Audi A1 Sport With Excellent LED lights: review

Audi A1 Sport With Excellent LED lights: review

Audi didn’t like it when I panned the original A1 as too expensive. The A1 Sport is still a fair old whack, but at least it delivers the goods. But you still have to ask yourself the same question and that is how does it stack up against the Volkswagen Polo GTI, essentially the same car. To put it bluntly for another $ 14,710 more than the Polo, you get an extra four kilowatts of power. But it’s an Audi.

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Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, value is very much a perception of the buyer. In this case, you get a small, high powered, highly equipped Audi for just over $ 40,000 and anyone shopping for one of these cars will tell you that in Audi-speak that is a bargain.

Standard features include xenon plus headlights with LED daytime running lights, LED tail lights, LED interior lighting package, 6.5-inch full colour screen, rear parking sensors, Bluetooth connectivity and light and rain sensor.

Optional are navigation, multimedia interface and a 465-watt Bose surround sound system with 14 speakers (where the hell do they fit them?) A number of options are available bundled together in packages for a reduced price.

If you stepped into a time machine and travelled back to the mid 80s, people wouldn’t believe that you could get this sport of power out of a tiny 1.4-litre engine. The lightweight four cylinder four-valve engine produces an impressive 136kW of power and 250Nm of torque. The secret is the twin charging system which combines a turbocharger and supercharger with the one engine. The 1.4 TFSI uses a claimed 5.9 litres of fuel per 100km. In reality the way you drive this car will result in a much higher figure, with a long-term average of 9.4 litres/100km.

It’s certainly a good looking little jigger. But the distinctive, contrasting coloured roof arches are still a $ 720 option on this model. It’s such a defining feature of the car you’d think they would be standard (can’t imagine many buyers not ordering them). What really sets the A1 Sport apart is the muscular S Line bodykit, comprising lower and deeper front and rear bumpers, as well as the S line roof spoiler and a rear diffuser.

The A1 gets a full five stars for safety. Comes with six airbags and standard equipment includes a high-performance stability system with an electronic limited slip diff. It’s responsible for the A1’s high stability and aids its very neutral handling.

The heart of the matter is the 7-speed S tronic double clutch transmission which hustles through the gears in rapid succession. The sprint from zero to 100 km/h takes just 6.9 seconds and it has a top speed of 227km/h. You can change gears manually using the paddle shifts ($ 200 option) or simply leave the car in sport mode which is quite aggressive. The engine revs all the way to 7000 revs and in full flight develops quite a snarl. Because of its small size and short wheelbase the car definitely feels more at home on smooth pavement.

On secondary roads it tends to bounce and move around a lot and the sports tuned suspension is not designed to smooth out the ride, but we never felt it lose control, not once, apart from the tiniest slippage as the suspension unloaded. 17 inch wheels are standard and our test car was fitted with the optional S Line suspension.

A real cracker of a car. Goes like a scalded cat. Sounds like one too at around 7000 revs. But it’s high priced fun and the gloss starts to come off when you look around and see what else you can pick up for the money.
 

Overall, the LED lights are widely used most new cars such as LED Dome Lights, LED Daytime Running Lights, and will come out with even more innovation in the future.