RE: Chris Harris video: Audi A1 Quattro
Discussion
Great vid content and quality wise in my view, in fact the largely pointless trip went well in hand with the personal one man filing job, was a good laugh to watch and still well shot. Not everything has to be clinical and informative, the equally brilliant thread on LSD's covered that today.
Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character
. Good effort on the red dial though, really unique.
Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character
. Good effort on the red dial though, really unique. At least the Haldex is consistent. I remember my 2000 S3 being almost 100% front drive in its handling/traction characteristics, then almost the same in the next S3, then same again in recent TTs and this. What is the point of Haldex ? it really works as a traction aid but it ain't 4WD...
Three thoughts arose whilst watching the vid. In order:
1. £40k - too small for me, too expensive as a car for the missus, therefore dismiss as a purchase but there might be 333 people on the planet it works for
2. Drifting on ice looks fun but must be frustrating as a journalist if that's all you get to do to evaluate a new set of wheels
3. Is the eye the cause or result of the usual camera guy not being there?
1. £40k - too small for me, too expensive as a car for the missus, therefore dismiss as a purchase but there might be 333 people on the planet it works for
2. Drifting on ice looks fun but must be frustrating as a journalist if that's all you get to do to evaluate a new set of wheels
3. Is the eye the cause or result of the usual camera guy not being there?
Harris328i said:
Great vid content and quality wise in my view, in fact the largely pointless trip went well in hand with the personal one man filing job, was a good laugh to watch and still well shot. Not everything has to be clinical and informative, the equally brilliant thread on LSD's covered that today.
Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character . Good effort on the red dial though, really unique.
Golf R sits in a higher segement.Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character
. Good effort on the red dial though, really unique. That Audi is based on the VW Polo and a 40k Polo would be ludicrous.
cheddar said:
Harris328i said:
Great vid content and quality wise in my view, in fact the largely pointless trip went well in hand with the personal one man filing job, was a good laugh to watch and still well shot. Not everything has to be clinical and informative, the equally brilliant thread on LSD's covered that today.
Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character . Good effort on the red dial though, really unique.
Golf R sits in a higher segement.Not much to say on the car, other than it doesnt seem too expensive to me with it clearly being some form of engineering/marketing/internal division cock-waving exercise. They only need to sell a relatively small batch, convincing those 333 people shouldn't be too hard. The Golf R can hit £40k, as a mass market car thats far more laughable. Whilst Id love to have a look round the oily bits of one of these or see one on the road, it wouldnt be my choice. Plus as said above, for the price or not, they could have made it more special. Particularly inside which should have been a bit bonkers to make the rest of the car seem the same.
But then thats asking Audi to create a car with character
. Good effort on the red dial though, really unique. That Audi is based on the VW Polo and a 40k Polo would be ludicrous.
or that they are taking a platform not designed for 4WD, pulling it off the line and chopping it up, not cheap.
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Thursday 1st March 06:11
Really good idea though calling it an A1 If you go to the cars section of the yellow pages - there it is- first up. Clever buggers them Audis.
As for being polo sized - yeah but- it's only a tiny bit shorter than a Mk3 golf and it's actually wider than a Mk4. I had both and they seemed quite reasonably sized cars.
And the car? Well you'd just buy a John Cooper Works and save best part of 10k wouldn't you? If you were like that...
As for being polo sized - yeah but- it's only a tiny bit shorter than a Mk3 golf and it's actually wider than a Mk4. I had both and they seemed quite reasonably sized cars.
And the car? Well you'd just buy a John Cooper Works and save best part of 10k wouldn't you? If you were like that...
Olf said:
Really good idea though calling it an A1 If you go to the cars section of the yellow pages - there it is- first up. Clever buggers them Audis.
As for being polo sized - yeah but- it's only a tiny bit shorter than a Mk3 golf and it's actually wider than a Mk4. I had both and they seemed quite reasonably sized cars.
And the car? Well you'd just buy a John Cooper Works and save best part of 10k wouldn't you? If you were like that...
Save 10k?As for being polo sized - yeah but- it's only a tiny bit shorter than a Mk3 golf and it's actually wider than a Mk4. I had both and they seemed quite reasonably sized cars.
And the car? Well you'd just buy a John Cooper Works and save best part of 10k wouldn't you? If you were like that...
More like 20...
cheddar said:
Golf R sits in a higher segement.
That Audi is based on the VW Polo and a 40k Polo would be ludicrous.
Clearly, but not high enough to warrant a 40k tag itself imo. Either way thats another point, but I used it mainly because this A1 special isnt a mass market car its a company exercise of some sort that enough people will buy into to make it viable, so the price really doesn't matter.That Audi is based on the VW Polo and a 40k Polo would be ludicrous.
Dave Hedgehog said:
dont forget that you can spec an A1 to 34k, and there is not even an S model atm (and you can spec an R golf to 45k!)
or that they are taking a platform not designed for 4WD, pulling it off the line and chopping it up, not cheap.
£45k. Thats just mental.or that they are taking a platform not designed for 4WD, pulling it off the line and chopping it up, not cheap.
Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Thursday 1st March 06:11
t.Lovin' Monkey's home made video, thought it was a fun piece of video journalism 
As for the car..... geeez, I thought 40K for the RS3 was a joke, now it seems someone in the Audi marketing dept has really decided to extract the urine with this one tho'!! Anyone who buys this at that price needs their head examined and they clearly have too much money.
It's not nearly exotic enough in construction to warrant that sort of price tag... drop £15K and it makes more sense.
That said, if Audi have sorted the torque split to stop it being a normal Audi understeer-beast, given it some "feel" and set it up to ride properly on real roads, it could be a fun car to drive. It's just too damn expensive for what it is.
As for the car..... geeez, I thought 40K for the RS3 was a joke, now it seems someone in the Audi marketing dept has really decided to extract the urine with this one tho'!! Anyone who buys this at that price needs their head examined and they clearly have too much money.
It's not nearly exotic enough in construction to warrant that sort of price tag... drop £15K and it makes more sense.
That said, if Audi have sorted the torque split to stop it being a normal Audi understeer-beast, given it some "feel" and set it up to ride properly on real roads, it could be a fun car to drive. It's just too damn expensive for what it is.
hunt_the_fox said:
Being a keen student of the classifieds I have seen 997 turbos for £40k.
Audi must be having a laugh.
Yeehah - it's the PH staple - how much! you could get a ___ for that!Audi must be having a laugh.
So Chris, £40K is burning a hole in your pocket, you've seen the brochure for the A1 Quattro, you fancy some 4x4 compact hoonery, what do you buy instead? My bid would be on a RB320 Impreza and a maintenance budget. Or maybe one of those bonkers 400hp Lichfield mods. Any takers?
Edited by Gorbyrev on Thursday 1st March 17:05
My £40k wouldn't go anywhere near one. As a journo I want to support any kind of left-field activity because it makes the world a better place, but the A1 pushes the boundaries. As does launching it in a manner that makes it impossible to appraise. Those that buy them will have done so for specific reasons and won't care what we think.
That money on a daily-driver, I'd still take a BMW 1M Coupe. I think it's a brilliant car. Heads to classifieds.
That money on a daily-driver, I'd still take a BMW 1M Coupe. I think it's a brilliant car. Heads to classifieds.
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