2012 Audi A1 Sportback First Drive

Audi expects big things from the new four-door A1 Sportback, and it should. After all, the stylish new hatchback will eventually offer a total of seven different engine options.

That's right, seven different engines. Three will be diesels, four will burn gasoline and two of the seven will be all-new designs. The 2012 Audi A1 also introduces cylinder deactivation to the world of premium hatchbacks.

So clearly Audi didn't skimp when it came to stuffing plenty of technology into the A1. It's all part of a plan to take a good-size chunk out of the segment that's currently dominated by Mini, which is no small task. No surprise then that Audi delivered an A1 Sportback that's fully equipped to carve out some space of its own.

Big Range of Small Cars
The base A1 Sportback features a 1.2-liter four-cylinder TFSI gasoline motor. It sounds like a paltry offering, but the car only weighs 2,348 pounds, so 84 horsepower moves it along surprisingly well.

The bulk of the gasoline engine sales will come from either the 121-hp version of the 1.4-liter turbo-4 or the new 138-hp version of the same engine. The latter benefits from a new cylinder deactivation system that Audi first introduced on the latest S8.

The less powerful 1.4 has 147 pound-feet of torque and Audi says it gets to 62 mph in 9.0 seconds. Thanks to its 184 lb-ft of torque, Audi says the more powerful 1.4 slashes that time to 8.1 seconds. Even better, the stronger motor uses less fuel overall in the process because of its cylinder deactivation system. Audi says it burns 4.7 liters/100 km while the less advanced 1.4 burns 5.4 liters/100 km.

And it's a sweet, little motor, too. Our drive program was dominated by twists and turns over a mountain range, yet there were enough pieces of straight road to feel how smoothly and imperceptibly the more powerful 1.4's deactivation system switched in and out. Both the fours spun with delightful smoothness and willingness, even if the last 500 rpm or so gave no particular aural thrills. There is a logical step forward from one to the other, so you can easily justify the extra money, while both engines are flexible from very low rpm.

But the potential star of the show is a 1.4-liter TFSI engine that delivers 182 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque. Audi says it's good for runs to 62 mph in 7.0 seconds, yet uses little more fuel than the base 1.4. It's a sweet spinning engine, too, and the real beauty is that it adds a lot of performance for no extra weight. It fires up cleanly, idles smoothly and has the distinction of offering Audi's seven-speed double-clutch gearbox as standard running gear. It makes brilliant use of it, too, swapping smoothly between cogs both up and down the 'box and providing distinctly different characters in its comfort and sportier modes.

It's a terrific small hatchback now, maybe even the pick of the class.

The Diesel Side of the Equation
The Sportback also offers a pair of 1.6-liter turbodiesels that will be the big sellers in Western Europe. The diesel range begins at 88 hp and peaks at 103 hp, but boasts 169 lb-ft and 184 lb-ft of torque, respectively. The faster of the two cars takes 10.7 seconds to reach 62 mph but compensates by being superbly flexible and sipping just 3.8 liters/100 km and slipping underneath the 100 grams/km barrier for CO2 emissions.

They're both smooth and surprisingly willing to rev, but they won't be the end of the diesel story for the A1 Sportback. Word is that Audi will fit the Sportback with a 2.0-liter TDI by this summer. It should work wonders in such a light car given that it delivers 141 hp and 236 lb-ft of torque from 1,750 rpm. It gets the job done on the road, too, with more than enough strength to take off from 3rd gear at every light, rip to 62 mph in 8.3 seconds and still sip only 4.1 liters/100 km.

The Guts of the Hatch
The A1 Sportback's front-drive chassis is still the only one in the Audi lineup that doesn't offer all-wheel drive, although that will change later this year. It's a fairly unsophisticated suspension setup, too, as it rides on a torsion-beam rear axle and a MacPherson strut front end.

The A1 Sportback is exactly the same length and sits on precisely the same wheelbase as the A1 three-door that launched in early 2011. It's not all identical, though, because it's slightly larger inside thanks to its 6 extra millimeters of width and 11mm of rear headroom. So not everything is the same, but nothing is radically different either.

While its standard format is a four-seater, Audi will fit five seats at no cost if you ask for them (at least in Germany). The engineers also had to play a couple of tricks with the doors to squeeze two doors on the side of a car originally built for one. They moved the B-pillars a full 9.4 inches forward to make way for the rear doors. It's such a radical change that the Sportback's front doors finish forward of where the door handles begin on the standard three-door hatch. All that, and it has more than double the Mini's luggage capacity, too.

Much Better With Time
All those changes would mean nothing without a solid chassis to handle them. The original three-door wasn't very impressive in this department, but the new Sportback shows some dramatic improvements.

The instant it rolls out of the airport car park, it's clearly a different animal from the three-door A1. The ride is composed in spite of the firmer springing, and puts a Mini to shame. It's also more organized front to rear and feels completely together, whereas the original felt slightly disjointed.

It's a car of many shades of character, too, and can swing from showing its utter joy at being flung through tight corners with a trace of understeer to leaning hard on its outside tires through faster sweepers. It feels just fine relaxing its driver on a cruise or around town.

Steering isn't brilliant at low speed, largely because it just feels too light, but it perks up whenever you ask it to carry any cornering loads. The whole car feels every bit as agile and far more predictable and forgiving than a Mini Cooper. It's also strong on braking, too, with as much stability as you could ask for in a car two classes upstream.

Could Use a Few Improvements
That's not to say all has been fixed. The backseat is still no place for 6-footers, as they'll rub their head on the roof lining. The rear door armrests are just a touch too far forward to be natural homes to adult elbows, and there's no center armrest. There's also a bit of rear tire noise on some road surfaces. In other words, it's much like any other small hatchback.

The front seats are terrific, especially in the Ambition version thanks to height adjustment and a range of other adjustments. The view through the windshield is great, too, and the cabin exudes quality and reeks of durable, expensive materials. It's also logical and instantly usable, which is not always a guarantee these days.

The array of options is mind-boggling, though. You can change the color of just about anything inside so it can match up with the exterior paint. Or you can add a navigation system with 3-D Google maps, a 14-speaker Bose sound system or even turn the car into a rolling 3G wireless hotspot.

What's in It for Us?
There's not much hope for the U.S. market. Audi has already seen how we view premium hatchbacks and it's not pretty. The slow-selling A3 is testament to that fact. Hard to imagine it would see a good business case for something even smaller and less expensive, especially when it seems to be focused on an A3 sedan as its next entry-level U.S. product.

Audi hasn't gained ground on its two German prestige rivals by repeating its mistakes, and the 2012 Audi A1 Sportback shows just how quickly it learns its lessons. It's a terrific small hatchback now, maybe even the pick of the class. The European market will love it, at least more so than the three-door A1.

Edmunds attended a manufacturer-sponsored event, to which selected members of the press were invited, to facilitate this report.