Audi's remarkable S1 super hatch is launched in NZ

The Audi S1 hot hatch has just been launched in NZ. Photos / Damien O'Carroll

The Audi S1 puts a powerful modern spin on the classic small car, writes Damien O’Carroll

Once upon a time the old-fashioned recipe for creating a hot hatchback was relatively simple: take the smallest car in your range and jam the biggest engine you can make fit into it.

It is a formula that worked well for those who took the time to do it properly, but also created a fair few lead-tipped arrows when less diligent manufacturers took it all too literally.

The recent revival of the hot hatch has seen a different, more thoughtful approach, however, one more in keeping with our greener, more caring and sensibly practical outlook these days. That is one of taking one of the smallest, but still sensibly sized cars in your range and giving it an engine of a modest capacity, more in keeping with its size. Then strapping a very clever small turbo to it and winding the power up to frankly silly levels, jamming in all sorts of electronics and trick diffs and then unleash it on to an unwary public.

And it is an approach that works wonderfully well, with all kinds of fantastic small hatches packing sensibly-sized engines with thoroughly ridiculous power belting seven shades of hell out of the roads around the planet.

But that's not good enough for Audi. No, the German manufacturer has decided to ignore this new kind of tree-hugging hot hatch and go back to sticking a big engine into a small car for its latest crack at the genre. But then also throw in all the high-tech gadgetry for good measure, because it's Audi and they just can't help doing that sort of thing.

As a result, the Audi S1 is arguably the purest modern interpretation of the classic Hot Hatch on sale today. It is a very small car with a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine jammed into it. We know it is a tight fit, because the S1 is only available with a six-speed manual transmission as the DSG wouldn't fit.

The engine has a fantastic traditionally Audi growl and ...certainly lets you know it means business.

The S1's 2-litre engine pumps out 170kW of power and 320Nm of torque, which is slightly more power and slightly less torque than the larger VW Golf GTi - a car considered quite the hot hatch itself - and while the S1 is much smaller, it weighs around the same, at 1340kg.

Why is this? Because the S1 is all quattro, baby ...

That's right, the S1 lives up to its rather legendary name (if you don't know, google "S1 quattro" and cower in fear at the be-winged hound from hell that is The Greatest Rally Car Ever) by punching its power through all four wheels via Audi's quattro AWD system.

This means the S1 is staggering fun to thrash on a tightly winding road, or anywhere really, in keeping with the traditional hot hatch reason for existence. But it is also startlingly flexible and refined around town at low speeds, in keeping with modern demands to use cars for such dull, monotonous purposes.

On the open road a careful eye has to be kept on the S1's speed, as even the slightest twitch of the throttle foot will see it surging well beyond the legal limit. Really get into it and the S1 responds with instant and slightly unsettling acceleration for such a small car.

The engine has a fantastic traditionally Audi growl and, while it isn't quite as evocative as a good five-cylinder warble, it certainly lets you know it means business. That is if you can pay attention to anything other than the ferocious approach of the horizon.

But corners are the S1's true calling. Utterly destroy them, that is. You can throw the S1 into a corner at a thoroughly ridiculous speed, hammering on the incredibly good brakes at the last minute, then depending on your particular tastes, either tip the precise front end accurately into the corner, gently clipping the apex while maintaining a small percentage of throttle before smoothly unleashing all the power through the wheels to gracefully rocket out the other side.

Or you can just chuck it in there, mash on the throttle once you have flailed your way past the apex and rocket hairily out the other side grinning.

The six-speed manual transmission is wonderfully light and fast to use and, matched to the fantastic engine is one of the true modern-day delights of the car world to use. Plus the quattro AWD system. Don't forget that.

In fact, everything mechanical in the Audi S1 works so wonderfully well together that, as excellent as the present crop of hot hatches are, everyone else might as well give up. Audi pretty much has it perfected here.

The Audi S1 comes to these shores in a single guise - that of a five-door hatch, or Sportback as Audi like to call them, with a manual transmission only.

At $59,900, the S1 comes standard with 18-inch alloy wheels, automatic adjustable xenon headlights, LED tail lights, rear parking sensors, rain-sensing wipers, cruise control and a leather multi-function sports steering wheel.

The six-speed manual transmission on the Audi S1 is wonderfully light and fast to use and the vehicle has excellent acceleration for a small car.

Options are, of course, manifold, with things like leather seats, dark tinted glass, different alloys, premium sound systems and contrasting roof colours being available, as well as the "technology package" ($3500) that adds navigation and front parking sensors, the "quattro exterior styling package" ($3500) that adds red trim in the headlights, red painted brake callipers, a double rear spoiler, "quattro" decals on the sides and an "aluminium look" front spoiler lip and the "quattro interior styling package" ($4500) that adds a centre console with a high-gloss finish in either red, yellow or black, S sport leather seats with high-gloss painted backs in either red, yellow or black ... and, well, some other stuff.

But who really cares, because that engine is hooked up to that transmission and that AWD system. And that is all you will ever need.