Audi A1 vs Mercedes-Benz X220

What's the difference?

If you’re eager for a sporty compact hatchback with premium design and luxury car badges, the Audi A1 40 TFSI is a very, very strong contender. It’s fast, fun, and functional for a little hatchback. It’s just very expensive, and for most people the $10K cheaper 35 TFSI model will tick most of the boxes. I’d recommend you drive it before signing on for the top-spec model.

The X-Class Pure 4x2 is good, but that's its major problem, because three-pointed stars and their high price tags bring with them a justified expectation of being not just good - but great. If a second-generation X-Class needs to borrow some components again, we hope they're from the legendary G-Wagen next time. In fact,a platform share between X-Class and G-Wagen (like Ranger/Everest or Colorado/Trailblazer etc) would have much greater appeal.

I don’t think I’ve seen a better transformation between generations than the current A1. In its previous guise it was bubbly and cute, but now it’s an angular brute.

This version’s S line sports body kit and funky 18-inch alloy wheels certainly help in that regard, but even the standard lighting signatures - LEDs front and rear - make it stand out as anything but a cutie pie city car.

The good news is that it hasn’t grown too much, either. Sure, it is a bit bigger, measuring 4029mm (on a 2563mm wheelbase), 1740mm wide and 1409mm tall. The last one was smaller (3973mm long on a 2469mm wheelbase, 1746mm wide and 1422mm tall), but this one isn’t elephantine in its proportions and so remains simple to park and squeezy enough to be considered a Light Car by industry standards.

And there are some really, really playful colours available. Like this Turbo Blue (which is only for this spec), and Python Yellow. There’s also black, green, red, three different greys, and two whites. The only issue is that flat white (Cortina White) is the only no-cost paint option. The rest will set out back $490 (for Tioman Green or the blue you see here) or $990 (for the rest). 

And then you can option the paint with a black roof, for $1380 combined with blue or green, or $1880 in all the other colours. The black exterior styling pack adds black highlights around the grille and on the front and rear bumpers. Those little Audi four-ring stickers on the rear doors are standard on this spec.

But to be honest, it stands out no matter what colour you choose, and that’s enough to get people’s heads turning on the street. And the interior design? Well, it has some good and bad points. See the interior pictures below to make up your own mind. 

Benz has re-engineered the Navara's steel ladder-frame chassis for greater rigidity and topped it with a restyled body that's 85mm longer and 126mm wider with a new M-B interior. There are also new front suspension components and a new coil-spring multi-link live rear axle assembly with disc brakes, which result in track width increases of 82mm front and 75mm rear (compared to RX Navara 4x2).

These engineering changes, combined with revised springs, shocks, anti-sway bars and steering, result in sure-footed handling with sharp steering response, excellent ride quality and a feeling of solidity that are all X-Class strengths. However, they have also resulted in a hefty 236kg weight gain.

The X-Class Pure 4x2 rides on a 3150mm wheelbase with a 5340mm overall length, 1916mm width and 1839mm height. In comparison to Ford's Ranger, which is considered the 'bigfoot' of Aussie dual cabs, the X-Class is 70mm shorter in wheelbase and 22mm shorter overall, but 56mm wider, 24mm taller and lineball on turning circle at 12.8 metres. So, like the Ranger it's quite a large and imposing vehicle.

Critical rough road credentials include 222mm of ground clearance with 30 degree approach and 25 degree departure angles. Its wading depth of 600mm is better than Amarok (500mm) but considerably less than Ranger (800mm).

It's nice to see sizeable grab handles on the window pillars for front and rear passengers and the driving position is pretty good. However, the Pure's front seats lack sufficient lumbar support and the base cushion (at least the driver's) needs some rake adjustment, as it can feel like you're sliding off the front at times.

For such a sizable vehicle we're surprised by how cramped the rear seating is for taller adults in terms of length and height, with knees touching the front seat backrests and, thanks to the higher 'grandstand' style rear seating, heads touching the roof lining. The rearward location of the B pillar also makes for quite tight entry and exit for those long of limb and large of shoe.

There are elements of the A1’s cabin design that are tremendous. And other bits that are not so tremendous. 

The bad bits include the fact you’re paying about $50,000 on the road for a car that has hard plastic just about everywhere the eye can see.

The good bits are that the textured plastics on the dash are beautiful, and so are the designed elements on the doors. I love the door handles, I love the metallic finish, I love the layout and I love the way it makes you forget that you’re in a luxury-branded car with hard plastic all around you.

The media screen and digital dashboard help, too - it feels technical and premium in the driver’s seat as a result. The graphics are crisp and clear, the menus are mostly easy to navigate, but I had some issues getting Apple CarPlay to work. It has wireless CarPlay, and I had it plugged in, so perhaps that was confusing things.

But the Audi media system also includes Audi Connect in this spec, meaning there are realtime map, traffic and hazard updates, plus a Wi-Fi hotspot, fuel prices, parking, weather and Google maps and services. It’s high-tech, and if that’s what you like, this is definitely going to please you more than a Mini Cooper.

Practicality is good, with bottle holders in all four doors, cup holders between the front seats and a covered centre console and wireless charging bay in front of the shifter. In the back, storage is sparse: aside from the door pockets, there’s nothing - no cup holders, no map pockets. 

There is enough space for four adults in the A1, so if you plan to take your mates to brunch or if you’ve got young kids, you should be comfortable enough in here.

I had the driver’s seat set for my own height (182cm) and I was able to slide in to the rear seat without much fuss at all, with adequate knee and toe room, and decent headroom too. Try and fit three across the back and it’ll be uncomfortable, unless those three are very slim. 

There are dual ISOFIX child-seat anchor points and three top-tether points, and the seat structure is pretty flat, making fitment of these types of seats simple enough.

The boot capacity is good for a car of this size at 335 litres, which is a solid 20 per cent bigger than before. You won’t find a spare under the boot floor, though, as all A1s have an inflator kit. The back seats fold down to allow 1090L of cargo capacity, but there’s a ledge you have to contend with if you’re trying to load larger items in. Maybe skip the IKEA trips in this one, then. 

Deducting the 4x2 Pure's 2046kg kerb weight from its 3200kg GVM would normally equal a payload of 1154kg, but the official payload figure is 68kg under that at 1086kg, which is an extra safety margin should the payload (but not the GVM) be exceeded.

The Pure 4x2's braked towing capacity of up to 3200kg is less than the 4x4 models' 3500kg rating. Even so, its generous 6139kg GCM allows for a substantial 884kg payload while towing its heaviest trailer load, which is impressive.

The load tub is 1581mm long, 1560mm wide and 475mm deep, with 1215mm between the wheel arches ensuring it can carry an 1160mm-square standard Aussie pallet. As mentioned earlier, our test vehicle was equipped with the optional $490 rear window guard frame, which should not only be standard but also have tradie-friendly pivoting load retainers or 'book-ends' on each side for carrying long lengths of timber, PVC pipe, etc.

The test vehicle's adjustable load-securing rail system mounted near the top of the tub (as seen on Navara) works well for securing loads of matching height or more, but there also needs to be four tie-down points in each corner at floor level to secure lower loads as well. The absence of load retainers and floor level tie-down points are glaring omissions for such a work-focused vehicle.

With tradies in mind there's also a lack of cabin storage, limited to bottle holders and storage pockets in each front door, an overhead sunglasses holder and small glove box. The multimedia system's sizeable rotary controller and touch-pad occupy a big chunk of potential storage space in the centre console, which only offers a tiny front storage slot, single cup holder and small rear lidded box (and there's no box if you opt for the 1-DIN audio ports as fitted to our test vehicle).

Rear seat passengers get a bottle holder and smaller storage pocket in each door and the bench seat base pivots upwards to a vertical position if you want some extra internal cargo space. But there are no flexible storage pockets on the front seat backrests and no cupholders. This needs a re-think because you quickly run out of places to store things.

Our test vehicle is as basic as an X-Class can get - the X220d Pure 4x2 dual-cab with six-speed manual transmission for $46,400. It's effectively a 'Hi-Rider' in industry speak, even if M-B doesn't use that term.

Given its work-focused specification, with hose-out vinyl floor, 17-inch steel wheels with 255/65 R17 road-biased tyres and matching spare, plus black bumpers, door handles, hub caps, etc, with not a hint of bling anywhere (bar the shiny three-pointed star on the grille), pricing north of $46K (before on-road costs) is Pikes Peak steep compared to the competition.

For example, the Ford Ranger Hi-Rider 4x2 in base-level XL trim with 2.2-litre diesel and six-speed manual is only $36,390 and Toyota's HiLux Workmate 4x2 Hi-Rider with 2.4-litre diesel and six-speed auto is $39,490.

And keep in mind our test vehicle also has the $1300 'Plus Package' ('Parktronic' and adjustable load-securing rail system), optional 1-DIN audio access ports ($150) and rear window guard frame ($490), raising the price to $48,340. That's a lot of money for a new player to be asking at base level, regardless of how much its star may twinkle.

Even so, the X220d's standard equipment list does include useful stuff like front fog lamps, DRL and dusk-sensing head lights, cruise control, tyre pressure monitoring, rear view camera, four 12-volt sockets, load tub light, four-speaker audio system with big 7.0-inch screen, multiple connectivity including Bluetooth and steering wheel controls, plus benchmark safety.

This 40 TFSI model is the big humdinger in the range. It has the donk, right?

Yeah, it’s a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, which is a full litre bigger in capacity than the base model car. And it’s the same engine fitted to the Polo GTI - a proper hot hatch!

It doesn’t quite have double the power and torque of the entry-level 30 TFSI model, but it does have solid outputs of 147kW (at 4400-6000rpm) and 320Nm (from 1500-4400rpm). That’s enough to slingshot this A1 from 0-100km/h in a hot-hatch-rivalling 6.5 seconds, according to Audi.

Unlike the lower grades, it runs a six-speed dual-clutch automatic, which it needs because it has so much torque. The 30 and 35 TFSI variants have a seven-speeder. All of them, including this one, are front-wheel drive.

There is no quattro/all-wheel drive A1 this time around, and there won’t be an S1, either. So this is it if you want your kicks in a compact car from the Ingolstadt-based brand.  

The X-Class shares the Navara's engines and transmissions, but Nissan's superb YS23DDTT 2.3 diesel with sequential twin turbocharging and 140kW/450Nm is reserved only for the X250d variants.

The entry-level X220d Pure 4x2 and 4x4 models (like the entry-level Navara RX) make do with the less powerful but still excellent single turbo version with variable vane technology, producing 120kW at 3750rpm and 403Nm of torque between 1500-2500rpm.

The RWD Pure's six-speed manual gearbox (backed by hill start assist) has a pretty low (4.685:1) first gear which is handy for getting big loads underway from standing starts, while the over-driven top gear allows economic engine rpm at highway speeds. There's no rear diff lock like the Ranger Hi-Rider.

Claimed fuel consumption is rated at 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres. You might see close to that on a highway drive, but if you’re primarily city-dwelling like me, then expect higher.

I saw an average of 10.1L/100km during my urban review of the A1 40 TFSI. That was with stop-start engaged the whole time, and the occasional squeeze of the accelerator to test out the claimed acceleration.

Fuel tank size for the A1 is just 40 litres, so if you’re doing what I did with this grade of A1, you can expect to visit the servo every 400km or so.

Mercedes Benz's official combined figure is 7.6L/100km and the instrument display was showing that figure at the end of our test, which covered more than 660km on different roads (sealed and unsealed) and with a variety of loads, including our usual GVM run.

By comparison, our figures calculated from trip meter and fuel bowser readings came in at 9.0L/100km. Any dual-cab ute, particularly one this size, which can deliver genuine single-digit fuel economy in 'real world' driving gets a big tick from us. Based on our figures, you could expect a realistic driving range of 850km-plus from its 80-litre tank, which is fuel efficiency with a capital E.

You shouldn’t be surprised to know that the A1 40 TFSI feels a lot like a Polo GTI to drive. It’s quick, it’s entertaining, it’s refined… it’s just about 50 per cent more expensive.

That mightn’t matter to you or factor into your considerations. I just want to point out that you can get a car that’s just as good to drive as this one, and still with a premium German brand attached to it, for a lot less.

The A1 does have it’s own spunk, though. It has a more masculine character, more aggressive styling, and more delightful interior design.

But it also has steering that is predictable and easy to judge, helping it feel nimble and grippy. From tight twisty roads to roundabouts, you’re going to be having fun in the A1 if you’re tooling around town. 

It feels planted and grippy - aside from some front-wheel spin during take-offs if the tyres are cold - and you might notice the suspension can be a touch noisy as it pitter-patters over inconsistencies in the road surface, but the ride is firm yet controlled, offering enough comfort over potholed city roads and speed humps for this tester. And there are several of each of those obstacles on my daily drive to work.

The engine is a sweetheart, offering brilliant linearity to its power delivery. It pulls hard from low in the rev range, meaning you’ll be able to zip through traffic without much hassle at all. The powertrain is super responsive to inputs at speed, especially if you put it in Dynamic mode, which also allows you to hear some pops and crackles from the exhaust system. 

That said, there is some vibration, shuddering and hesitation at low speeds, which is a combination of the stop-start system kicking in and out, a small amount of turbo-lag from the engine and some shuffling behind the scenes from the dual-clutch transmission. You might find the lurchy nature of the first-gear take-offs to be a bit hard to get used to, especially if you spend a lot of time in bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

While this is an Urban Guide review focused on city driving, I thoroughly recommend you find a quiet stretch of twisty road outside the city limits. You won't be disappointed.

It might be based on a Nissan Navara, but it doesn't drive like one. Even at 4x2 entry level, the X Class's excellent un-laden ride quality, sure-footed 'wide track' handling and steering feel/response are benchmark for the class, which is the minimum you'd expect from this brand.  Cabin noise is also low.

The single-turbo Nissan engine is a strong point. Despite the X-Class having a higher kerb weight, the Navara engine does not feel sluggish, with ample low and mid-range punch making it a spirited enough performer under light loads with more than enough torque for heavy load-hauling. The six-speed manual gearbox shifts sweetly and its ratios are well matched, keeping the engine in its maximum torque band on the highway with 2000rpm at 100km/h and 2300rpm at 110km/h.

To test the 3200kg GVM rating we forklifted 920kg into the load tub, which with a 100kg driver was  only about 60kg under its 1086kg payload ceiling. The rear coil springs compressed a full 80mm and the nose rose 21mm, resulting in the rather ungainly tail-down-nose-up 'praying mantis' stance similar to the coil-sprung Navara from which it is derived.

A look under the tail revealed the top of the rubber bump-stop cones just kissing the underside of the chassis rails. Once underway, though, there was none of the Navara's riding-on-rubber feeling, as the Merc's thicker rising-rate rear coils maintained a modicum of springing. However, the sloping tail felt less stable, with some noticeable suspension squirm in a straight line and wagging through some corners, particularly on unsealed roads.

Even so, its Nissan engine made light work of our 2.0km 13 per cent gradient set climb, proving its excellent load-lugging ability by climbing it so easily in third gear that we made a second successful ascent in fourth. Engine braking in second gear on the way down, though, could not restrain such a big payload on its own, requiring regular prods of the brake pedal to maintain the 60km/h limit.

Maximum five-star ANCAP rating and first dual-cab ute to bring AEB to this segment gets a rare perfect score from us. Passive safety includes driver and front passenger front, thorax, side curtain and driver's knee airbags, child restraint top tethers plus iSize and ISOFIX anchorages on outer rear seat positions.

Active safety also includes lane-keeping assist and vital ute features like brake-force distribution, trailer stability assist, hill start assist and tyre pressure monitoring.

While the VW Polo GTI that this spec of A1 shares plenty with is backed by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan, the Audi-badged compact hatch still has a lesser three-year/unlimited kay cover. 

The A1 requires servicing every 12 months or 15,000km (just like a Polo), and there’s a pre-pay service pack you can roll into your finance if you so choose.

That service plan covers either three years/45,000km of driving ($1480) or five years/75,000km ($1990). In the case of the five-year plan, Audi is actually better value than the Polo GTI (which costs $2200 for pre-pay). 

Where is the Audi A1 built? You might be surprised to learn the answer is Spain.

Concerned about reliability? Got questions over resale, problems, issues, faults, recalls or something else? Check out our Audi A1 problems page. 

Warranty cover is three years/unlimited km with 24/7 roadside assist.

Service intervals are 12 months/20,000km, whichever occurs first. Under M-B's 'Service Care Promise' the first three scheduled services will cost between $585 and $930.