2018 Audi A1 vs 2019

What's the difference?

Scenario: You're a wealthy person. The kind of person that doesn't blink at dropping almost 40 Gs on a small car.

You're probably looking at the Audi A1 because one of your offspring (let's say Victoria or Rupert...) wants a new car and thinks the A1 is 'cute'. You don't mind so much, because the hire car you travel to work in from your home (in let’s say Vaucluse or Toorak…) is an Audi A8 and that's sufficiently posh to uphold your family standards.

Well, before you proceed you could at least read on, because I can give you some reasons why that might be a good idea, some reasons why it isn't, and one very important reason why you should at least wait a couple of months.

Update:

We first published this story on 21 November 2018, but the Audi A1 2019 model has still not launched in Australia. 

The good news is that the Audi A1 2020 model is due to launch in Australia in October 2019. At the time we’re publishing this update, the company still hasn’t confirmed its plan for the new-generation A1 here.

Stay tuned for our detailed review coverage and all the pricing and specifications information you need to know. 

As originally published, 21 November 2018:

Like a scrawny kid that reappeared after the school summer holidays with stubble, a deeper voice and newly bulging biceps, the second-generation Audi A1 isn’t how you remember it.

Sure, it’s still based on the same underpinnings as a Volkswagen Polo, but it has been designed to appeal to a different market to that car, and also to its predecessor.

This time around, almost 10 years after the original Audi A1 launched, it’s no longer a cute little city car - instead, it’s a compact muscle man, a far more angular and menacing looking little tyke. Still city-sized, but with a far more aggressive stance than the car it replaces.

But is it any good? I travelled to Spain as a guest of Audi Australia to find out.