[TuffLittleUnit]

Anyone seen the pics of the new A1 Sportback? Best looking compact EVER in my opinion. If Audi get the pricing right they'll sell these by the bucket load.

It potentially has the most innovative LEDs yet. I think we've all fallen into a trap of thinking that all DRLs need to be white (or white-ish in the case of the non-Sline A4) but check this out...

More here: http://www.audi.co.uk/audi/uk/en2/a...ith_92_g_km_CO2_output_unveiled_in_Paris.html

EDIT

Also, notice the change in grill shape which can be seen on the real pics (rather than renders) from the Paris Motorshow.

 

[fdot]

That's kinda hot

 

[TXcarguy]

Yep, I had seen pics of that the other day.

Yeah, I like it. I too can see how these would sell by the bucket load.

Lots of great high-res photos of the car and additional info can be found here: http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/2008/top-2008-Audi-A1-Sportback-Concept.htm

 

[Shane]

Looks kind of evil, in a good way. Those don't look like LEDs, more like neon lights to me. Since it gets such good gas mileage I doubt we will see it in the U.S., at least not with the 72MPG motor. It would be fun with the V10 motor...RS1.

 

[Ianhp1]

Unfortunately...

This is unlikely to come to fruition... certainly not in the UK, as it is illegal to have any colour light other than white at the front of the car (with the exception of indicators obviously). I'm not sure about the rest of the EU.

Then again, they could be indicators and not DRLs! (hence the mirror stips)... That's Kinda cool.

 

[wrx_xb9r]

Checking the pictures from serious wheels the LED's change color from white as DRL to yellow as indicators. Same pattern just different color. The big tip off is from the shots of the lights at the rear. You can see the red lights for markers/ brakes and then the yellow for signals. LED's are really small so putting in line with each other to make different colors appear in the same fixture would be really easy.

I really like the exterior of the car. Leave it alone. Tame down the interior and make a S1 version to sign me up. This may be a possible replacement for the wife's MINI.

 

[wrx_xb9r]

After further inspection there would have to be a few tweaks for production.

1) How would you keep the inside of the front clear grill cover clean? It would have to come off easily or be changed somehow for easy cleaning access.
2) I really like the hood blending into the character line down the side of the car. One less joint to deal with.
3) The rear hatch should open all the way across at the bottom.
4) I am sure the split rear window that opens will go away. Put a sleek hidden wiper on there and call it good.
5) The lower rear will have rectangular openings for the exhaust. The current setup would get soot deposits really badly along the body molding.
6) Keep the black surrounds on the windows
7) mirrors, door handles, for surrounds and lower rear bumper will go paint in contrasting colors from body color.

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

A couple of real pics over at http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/228882/audi-a1-sportback.html

 

[Rab88]

This is unlikely to come to fruition... certainly not in the UK, as it is illegal to have any colour light other than white at the front of the car (with the exception of indicators obviously). I'm not sure about the rest of the EU.

Then again, they could be indicators and not DRLs! (hence the mirror stips)... That's Kinda cool.

Actually, and it might surprise you, but the RVLR only states that RED cannot be shown to the front of a vehicle. So you're free to have any static colour to the front of your car in the UK (even blue - as long as it's static).

I don't believe the DRLs will be amber anyway, Looks to me like it's the indicators.

 

[Skill5]

would of been better if they had RED drl's on them. hehe

 

[TuffLittleUnit]

Even better would be user-definable through the MMI ...

Of course, Audi being Audi they'll probably start offering it as a gerzillion dollar extra through Audi Exclusive.

 

[BkS5]

audi would be foolish not to bring this car stateside they will definitely sell like crazy. but then again nothing in the car biz really makes sense these days lol