Worst house in the best street? – Car Reviews, News & Advice

Kia Rio SLi
Price: $22,510
Engine: 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol
Output: 103kW/167Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Wheels/Tyres: 17x6.5-inch / 205/45
Fuel/CO2: 6.1L/100km / 145g/km

Audi A1 Sportback Attraction
Price: $26,500
Engine: 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol
Output: 63kW/160Nm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Wheels/Tyres: See text
Fuel/CO2: 5.1L/100km / 118g/km

When Audi announced the pricing of the new A1 Sportback range earlier this year, a few eyebrows were raised. Here was a premium European player offering up an entry-level slice of its model pie at the tempting starting point of $26,500. This pricing seats the base model, appropriately known as the Attraction, just within reach of the sector’s established mass-market players.

This prompted much discussion in the office, mostly following the line of a well-worn real estate analogy: Do you buy the best house in a lesser street or a lesser house in the best street? To answer this question, we’ve brought together an Audi A1 Attraction with the award-winning Kia Rio, in fully-optioned SLi form.

DESIGNER CLOTHED
On the face of it, you could be forgiven for thinking that these two were strange bedfellows. But, as you dig deeper into their respective specifications, many similarities – along with some key differences – emerge.

For an outlay of $19,990 in manual form, the Kia Rio SLi is very well equipped. The only options are a six-speed automatic gearbox ($2000) and premium paint ($520); both fitted to the reviewed car for an ‘as tested’ price of $22,510.

Rio’s styling is edgy and modern, appealing to a younger demographic on its sporty 17-inch alloys with low-profile, 205/45 Continental tyres. And there’s no need to worry if you get a puncture – a full-size spare hides beneath the boot floor. The ‘Schreyer’ (named after renowned former Audi, now Kia, designer, Peter Schreyer) chrome grille, body-coloured bumpers and mirrors, fog lights and a roof-lip spoiler add up to a distinctive look, while the LED rear and front daytime running lights provide an upmarket edge.

Inside, six airbags and front seatbelt pre-tensioners offer peace of mind and along with a table of regular active safety initialisations (ABS with EBD and BA, ESC with TCS) contribute to Rio’s five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Its list of interior features offers everything you need, with a surprising amount of what you want. Electric power steering, power windows, central locking and air-conditioning may be expected, but added touches such as an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, electric folding wing mirrors and steering wheel-mounted cruise control are welcome.

Cloth seat trim – the driver’s with six-way manual adjustment – and ‘soft-touch’ (though admittedly still less agreeable than the A1’s) plastics appear hard-wearing and well-suited to a young family.

The four-speaker audio system can also be controlled from the leather-wrapped steering wheel and has two front-mounted tweeters, along with AM/FM tuner/CD/MP3/iPod/Bluetooth compatibility.

Storage is also worthy of mention, with a bottle holder inside each door, centre console, twin front cup holders and front seat-back pockets. Luggage space is a handy 288 litres with the (60:40 split) rear seats up; 923 litres with them down. Of note here was the quality of fit and finish in the boot area. The backs of the rear seats were covered in a harsh fabric, and the access to the child restraints was fiddly; the paint finish around the spare wheel well was also disappointing.

The Kia’s cabin room really impresses. With two six-foot-plus road testers onboard, Rio scores particularly well on front headroom with rear head and legroom also coming in for praise.

“It’d be far easier to fit five people in here than in the A1” and “They’ve accomplished the trick of making a small car feel larger inside” were among the comments from our testers.

Under the bonnet is the same 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol motor as found in parent company Hyundai’s Veloster. It produces 103kW/167Nm with combined fuel economy of 6.1L/100km in six-speed automatic form (5.6L/100km with six-speed manual).

“People in the market for the Audi probably won’t consider the Kia, but those looking at a Kia may be tempted by the Audi.”

On the road, the engine/transmission relationship appears ill-at-ease, the auto not working intuitively with throttle inputs. That said the throttle response is perhaps too sudden at the top of the pedal’s range, causing a lot of the confusion as you surge forward, only to back off just as an up-change occurs.

The engine itself sounds harsh and its power delivery is uninspired, feeling less than its 103kW would suggest. It does more than enough to keep up with the cut-and-thrust of city traffic but gives the impression that it would struggle with a load of adults on a mountain road.

Rio’s steering is light to the touch, contributes to a 10.5 metre turning circle and is fine for a target market that doesn’t care for granular feedback and subtle changes of weight. It rides surprisingly firmly thanks to the low-profile tyres and its braking performance – thanks to larger 11.0-inch ventilated front discs (up from 10.1-inch on the lower models) – is strong.

FOUR-RINGED CIRCA
Even at a glance, seeing the Audi and Kia together show two divergent views to creating a small hatch. The A1’s ambition is clearly to join its bigger brothers – it’s the bottom rung of a ladder Audi would love you to climb. On the other hand, the Kia has hit its peak – for $3990 (around 20 per cent), less than the completely standard Audi A1.

Although the test car has options adding 17-inch wheels with 215/40-17 tyres (15-inch alloys with 205/55/15 are standard) and the ‘Technik’ package (Xenon headlamps with LED daytime running lamps, climate control and rear parking sensors), our focus here is to ‘strip back’ these options, taking them out of the equation.

Generations of Germanic breeding quickly become evident with the A1. From the satisfying door ‘thunk’ to the quality of its paint and trim finishes – it is clearly well put together. Curiously, the door handles have provision for ‘keyless’ entry, and once seated you also note the centre console/wheel-mounted ‘NAV’ buttons. Neither feature is offered standard in this model.

All is forgiven, however, once you get comfortable in the cloth seat and actually grip the quality, soft-leather multi-function steering wheel. You sit quite upright but there is decent front headroom and vision. The pop-up, 6.5-inch colour screen and multi-function dash-top display add to the quality of the ambience.

Reaching forward for the five-speed manual gearshift, we note something is missing. A centre console is a $250 option and is absent from this car. An auto-dimming rear-view mirror is also cost-optional at $490. Heated, folding exterior mirrors? Another $490... Kerrrr-ching!

Of course, central locking, cruise control, air-conditioning, power windows and electrohydraulic steering are standard inclusions, and the A1's eight-speaker infotainment system offers an AM/FM tuner/CD/Bluetooth audio/MP3 and auxiliary connection. Front, side and curtain airbags are present as are the expected safety equipment – stability control, antilock brakes and the like.

While the interior is nicely trimmed, there is no getting around the fact that the Audi A1 is smaller than the Rio, with rear head and leg room in particular lagging behind. There is also a hump in the rear passenger floor (no doubt to facilitate the quattro all-wheel drive system available in Europe) that further restricts rear passenger space, making it okay for four, but not much more.

The lack of rear map pockets and grab handles is also notable. Luggage space is 270 litres with rear seats in place; 920 litres without, and underneath the boot space lies a space saver spare wheel.

The A1 Attraction does score a couple of key features over the Rio SLi, with rain sensing wipers and the highly effective idle stop-start system which contributes to its combined fuel consumption figure of 5.1L/100km. Mind you, the 1.2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol motor generates only 63kW – a full 39 per cent less power than the Rio. Its fulsome torque figure of 160Nm from 1500-3500rpm is its relative strength.

While the figures seem low on paper, the A1’s eager little engine and manual gearbox are competitive enough in stop-start traffic, though below the 1500rpm torque peak there is noticeable lag. Above that, it is more willing to rev than the Kia and encourages regular use of the light, easy to operate clutch and slightly rubbery gearshift.

It also has a cultured growl that makes the engine sound bigger than it is and the idle stop-start system, activated when no gear is engaged, is a real boon.

The A1 Sportback rides solidly like the Kia but is better in control of its body – and more interested in finding an apex, should one present itself. Steering is also light at slow speeds and makes parking a cinch. It’s equally well-filtered at speed, though whether that’s a good thing or not is subjective.

THE $27,000 QUESTION
We won’t lie: deliberating over which car represents better value as a mid-$20,000 hatch proposition has consumed more time than we're prepared to admit.

For its evident breeding and superior efficiency – not to mention a bit of badge envy – the Audi A1 makes a tempting case for itself. Its target market is arguably different to the Kia’s. As one reviewer put it, “People in the market for the Audi probably won’t consider the Kia, but those looking at a Kia may be tempted by the Audi.”

It’s also a car for those who already have a larger Audi in the stable and need a runabout or a first car for their privately-educated child.

On the other hand, the Kia’s real-world appeal is hard to ignore. In saving the best part of $4000 you get more standard kit, appreciably more interior and boot space, and an engine with more power.

The Kia's the practical choice, and becomes more compelling if you have little ones to transport in the back.

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