BMW I3 vs Audi A1

What's the difference?

Yes, it’s pricey for a small hatch, but this little BMW is a city car like no other. The i3s is tailor made for the urban environment, and six years on retains the quirkiness and charisma that stood it apart at launch, and it can still hold its head high among the current EV crop. 

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.

Built around a carbon-fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) tub, the i3s is ultra-light (for a battery-electric vehicle), super strong, and unlike anything else on the road.

At just over 4.0m long, close to 1.8m wide, and a fraction under 1.6m tall, the i3s is compact, upright, and boxy. A classically polarising design, with some crossing the street to avoid it, and others (like me) loving its unique proportions and stand-out styling.

The nose is tall, short and upright, with the distance from the base of the front windscreen to the front axle (car designers call it the ‘dash-to-axle ratio’) unusually short.

That’s because the electric motor sits in the back of the car driving the rear wheels, with only a small front boot compartment required to house charging cables and other bits and pieces.

Despite the lack of anything of substance behind it, BMW’s signature ‘kidney grille’ is present and accounted for, with swoopy LED headlights (and DRLs) either side. Our test car’s ‘Fluid Black’ finish with ‘i Blue’ highlights dialed up the little car’s charismatic personality.  

One of the i3’s most impressive party tricks is its counter-opening ‘clamshell’ doors, and the engineering trickery used to create a B-pillar free side opening (including the strength of the carbon body structure) means the high window line follows a jagged path from front to back, the rearmost hatch windows shrinking the rear glass area appreciably.

The i3s’s standard 20-inch (dual) five-spoke alloy rims, although slightly wider in this performance model, are alarmingly skinny. But taking the car’s relatively light weight (1245kg) and urban-centric purpose into consideration, the narrow, low-rolling resistance rubber makes sense.

With the roofline and sides of the car tapering distinctly towards the back, the rear view is suitably idiosyncratic, highlighted by flush-fit, vaguely U-shaped LED tail-lights. 

The hatch window is small, and the bumper sits high to marry with the load space floor sitting on top of the motor and transmission.

And when it comes to moving inside, BMW offers a choice of three ‘interior worlds - ‘Loft’, ‘Lodge’, and ‘Suite’ - featuring renewable natural fibres, recycled plastics, naturally tanned leather, and open-pore wood (sourced from 100 per cent Forest Stewardship Council-certified forestry).

But irrespective of where everything comes from, the end result is inviting, comfortable and sub-zero cool. Our car’s ‘Suite’ interior was combined with ‘Oak dark matt’ wood, and ‘Vernasca’ brown leather to stunning effect.

A tunnel-free floor, gently curved dash and digital screens for instruments and media let you know you’re in something different and special. It might be six years old, but the i3 still feels contemporary and distinctive. 

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. 

Wide-opening clamshell doors make getting in and out of the i3s a breeze. But bear in mind you have to open the front door to get to the latch for the back one, which can be a pain.

The driver and front passenger enjoy heaps of room, in an open environment, but there’s only a single cupholder in the centre console, so let the coffee cup wars begin.

Aside from that there are seriously big bins in the front doors, a modest glove box, and a handy elasticised pocket near the floor at the base of the bulkhead.  

Outlets for 12-volt and USB are provided, and there’s a small oddments tray at the rear of the centre console.

Slip around to the rear and you’re in anything but limousine territory. Sitting behind the driver’s seat set for my 183cm height, head and legroom are modest but do-able. And remember it’s two seats only back there.

In terms of storage, there are two cupholders between the seats but no storage pockets or bottle holders in the doors. You won’t find adjustable ventilation outlets either, but that’s not a huge factor in car of this stature.

The boot’s volume is quoted at 260 litres with the 50/50 split-fold rear seatback upright, which is enough to easily swallow the largest 124-litre suitcase in the CarsGuide three-piece set. The smaller 95- and 36-litre cases will sit side-by-side without a problem.

Fold the rear seat down and you have 1100 litres of space at your disposal, with tie-down anchors, an elasticised pocket and 12-volt power provided.

Don’t bother looking for a spare of any description, a repair/inflator kit is your only option. And not surprisingly, the i3 is a no-tow zone. 

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. 

The Audi A1 40 TFSI model is far from affordable if you’re looking at city-sized hatchbacks.

The list price for this model is $46,450 plus on-road costs, and for that you don’t even get leather trim! And heated seats? Optional...

You can option the S-line interior package to get a flat-bottomed steering wheel and leather seat trim, but as standard, even on this top-spec variant, you get cloth seats and a boring old round wheel. 

As tested our A1 40 TFSI was $49,720 before on-roads (making for a circa-$55K drive-away price as you see it), because it had the optional blue paint ($490) and black roof ($890), plus the black exterior styling package ($790) and 18-inch Audi Sport wheels ($1100).

It already has 18-inch wheels as standard, plus the S-line exterior body styling pack with sportier front and rear bumpers, sill trims and a rear spoiler.

Plus there are LED headlights and tail-lights, dual-zone climate control, a 10.25-inch digital dashboard, a 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen with Android Auto, digital radio, built in sat-nav, built-in Wi-Fi and wireless Apple CarPlay.

That’s in addition to push-button start, keyless entry, 2xUSB ports (USB-A and USB-C) ambient lighting, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, wireless phone charging, front and rear parking sensors, semi-autonomous self parking, auto lights and auto wipers, heated and folding mirrors with kerb-side dipping, and a few safety spec items you’ll find in that section below. 

The i3s is powered by BMW’s ‘eDrive’ hybrid synchronous electric motor, producing 135kW at 7000rpm, and 270Nm from 0-4500rpm. Yep, that’s right, maximum torque is delivered the instant you depress the right-hand pedal, and we’ll get to what that brings to the driving experience a little later.

The unit incorporates a charging and generator function for braking energy recuperation, the latter delivering up to 50kW.

Drive goes to the rear wheels via a single-speed (fixed-ratio) automatic transmission.

The battery powering the whole show is a 352-volt/120 amp-hour (Ah) Lithium-ion unit with a (gross) energy rating of 42.2kWh.

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.  

When it comes to an electric car’s energy use and projected range, there are two main things to consider - the motor’s power consumption and the battery’s capacity.

And according to BMW, the i3s’s power consumption for the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 14.6–14.0kWh/100km.

Over a week, and roughly 250km of urban driving (with some brief freeway runs thrown in) we saw 19.3kWh/100km staring back at us from the on-board computer.

When BMW launched the i3 in Australia in 2014, the pure EV version came with a 60Ah battery pack delivering a claimed 130 kilometre range (a range extender model featuring the addition of a two-cylinder petrol motorcycle engine was also offered). 

In 2016 a 94Ah version arrived to boost range up to 183km, and the i3s launched in 2018, with its 120Ah battery pushing range out to BMW’s current, real-world estimate of 260km.

Then, there’s charging time, which is like asking how long is an electric piece of string.

According to BMW, for a 0–80 per cent charge from a (50 kW DC) fast-charging station, you’re looking at 45min.

From a (11kW/16A/380V) high-output home/office wall unit, that pushes out to 3.10h, and using a (3.7kW/16A/240V) low-output home/office unit stretches the wait time to 9.40h.

BMW offers the ‘WallBox plus’ charging suite as a dealer accessory priced from $1990 (not including GST or install costs).

Plug into a domestic (2.4kW/10A/240V) socket, and you’re staring down the barrel of 15.00h. But at least you can use low-cost, off-peak energy overnight, right? Nah, I don’t buy that line either.

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.

It might not look like a conventional sports car, but the BMW i3s certainly accelerates like one, with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 6.9sec. The i3s is a smile-inducing hoot to drive.

Every one of this little hatch’s 270 newton metres of torque is available from the minute you hit the accelerator pedal, and remain in service until 4500rpm, at which point torque delivery drops off a cliff.

But peak power steps in at exactly 7000rpm, so if you’re determined to make that overtaking move you won’t be left in the lurch. In fact, BMW says it only takes the i3s 4.3 seconds to surge from 80km/h to 120km/h.

However, the i3’s forte is 100 per cent the city, rather than the open road. Its ‘point and squirt’ ability making it the perfect partner for the cut and thrust of the urban jungle.

The i3s features an upgraded ‘Sports Suspension’ incorporating firmer dampers, re-tuned springs and revised anti-roll bars. It’s also lowered 10mm, the track is widened (+21mm front / +2.0mm rear) and the wheels go plus one inch to 20-inch alloys.

The standard i3 (no longer offered in Australia) rolls on 19-inch rims shod with 155/70 rubber all around. And while the i3s’s 175/55 front and 190/50 rear tyres are still exceptionally narrow, from the side the low-profile Bridgestone Ecopias look like fan belts wrapped around pulleys rather than tyres around wheels..

No surprise then that ride comfort isn’t exactly cushy, and in signing on for the i3s experience you’ll need to be ready for more than occasional bumps and thumps.

But the pay-off is super-sharp dynamics, Suspension is by alloy struts at the front, and a five-link alloy set-up at the rear..The steering responds to inputs quickly yet smoothly, and with 48/52 front to rear weight distribution, the car always feels balanced, eager, and taut.

And if you really want to dial things up the ‘driving experience control’ allows a switch to Sport mode for a further tweak of the suspension, steering, and traction control set-ups.

A tight 10.3m turning circle makes for easy parking and stress-free U-turns. But if things get too tight, rapid three-point turns are assisted by the gear shift controller bring mounted on a chunky stalk on the right-hand side of the steering column. Too easy.   

Braking is by vented discs front and rear, but they’re tiny. That’s because the ‘Brake Energy Regeneration’ system does most of the work. 

Effectively turning the motor into a generator, the system not only slows the car dramatically but feeds energy to the battery in the process. It takes a while to get used to the sensation, but soon becomes a fun, and surprisingly easy game to use the brake pedal as little as possible… often not at all, for long periods.

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.

The Audi A1 range scored a five-star ANCAP crash test rating in 2019, and it comes kitted out with some impressive safety tech.

There’s auto emergency braking (AEB) that works up to 250km/h for cars, and up to 65km/h for pedestrians and cyclists. There’s also lane departure warning and lane keeping assistance.

You don’t get adaptive cruise control as standard, even on this expensive top-spec model. You can option it but you shouldn’t have to.

There’s no blind-spot monitoring or rear-cross traffic alert, which mightn’t seem like a big issue for a little car, but you’d be surprised how handy that tech can be when you’re reversing out of a parking space or trying to merge.

And while the previous A1 never came with a reversing camera, the new one does - it has guidance lines displayed on the screen, and there are front and rear parking sensors, too. Very handy for the urban jungle. 

All A1s have six airbags (dual front, front side and full-length curtain). 

BMW offers a three year/unlimited km warranty, which is off the pace given the majority of mainstream brands have stepped up to five-year cover, with some at seven. And the pressure is on with Mercedes-Benz recently announcing its shift to five years/unlimited km.

That said, the BMW's body is warranted against rust (perforation) for 12 years/unlimited km, and roadside assistance is provided free-of-charge for three years/unlimited km.

Maintenance is 'condition based' with sensors and on-board algorithms (mileage, time since last service, driving style) determining whether an annual vehicle inspection is required.

The 'BMW Service Inclusive' package, offering a single, one-off advance payment to cover selected service and maintenance costs, is available in two levels - 'Basic' ($850) or 'Plus' (dealer quote)

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.