Audi A1 quattro 1.4
First drive
Mont Treblant, Canada
We liked:
>> Secure handling
>> More character than FWD
>> Quality interior
Not so much:
>> Generically Audi design
>> Who actually needs it?
One of the fun parts of this job is watching the way different car companies treat the same problem.
After coming within two weeks of making the mistake of giving the 136kW, 1.4-litre, turbocharged A1 the more-sporty S1 badge, Audi's now insisting this car is nothing more than a prototype of the A1 that just happens to have the same engine and all-wheel drive.
The funny part is that, for all its long-term planning and usually clever strategy, it took a couple of senior journalists insistently talking to VW Group boss, Martin Winterkorn, to kill the original S1 plan and now Audi seems nervous about christening this new car with the same name.
Yet at least one of the major reasons the journalists had for their impromptu product planning appeal (it was front-drive only, where all S cars were all-wheel drive and it was slower and heavier than its VW Polo GTI sister car) has now been addressed.
Though it was never designed to run a rear differential, that's exactly what the A1 quattro "prototype" has, and it's taken some major engineering work to get it to fit there and to get the drive from the front end to turn it.
That alleged prototype status is probably why we're here, isolated on an ice-covered test track in northern Canada, to drive it. Certainly, it's the driving environment that provides the easiest proof of whether or not there's any help coming from the back end, even if, for Australians, it's hardly a real world exercise.
Never mind that we don't get a lot of ice, because the real question for Australians is whether or not the engine's 136kW of power is too much for the front wheels alone to cope with.
Audi has confirmed this car will be built and it's inevitable that it will find its way to Australia as well, and this is as far as Audi is comfortable stretching the family 1.4-litre petrol engine.
It's a smooth unit, too, but unlike the S cars that sit atop the rest of the Audi models, this one doesn't fire up with any particular menace or authority. It just idles calmly at around 800rpm.
A blip on the throttle reveals it's a calm unit and snicking first in the six-speed manual gearbox shows that it's plenty strong enough to make all-wheel drive a good idea. At least on ice.
There's enough torque here at low revs to get all four of them spinning, but that's about the surface (even with small metal studs in the tyres) rather than any thumping performance numbers.
In fact, Audi isn't even claiming a performance figure for the car and, testing it on this surface means it's hard to even guess what it would translate to on bitumen.
So, we're really only here to test whether the all-paw system works effectively and, for sure, it does.
Slot the long-throw gear lever into second (on this track, there's the occasional brief snatch into third, but it's otherwise a second-gear affair) and all four boots still claw at the ice, but the Audi doesn't run wide or drift down the road camber.
Instead, it just gets down to business, with the ESP allowing the all-wheel drive enough latitude to control the direction of travel without butting in unnecessarily. And, when it does chime in, you know it's needed, because the little A1 is at about 90 degrees to the direction of travel.
Because that's the fun way to drive it here. And because it's also a stance it seems to enjoy, too. The engine willingly spins past 6500rpm, and there's more than enough performance to break traction at any speed.
Clearly, the A1 1.4-litre Quattro is aimed at the MINI Cooper S, but the German-bred MINI would be floundering in these conditions (just as the standard front-drive A1 would be).
Not the Quattro. Let it walk around a bit, sliding across the ice, and the all-wheel drive system is so accurate it lets you steer the car with the accelerator pedal as accurately as you can with the steering wheel.
Bumps don't throw it off and neither do the even-slipperier bits. Brake in the right area and the rest of the car will follow in a controllable, languid, progressive slide.
While it's clear that all-wheel drive is useful (or necessary, even) with this much engine on ice, it's yet to be proven that it's needed on bitumen. We suspect it won't be a bad idea, but we have to test it properly first.
We've tested it, yes, and it handles everything you throw at it, from blasting out of corners sideways to comforting you on bump absorption, with considerable aplomb, but you'd be best not to think of it as a baby WRX.
Instead, it's a slightly faster A1 with the added confidence that all-wheel drive gives you. You can always use everything the engine can provide without ever worrying about it being spilled out in embarrassing wheelspin or, worse, dangerous skipping across the road.
And that's really what the A1 quattro is all about. Regardless of what Audi calls it.
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