While 228 hp (231PS) and 370 Nm (273 lb-ft) of torque on a small city car like the Audi A1 may seem crazy, fortunately it’s very real.
I’m talking about the Audi S1, the all-wheel drive hot-hatch that the folks from XCAR like to call a hyperhatch.
Why a hyperhatch? Well, for starters, the car’s performance figures are superior to average hot-hatches. The Audi S1 sprints from 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 5.8 seconds (5.9 seconds for the S1 Sportback), and can reach a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph). Then there’s the winning combination of a small, light body with a powerful engine – one can never get it wrong with that.
But the Audi S1 also owes a lot to the A1 Quattro, the limited-series bombshell built as a tribute to the Audi Quattro. To its credit, Audi has managed to retain most of the A1 Quattro’s character with the S1, as you will find out from the following review.