this year from Dast Mutterland!

I've no doubt they are finished nicely and drive well, but in that allocation there's probably a large % of those cars that are the 'entry level' price and spec just for the badge posse to drive a marque that they really can't afford. I drive a Skoda, image is nothing apparently

there was a dark grey one on my road the other day, looked nice but i couldnt justify the extra £££

each to their own i guess

There's a funny looking stickered up one round T.Wells, looks odd with grey wheels and red stickers - me no like :(

Strange that they have asked for more, hire car depots are rammed full of them at the moment.. Probably a nice earner for VAG, lease the car out for 10k miles and then off to a dealer for some badge snob to buy an ex Audi "management" car for more than a new Fabia.

There's a funny looking stickered up one round T.Wells, looks odd with grey wheels and red stickers - me no like :(

That'll be one of these then....

Saw one in Solihull the other week and thought it looked ok tbh - pretty retro but not worth the £1800 premium i think it attracts!

Edited 20 January, 201214 yr by jrw

Four ring badge. £2000 per ring!!!

Still rather have the Audi, sorry. :yes:

I sort of agree with you, but my mates wife has an A1 as a company car and the interior quality is just in a totally different class to the Fabia. Its just way better inside.

SWMBO went to look at an A1. We went in my VRS. She thinks the A1 is pretty.

Suit A. What model would madam like?

SWMBO. The one with the same engine as his VRS and specced the same.

Suit A. Audi dont use Skoda engines Madam!

SWMBO. Yes they do, come outside. (lifts bonnet). Suit B joins Suit A looking under bonnet. Hmmm they say.

Suit A. OK well its a TFSI 185 with extras you need. Twiddles calculator. £26k-ish should do it.

SWMBO. Bye!

On the way home;

Me. Are you suggesting we pay an extra £12k for 2 fewer doors and a slightly prettier view for people outside the car dear?

SWMBO. No stupid, just drive, I'll borrow yours.

And she does.

SWMBO went to look at an A1. We went in my VRS. She thinks the A1 is pretty.

Suit A. What model would madam like?

SWMBO. The one with the same engine as his VRS and specced the same.

Suit A. Audi dont use Skoda engines Madam!

SWMBO. Yes they do, come outside. (lifts bonnet). Suit B joins Suit A looking under bonnet. Hmmm they say.

Suit A. OK well its a TFSI 185 with extras you need. Twiddles calculator. £26k-ish should do it.

SWMBO. Bye!

On the way home;

Me. Are you suggesting we pay an extra £12k for 2 fewer doors and a slightly prettier view for people outside the car dear?

SWMBO. No stupid, just drive, I'll borrow yours.

And she does.

I do like the A1 but for the price it's a no brainier to buy the vRS instead

Edited 21 January, 201214 yr by VRS-Powered

You wont find a better car than the vrs at its price, but you will find loads better cars if you spend more, I only like the front on the A1 other than that Vrs is the car I would have.

FYI: Badge Engineering

And hey, the one asking the money is not the stupid one?

The A1 is on the new platform the A1 has much better road manners better in the fast corners

Audi are bringing out a S1 and RS1 in that shape using the 2.0tsi engine the S1 @ 234bhp (i think) and the RS1 @ 275bhp both will be quattro aswel so four wheel drive

Edited 21 January, 201214 yr by Kie

I sort of agree with you, but my mates wife has an A1 as a company car and the interior quality is just in a totally different class to the Fabia. Its just way better inside.

The A1 is on the new platform the A1 has much better road manners better in the fast corners

Nobody said the Audi is a worse car than the Fabia. Apart from the engine, box which are just the same the only area left to differ is the interior and finishing and that is certainly not proportionally better than the Fabia's as the two prices suggest. Somebody posted a magazine's review a while ago, where after a long-term test the test-driver's verdict is that why bother giving the extra money to get the A1, when you have to deal with persisting rattles and sqeaks from the passenger's side? Does that ring any bells??? So much for "different class" blah blah blah. It is not easy to look through badges, brands' history and just ignore them due to the fact that today's situation is totally different but that is the case. The gap between manufacturers, at least the ones that target the largest share of the market has closed very very much. Take for example the Koreans. 15 years ago, Kias and Hyundais were to laugh at, but anybody not blind or stubborn would acknowledge how their recent models have reached the european standards and probably outclassed some of their competitors. It is not bad for a company to exploit it's name and history but that's pretty much the case with Audi today If one wants to be honest. When I was considering my car, I was in a position to buy either the Polo GTi or the A1 185ps, but I couldn't get convinced that I get something more over the vRS, at least for the price they were asking, so I chose the vRS as the most honest one.

Regarding the road manners seb mentions, that is also reasonable due to the fact that Fabia sits higher than all its competitors. And I think Skoda have left it sitting so high fully intentionally, in order to stress that its not just a quick gti but a practical everyday car as well. That is the reason they offer an even longer estate version but not a 3-door one. They don't just aim to the 20year old boy racer that wants 'as fast as possible' (although there are such vRS owners as well!).

Still, 2 things are for sure: 1) With the vRS' price, you can easily fit a set of good coilovers, arb etc. and/or a remap, and you have a way improved car which is still more cheap and more practical than an A1 so again you have an obvious winner and 2) The most ignorant drivers I've known are driving Audis and they don't even know what displacement means. They have just selected their car for the badge and the color. If one company tops up the badge victims today then from my experience it certainly is Audi.

PS. BMW is closely second in that list. Giving the ticket to the parking station's machine in order to open the door the other day, I suddenly get a BMW 118d coming furious next to me, and rushing to get out earlier than me. Well, he did but I thought that's why you bought this car. So after him I go and 5 seconds later he was pulling to the right and I was past him. Traffic lights, he arrives next to me, so I am looking at him, he turns his head to the other side, telling something to the lady next to him... Well, that must have been very embarassing I guess...

This "new platform" is NOT worth twice the price! I bet 99% of drivers wouldn't even notice the difference, especially the type of people who buy this type pf Audi. I bet when you really look at the two platforms there's not much in it. If I had 26k to spend on a car it wouldn't be on a supermini.

personally i couldnt care less if the A1 is a better car(WHICH IT IS). I paid just over £14k for mine brand new. I wander what i should spend my saved £12k on!!!!

The chassis, road manners and interior is no doubt better than the vRS, but i dont intend to keep mine stock, so it matters absolutely nothing to me.

There is one of those stickered ones round Leicester - truly terrible.

We run a few A1s as company cars for 'junior management' and they are being chosen over Golfs and Fabias. It's a close run thing between those and low spec BMW 1 series too.

A1 is on the newer platform. A 5-door S-Line 1.4 TFSI 185 is £21,270. A Fabia vRS is £16,910 (yes, it gets discounted, because it needs to be).

The A1 gets bluetooth as standard, a much nicer stereo, part-leather seats, and door casings that don't feel like recycled takeaway cartons. I've had a couple as hire cars abroad and they're perfectly good little cars.

I'll take the cheapo interior and dowdy styling for an up-front saving, but I can see why others make a different choice. What's interesting is lease costs on both - there's only £25/month in it - or £900 over a typical 36 month duration.

Don't get me wrong I would never purchase an Audi end off!, I dislike them why? But I do son owns a Audi A3 sports back with all the bells n whistles I don't like at all, the fabia is a perfect all rounder for the young racer or the 50 plus brigade who wish they where still the under 30 brigade, it's robust and honest but it has a lot of faults but the good points far out weigh the bad, it's a dream to drive until you push it in the corners but other than that I'm a happy chappie, I will be with skoda until I die

Well put it this way the VRS has Proven what it can do on the rally track practilcy dominating the IRC the audi A1 on the other hand is just like i little rich kid feeding off its parents fame making people belive it shares the same features as the rest of its family.. well im sorry sunshine but its going to take more then that to make me want to spend 22k on you

Edited 21 January, 201214 yr by Kie

All Audi's are a much nicer place to sit in that any of the other mainstream VAG marques.

Not sure they're worth £26k for the same engine as a Fabia vRS... but over three years which one is actually going to cost more? I have no idea, I'm just speculating... but I'd reckon that the Audi wouldn't actually be "twice the price" over three years...