Honey,
I SHRUNK
THE AUDI
If something can be said to be ‘A1’ it’s usually because it’s pretty damn good. And in that case, says Matthew Carter, the latest baby Audi is well named
M
ore than 30 years ago, Audi made a supermini it called the Audi 50. It was an unremarkable car, made in comparatively small numbers. Indeed, the most significant thing about the 50 was the fact that it was adopted by Volkswagen and rebadged as the first Polo. It was a turning point for the car. After just four years, the Audi 50 was dumped and the company retreated to the top end of the market, where it has done pretty well, thank you. Over the ensuing three-and-a-bit decades, meanwhile, the VW Polo has gone from strength to strength. But now Audi is back in the baby car market and, in a
neat about-turn, the latest VW Polo has been turned into the new Audi A1. Only this time it’s no badge-engineered special, but a genuine Audi that’s been shrunk in the wash. For some curious reason, a few motoring hacks have turned their noses up at the A1 because of its comparatively humble origins. Although everything you can see and touch is Audi, all the oily bits are pure VW and that, they reckon, isn’t good enough. What a load of nonsense. If the running gear works well – and it does – who cares that it’s shared between the Polo and the A1? Besides, there are worse places to start than the Polo… it was the 2010 Car of The Year, after all. Perhaps what they mean is that A1 doesn’t bring much in