AUDI S1 QUATTRO IS A GR YARIS ALTERNATIVE

We wanted to see if the Audi S1 Quattro (Hatchback) is still a worthy contender to the GR Yaris AND if it's worthy of that legendary name and badge...
Thanks to Hans for letting us borrow his car! If you've got a cool car you'd like us to feature on the channel, get in touch!
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Created by Oliver Lawson and Oliver Allison
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[@OLLIEHEELANDTOE]

What do you think? Is the modern S1 a spiritual successor?

[@Dave-gl6jb]

Get GR Yaris. Still lovely car S1

[@sunsetgarage755]

Both are great cars, Toyota just did a better job from the factory whereas Audi detuned the crap out of the S1 so it wouldn’t go faster than the S3.

[@gyula6516]

​@@sunsetgarage755yet the S1 has so much more potential without opening the engine up

[@sunsetgarage755]

@@gyula6516 Exactly. They have so much untapped power already built in.

[@thembatshabalala5281]

I’m sorry, I love the S1. But this is a stretch💀. Yes GR Yaris and the S1 are principally similar. But the Yaris was built as a rally car and the S1 has no pretence of rally underpinnings

[@martingetliffe]

This is My Daily. On my own, going to see Client’s, it’s not flash And it doesn’t offend anybody. I absolutely love it. It’s fun with not too much power to get you into trouble.

[@martingetliffe]

In fact Gents. Seeing how you treat somebody else’s Car with respect when reviewing, if you are in Yorkshire - sounds like you are - like Me! You can come & back to back My 3 car Garage. All Audis, all Blue; Sprint, Seapang & Norago. 3 different powertrains.

[@sunsetgarage755]

As time goes on these little S1’s are becoming great value for the all the performance Audi tried to hide. Even a simple stage 1 remap unlocks so much extra power. I’ve got two of these with various different upgrades for less than the price of 1 GR Yaris.

[@paulfrost3501]

I’m surprised Carwow or Top Gear etc haven’t done a comparison yet. Not many small 4x4’s around, add in the Suzuki swift SZ, but much smaller engines at around 1.3

[@JCoppi-cs8hq]

Got my Audi S1 almost 7 months ago and I'm super satisfied with it. It's such a fun car to drive everyday, and has an acceptable consumption, considering the 230bhp (stock). Yaris GR is the only real competitor in the small car segment and it's a nice car too; I prefer Audi's aesthetics, but they are definitely good rivals! I think that the 2 cars are very similar, probably the GR is better in handling while the S1 definitely has a better engine.

[@mry82]

"spectators showed us exactly how natural selection works..." haha, true...

[@Spendarellaa]

This is the best S1 review I’ve found. Some good analysis with a dash of banter. Definitely getting one.

[@besenwieslersepp1011]

As an S1 owner, i like the Yaris. There are so much similarities. I don't know if the Yaris is worth the extra price compared to the S1. But the Yaris is a car with so many expensive modifications compared to the base model produced in such low numbers. Toyota will not earn a lot of money with that model. This fact alone would attract me to buy one.

[@ianwhiffen5412]

Had mine 7 years and still love it running 320 bhp so super fun

[@Spendarellaa]

I’m shopping for one now. I’m looking for a low mileage with interior Quattro and tec extras. Any advice ? Have you had any issues or servicing problems?

[@randomgaming2079]

What’s the clutch been like?

[@SamWorthReviewing]

That intro made me laugh! Brilliant video guys and I love the videography you have in all your videos. Keep it up!

[@OLLIEHEELANDTOE]

Thank you 🙏

[@muckman5509]

hands down one of a kind. Its defiantly on the cool wall

[@keithronson2624]

Yorkshire's answer to Crockett & Tubbs! Funny as! S1: so few around, a future classic. Thank you to you both. As always excellent review and content. Even the 80s soundtrack. Thank You Both. Brilliant, as always.

[@OLLIEHEELANDTOE]

Many Thanks Keith! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Mietek1937]

The Intro music: Wonder Boy · Syncro

[@badusername4]

I’ve watched all the s1 reviews , fave one ! Nice one

[@senditjim]

That was jokes! Would love to see what you think of stage 3....

[@d333my]

Everyone baulked at the price of the S1. I used to own one. It’s actually underrated and I don’t think the Yaris is worth the extra. The rear of the Yaris looks wrong!

[@TIM612826]

Like a pin ball machine, reminds me of my clio 182 but 4 wheel drive 😄

[@TheCinderellaman10]

This has the gti ea888 gen3 engine, slightly different cam profile and turbo and smaller hpfp compared to the mk7 golf r, s3, cupra's

[@oliverpvlawson1826]

World class

[@JOT381]

3 door ones look better 🙃

[@sandpiperuk]

Great car but not sure about the interview chat ....

[@drakeliddell]

Identical to my s1 same year too 👌

[@07989074102]

One thing VW and Audi don’t get right is steering feel.. every time I drive a Ford ST the steering and seat position are spot on. But I always go back to VW / Audi. My problem with this S1 is the pricing , its not far from S3 money used ..

[@besenwieslersepp1011]

Perhaps this is as UK-Problem. In Germany there are about €10.000 between a used S1 and a S3. What was the price (new) of an base-S1 in the UK? In Germany € 29.950

[@joeharding98]

@@besenwieslersepp1011 Base price of an S1 in the UK was the £29k I believe. I bought a 2015 one with 20k miles last May for £15k. Absolutely love it. Have driven a GR Yaris, which drives a little better but not enough to warrant the extra money/ the poor interior quality compared to the S1, in my opinion.

[@besenwieslersepp1011]

@@joeharding98 It is all a matter of the surcharge policy of Audi. In my opinion the base S1 was a bargain brand new and is it today used. A A1 40TFSI is really expensive as a base model for no reason. And with a few extras they are about €10.000 over a base S1 new 2015!!!

[@calvinmeek]

Great review, great video, great car! 🚗

[@OLLIEHEELANDTOE]

Thanks Calvin!

[@OLLI_XE]

Quite a lot of bang for the buck I must say.

[@veefource]

If you disable straight line running using VCDS the steering becomes much more interactive. Still not the last word in feel but much better than an ND MX5 at any rate. I've not driven a Yaris GR but given that's also meant to have numb steering and is about the same weight, it's definitely not leagues ahead. Especially as stock S1's dyno at 245-250bhp anyway and they will warm up twice as quick thanks to the brilliant integrated exhaust header.

[@keljon32]

Surprising how much straight line running helps

[@YouTubeuser55555]

Music is super loud and annoying

[@SebVelasco]

Master

[@EttoreTecno666]

Notice that the Yaris GR is few kg lighter then S1.

[@Altesego1]

I have driven both and bought a GR Yaris 6 Months ago. The s1 is also fun to drive, but it weighs quite a lot more and is much less focused on being fast than the Yaris. So in my opinion, if you only drive the car on backroads and as a daily buy whatever appeals you more, but on a closed track the GR Yaris with track pack will slaughter the Audi s1, no real competition.

[@quickreviewchannel6931]

Tbf the Yaris is only 50kg lighter, and if you remap the s1 to 300bhp which is easily done as it’s basically a golf r/s3 engine, I reckon the s1 would be faster than the gr

[@Altesego1]

@@quickreviewchannel6931 Hi, as I said, the S1 is certainly a nice car and for 95% of the situations on public roads it doesn’t matter anyway which of the both you choose, they are quite similar to drive (in my opinion). On closed track however it’s very different, the GR Yaris is not only a hothatch like the S1 but a true homologation special with much more racing technology in it (you can easily look it up if you want) than the S1. For example, the Brakes and the cornering abilities are really so much better on the edge that the both are hardly comparable. In the end the GR Yaris is not really a Yaris, it shares only like 4 tiny parts with the standard Yaris, it’s a Rallye car for the street with a Yaris badge on it. A tune of the S1 would of course make it quicker as the standard one (at least in straight line) but than it’s still a Normal Production car with a tune (a good one though).

[@davidjolliffe9622]

@@Altesego1 Yaris is a very (very) good car, but you don’t know what you’re talking about. The S1 is definitely a competent track car, & I haven’t found a Yaris driver capable of keeping up with my stage 1 tuned S1 on track days. And my S1 production car is even faster again with only weight reduction, bigger brakes & better suspension, & a totally stock tune with only a catless downpipe & exhaust, & better engine & box mounts. So either I’m a better driver than every Yaris I’ve raced, or the S1 is actually very fast.

[@Altesego1]

@@davidjolliffe9622 hi, that’s your opinion and I respect that (even if you can hardly judge if I have any clue, as you don’t know me). If you think that the stock suspension and track capabilities are equally good (again, stock!), you should really drive them back to back by your own, because the gap is massive. If you don’t believe me, just look up any comparable time for example the nordschleife btg time. „Captain Gaskrank“ does a 7:39 btg (you can look it up on yt). You will have a very hard time finding any time with an Audi s1 that is even remotely close. I don’t understand why you try to compare your track tuned s1 to a stock GR, it just makes not much sense to me. Off course a build s1 can be very fast on track, I don’t doubt that.

[@davidjolliffe9622]

@@Altesego1 I think what you’re missing in my point, and what I’m trying to explain to you, is that the Yaris (which I have driven and absolutely adore) left the factory in a much higher state of tune, and it’s lovely little 3 cylinder is unfortunately already at approximately 80% of its safe capacity. It can be re-tuned, and it is capable of more performance, but there’s not a lot more that can be done (because Toyota did such a great job) to get more RELIABLE power EASILY. However.. The Audi S1 left the factory with an EA888, @ just about the lowest state of acceptable tune you could apply to the engine from factory. At a rough estimate based on what can be done with it, the engine is only at about 60% of its known safe performance level when tuned. It was deliberately de-tuned by Audi, so it didn’t out perform the S3, and to leave something for their planned RS1 which was dropped. Out performing a heavier S3 isn’t difficult when you consider they basically have the same running gear minus the IS38 turbo, which is very easily reinstated into an S1. I can’t comment on Nordschliffe performance, as where I live it’s basically irrelevant, but obviously a revered track. We instead have Bathurst, which is also a very well respected international track that many Europeans have raced on. And on that track, in Standard Production trim, the S1 is a faster car than the GR Yaris IMHO. I’m yet to be proven wrong, but I’m hoping someone will take up the challenge. As far as tuning goes though, a stage 3 tuned S1 with various brake & suspension upgrades VS a TUNED Yaris GR with similar upgrades, will show just how brilliant the S1 really is. Audi have never deliberately sandbagged a performance model like this before, which is exactly why they are such good tuner cars, the performance potential is enormous.