1.4 TFSI 125 Sport Nav 5dr Hatchback

The most impressive small car we've had: amazingly good perrormance and economy

The A1 is my wife's car, but we both drive it and love it. She had several Minis before this, which she liked; but all the performance in Minis happens at higher revs which isn't what you need in everyday driving.

It's well worth going for the 1.4: the performance is more relaxed than the 1.0 and economy is well in excess of expectations (and of a Mini Cooper) - 45 mpg around town and a splendid, diesel-rivalling, 55 mpg on the open road.

This isn't the car for you if you regularly carry adults in the back (we don't), but the boot, with variable floor, is quite adequate for shopping or a weekend's luggage. In the front there's no feeling of being in a small car, and long journeys can be done in great comfort.

We got a good deal on ours which was in the Audi UK system, so apart from the (essential to us) satnav, adjustable lumbar support and heated front seats we didn't push the price up with a whole lot of extras. A reversing camera would have been good, with hindsight (sorry), as there is a sc***e on the nearside rear wing: chivalry prevents me from saying who was driving....

It's done quite a few miles - 16,000 to date, largely through being driven in preference to the rather tedious Volvo V60 that I used to have, since replaced by a brilliant Audi Q2. No problems of any sort so far.

Small car, biggish engine: a great combination with no loss of economy. Looking forward to seeing the new model A1 next year, but we're in no hurry to change this one.

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