New or used A1

[Timothy Nathan]

Hi all.

I have an A6 and we are sold on the brand. My wife is therefore going to get an A1.

It has to be Automatic 5 door, and she would like quite a few extras, like bluetooth, satnav, Cruise, DIS etc.

Used Sportsback A1s with Automatic seem to be like hens' teeth, and barely any saving on new.

So, would you wait for a used, or just take the plunge on new?

If we go for new, what extras are good and less good?

[aurora7]

Hi Timothy,

As you've probably noticed, the A1 part of this forum isn't as well attended as the A6 one.... I'm probably committing treason by saying this, but there is another separate forum (called The Audi A1 Forum) which is very well populated, although mainly with people who like S-lines and their wheels (so the arguments never change!!).

I recently bought an A1 to keep my A6 company; it's not automatic as we wanted the 2.0 TDI, but I did order nearly every option imaginable so if you want a bit more detail then let me know. Given your penchant for comfortable rides (which I share) then you and your wife need to be absolutely sure of the suspension before buying. I specified the dynamic suspension option on the A1 Sport, which gives a slightly softer ride, although it's still hard compared to the A6 obviously!

An incredibly fun car all round, with stunning fuel consumption.

[Timothy Nathan]

We test drove the Sport today. It had 17" wheels and the sport suspension and was marginally hard, so I am confident that with the SE suspension and 16" wheels it would be OK, though it does seem daft that they won't supply 15". I cannot fathom why not.

We loved it. It was actually very reminiscent of the A6 to drive.

The only question now is whether we order one, or look at a Polo.

We might have been interested in an Up! or a Citigo, if it weren't for the execrable ASG gearbox. I cannot believe that anyone drives that gearbox and then buys the car!

It is amazing that there seems to be no-one on here. I'll pop across to The Audi A1 Forum. Thank you!

[aurora7]

PS a couple of pointers on options that work differently in the A1 compared to the A6:

- keyless entry: in the A1 it only activates on the driver's side, not the passenger side
- folding door mirrors: in the A1 this can only be done by twiddling the knob below the window whilst still in the car; whereas in the A6 you can configure the mirrors to automatically fold when locking the car via the MMI, the A1 doesn't do it this way (and Audi won't tweak it so that it does.... it can be done via VCDS though but I am hesitant to go down that route)

Not sure if either of those options are of interest, but I thought they were worth pointing out, in case your expectations were already set from the A6.

[Timothy Nathan]

That's really helpful, thank you. I had assumed that both work as in the A6.

[fernar]

We were looking for a used A1 - and as you say they are difficult to find if you want all the fancy options - however we did find a s-line that had a lot of options and it was expensive..... I would suggest that you ring a couple of dealers to see if they have any ex-demo cars they are looking to sell - it's coming to year end and will be good time to get a better price (I doubt you will get a great price...)

We did get the car we wanted in the end - it was a ex-dem car and is an s-line, with Sat nav, ambient lighting, Xenon. The option that was missing from the car was heated side mirrors - and Audi tell that they cant retro fit it (apparently new A1 has this as standard now). The other option my wife wanted was heated seats - but when you are looking for used or ex-dem car you are stuck with what out there.... but since getting the car, because the seats are a combination of leather and cloth, she is not missing the heated seats she was used to in her previous car...

Overall happy with the car - and while you can get a similar spec Polo for a lower price, I think the A1 is a better looking car and better built.