Audi plays numbers game with its new A1 Sportback

* The new Audi A1 Sportback, outside and in.

Audi A1 Sportback road test by Steve Rogers

They are playing a new numbers game at Audi and it got a friend very excited.

He was admiring my A1 Sportback and noticed 35 in front of TFSI on the tailgate. He could hardly contain himself thinking the little A1 had a 3.5 litre under the bonnet. A reasonable assumption.

I could have led him on offering a very fast spin but decided to burst his bubble revealing the Sportback was powered by a modest 1.5 litre petrol.

So what is the numbering all about? Not sure anyone will be interested but I will explain anyway. In the near future we will be switching from horse power to kilowatts to denote power output. It is because electric cars, of which there will be many, have outputs expressed in kilowatts so Audi are preparing the ground.

Audi has come up with a numbering system ranging from 30 to 55. The 35 on my 1.5 litre Sportback tells us it has 110-120kw or 150-163bhp. Glad to have cleared the air with that one!

If my friend was intrigued by the numbering he nearly fell over when I revealed the price. All but £29,000.

Yes this is a load of money for a supermini - you could buy four Dacia Sanderos and still have a grand to spare - but the Dacia is bargain basement while the A1 is premier league so you get almost the same quality and specification of a £70,000 A8 but in a much smaller car.

Sort of takes the pain out of downsizing. Interestingly hardly anyone goes for a basic model, customers packing the car to the roofline with the many extras on offer.

Probably best to distinguish Sportback from A1 which is a two or four door hatchback while this one is more of an estate car and is roomier than you might think. It is also prettier than the lacklustre A1 taking its styling from the trendier Q2 SUV.

And on the subject of SUVs Audi is about to add the citycarver to the Sportback range. More of a baby SUV it is blinged up with fatter wheel arches, new sills in a contrasting colour, stainless steel finish and raised ride height.

Regardless of the cost A1 Sportback is an appealing motor, great to drive, a comfortable four seater, five at a pinch, with a decent sized boot. It took a set of golf clubs which is always a good test.

All A1 models drive well but the S Line tested here is more for the enthusiast, the firmer suspension encouraging the driver to push because it drives as if it is on rails.

Inside is what you expect from Audi - classy. The trim is largely top grade with plenty of leather, and while the dashboard isn't eye catching it is functional with a 10 inch touchscreen controlling most functions. Significantly the heating controls are separate, operated by switches which is far less distracting for the driver. If only all cars were the same.

The driver's binnacle is changeable, just as it is in larger Audi models, so you can select full width Google mapping when using the navigation.

Earlier I described the 1.5 litre engine as modest which it is compared to the fictional 3.5 litre but in reality this is a tremendous performer for its size. It fairly buzzes along with good throttle response at low revs and never shouts and screams near the limit. Gear ratios are well chosen as well.

Performance aside the engine's greatest asset is economy - it shuts down two of its four cylinders to save petrol. Over 500 odd miles it never fell below 45mpg and on a four up 100 mile Sunday stroll the Sportback returned 60.4mpg. That is just brilliant.

The Sportback's heady price is always going to raise eyebrows but customers are happy to pay whatever it takes to spec up the car. If your budget is tight then look elsewhere but if you want a small car without compromise then look no further.

Key facts

A1 Sportback 35 TFSI S-Line

£24,805/£28,800 tested (starts £17,570)

1.5 litre; 147bhp

0-62mph 7.7secs; 137mph

44.8-45.6mpg combined

120g/km. 1st year road tax £170

Insurance group 26

Boot: 335 litres

Town Council looks to fill vacancy

Art club puts its work on show at museum

* Above and below, guests at the preview of the art exhibition in the upper gallery of the museum.

Llangollen Art Club previewed its annual exhibition at the museum in Parade Street yesterday evening.

The colourful display, which continues until September 2, features a wide variety of members' pictures in various media.

The club meets every Tuesday evening, from 7.30-9.30pm, in the Memorial Hall in Market Street and welcomes artists of all abilities.

Some of the pictures on display ...

The museum has just launched its latest annual art competition, details of which are below:

MP gives full marks to cut-price school uniform scheme

* At the Llangollen launch of the scheme are, from left, Deputy Mayor Cllr Issy Richards, Susan Elan Jones MP, Emma Davies from the Pengwern Community and Graham Kendall of Citizens Advice Denbighshire/South Denbighshire Community Partnership.

A successful school uniform recycling scheme has been spread to Llangollen.

The scheme, run by a partnership between Citizens Advice Denbighshire and the county council, was launched in Denbigh, Prestatyn and Rhyl late last month.

And so far 460 children there have received items of clean, pressed school uniform, donated by families across the county.

From this Monday the scheme, which is also supported by Community Foundation Wales, is now also operating from Pengwern Community Centre in Llangollen.  

Lesley Powell, chief officer of Citizens Advice Denbighshire, said: “We are so pleased to be able to extend the scheme across all the county this year, we could not have done this without the support of the staff, volunteers, community, schools, town councils and Denbighshire County Council. 

“All the families attending the scheme will be offered a follow-up advice session to make sure everyone is claiming all their benefits, credits and grants.  

"We would encourage all families to check if they are eligible for the School Uniform Grant, free school meals and to come to our pop-up shops.”

Susan Elan Jones MP, who attended the Llangollen launch, said: "I am delighted to be here as this is a fantastic project." 

* For more information on the location and opening times of the pop-up shops, visit www.denbighshire.gov.uk/school-uniform-recycle-scheme

Art club previews latest exhibition tonight

Eisteddfod stars perform at Berwyn Prison

* Real Folk International Academy appeared at Berwyn Pirson. 

As part of the Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod, international performers were invited to entertain audiences at a number of outreach events including the HM Prison Berwyn.

The prison event, details of which have just been revealed, was a culmination of workshops and competitions organised by the collaborative efforts between the eisteddfod, Coleg Berwyn, Berywn residents, Reducing Re-offending and Welsh Lead for Equalities.

Throughout the months of May and June residents were encouraged to engage their imagination with creative writing and performance. 

Themes for the Berwyn Eisteddfod included Welsh culture and Hope & Friendship where residents produced art, short stories, poetry and song.

The final took place on July 4 when each performance category was judged by a panel of judges including the HR Manager at Berwyn Jason Kelsall, Rachel James, Head of Business Assurance at Berwyn, and eisteddfod representative John Gambles.

The event concluded in a colourful display by special guests Real Folk International Academy from the Panjab performing in the prison. 

They received a standing ovation from the audience as they performed a vibrant and traditional dance. 

The Real Folk International Academy then shared a multicultural buffet with the residents.

Other outreach events took place throughout North Wales during the week of the festival. 

These included special appearances by international performers from Columbia and Malaysia at the Pendine Park and Abby Dingle care homes.

John Gambles, who is the eisteddfod's Town and Outreach Coordinator: “The mini eisteddfod has been a huge success at Berwyn Prison and I am honoured to have been on the judging panel.

“The key message of Llangollen Musical Eisteddfod is to promote peace and harmony within communities. These outreach schemes offer people who do not have the opportunity to attend the festival a chance to enjoy performances from international guests.”

Police boss welcomes MPs’ call to decriminalise cannabis

* North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones.

The North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner has welcomed a report from a group of cross-party MPs who predict the UK will fully legalise cannabis within five to 10 years.

Arfon Jones, a former police inspector, is a long-time advocate of drugs reform and says the conclusions of the MPs’ fact-finding trip to Canada are a step in the right direction.

Last year Canada became the first G7 country to allow recreational use of cannabis which is designated as a Class B drug in the UK and anyone caught with it could face up to five years in prison.

There has already been some change in the UK with a shift in approach towards medicinal cannabis products, which can now be legally prescribed to some patients.

According to the MPs, they would like to see cannabis being decriminalised and regulated so that it cuts out the drugs gangs.

Mr Jones said: “I very much welcome this report and an important contribution to the debate about our antiquated drugs legislation which is not fit for purpose.

“We lost the war against drugs a long time ago and it is time we recognised this and tried a new approach.

“I also sense the tide of public opinion is turning in favour of doing things differently.

“It’s clear the current method of tackling organised crime through the Criminal Justice System is not effective.

“Once one group has been removed, another replaces it within days, which inevitably leads to further violence and exploitation.

Trying to arrest our way out of the distribution and cultivation of drugs is not working and quite frankly hasn’t been working for a long, long time - so we clearly need to look at other ways we can remove organised crime from our communities.

“It is a nonsense to criminalise people who take cannabis for recreational use and cause no harm to anybody else.

Cannabis should be regulated just like alcohol and tobacco – which actually cause more harm to individuals and to society in general.

“We should introduce a licencing system so that cannabis can be sold through pharmacies and in shops as happens in Canada, Uruguay and certain states in America.

“The best way to reduce the role of organised crime in the supply of drugs is to put it in commercial hands and to price it appropriately so people don't need to go to the illegal market.

“Commercial organisations have taken over the medicinal cannabis market and are selling prescriptions at a vast cost even though it is cheap to grow.  That’s just exploitation in my book.

“My view is that people should be allowed to grow a limited number of cannabis plants for their own use.

“Let’s face it there are probably hundreds of thousands of people in this country who grow cannabis in their own homes now.

“They're not harming anybody else and there is no reason why they should be punished through the criminal justice system.

“It would be sensible to follow the example of Spanish cannabis clubs where people are allowed to grow seven or eight cannabis plants in the club.

“If you were starting from scratch, I think cannabis would be more lightly regulated than alcohol is now because I think everybody agrees that alcohol is far more harmful to individuals than cannabis is.

“Just like alcohol, you should have age restrictions on the purchase and consumption of cannabis is a regulated market.

“In the autumn I will be launching a new scheme called Checkpoint in North Wales – after it was developed by Cambridge University and successfully trialled in Durham - which is designed to divert low level offenders away from criminality.

“We need to recognise that 90 per cent of drug consumption including cannabis is recreational use and non-problematic.

"In those cases, people should be given some educational information and that would be the end of the matter.

"Meanwhile, the legal position in relation to medicinal cannabis has been well and truly fudged as a matter of political expediency to avoid a PR disaster caused by the heart-rending cases of several children like the chronically ill Billy Caldwell who needs cannabis oil to ward off life-threatening fits.

“It is also unjust and cruel that people living with conditions like multiple sclerosis who use cannabis are putting themselves at risk of being prosecuted.”