2018 Audi A1 vs Mini Cooper

What's the difference?

The A1 is a good looking, fun-to-drive little German hatch that in many ways betrays its age. 

As one of the oldest cars in Audi’s stable, though, its easy to tell where it lags behind in terms of technology, safety and subsequently, value.

My advice? If you’re going to spend almost $40k on a small hatchback anyway, at least wait to see how far that will go on the next year's new-generation A1.

If you’re buying a Mini Hatch or Convertible because they look unique and are fun to drive, then you’re doing it for the right reasons. But if you need a small family car then think about the Countryman or something bigger in BMW’s range like an X1 or 1 Series – these are the cousins of Minis and share the same tech but offer more practicality for similar prices.

The sweet spot in the Hatch and Convertible range is the Cooper S, whether it’s the three-door hatch, the five-door hatch or Convertible. 

Admittedly, the $3850 'Style pack' makes the little city-focussed A1 look fantastic. I’d argue it could look even better, given Audi offers you the ability to two-tone the roof and pick colours other than three different shades of grey, but this little Audi has a slick coolness about it.

That’s saying quite a bit, too. Because the current A1’s design harks as far back as 2015 (really, arguably before then). There’s just a timelessness about that sculpted front three-quarter with all its Germanic restraint, and even a hint of retro about the bubbly roof-line.

Those alloys are especially eye grabbing, looking awesome in the two-tone paint and filling the wheel arches up.

Inside is a different story, however, where the A1 is seriously starting to show its age. You’ll notice the ‘old Audi’ steering wheel front and centre, the old dial-cluster instrumentation, and the smattering of buttons all over the dash.

These are necessary courtesy of the dated multimedia system, which is clumsy and hard to control compared to most of today’s offerings. It’s even a bit slow, and for anti-glare reasons points slightly downwards, so is hardly aesthetic to look at.

Aside from those issues the interior isn’t such a bad place to be. The partial leather seats are comfortable, and all the switchgear is superb in its feedback. Sure, there are about 10 too many buttons, but every single one of them is satisfying to press.

The materials that comprise the dash and doors are mostly soft to the touch and have a nice weight to them. I was a big fan of the soft-moving circular vents. As you’ve probably worked out by now, these kinds of details and finishes are where most of the cost is represented.

As old as that steering wheel is, it’s the right shape and size, and the leather on it is nice. The same goes for the old dot-matrix screen in the dashboard. It feels dated, but has no trouble presenting the info you need.

Everything is interesting about a Mini's design, just look at the pictures of the new Hatch and Convertible.

There are those googly eyes, the tiny flat bonnet, the snub nose with that angry mouth grille, those wheel-arches which eat way up into the body and are filled with wheels, and that little bottom. It’s tough and cute all at once, and still has stayed so true to the original look that if you were to push somebody from 1965 into a time machine and take them to 2018, they’d get out and say "that’s a Mini". 

The original three-door Mini was less than 3.1m long, but over the years the Mini has grown in size – so the Mini still mini? The new three-door is 3.8m end to end, 1.7m wide and 1.4m tall – so yes, bigger but still mini.

The Hatch comes with three doors (two front and the boot’s tailgate) or five doors, while the Convertible is a two-door. The Countryman is Mini’s SUV and the Clubman is a wagon – both of these are yet to be given the update.

That update is super subtle, however. Visually the only differences between the latest Hatch and Convertible and the previous models is that the mid-spec Cooper S and top-grade JCW have the new LED headlights and Union Jack tail-lights. The entry-level Cooper has halogen headlights and regular tail-lights. That’s it – oh, and the Mini badge’s styling has been tweaked, almost unnoticeably.

On the outside the differences between the grades is obvious. Reflecting its more potent performance the JCW gets the biggest wheels (18-inch) and an aggressive-looking body kit with a rear spoiler and JCW dual exhaust. The Cooper S looks pretty mean, too, with its centre dual-exhaust and 17-inch wheels. The Cooper appears tamer but still cool with its chrome and black grille and 16-inch alloys.

Step inside the Mini Hatch and Convertible and you’re entering either a world of pain or world of awesomeness - depending on who you are - because it’s an extremely stylised cabin full of plane cockpit style switches, textured surfaces and dominated by the large circular (and glowing) element in the centre of the dash housing the media system. I’m quite fond of it all.

Seriously, can you think of another small car on the road which is as quirky as the Mini Hatch and Convertible but also prestigious? Okay, the Fiat 500. But name another one? Sure, Audi A1, but what else? Right the Citroen C3 and (now defunct) DS3. But apart from those can you name any? See.

I don’t think anyone is buying the A1 for practicality purposes. Up front it’s not so bad. I fit pretty well in my driving position with only minor impairment to my knees. Despite the bubbly roofline I also felt as though I had satisfactory headroom, but if you’re any taller than me (182cm) the low roofline may interfere with your vision.

In the back seat, space is surprising for such a small car. While headroom will again be an issue for taller individuals, there was satisfactory legroom behind my own driving position. The outer seats are comfortable, too with matching materials to the front seats, but the middle seat would be basically useless for an adult.

In terms of stowage, there are four large-ish cupholders in each of the doors and two medium-sized ones in the centre console. There’s also a centre armrest console box between the driver and passenger. Although adjustable in height for the armrest, the little stowage box inside is tiny. It’s okay for keys, a phone and a wallet, perhaps.

Then there’s the boot, which is genuinely tiny. Audi quotes the available space as 270 litres, which on paper, is slightly larger than a Suzuki Swift. 

It’s just nudged out by its primary competitor, the Mini Cooper five-door, which has 278L of cargo capacity. For perspective, it will fit a duffle bag or two easily, but not a respectably-sized luggage case.

One look at the small-for-a-hatch-sized BMW 118i’s boot reveals that for not much more cash you’ll be getting a much bigger (360L) boot.

Expect the upcoming A1 to have a bit more room, too, given its expanded dimensions. Yet another reason to wait a little longer.

The name of this car is a bit of a clue as to how practical the insides are. 

In the three-door, five-door Hatch and Convertible the car feels roomy up front, even for me at 191cm tall with good head, leg and elbow room. My co-driver on the launch was my size and there was plenty of personal space between us.

Can’t say the same for the back seats – in my driving position the front seat back is almost up against the rear seat base in the three door and the second row of the five-door isn’t much better.

Now you need to know that the three-door Hatch and Convertible have four seats, and the five -door has five seats.

Boot space is tight, too, with 278 litres of cargo capacity in the five-door Hatch, 211L of luggage space in the three-door, and 215L in the convertible. In comparison, the Audi A1 three-door has 270L of boot space.

Cabin storage for the Hatch includes two cup holders up front and one in the back of the Cooper and Cooper S Hatch, and two in the front and two in the back of the JCW. While the Convertible has two up front and three in the rear. Top down driving can be thirsty work.

There’s not much in the way of other storage places, apart from the glovebox and map pockets in the seat backs – those door pockets are only large enough to slide in a phone or your purse and wallet.

As for power connections Coopers have a USB and 12V in the front, while the Cooper S and JCW have wireless phone charging and a second USB port in the front armrest.

If you’d read the section above (Did you? It’s exciting and full of sex scenes), you’d know that the Mini Hatch and Convertible come in three grades – the Cooper, Cooper S and JCW. What I didn’t point out up there was that while this is true for the three-door Hatch and Convertible, the five door is only available as a Cooper and Cooper S. 

So how much do Minis cost? You’d heard they can be expensive right? Well, you heard right. 

For the three-door Hatch line the list prices go: $29,900 for the Cooper, $39,900 for the Cooper S and $49,900 for the JCW.

For the five-door Hatch you’re looking at $31,150 for the Cooper and $41,150 for the Cooper S. 

The Convertible costs the most with the Cooper listing for $37,900, the Cooper S for $45,900 and the JCW for $56,900.

That’s way more expensive than a Fiat 500 which starts with a list price of about $18K and tops out at $37,990 for the Abarth 595 Convertible. But the Mini is more prestigious, higher in quality and far more dynamic performance-wise than a 500. So, unless it’s just about the looks it’s better to compare it to Audi’s A1 which begins at $28,900 and maxes out with the S1 at $50,400.

High in quality, but a bit light-on for standard features for the price is typical for prestige cars and the Mini Hatch and Convertible are no exception. 

The three-door and five-door Hatch and the Convertible in the Cooper grade come as standard with cloth seats, velour floor mats, three-spoke leather steering wheel, a new 6.5-inch touch screen and updated media system with 4G connectivity, sat nav, reversing camera and rear parking sensors, wireless Apple CarPlay and digital radio.

The Hatch has air-conditioning, while the Convertible has dual-zone climate control.

As mentioned in the design section Coopers come with 16-inch wheels, single exhaust tip, a rear spoiler for the Hatch, while the Convertible gets an automatic folding fabric roof.

The Hatch and Convertible in Cooper S form pick up cloth/leather upholstery, JCW steering wheel with red stitching, LED headlights and Union Jack pattern tail lights, and 17-inch alloys.

The Convertible also gains dual-zone climate control.

Only the three-door Hatch and Convertible models are available in the JCW grade, but at this level you’ll get lots more in the form of an 8.8-inch screen with a harman/kardon 12-speaker stereo, head-up display, JCW interior trim, cloth and Dinamica upholstery (‘eco-suede’), stainless steel pedals, and front parking sensors.  

There’s the JCW body kit too, along with the upgrade in brakes, engine, turbo and suspension which you can read all about in the Engine and Driving sections below.

Personalisation is a massive part of owning a Mini and there’s a billion ways to make your Mini more unique from colour combinations, wheel styles and accessories. 

Paint colours for the Hatch and Convertible include Pepper White, Moonwalk Grey, Midnight Black, Electric Blue, Melting Silver, Solaris Orange and of course British Racing Green. Only the first two of those are no-cost options, however, the rest cost only $800-$1200 more at the most.

Want bonnet stripes? Of course you do – those are $200 each.

Packages? Yep, there’s a stack of them. Say, you’ve bought a Cooper S and want a bigger screen, then the $2200 Multimedia package adds the 8.8-inch screen, harman/kardon stereo and a head-up display.

Our mid-spec A1 has a 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. It produces a modest 92kW/200Nm. The similarly-priced Mini-Cooper has a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo producing 100kW/220Nm, so about on par for the segment.

The A1 is front-wheel drive via a seven-speed 'S tronic' dual-clutch auto. There’s also a stop-start system which proved to be quite annoying. More on that in the driving part of this review.

This is simple. The Cooper is the least powerful with its 100kW/220Nm 1.5-litre three-cylinder engine; the Cooper S is the piggy in the middle with its 2.0-litre 141kW/280Nm four-cylinder while the JCW is the hardcore one with the same 2.0-litre engine but tuned to make 170kW and 320Nm. 

All are turbo-petrol engines and all Hatches and Convertibles are front-wheel drive.

Okay, this is where it gets a bit messy - the transmissions. The Cooper, Cooper S and JCW hatch come standard with a six-speed manual, but optional is a seven-speed dual-clutch auto on the Cooper, a sports version of that auto on the Cooper S and an eight-speed auto on the JCW. 

It’s the other way around for the Convertible which comes standard with those autos as you step up from Cooper to JCW, with an optional manual gear box.

How fast is the hardcore one? The three-door JCW can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 6.1 seconds which is quick, while the Cooper S is half a second behind that and the Cooper is a second behind that.

Audi claims the 1.4-litre A1 on 17-inch alloys (like our test car) will consume an ambitious sounding 4.9L/100km on the combined cycle. 

Despite my drive taking place on pretty much the definition of ‘the combined cycle’, with a mix of freeway and city driving, I scored 7.0L/100km which is closer to Audi’s ‘city’ estimate of 6.2L/100km.

I was turning the stop-start system off almost every time I drove it, however, and I did drive it hard and up a lot of hills. I don’t doubt if you were to drive this car in a more conservative manner, you could easily score under that 6.2 number.

The A1 has a 45-litre fuel tank and demands mid-range RON95 unleaded fuel.

The Cooper’s three-cylinder turbo petrol is the most fuel-efficient engine in the range, with Mini saying you should see 5.3L/100km in the three-door Hatch, 5.4L/100km in the five-door and 5.6L/100km in the Convertible using an automatic transmission.

The Cooper S’s four-cylinder turbo according to Mini should use 5.5L/100km in the three-door Hatch, 5.6L/100km in the five-door and 5.7L/100km in the Convertible.

The JCW’s four-cylinder is the thirstiest of the pack, with Mini claiming that in the three-door you’ll use 6.0L/100km while the Convertible will need 6.3L/100km (you can’t get a JCW five-door Hatch).

Those figures are based on driving on a combination of urban and open roads.

During my time in the three-door JCW the trip computer recorded and average of 9.9L/100km and that was on mainly country roads. 

I gave the little A1 a thorough test, including a weekend drive through NSW’s Blue Mountains and down into the Megalong Valley. Again, all that extra money you pay for a premium German product starts to show once you get the little car up to speed.

It’s a lot of fun. The stiff suspension, comprised of McPherson struts at the front and a torsion beam at the rear sounds pretty average, but is fantastically tuned. The little car chewed up corners and bumps at surprising speeds with little in the way of body-roll. 

This sportiness was bolstered by the direct, smooth steering input. It always felt flat and confident, but you’d hope so given the price point.

The engine is so-so. Once spooled up and ready-to-go just below 2000rpm it’s great, it’s getting it there that presents a problem. 

There’s a frustrating second of turbo lag in most scenarios, be it coming out of a corner or accelerating off-the line, and sometimes you can catch the transmission off-guard and it's reluctant to shift down, putting a dampener on the fun.

Sure, the 1.4 A1 is no S1, which comes equipped with a far more potent 2.0-litre and is much better equipped for a track day, but it still feels like it falls just short of a truly ‘premium’ drive experience.

Noise isn’t great either. All those stiff suspension bits and large alloys for a car this size adds up to a lot of road noise in the cabin. At freeway speeds there was quite a bit of tyre roar as well, but around the city the engine is near silent.

The stereo provides a nice rich sound in the cabin, if you’re so inclined you can easily use it to drown out some of the road noise.

City driving was a mixed-bag as well, with the car being smooth most of the time, except when in dense traffic. I found myself turning off the overly-keen start-stop system which was keen to get the engine off as soon as possible (it almost felt as though I hadn’t even come to a full-stop sometimes) and was slow to start up again once the light went green. 

The day or two I spent with the system on, I started to build up an early reaction time to let off the brake (and re-start the engine) so I had time to accelerate promptly. Mazda’s 'i-Stop' system is vastly superior.

I’m yet to drive a Mini that wasn’t fun, but some are more fun than others. At the launch of the updated Hatch and Convertible I piloted the three-door in Cooper S and JCW form, and the five-door Cooper.

You can’t go wrong with any of these from a driving perspective – all steer precisely and directly, all feel agile and manoeuvrable, all are easy to drive and yup, fun.

But the Cooper S’s bump in power over the Cooper adds the grunt to match the great handling, making it my pick of the bunch. I drove the three-door Cooper S, and to me this is the quintessential Mini – plenty of grunt, great feel and the smallest of the family.

Stepping it up several notches is the JCW, which is sniffing around in high-performance territory with its powerful engine with its JCW specific turbo and sport exhaust, bigger brakes, adaptive suspension and bigger brakes. I drove the three-door Hatch in the JCW grade and loved shifting with those paddles, the barks on the upshifts are awesome, and the crackles as you step down though the gears is, too.

The eight-speed dual-clutch transmission in the JCW is a beautiful and fast thing, but the seven-speed sports auto in the Cooper S is mighty fine, as well.

There wasn’t a chance to steer the Convertible this time around, but I’ve driven the current generation soft-top before, and apart from the lack of roof making it easier for somebody my size to climb in, the ‘indoor-outdoor’ driving experience adds to the fun factor. 

The Mini Hatch was given a four-star ANCAP rating in 2015 (that's four out of five), while the Convertible has not been tested. While both Hatch and Convertible come with the usual safety equipment such as traction and stability control, and airbags (six in the Hatch and four in the Convertible), there is a lack of standard advanced safety technology. The Hatch and Convertible don’t come with AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking) as standard, but you can option the tech as part of a Driver Assistance pack.

For child seats you’ll find two ISOFIX points and two top tether anchor points in the second row of the Hatch and Convertible.  

The A1 is offered from Audi with a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. It’s definitely not alone among premium automakers with such an offering, but it could certainly be better with most non-premium cars now being covered by five-year-plus plans.

You’ll need to service an A1 once a year or every 15,000km. Audi offers a scheduled service plan for three years or 45,000km at a cost of $1580.

The Mini Hatch and Convertible are covered by a three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is condition-based but Mini has a five-year/80,000km servicing plan for $1240 in total.