2018 Mini Cooper vs Audi A1

What's the difference?

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This car is not ‘good value’. Sure, the base A1 is one of the cheapest ways to get a premium Deutsche badge glued to the front of a daily driver, but if it was value you were looking for Euro value you’d be clicking through to our Volkswagen Polo review.

For the before-on-road cost of $30,500 you’ll get a small-looking 6.5-inch multimedia display with a somewhat-impressive eight-speaker stereo, 16-inch alloys, climate control and cruise control, light sensors, rain sensors and, an interior LED lighting package (nice premium touch).

But wait. That car won’t look anywhere near as slick as ours. Cue the ‘Active Package 1’ which, at the time of writing is no longer available, but new A1s can be similarly specified if you configure them here.

The pack includes 17-inch, two-tone five-spoke alloys, ‘Platinum Grey’ highlights for the wheelarches, front-spoiler, rear bumper, boot lid and side-sill trims with matching exterior mirrors. Looks good. That’ll be $3850, thanks.

You’ll also notice the little multimedia screen isn’t doing much other than playing the radio. Not so for our car which had the ‘Technik package’. This includes built-in sat-nav and an upgraded sound system with dual SD card slots (for your music. No, really…) and a 20GB hard drive. For the ability to time-travel back to 2005 when those features were cutting-edge, Audi asks $2490. 

You will get music streaming via Bluetooth, but there are no USB ports, even for charging. Oh, and we’re not quite done yet. If you want the xenon headlights that look like they were from this decade, that’ll be an additional $1850.

The Audi badges on the front, rear and steering wheel do come free of charge, however.

Add all that up, and for a car not quite as well equipped as a $19,690 Mazda 2 Maxx you’ll be paying $39,680. 

Not only is that a lot of money for some rather dated features (and we haven’t even gotten to the safety section), but it also puts it in a price league with premium competitors a full size up like the Mercedes-Benz A180 and BMW 118i.

Perhaps the biggest problem facing this little Audi A1 is the fact that its successor is just a few months away and looks much more impressively equipped from the base model up. 

It will feature large touchscreens and a digital dashboard as well as a significantly increased footprint. The styling of upcoming model is meant to bring it in line with the rest of the new Audi range, but so far that design language has proved somewhat… divisive. 

On the other hand, if you’re a particular fan of the current A1’s looks as reviewed here, you may want to consider that it will soon be discontinued…

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

The Audi A1 carries a maximum five-star ANCAP rating as of 2010. Obviously, safety technology has changed significantly in the eight years since, and the A1’s once-sufficient safety offering lags behind without the latest active refinements.

There’s no 'Auto Emergency Braking', no 'Rear Cross Traffic Alert', 'Active Cruise', 'Blind Spot Monitoring' or even pre-collision alert systems.

Infuriatingly, there’s no reversing camera either. On an almost $40k car. You’ll have to make do with audible reversing sensors only, like it’s 2005.

There are two ISOFIX points on the outboard seats, as well as three top-tether mounts for child seats. You’ll never fit three child seats across the A1’s second row, but at least it gives you choice of positioning.

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.

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.