We reckon the limited-run Audi A1 quattro is a pretty cool bit of kit. And we can think of few better places to have fun in the little fella than on a frozen lake in Sweden. That’s exactly what a few European-based journos have had the chance to do.
Evo: “Grip levels were surprisingly decent on snow-covered ice, although steering feel was still noticeable by its absence (we’ll wait until we get one on tarmac to report on that)—and the A1 has been set up with a pleasingly neutral handling balance, torque being shunted to the rear axle when understeer is detected, with a version of Audi’s torque vectoring system also helping out.”
Chris Harris for Pistonheads: “The Haldex 4WD system still feels front-biased (because it is), but on small studs and a frozen lake it’ll hold great big, all-four-wheels-pointing-in-the-same-direction slides that are immense fun. But don’t actually give any indication of what the car will be like on the road.”
Autocar: “You don’t even need to use the handbrake, just barrel into a corner, lift and then back on the gas in a lovely drift.”
So they had a lot of fun, but weren’t really able to get a good feel for the A1 quattro’s on road abilities. Either way with some of the mods Audi has made for this currently unique A1 you’d reckon there’s more to come, possibly in the form of S and/or RS model designations as well as a Q1 soft-roader.
Although, given the price of the A1 quattro—at around £40K it costs more in the UK than an RS3—maybe they’ll be recouping all their development costs if they manage to sell all 333 examples.
We’ll just have to wait and see what else Audi plans to do with AWD on the A1. For now we can enjoy a short video from Evo showing the A1 quattro on ice.
[Source: Evo, Pistonheads, Autocar | Pic: Evo]