Audi A1 Citycarver (2020 – 2021) Review

For the Citycarver, Audi has chosen to set it apart from the A1 with a 4cm raised ride height and some styling nods borrowed from its Q models. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is an off-roader or even and SUV with some moderate muddy lane abilities. It’s not. The Citycarver is very definitely a supermini at its core and, as the name suggests, is a car meant to deal with the urban jungle rather than the wilds of Borneo.

Audi's A1 Sportback is still similar to the Citycarver’s opposition is also small hatch-based in the shapes of the Ford Fiesta Active, BMW X1 and Renault Captur, although those latter two are more dedicated in their styling to distinguish them from their parentage.

It comes with the obligatory underbody tray to give the impression of some added protection if you were to head off the beaten trail. The big octagonal front grille is also similar to the Q3’s, while at the back there’s also a ruftier, tuftier bumper compared the Sportback.

Inside, any pretensions the Citycarver is anything but an A1 on stilts is abandoned as the cabin is identical other than the higher ride height affording a better all-round view for the driver. That’s a good thing in our book and makes the Citycarver a little better suited to dealing with congested town roads than its sister A1 Sportback model.

In the cabin, you get the same 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit dash display and 8.8-inch infotainment screen. Not only does this look good to the eye, it’s easy to use and makes the Citycarver one of the more advanced cars in its niche for this kind of tech.

As far as space and practicality go, the Citycarver is exactly the same as the A1 Sportback, so you get plenty of room up front and decent space in the back for two adults or three kids. The boot is also a generous size and easily expanded by folding the split and tip rear bench.

Where the Citycarver does depart from the A1 Sportback script is in the way it deals with bumpy roads. Where most A1 Sportback models are blighted by suspension that is too firm, the extra height of the Citycarver means the firm-ish suspension does a fine job of containing body lean without feeling too brittle or jarring over the usual collection of hillocks and ruts that make up many roads.

On top of decent handling and so-so refinement, the Citycarver is offered with a pair of turbo petrol engines. The 30 TFSI uses a 1.0-litre three-cylinder motor with 116PS that’s fine in town but needs to be worked a little harder than you might expect on faster roads.

For this reason, we’d err more towards the 35 TFSI with its 150PS engine. Both can be ordered with either a six-speed manual or seven ratio S tronic automatic gearbox that are smooth and easy to use. This completes the A1 Citycarver’s package as a more rounded, but also more expensive, alternative to the A1 Sportback.

The A1 Citycarver has a more supple suspension set-up than its Sportback sister and adds 4cm to the ground clearance of this A1. It makes a huge difference to how this car copes with bump-battered roads. It’s no off-roader, but makes a sound job of picking its way along most street and roads without the underlying crashy firmness in the Sportback.

There’s enough stiffness present to stop the car flopping about head through corners. This makes the Citycarver more comfortable car than the A1 Sportback on 16-inch wheels even though the Citycarver comes with 17-inch alloy wheels as standard.

One other point to bear in mind with the Citycarver is it is resolutely a front-wheel drive car, not all-wheel drive. So, don’t expect it to cope any better with slippery or snowy conditions than the A1 Sportback.

The A1 Citycarver 30 TFSI model’s 1.0-litre turbo petrol motor serves up 116PS. It’s enough to make easy work of driving in town. However, if you spend a lot of time on motorways, this engine needs to be worked quite hard.

This is why we reckon it’s wise to spend the extra on the 35 TFSI engine. Its 1.5-litre motor provides 150PS and is happy to oblige when you need to get a shift on, yet it’s also more relaxed when you want to cruise at higher speeds.

There’s a choice of six-speed manual or seven-gear S-tronic automatic transmissions. The auto is smooth, but we prefer the easy, light action of the manual.

The A1 Citycarver has six airbags, ESP stability control and hill hold assist to stop it rolling backwards as you let off the handbrake on inclines.

More standard kit comes with twin rear Isofix child seat mounts and rear parking sensors. You can add to the car’s safety kit with options such as a rear parking camera, parking assist, adaptive cruise control and automatic high beam assist to guard against dazzling oncoming cars.

Another option for the A1 Citycarver is an integrated dash cam called Universal traffic recorder. You can pick between a single front-facing camera or one with front and rear cameras for full coverage.

There’s reasonable headroom and enough elbow and leg room for comfortable travel on short to medium trips. For longer journeys, the rear seats are best held back for the kids.

There’s a trio of three-point seat belts in the back too, plus a pair of Isofix child seat mounts. The middle seat belt is an ambitious thought for adults but makes the A1 able to carry your kids plus a mate safely. Big door bins will stash all their sweetie wrappers, but that’s it for storage in the hind quarters

If you need to carry luggage, the A1 Citycarver’s boot offers 335-litres of space, which puts it about average for the class. Fold down the 60/40 split and tumble rear seat back and you can access up to 1090-litres of cargo carrying clout.

Move forward in the cabin and the two front occupants have plenty of space to stretch out. Each front seat has manual height adjustment and the driver can further hone the seating position with reach and angle movement for the steering wheel. Door bins, glovebox and a tray in front of the gear lever take care of storage.

At first, everything seems right with the world as your hands are met by soft-touch plastics and high-grade materials.

However, some of the plastics have been pared back. For example, the door panels feel quite cheap. Even so, the Citycarver’s cabin feels robustly built, so we don’t expect any rattles to develop.

With the Citycarver, you get Novum cloth sports seats with a hexagonal check that adds a welcome point of differentiation to the Sportback. Choose the Plus Pack and you gain climate control, rear privacy glass and an adjustable armrest between the front seats.

The A1 Citycarver comes with the 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit display that can be altered to show speed and revs more or less prominently. It can also show details on gear selection, time, radio and the telephone menu.

You also get the an 8.8-inch infotainment touchscreen. It can connect to your smartphone using Bluetooth or a USB port to access music, phone calls, sat-nav and other apps all worked through the display at the touch of a finger.

An option for the Citycarver is the Technology Pack for £1695. It brings a larger 10.1-inch infotainment screen with sat-nav and 3D city display to make it easier to identify where you are on the map. There is also voice and handwriting recognition, and it comes with a three-year subscription to Audi Connect Infotainment Services for internet access.

A Citycarver with the 30 TFSI engine and six-speed manual gearbox costs from £22,085. Adding the seven-speed S tonic automatic transmission requires a further £1540 to enjoy not having to change gear yourself.

Move to the 35 TFSI with its larger 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine and the manual gearbox-equipped version starts at £23,110, with the auto attracting the same premium as the 30 TFSI model. On top of this, many buyers will opt for the £1695 Technology Pack that brings a 10.1-inch infotainment display, sat-nav with 3D cityscape and a three-year subscription to Audi’s Connect Infotainment internet access.

Search through the ads and you can find one-year old A1 Citycarvers with the 30 TFSI engine out there from £21,0000. These cars have only around 2000 miles on the clock, so may well be either pre-registered models or former dealer demo cars. Expect to pay another £1000 on top of this for an S tronic version.

If you want the larger 35 TFSI engine, you’ll be looking to spend from £22,000 for a manual car and, again, a further £1000 to drive away in one with the S-tronic automatic gearbox. Cars with desirable extras such as the Technology Pack will also come with an additional premium.

With the six-speed manual gearbox it delivers 45.6mpg combined economy, which equates to 400 miles on a full tank when cruising on the motorway.

The 30TFSI with the S tronic automatic gearbox offers 43.5mpg, which is the same as the 35 TFSI S tronic model. Choose the bigger 1.5-litre engine of the 35 TFSI with the six-speed manual and it returns an average consumption of 44.8mpg.

The raised ride height of the Citycarver and its standard 17-inch wheels impact on its carbon dioxide emissions compared the A1 Sportback. So, the Citycarver in 30 TFSI form sits in the £215 band for first year road tax regardless of whether you choose the manual with 140g/km or automatic gearbox that emits 147g/km.

Take the 35 TFSI with its larger 1.5-litre engine and its emissions rise to 143g/km for the manual, but are fractionally lower for the S tronic auto at 146g/km than the 30 TFSI’s. However, you’ll still be paying £215 in the first year for road tax and £150 each year after that.

Audi offers the A1 Citycarver in its own single, well equipped specification. It sits on 17-inch alloy wheels, while the body has black plastic cladding around the wheelarches and unique bumpers with underbody protection.

The suspension sits 4cm higher than an A1 Sportback and you get Audi Drive Select as standard with the Citycarver, providing Auto, Dynamic, Efficiency and Individual modes. There are LED lights with dynamic rear indicators, and a rear roof spoiler.

Sports front seats are included and there’s Novum cloth upholstery all round, as well as electric windows front and rear. The driver has a 10.25-inch Digital Cockpit dash display and 8.8-inch infotainment touchscreen with Audi Smartphone interface to access phone apps. It also has voice control, Bluetooth connection and DAB radio.

Safety is taken care of with Audi’s Pre-Sense emergency braking, Hill-hold assist for the handbrake, and Lane departure warning. You also benefit from cruise control, rear parking sensors and a speed limiter that can be pre-set.