Audi MINI-Competitor Confirmed

[Metar]

Top Audi officials have reportedly told Germany's WirtschaftsWoche magazine that development of a MINI competitor has been approved. Believed to be called the A1, the new car is based on the A000 architecture.

Previous reports indicated Audi was having a hard time sourcing a platform for the A1. It now appears the car is being developed in conjunction with sister company SEAT. Audi is also rumored to be working with SEAT on a new mid-engine platform, which will be used for the Audi R4 — a Porsche Boxster competitor.

Previous reports have indicated the A1 will arrive as a 2009 or 2010 model. Rumor has it the car will show up at IAA 2009 in Frankfurt. A 240 horsepower model will be positioned against the Mini Cooper.

[URL="http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/11/06/report-audis-mini-fighting-a1-confirmed]Link[/URL]

I'd love to see BMW and Audi battle it out with hot-hatches...

 

[Max_DC]

Look a little strange in the first moment, kind of too girlish for my taste....

 

[Metar]

Look a little strange in the first moment, kind of too girlish for my taste....

The front doesn't look OK, and the rear could use a slightly bigger rear window, but those aren't even confirmed things - it's a render, after all.

 

[a6m5]

Is that the new Subaru Justy?

 

[Mt. Lynx]

Remember these are chops/renders, and has very little/nothing to do with the real thing. Infact, I think it´s going to be uglier! I get a picture of an A2 2 seater in my head...

 

[Poverty]

 

[Metar]

These two look best, even though the rear is a bit MINI-like... A good thing, but it looks a little too similar. Good that Audi, in this render, kept the "Audi-lines" similar to the other cars they offer.

 

[Dave A]

I don't think that front suits such a small car though.

 

[Metar]

I don't think that front suits such a small car though.

Yeah, too much... Perhaps something like the 2nd-stage R8 prototype had, a "squeezed" Audi-style front?

 

[Jim Prower]

it'd make a nice VW.

 

[Poverty]

vw has lupo and polo

 

[Dave A]

I don't think he means VW should make another small car, I think he means more that Audi shouldn't.

 

[Poverty]

I think if its a proper mini competitor it would make a great addition. Its not like minis are cheap or not good cars.

 

[Dave A]

No but small cars take away from a brands prestige. Look at Mercedes befre they atarted making small cars and look them after they hold nowhere near the level of prestige they had before and also their quality suffered as they tried to make the smaller cars affordable and not outpriced by everyone elses small cars.

 

[Race Idiot]

So wait the smallest base model audi is going to be running 18's? Man Audi are a wierd company. One one hand you see these fantastic performance models like the R8 and the RS4 and on the other hand you have these terrible riding dullardmobiles marketed to people who want to just buy a badge.

My guess is that it will be way too heavy, expensive and (like allot of audis) ride like utter ass.

It shouldn't do too badly seeing as there are people buying 1-series'es though.

 

[95GTIVR6]

A 240 horsepower model will be positioned against the Mini Cooper.

.

Mmmm.....quattro

 

[Metar]

.

Mmmm.....quattro

Which is not a good idea. Just look at the BMW 1-Series, the RWD took away lots of rear space, leaving barely anything more than two front seats, an engine and RWD - which kinda isn't the point of a compact. And 4WD has the same disadvantages as RWD - it needs an engine positioned on the front-back axis, same with the gearbox - which makes the car longer, and the driveshaft also takes up space between the rear seats..

 

[slidesquad#1]

Not too sure about these renders, to be honest. The blue one looks pretty similar to the Seat hatchback (Cupra?), and the silver one looks like a Swift with a slightly less rounded Megane ass grafted on.

 

[Metar]

Not too sure about these renders, to be honest. The blue one looks pretty similar to the Seat hatchback (Cupra?), and the silver one looks like a Swift with a slightly less rounded Megane ass grafted on.

Yeah, rounded Megane ass is right. BTW, it should be similar to a SEAT - Audi and SEAT cooperate on this one.

 

[L8 Apex]

240 horses in that?!? Forget Minis, if Audi gave it quattro and DSG it in addition to whatever motor that 240hp piece would be (2.0T?) they'd probably be able to go M3 hunting!
Cooler still though would be a TDI version with 150-ish horsepower with DSG that got over 60 mpg while doing 0-60 mph in the mid to low 6s.

 

[Poverty]

So wait the smallest base model audi is going to be running 18's? Man Audi are a wierd company. One one hand you see these fantastic performance models like the R8 and the RS4 and on the other hand you have these terrible riding dullardmobiles marketed to people who want to just buy a badge.

My guess is that it will be way too heavy, expensive and (like allot of audis) ride like utter ass.

It shouldn't do too badly seeing as there are people buying 1-series'es though.

have you ever driven an audi, because unless you drive a MB or BMW, or something better than a BMW like porsche, ferrari etc I would like to see what you call cars that handle worse than an audi, because even a BMW engineer was sayin how audi and MB where its closest competitors when it comes to handling and dynamics.

People need to stop using old stereotypes for audi's cause they are still a hell of a lot better than 90% of those other cars on the road.

Hell in a review YSSMAN posted of the S4 they said the handling was great and it was fun to drive beating the c55 and cts-v. Jeremy clarkson also said it handled great aswell. So I dont see how you can base your opinion on audi riding like utter ass when cars like the A6 outsell the 5er and E-class in their homeland, and how the S8 and sometimes even the A8 beat out the 7er when it comes to ride and handling. Then ofcourse there is the new TT which is great.

If audis handle like crap anything other than a BMW and MB must be like a ride through hell with the devil.

P.S

how do you know the car will have 18s? Wouldnt surprise me at all if they were an option as cars are getting bigger and alloys are following suite. Its happening with every manufacturer.

 

[Tornado]

If audis handle like crap anything other than a BMW and MB must be like a ride through hell with the devil.

While not particularly related to the point that post was trying to convey, this "Mini Fighter" as it has been stupidly titled (and has already had a thread as the successor to the A2 which you created) is the follow up to this:

Which was the single stupidest idea by a German manufacturer. Ever. Yes, even more so than the Phaeton. I very highly doubt Audi will come up with a car that will be anywhere close to rivalling the Mini (because it will be too heavy and/or understeer too much, I guarantee it) and I furthermore don't think it would sell anyways. The original A2 didn't. The Mini sells on retro/cute styling and by being a sporting car, practicality be damned. And there is no way in hell they could sell this in America anyways (as I said in the other thread), where the Mini has taking off since it was introduced.
There is also practically no chance that this A2 will be given Quattro. They simply won't do it in a car this small.

 

[Race Idiot]

have you ever driven an audi, because unless you drive a MB or BMW, or something better than a BMW like porsche, ferrari etc I would like to see what you call cars that handle worse than an audi, because even a BMW engineer was sayin how audi and MB where its closest competitors when it comes to handling and dynamics.

People need to stop using old stereotypes for audi's cause they are still a hell of a lot better than 90% of those other cars on the road.

Hell in a review YSSMAN posted of the S4 they said the handling was great and it was fun to drive beating the c55 and cts-v. Jeremy clarkson also said it handled great aswell. So I dont see how you can base your opinion on audi riding like utter ass when cars like the A6 outsell the 5er and E-class in their homeland, and how the S8 and sometimes even the A8 beat out the 7er when it comes to ride and handling. Then ofcourse there is the new TT which is great.

If audis handle like crap anything other than a BMW and MB must be like a ride through hell with the devil.

P.S

how do you know the car will have 18s? Wouldnt surprise me at all if they were an option as cars are getting bigger and alloys are following suite. Its happening with every manufacturer.

Lets see, my parents owned went through two Audi TT's, which had a harsh ride (expected a harsh ride out of somehting sporty) but then they have sod all feel for the road. The steering was also far too light. Lets see, i've driven a 1st gen A3 1.6, a 2nd gen a3 with the 2.0 fsi engine, a rental a4 1.8 non turbo, a2 loaner car a couple of times when the tt broke.

All of these cars (barring the a2, because I never realy drove it much) had far too harsh rides for what they were. Also the a3', a4 and tt had sod all feeling in the steering.
Recently my mum was looking for another car which the a3 fit her criteria, she couldn't stand the harsh ride (for the type of car it is) and neither could I. I ended up picking out a MKIV golf instead which still didn't have much steering feel but it didn't have such a harsh ride. I ended up testdriving an a3 sportback or whatever when I was thinking about getting a car on finance and there wasn't that much difference.

They may handle fantastically, but it's a bit hard to tell if you've got sod all steering feeling and such an overly harsh ride. I mean I can cope with a harsh ride in a sports car, but in a fairly normal hatchback it's just kinda irritating.

The thing with massive omg huge wheels becoming a common trend is that it does leads to, guess what? Reduced ride quality! Also it's gonna be funny when you have to splash out £1000 for a (good) set of tyres for a small hatchback. Well with most people I suppose they'll just buy the cheapest tyres available which will then make the car handle even worse!

But don't bother listening to me because I bought a 10 yearold sportscar that rides like an earthquake machine purely out of childhood sentementality.

 

[Wolfe]

For some reason, those "photos" make me think "Audi's interpretation of a PT Cruiser," especially the first one.

I'd love to see an attractive-looking realization of this idea, though.

 

[YSSMAN]

My two cents:

...Okay, the MINI Cooper is a great car in all, but why would we want Audi to go after the car when Volkswagen could do it just as easily with the Polo? Here in the US, the Cooper sits on that kinda cheap, kinda expensive line in which it is accompanied by other "high-end compacts" like the Mazda 3s and the former Acura RSX (read Integra).

Technically speaking, the VW Rabbit would be fighting it out with the MINI to begin with, starting with a several thousand dollar advantage. Build quality seems similar to me, the biggest deciding factor would be fuel mileage. Not that big of a deal...

So why not just use a Polo? It just makes more sense to me...

 

[Tornado]

Technically speaking, the VW Rabbit would be fighting it out with the MINI to begin with, starting with a several thousand dollar advantage. Build quality seems similar to me, the biggest deciding factor would be fuel mileage. Not that big of a deal...

Perhaps driving excitement?

 

[harrytuttle]

It looks like an evolution of the A2 in the exact same manner as the TT has evolved. Same detailing, even, especially with the back half. I don't think it will sell, either, for the same reason the A2 didn't: massive doses of overlap.

 

[YSSMAN]

Perhaps driving excitement?

Certainly so I suppose. The Rabbit certainly is more fun to drive than your average Civic or Corolla, but it certainly isn't a Cooper or a 3s.

 

[Poverty]

Lets see, my parents owned went through two Audi TT's, which had a harsh ride (expected a harsh ride out of somehting sporty) but then they have sod all feel for the road. The steering was also far too light. Lets see, i've driven a 1st gen A3 1.6, a 2nd gen a3 with the 2.0 fsi engine, a rental a4 1.8 non turbo, a2 loaner car a couple of times when the tt broke.

All of these cars (barring the a2, because I never realy drove it much) had far too harsh rides for what they were. Also the a3', a4 and tt had sod all feeling in the steering.
Recently my mum was looking for another car which the a3 fit her criteria, she couldn't stand the harsh ride (for the type of car it is) and neither could I. I ended up picking out a MKIV golf instead which still didn't have much steering feel but it didn't have such a harsh ride. I ended up testdriving an a3 sportback or whatever when I was thinking about getting a car on finance and there wasn't that much difference.

They may handle fantastically, but it's a bit hard to tell if you've got sod all steering feeling and such an overly harsh ride. I mean I can cope with a harsh ride in a sports car, but in a fairly normal hatchback it's just kinda irritating.

The thing with massive omg huge wheels becoming a common trend is that it does leads to, guess what? Reduced ride quality! Also it's gonna be funny when you have to splash out £1000 for a (good) set of tyres for a small hatchback. Well with most people I suppose they'll just buy the cheapest tyres available which will then make the car handle even worse!

But don't bother listening to me because I bought a 10 yearold sportscar that rides like an earthquake machine purely out of childhood sentementality.

lol how can you say a VW understeers less than audi, when they are on the same chassis, except that the audi is lighter than the equivelant golf in 2.0FSI form atleast. The Audi versions of the cars that VW have also got are always faster around the 'ring and hockenheim. Also it depends on what year versions of audi's you drove as they often change settings every other year, and then theres spec trim, tyre and alloy size to take into account.

Anyway moving on from old audi stereotypes, the new A2 would be a instant and guaranteed hit. Just look at how well the A3 is doing. If audi can make a cute looking car, thats nimble, safe, easy to park and with the usual class leading interior it will be a major sucess, especially with those very economical engines VAG has.

The mini is great, however its a retro vehicle, and more of a fashion accessory, it could go out of fashion anyday, and the interior isnt all that great, but i expect the MK 2 bmw mini to change that. My GF is getting a mini, and the reason why she wanted is because they are cute looking. I encouraged her to get it cause its meant to have go kart like handling. If audi can manage to do similiar, but better they have a hit, even if its not as good it will be a hit, as long as it looks good.

The original A2 didnt look good and it was expensive. Other than that it was much better than the A-class, and if the MK1 A2 didnt damage audi then this proposed one shouldnt either.

 

[Dave A]

Because of the engine placement. Many Audi's still have the engines mounted too far forwards, VW's do not. The fact that they are on the same chassis put's the ball in VW's court handling wise, ofcourse there is alot more to it than just that to consider but I don't think you have access to all the things you'd need to know to work it out for yourself. As it stands I'd say theres a good chance the VW does handle better.