Audi carves out a new niche

A1 Citycarver is made for city streets

Updated Audi A1 is marketed as a city cruiser 

Audi A1 Citycarver
Rating	★★★☆☆
Price	from €29,650 - €35,578 as tested
Engine	brilliant small capacity petrol three-pot
The Spec	surprisingly good at base level
Verdict	a sheep in wolf’s clothing

There have been many cars down the years with appalling names and, in fairness, the Japanese have probably been the most guilty in this department.

Such greats as Mazda’s La Puta or their Bongo Friendee, or the Nissan Super Long, or Toyota’s Deliboy (a big hit in Peckham), Honda’s Fitta, Daihatsu’s Naked, or even Subaru’s Brat, have all topped the bad names charts in years gone by.

Others from Mitsubishi – the never-to-be-forgotten Minica Lettuce or Minica Winky – or Isuzu’s Mysterious Utility Wizard, or the mega-expressive Mazda Super Dump, all came close.

And the Europeans have not always covered themselves in glory in the naming department; things such as the Peugeot Bipper Teepee Outdoor, the Opel Adam Rocks, or the VW Tiguan, which was so named as it is a mix of the German words Leguan (meaning iguana) and Tiger (self-explanatory).

The latter came about as a result of a competition in a motoring magazine and ended up being almost as ridiculous as the contest to name the British Antarctic marine survey vessel in which the popular vote favoured Boaty McBoatface.

Now Audi have come up with a good one: the Citycarver.

Citycarver? What could this possibly mean? Something that carves up cities? Something that carves up other urban motorists? Who knows?

So, what is the Citycarver? Well, it is an Audi A1; or a VW Polo, or a SEAT Ibiza; or, even, a Skoda Fabia. Actually, it is all of those things – albeit with a few bells and whistles attached. Debuted at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the A1 Citycarver is built on the VW Group’s ubiquitous MBQ platform which it shares with so many siblings, including all of the above.

Nominally, though, it is an A1 with added ride height, 4cm of added ground clearance, bigger wheels, a bit of extra bodywork cladding, a beefier rear bumper and a few other design tweaks which give it more of an SUV appearance. So, essentially this is an urban SUV, but devoid of all the things – like 4WD – which make many SUVs so worthy in the first place.

But, as we know, appearances have more to do with buyers’ choices these days than actual ability, so the Citycarver is not actually anything unique.

Regular readers should know, however, that we here at Examiner Motoring are often smitten by smaller cars and more often than not find them to be a much more enjoyable drive than many supposedly more accomplished larger cars.

Such diminutive beasts, while dismissed by many as mere ‘shopping trolleys,’ they can often be more practical, handle better and perform with a greater aplomb than many bigger motors. They are also, more often than not, a lot cheaper and affordable to run than more exalted choices.

We love them too for their relative anonymity and ability to disappear into inconspicuousness while still being able to do things that put a smile on your face and wipe the smug look off the faces of people who have paid a lot more for their thrills.

This one – while perhaps not as anonymous as many – is certainly able to do that. Fitted with a compact one-litre three-cylinder engine, one which we are familiar with across the VW Group, which in the tester’s case was fitted with a snicky six-speed‘ box and outputs a seemingly modest 116 bhp.

Even so, top speed is a tad over 200 kph and the 0-100 kph time is achieved in 9.9 seconds and the thing is, accompanied by its joyous three-pot soundtrack, the car comes with the soul of a trier and the abilities of a sinner.

In consumption terms it will return a figure of 6.04 l/100km, (46.3 mpg) and will cost two hundred quid a year to tax.

There is – by comparison with the regular A1 – a little more lean when cornering, thanks largely to the added suspension travel, but the Citycarver grips like a leech and offers steering as sharp as a Bowie knife. Worth noting is that there is no quattro system on offer and front-wheel drive only is the order of the day.

Indeed, the ‘city’ element of its name is a slight misnomer, because the car is a very happy motorway and B-road cruiser as well as its obvious urban abilities.

The interior will disappoint no one. We are talking pretty much typical Audi class here and the specification largely good. You will find though that the personalisation of the interior will stack up the asking price.

Stuff like the digital cockpit and the 8.8” multi-media screen come as standard as does the neat three-spoke leather clad steering wheel. The infotainment system is fantastic to use and possibly best in class – I certainly can’t think of many that top it.

Space-wise the Citycarver is class-typical in that you’re not going to get all the kids and the dog in there comfortably. You will get four large-ish adults in and only second-row forwards are likely to complain about the leg or head room. The boot too is decent enough, although if you’re a golfer you’ll be using the split rear seat function.

Because of the car’s looks and some of the very distinctive colour schemes on offer – Glacier White in the case of the tester, although the ‘Contrast Mythos Black’ roof costs €569 extra and underlines my earlier point about the price stacking up – will very much appeal to a lot of punters.

For anyone to whom such things matter, the addition of the cladding and the other SUV-esque stuff does absolutely nothing to add ability to the car which, given how relatively accomplished the A1 is, makes little or no difference in the long run. Just make sure you know you are buying a look, rather than anything else.

Other manufacturers have gone down this road with some success – the Ford Fiesta Active being an obvious example, as are the closely related VW T-Roc/T-Cross models – and Audi is obviously counting on getting a bit of that action for this car.

It is not cheap, as you might expect from a premium brand, but quite whether it is premium enough remains to be seen. But, when you consider this is nearly two thousand squids dearer than the equivalent A1 (in entry-level specification) for little added ability, it might stop you in your tracks.

Nearly more importantly, however, if I were one of the bosses in Ingolstadt, I would be scouring the place to find out who came up with such a meaningless and nonsensical name. Maybe they’d like a transfer to Japan.