What a Car - UK - (2020-04)

whatcar.com April 2020 71

Audi A1 Sportback vs Mini 5dr vs Peugeot 208

that look upmarket and feel the

part when you prod them. The

A1 feels equally well screwed

together, but there are far fewer

soft-touch materials, while areas

you touch regularly, such as the

door tops, feel less than premium.

Perhaps surprisingly, the

208’s interior cuts the mustard

in this company. Its dashboard

feels squidgy, the leather on the

steering wheel is suitably fi ne-

grained and there are fewer hard

plastics than in the A1. That said,

there are some fairly large interior

panel gaps in places and the

front centre armrest feels wobbly

compared with the equivalents in

the A1 and Mini as specifi ed here.

SPACE AND PRACTICALITY

Front space, rear space,

seating  exibility, boot

These are small cars, but even by

class standards they aren’t all that

roomy in the back. If you regularly

need to carry around more than

one other lofty adult, you’d do well

to consider a Polo or Seat Ibiza.

The Mini has the most head

room to allow six-footers to sit up

straight, but its narrow rear seat

area makes squeezing three adults

in the back an almost comical

experience. It’s also the hardest

to get in and out of, due to its tiny

rear door apertures.

The A1 and 208 are better for

those rare occasions when you

need to carry four passengers, but

head room is less plentiful; tall

people will need to cower to fi t.

Adding the optional panoramic

glass roof (£500) to the 208

drops the height of the ceiling

even lower, but avoid that and

the 208 is fractionally the most

accommodating in the back.

Its boot is the biggest, too,

accepting fi ve carry-on suitcases –

the same as the A1 – but with

more space left over. The Mini can

hold only four cases, although

the optional Comfort Pack added

to our test car includes a height-

adjustable boot fl oor, something

you also get with the A1 but which

isn’t available on the 208.

BUYING AND OWNING

Costs, equipment, reliability,

safety and security

We’ve specifi ed our contenders

in such a way as to keep prices

and standard kit broadly on a par,

adding an optional Plus Pack to the

A1 and the Comfort Pack we’ve just

mentioned to the Mini to match

the top-spec 208. That means all

of our trio come with things like

automatic air conditioning and

rear parking sensors.

However, the 208 is the only

one to get front parking sensors

BEST

BOOT

SPACE

930mm

940mm

900mm

610mm

655mm

620mm

1320mm

1265mm

1315mm

575-1365mm

575-1330mm

660-1345mm

1000mm

950-960mm

1015mm

570-795mm

375-860mm

530-750mm

Boots’ suitcase-carrying capacities are measured with a 560x350x230mm Antler suitcase, with the rear seatbacks in place and up to the parcel shelf

Rear space is average by class

standards, so if you need to carry

more than one tall passenger

on a regular basis, consider a

VW Polo. Boot is a nice, square

shapeandreasonablyroomy

Narrowrearandbighump in

oormaketheMinitheworst for

carryingthreein theback. You can

adjusttheseatbackangle, though.

Bootis thesmallesthere; it can

holdonlyfoursuitcases

The208’sbootis thebiggest here,

althoughtheopeningis quite

narrowanda height-adjustable

oorisn’tavailable.Avoid the

optionalpanoramicglass roof,

becauseit robsheadroom

965mm

1075mm

1375mm

970mm

1130mm

1290mm

940mm

1070mm

1360mm

Boot 335-1090 litres

Suitcases 5

Boot 278-941 litres

Suitcases 4

Boot 311-1106 litres

Suitcases 5

BEST

REAR

SPACE