An ideal companion for an urban lifestyle

With its infotainment and interior features on a par with the full-size class, the A1 Sportback is firmly networked with the digital world.
Jo-Mare Duddy Booysen
In 2011, a brand-new Audi model line made its debut in the shape of the A1, having found just over 13 700 South African homes since its launch, the compact hatchback is now ready for round two.

Its dynamic design characterises the new Audi A1 Sportback and is the ideal companion in the urban environment while also being very well suited for longer journeys.

With its infotainment and interior features on a par with the full-size class, the A1 Sportback is firmly networked with the digital world. New trim lines and package structures also provide ample opportunity for customisation.

Exterior design

The A1 Sportback has grown significantly in length – with an additional 56 millimetres, it now measures 4.03 metres. At the same time, the width has remained almost the same at 1.74 metres. The new-generation model is only 1.41 metres in height – including aerial, the car is 1.43 metres tall. The wide track and short overhangs provide for a taut, sporty look. The wide, low-placed Singleframe grille and the implied side air inlets dominate the distinctive front. Below the edge of the hood are three flat slits – an homage to the Sport quattro, the brand’s rally icon from 1984.

The new A1 Sportback continues its resemblance to the Audi Ur-quattro and Sport quattro when viewed from the side: The wide, flat sloping C-pillar seems to push the car forward even while standing still.

The roof contrast line, which is available in two dark colours (black and grey), ends above the C-pillar. This gives the impression that the roof is flatter and the complete car is even lower-slung. All lines on the flanks, from the window edge to the sill, slope upward toward the rear in a wedge shape. The distinctively highlighted wheels and the low shoulder line in between give the A1 Sportback a solid stance on the road.

The distinctive daytime running light graphics of the full-LED lights (standard on 35 and 40 TFSI) echo the dynamic wing shapes from sailing, known as hydrofoils. The design of the shutters for the main light also draws inspiration from sailing.

The wing segments on the flanks create an impression of maximum width. A low-set, concentrated look in conjunction with the small rhombus segments in the top section of the headlights provides a sporty appearance.

The new A1 Sportback is available in a choice of ten colours. The roof of the compact model can be optionally finished in a contrasting colour from the A-pillar to the roof edge spoiler.

A sporty character

The Launch Edition model (known as Edition #1), based on the S line equipment line in Python Yellow paint colour and available from market launch, is particularly distinctive. It impressively showcases the design language of the A1 with numerous contrasts.

Large 18-inch Audi Sport alloy wheels and black contrasting roof and exterior mirror housings, set powerful accents to create a sporty look. Borrowing from the legendary Audi Sport quattro, the LED headlights and LED rear lights are dark-tinted. The Audi rings in the Singleframe and the model designation on the back are black, emphasising an increased athletic and trendy appeal.

Freely combinable

A new feature in the A1 Sportback is the equipment modular lines structure. This provides for a particularly high degree of flexibility for the customer.

Depending on the equipment line – Standard, Advanced or S line – the attachments on the exterior are available in various configurations.

With S line equipment, Audi has emphasised the sporty character even more through numerous features. These include larger air inlets, additional sill trims, an elongated slit centrally below the hood with two fins and the larger rear wing. The top-of-the-line engine (Audi A1 45 TFSI) is also recognizable with its striking twin tailpipes.

Audi is additionally affording customers numerous possibilities to select colours and materials accordingly with the Black Styling Package and Contrast Package. The Black Styling Package includes the radiator grille in mate black; grille frame; front air inlet frame; rear diffuser and front spoiler, all in high gloss black. The Contrast Package offers a contrasting roof dome; exterior mirror housing; front spoiler lip and side skirts in Mythos Black Metallic or Manhattan Grey Metallic.

New look

“The sportiest interior in the compact class,” that was the stated aim of the design. The interior is accordingly driver-focused, with its emotive, customizable design. The eye is drawn in particular to the sporty compact unit of air vent nozzles, hood and the digital instrument cluster.

All of the controls and the standard MMI touch display are strongly driver-oriented thus emphasising the special cockpit character.

Various seat and upholstery options are available from standard cloth variations to other sport variants in cloth or leather/leatherette combination.

Decorative inlays and accents in the interior of the vehicle provide additional cockpit design enhancements. The inlays are available in black (standard) or the optional slate grey colour. Accents come standard in black with optional colours in silver, yellow and mint.

Space concept

The new A1 Sportback is much more spacious – making life much more comfortable for the driver, front passenger and rear passengers. Despite the compact exterior dimensions and the sporty roof line, adults in the rear seats still enjoy plenty of head and leg room.

Luggage capacity has increased by 65 litres. Normal capacity is 335 litres; with the rear seats folded down, this increases to 1 090 litres. Loading sill height is a comfortably low 67 centimetres.

Light and particularly robust

The body of the new Audi A1 Sportback includes components made out of hot-formed steel that form the backbone of the passenger cell. The rigid body and exact fits guarantee sportily precise driving and the absence of intrusive noise on board. With a front area of 2.07 sq. and a drag coefficient of 0.31, the new A1 Sportback offers very little windage.

Powerful and efficient

Whether running around town or going on a weekend excursion – its powerful engines in particular make driving the new Audi A1 Sportback so much fun. There is a choice of three efficient petrol engines with outputs ranging from 85 kW to 147 kW. Turbocharging, direct injection and a particulate filter are standard.

Audi is making a seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission available for the 1.0 and 1.5 engines. The exception is the top-of-the-range, 2.0 engine, where a six-speed S tronic transmission shifts gears as standard. - Quickpic

Kommentaar

Republikein 2024-10-18

Geen kommentaar is op hierdie artikel gelaat nie

Meld asseblief aan om kommentaar te lewer

Katima Mulilo: 22° | 39° Rundu: 21° | 38° Eenhana: 19° | 37° Oshakati: 20° | 37° Ruacana: 18° | 37° Tsumeb: 23° | 35° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 33° Omaruru: 17° | 33° Windhoek: 16° | 30° Gobabis: 16° | 33° Henties Bay: 12° | 18° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 09:33, High tide: 03:44, Low Tide: 22:02, High tide: 15:58 Swakopmund: 13° | 15° Wind speed: 25km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 09:31, High tide: 03:42, Low Tide: 22:00, High tide: 15:56 Walvis Bay: 13° | 21° Wind speed: 37km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 09:31, High tide: 03:41, Low Tide: 22:00, High tide: 15:55 Rehoboth: 12° | 31° Mariental: 15° | 31° Keetmanshoop: 14° | 31° Aranos: 14° | 32° Lüderitz: 13° | 24° Ariamsvlei: 14° | 29° Oranjemund: 11° | 18° Luanda: 24° | 25° Gaborone: 19° | 35° Lubumbashi: 18° | 37° Mbabane: 13° | 27° Maseru: 12° | 26° Antananarivo: 15° | 27° Lilongwe: 21° | 33° Maputo: 18° | 29° Windhoek: 16° | 30° Cape Town: 14° | 16° Durban: 18° | 22° Johannesburg: 19° | 29° Dar es Salaam: 25° | 30° Lusaka: 21° | 36° Harare: 17° | 32° Currency: GBP to NAD 22.85 | EUR to NAD 19.04 | CNY to NAD 2.47 | USD to NAD 17.55 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.27 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.09 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 133.06 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.35 | USD to EGP 48.58 | USD to KES 128.5 | USD to NGN 1652.16 | USD to ZAR 17.55 | USD to ZMW 26.66 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1868.93 Up +0.75% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14125.26 Up +2.10% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30143.86 Down -1.31% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9834.64 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 707.62/OZ UP +0.51% | Copper US$ 4.38/lb UP +1.36% | Zinc US$ 3 098.80/T UP 1.44% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.42/BBP DOWN -0.004 | Platinum US$ 1 006.54/OZ UP +1.21% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 22° | 39° Rundu: 21° | 38° Eenhana: 19° | 37° Oshakati: 20° | 37° Ruacana: 18° | 37° Tsumeb: 23° | 35° Otjiwarongo: 18° | 33° Omaruru: 17° | 33° Windhoek: 16° | 30° Gobabis: 16° | 33° Henties Bay: 12° | 18° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 09:33, High tide: 03:44, Low Tide: 22:02, High tide: 15:58 Swakopmund: 13° | 15° Wind speed: 25km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 09:31, High tide: 03:42, Low Tide: 22:00, High tide: 15:56 Walvis Bay: 13° | 21° Wind speed: 37km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 09:31, High tide: 03:41, Low Tide: 22:00, High tide: 15:55 Rehoboth: 12° | 31° Mariental: 15° | 31° Keetmanshoop: 14° | 31° Aranos: 14° | 32° Lüderitz: 13° | 24° Ariamsvlei: 14° | 29° Oranjemund: 11° | 18° Luanda: 24° | 25° Gaborone: 19° | 35° Lubumbashi: 18° | 37° Mbabane: 13° | 27° Maseru: 12° | 26° Antananarivo: 15° | 27° Lilongwe: 21° | 33° Maputo: 18° | 29° Windhoek: 16° | 30° Cape Town: 14° | 16° Durban: 18° | 22° Johannesburg: 19° | 29° Dar es Salaam: 25° | 30° Lusaka: 21° | 36° Harare: 17° | 32° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 22.85 | EUR to NAD 19.04 | CNY to NAD 2.47 | USD to NAD 17.55 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.27 | EGP to NAD 0.35 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.65 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.09 | RUB to NAD 0.18 | INR to NAD 0.21 | USD to DZD 133.06 | USD to AOA 909.05 | USD to BWP 13.35 | USD to EGP 48.58 | USD to KES 128.5 | USD to NGN 1652.16 | USD to ZAR 17.55 | USD to ZMW 26.66 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index Same 0 | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1868.93 Up +0.75% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 14125.26 Up +2.10% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 30143.86 Down -1.31% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9834.64 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 707.62/OZ UP +0.51% | Copper US$ 4.38/lb UP +1.36% | Zinc US$ 3 098.80/T UP 1.44% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 74.42/BBP DOWN -0.004 | Platinum US$ 1 006.54/OZ UP +1.21%