Audi A1 Review

The Audi A1 is the smallest car Audi makes, measuring just 4,029mm long. That's around 33cm shorter than an A3 Sportback, and you really notice the difference when you're squeezing into a tight parking space or threading your way through narrow city streets. 

Small doesn't mean stripped back, either. Inside, you get a 10.25-inch digital instrument display and a 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen, while the five-door Sportback body gives you proper rear doors and a 335-litre boot. In other words, it has the dimensions of a supermini without asking you to give up the technology or everyday practicality you'd expect from an Audi. 

In our Audi A1 review, we'll dig into the engines, interior, technology, boot space and running costs, plus the bits we'd spend extra on and the ones we'd probably leave off when leasing. 

Quick Verdict on the Audi A1 

The Audi A1 is a small car that feels reassuringly grown-up. It’s at its best around town, where its compact size makes everyday driving wonderfully easy, but it’s polished enough that a longer motorway journey doesn’t feel like hard work. You’ll pay more for it than a Volkswagen Polo and a MINI Cooper is more fun, but the A1 has its own appeal: it’s smart, understated and feels like a proper Audi rather than the cheap way into one. 

Overall Rating: 8/10 

The Audi A1 scores an 8/10 for us. It’s compact without being impractical, feels suitably premium and is genuinely easy to live with day to day. We’d just resist getting carried away with the options. A sensible engine and trim play to the A1’s strengths, whereas bigger wheels and a top-spec model can quickly leave you paying A3 money for a much smaller car. 

Audi A1 at a Glance 

The Audi A1 is Audi’s smallest car, but it’s not quite as tiny as you might expect. You get five doors, five seats and enough boot space for everyday life, all in a hatchback that’s just over four metres long. There’s no complicated engine line-up to decipher either; every A1 is petrol-powered and front-wheel drive, with manual and S tronic automatic gearboxes available depending on the engine. 

Who Should Lease the Audi A1? 

The Audi A1 makes the most sense if you genuinely want a small car, rather than simply choosing one because it’s the cheapest Audi lease. It’s particularly good for town and city life, where its compact footprint is a real advantage, but there’s enough comfort and practicality here that you won’t regret your decision the first time you need to head further afield. 

The Audi A1 is a great choice if you: 

You want a premium car without the bulk 

At 4,029mm long, the A1 is around 33cm shorter than an Audi A3 Sportback. That difference is immediately useful when you're parallel parking or navigating a cramped multi-storey. You still get the unmistakably Audi cabin and styling, just without having to find somewhere to put a much bigger car. 

Most of your driving is around town 

The A1 feels completely at home here. The steering is light at low speeds, the car is easy to place on the road and its short length makes those annoyingly small parking spaces much more achievable. We'd be perfectly happy with one of the 1.0-litre TFSI engines for this kind of driving too; you don't need 150 PS to make the school run. 

You like the A3 but don't need the extra space 

There's no point leasing an extra 33cm of car if you're usually travelling alone or with one passenger. The A1 still gives you five doors and a 335-litre boot, so it can handle the weekly shop or a couple of weekend bags without fuss. If your rear seats spend most of their life empty, we'd seriously consider saving the space and sticking with the A1. 

The Audi A1 may not be the best choice if: 

Your back seats get plenty of use 

The A1 technically seats five, but we'd call it a comfortable four-seater. Children will be fine in the back, but put an adult behind a tall driver and things become cosy fairly quickly. If you’re regularly carrying adults, the extra room in an A3 will be money well spent. 

You're ready to go electric 

There's no mild hybrid, plug-in hybrid or electric A1 hiding elsewhere in the range. It's petrol or nothing. That's refreshingly simple if petrol suits your driving, but anyone specifically looking to cut out trips to the fuel pump will need to look elsewhere. 

You need the most space for your budget 

This is where the Audi badge costs you. The Volkswagen Polo and Skoda Fabia both offer plenty of small-car practicality without the same premium price tag, and the Fabia in particular gives you considerably more luggage space. If litres-per-pound is how you're judging your next lease, the A1 probably isn't going to win. 

Our Verdict 

For this Audi A1 review, we’d put it near the top of the list for solo drivers and couples who spend plenty of time around town and want something a little nicer than the average small hatchback. It's less convincing if you're regularly filling every seat or booting up for family holidays, but that's not really what the A1 is for. Choose it because you want something small, not because you're willing to put up with something small. 

Audi A1 Design Review 

The Audi A1 may be small, but Audi hasn't made it cute. Its large Singleframe grille, sharp headlights and sculpted bodywork give it a surprisingly substantial look for a car that's only four metres long. 

There are some lovely details too. The three narrow slots above the grille are a nod to the legendary Audi Sport quattro rally car, and certain models can be specced with a contrasting roof. 

Sport keeps things fairly understated, S line adds sportier bumpers, and larger alloys and Black Edition goes further with black exterior detailing. But we actually think the A1 looks best when you don't overdo it. Its chunky proportions already give it plenty of presence without needing the biggest wheels on the options list. 

Interior, Technology & Comfort 

The Audi A1's cabin is very Audi, clean and angled towards the driver. There's plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel, so getting comfortable is easy, and the relatively low driving position suits its small hatchback character. 

Technology is a highlight. You get a 10.25-inch digital instrument display and a 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen, with smartphone connectivity putting your usual maps and music within easy reach. Better still, Audi hasn't shoved everything onto the screen. You still get physical climate controls, so changing the temperature doesn't involve poking through menus on the move. 

The dashboard looks smart and the main touchpoints feel solid, although harder plastics lower down remind you this is Audi's entry-level model. Overall, it feels modern and suitably premium where you'll notice it most. Just don't expect an A6 cabin with half the car chopped off. 

What's the Audi A1 Like to Drive? 

The Audi A1 is easy and reassuring to drive. It isn't the most exciting small hatchback, but that's not really the point. This is a car designed to make everyday journeys effortless, and it does that very well. 

Town is where it feels happiest. It's easy to thread through narrow streets and squeeze into smaller parking spaces, and the light steering takes the effort out of low-speed manoeuvres. The petrol engines suit stop-start driving nicely too, especially with the S tronic automatic. We'd stick with sensible-sized wheels if comfort is important, though, as larger alloys make potholes and broken surfaces more noticeable. 

Head onto the motorway and the A1 feels more grown-up than its size suggests. It's stable at speed and refined enough for longer journeys without leaving you wishing you'd leased something bigger. If motorway trips are a regular occurrence, we'd choose one of the more powerful engines for the extra breathing room when joining traffic and overtaking. 

Audi A1 Engines & Performance 

The Audi A1 keeps things simple with fuel type: it's petrol only, with no diesel, hybrid or electric version to complicate the decision. The real question is how much performance you need from a small hatchback. 

Audi A1 25 TFSI 

The 25 TFSI is the entry-level A1, using a 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine with 95 PS. It's perfectly happy pottering around town and keeps running costs sensible, but you'll need a little patience when joining faster traffic or overtaking. If your A1 will spend most of its life commuting and tackling shorter journeys, that's unlikely to bother you. 

Audi A1 30 TFSI 

The 30 TFSI is the one we'd choose for most drivers. It uses the same 1.0-litre turbocharged engine but increases power to 116 PS, giving you noticeably more breathing room on A-roads and motorways without turning the A1 into something unnecessarily thirsty.  

It's the sweet spot in the range: enough performance that the A1 rarely feels strained, without paying for power you probably don't need. 

Audi A1 35 TFSI 

The 35 TFSI swaps the 1.0-litre engine for a 1.5-litre four-cylinder with 150 PS. It gets from 0–62mph in around eight seconds, so there's a decent step up in performance when you put your foot down. It's fun having 150 PS in a car this small, but we'd check the lease price carefully. The 30 TFSI already does everything the A1 needs to do very well. 

Manual or S tronic automatic? 

The manual keeps things simple and will often cost less to lease, but the S tronic automatic suits the A1 brilliantly if you spend plenty of time in traffic. We'd pair it with the 30 TFSI if the monthly difference is sensible. That's probably the A1 we'd lease ourselves. 

Space, Boot Size & Practicality 

The Audi A1 is small, but it doesn't ask you to travel light. There's plenty of headroom and legroom in the front, with enough adjustment in the seat and steering wheel for taller drivers to get comfortable. Storage is decent too, with useful door bins, cupholders and places to stash the usual collection of car clutter. 

Space gets tighter in the back. Children should be perfectly happy, and two adults will fit for shorter journeys, but taller passengers may find legroom tight. There are three rear seats, although we'd think of the A1 as a comfortable four-seater rather than volunteering three adults for the back. 

Boot space is a useful 335 litres with the rear seats upright, which is plenty for a weekly shop or a couple of weekend bags. Fold the seats and that increases to 1,090 litres. For context, the larger Audi A3 Sportback gives you 380 litres, so you're only sacrificing 45 litres despite the A1 being around 33cm shorter. 

That's a trade we'd happily make if the back seats aren't regularly occupied. For solo drivers and couples in particular, the A1 gives you enough everyday practicality without carrying around more car than you need. 

Fuel Economy & Running Costs 

The Audi A1 is fairly easy on fuel, especially if you stick with the 1.0-litre engines. The 25 TFSI and 30 TFSI can both return around 50mpg officially, making them the obvious choices if you're trying to keep trips to the petrol station to a minimum. 

The 150 PS 35 TFSI is thirstier, but not dramatically so. Its 1.5-litre engine can still manage fuel economy in the high-40s on paper, which isn't bad considering the extra performance. Unless you particularly want that extra punch, though, we'd still take the 30 TFSI for the better balance of performance and running costs. 

Audi A1 Trim Levels Explained 

An Audi A1 lease comes in three main flavours: Sport, S line and Black Edition. Sport already covers the essentials nicely, so moving up the range is less about fixing missing equipment and more about how sporty you want your A1 to look. 

Audi A1 Sport 

Sport is the entry-level A1, but you won't spend every journey wishing you'd upgraded. You get 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 10.25-inch digital instrument display and the 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen, along with smartphone connectivity. 

Those 16-inch wheels are actually a point in Sport's favour. They might not fill the arches quite as dramatically, but they give the A1 a more forgiving ride and should make replacement tyres a little kinder to your wallet. 

Audi A1 S line 

S line is where the A1 starts looking noticeably more aggressive. You get 17-inch alloy wheels, S line exterior styling and sports seats inside, giving it more of the look people tend to associate with a sporty Audi. It's probably the trim we'd expect most A1 lease customers to be drawn towards.  

Audi A1 Black Edition 

Black Edition turns the styling dial up again, adding larger 18-inch alloy wheels and black exterior detailing for a much moodier look. We'd choose this one with our eyes rather than our heads. It certainly looks the part, but those 18-inch wheels aren't going to improve comfort and you're not getting a fundamentally better A1 underneath them. 

Which Audi A1 trim would we choose? 

Sport is the sensible choice and arguably the nicest A1 to live with every day. We'd be tempted by the S line if the monthly lease difference were small enough, because it gives the car a little more presence without going overboard. Black Edition looks great, but we'd struggle to justify paying much extra for it unless those 18-inch wheels really have your heart. 

How Does the Audi A1 Compare With Its Rivals? 

The Audi A1 has some seriously good competition. The MINI Cooper is more playful, the Volkswagen Polo offers similar foundations for less money and the Audi A3 gives you noticeably more space. Which one makes sense really comes down to what you want your small car to be good at. 

Audi A1 vs MINI Cooper 

If you want your small premium car to put a smile on your face, the MINI Cooper has the edge. It's more playful through corners and its interior has far more personality, especially in the latest generation with its huge circular OLED display. 

The A1 is the calmer choice. Its cabin is more conventional, the controls take virtually no learning and its five-door body makes getting people into the back straightforward. We'd take the MINI for fun, but the A1 for an easier everyday companion. 

Audi A1 vs Volkswagen Polo 

This is the awkward one for the A1 because the two cars share their basic underpinnings. The Volkswagen Polo is comfortable and available with similarly sensible petrol engines, usually without the Audi premium attached. 

What your extra money buys is mostly presentation. The A1 looks sharper, its dashboard feels more driver-focused and there's simply more badge appeal. If you're choosing purely with your head, the Polo makes an excellent case for itself. But if Audi already has your heart, there’s not much competition.  

Audi A1 vs Audi A3 

The A3 is 4,343mm long compared with the A1's 4,029mm, and its 380-litre boot gives you another 45 litres to play with. You'll notice the biggest difference in the back, where the A3 is much happier carrying adults regularly. 

The question is whether you actually need that extra space. If most journeys involve one or two people and a bit of luggage, the A1's smaller footprint is arguably more useful every day. If the lease prices are close or your rear seats regularly get used, we'd find the extra room for an A3. Otherwise, we'd happily pocket the difference and enjoy having an Audi that's easier to park. 

Is the Audi A1 Worth Leasing? 

Yes, the Audi A1 is worth leasing if you genuinely want a small premium car. It's refreshingly easy to live with around town, yet five doors and a 335-litre boot mean you don't have to travel light. It also feels reassuringly grown-up on the motorway, so choosing the smallest Audi doesn't restrict you to short journeys. 

You are paying extra for those four rings. The Volkswagen Polo shares much of the same DNA for less, while the MINI Cooper has more character behind the wheel. But the A1 has a knack for making everyday driving feel polished and uncomplicated, and there's something appealing about getting that Audi experience without leasing more car than you actually need. 

We'd keep the specification simple. The 30 TFSI has enough extra punch for motorway driving without going overboard, while Sport gives you the 10.25-inch digital display, 10.1-inch MMI touchscreen and more comfortable 16-inch wheels as standard. We'd only step up to the S line if the monthly difference were small. 

That's really the A1's sweet spot: sensible engine, sensible wheels and enough equipment to enjoy the premium bits you're actually paying for. Start piling on bigger alloys and expensive trim upgrades and we'd be looking rather closely at an Audi A3 instead. 

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