Audi S1 Sportback quattro 2014 Review

Looking at the multi-colour line-up of S1 Sportbacks outside Hobart airport, there’s no doubt that the latest in the Audi Sport product line has character and presence. Underlying this, however, is the burning question: what’s its price-point?

This question is answered as I settle in behind the flat-bottomed (standard for Australia) leather steering wheel, note the cheap plastic used for the centre console and door trims contrasting with the otherwise soft-touch surfaces Audi is known for, and peruse the usual Audi specification card. At $49,900 base price plus on-road costs, this shiny yellow S1 will need to punch well above its weight class.

And that's a feeling amplified by its options list.

This particular vehicle is fitted with a couple of Audi option packages, which the company claims adds around 30 per cent value over the options being picked individually. Both interior and exterior packages are prefaced with ‘quattro’; a nod of course to decades of all-wheel drive Audi supremacy.

Inside, the quattro package adds S sport front seats finished in Nappa leather (with, incidentally, a black back rest cover with quattro logo), black centre console, Nappa leather to the armrests, red air vent sleeves and black floor mats with (wait for it) contrasting double piping. The price for this arrangement? $2490.

The exterior package costs $3990 and brings Xenon plus headlights (with red trim), S design red brake calipers, larger ‘quattro’ roof spoiler and ‘quattro’ script on the rear side doors, matt black 18-inch alloys (up from 17s standard) and an ‘aluminium-look’ front spoiler.

It is these references to ‘aluminium-look’ and needless red inner air vent sleeves which have me worried. When did Audi become concerned with tacky add-ons?

The answer partly lies in Audi’s buyer focus for the S1 Sportback, which in the words of Product spokesperson Matthew Dale “is mostly male, aged 25 and older and are successful, aspirational, interested in technology, athletic, and passionate about cars and driving.”

Perhaps they’re not as sophisticated as the usual Audi clientele...

With the abovementioned packages and a couple of stand-alone options including heated exterior mirrors with kerb view function ($490) and contrasting roof dome colour ($720; this one’s black), the total as-tested price is a eye-watering $57,590!!!

That’s more expensive than the one-size-up, more powerful Volkswagen Golf R (from $54,490 plus on-roads, complete with dual-clutch gearbox).

Of course, there is a decent level of standard equipment in the S1 quattro that we’ve covered previously. Most important, though, is the combination of 170kW/370Nm 2.0-litre, turbo-petrol four-pot, Haldex all-wheel drive system and six-speed manual transmission. No self-shifting option here, either; the S1 quattro perhaps the last bastion of manual-only performance available via a German manufacturer.

Pushing a kerb weight of 1340kg, the TFSI engine accelerates the S1 to 100km/h in only 5.9sec (claimed).

The optional seats are reasonably contoured and comfortable, the driving position somewhere in-between SUV-style vision and hunkered-down sports car.

In the rear, headroom is an issue, but leg-, knee- and foot-room are adequate for a vehicle of this size.

With an easy clutch action, the S1 quattro pulls away under a gentle throttle. It’s abundant torque is immediately apparent, the peak available from as little as 1600rpm and holding on to 3000rpm. The gear shift itself is longer-throw than expected and quite rubbery to operate, particularly on cross-gate downshifts. Thankfully, the easy torque means gear shifting isn’t high on the requirement list.

Audi’s drive select comes standard on the S1 quattro, with three programs: efficiency, auto and dynamic. Familiar by now, the programs alter a wide range of parameters, including throttle response, steering, sound and damping pressure to suit the situation; even the climate control is adjusted accordingly.

While earlier interpretations of this system failed to offer a tangible change, the system in the S1 offers a large step forward in dynamic mode, the whole vehicle tensing around the driver’s reactions, the increased engine note (a combination of an exhaust flap and a sound actuator that increases induction noise) further focusing the mind.

On flowing roads south of Hobart, the S1 is fun to thread, thanks largely to its single-lane size and sophisticated all-wheel drive system, which can send torque to individual wheels and theoretically split drive from 100 per cent front to 100 per cent rear.

Alas, although dynamic mode tenses the S1 up, the predominant feeling is of a car that never truly settles into the road surface once bumps are introduced. There is the odd combination of ride harshness and evident body roll, which means the traction systems (which include an electronic differential lock) need to be worked to deliver according to the S1’s on-paper credentials.

We also have the opportunity to drive the S1 quattro on the tight, technical Baskerville race circuit, and it actually allows the diminutive hot hatch to come into its own.

Left in third gear with occasional spurts of fourth, Baskerville reveals a smooth-surface agility that even allows some rear-steer under trail-braking; not at all what the road loop suggested.

The quattro system is good, perceptibly shuffling torque to allow early application of full throttle, and the braking system, with 310mm front ventilated and 272mm solid rear discs, smell hot but don’t fade after half a dozen hot laps.

Taking price out of the equation, the Audi S1 quattro delivers a solid all-round performance, despite its questionable mix of tacky and tailored.

But price is always a factor, and at $50K-plus the S1 has to be better than the competition from within; namely the VW Golf R and even the front-wheel drive GTI… not to mention he forthcoming Polo R.

Sure, the Golf twins are larger cars, but dollar for dollar, they offer far more value (and performance, in the case of the R). In this case, size does matter.

2014 Audi S1 Sportback quattro pricing and specifications:
Price: $49,900 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol, turbo
Output: 170kW/370Nm
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Fuel: 7.1L/100km (claimed, combined)
CO2: 166g/km
Safety Rating: Five-star (Euro NCAP)

What we liked:
>> Diminutive size works on back roads
>> Torquey turbo motor
>> Drive modes make a difference

Not so much:
>> Cheap interior materials
>> Expensive list and options pricing
>> Rubbery manual shift