Audi S1

Engine: 1,984cc, four-cylinder, turbocharged

Power: 221bhp and 273lb.ft. of torque

Performance: 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds and 155mph

Economy: 40.4mpg (combined)

CO2 emissions: 162g/km

Price: £24,905

Those of you that took a sharp intake of breath back then should probably sit down, because Audi has re-written the rule book for the compact hatchback and achieved that same feat with its groundbreaking new S1.

Benchmarking the Citroen DS3 Racing’s £25,882 and Mini JCW Clubman’s £23,610 price tags, the new Audi commands £24,905 in three-door S1 quattro tested here and £25,635 for the five-door S1 Sportback.

Without going mad Audi had specced my car at the recent launch event to an on-the-road price of £29,545.

In sheer hardware terms, however, the S1 is a car that sets a string of new benchmarks for its class.

Shoe-horned into the tiny frame of the Audi’s supermini is a 221bhp two-litre turbocharged motor and the German automotive giant’s clever quattro four-wheel-drive gubbins.

A 2mm wider track and 310mm ventilated disc brakes at the front and a 4mm wider track track and 272mm ventilated discs at the rear ensure traction and braking on another level too...

The result is rival-ravaging performance.

A sprint to 62mph is dispatched in 5.8 seconds and the top speed is an electronically-limited to 155mph.

If I were directing a film about the thing, I’d be tempted to call it Honey I Shrunk the Veyron. This is proper performance on a Matchbox scale...

Audi chose to launch its Scrappy Do hatchback — ready to punch above its weight, see — in the idyllic surrounds of Southrop, in the heart of the Cotswolds, where an array of Vegas Yellow and Misano Red S1s awaited the UK motoring press.

The array of hatchbacks immediately look more squat than the standard A1, sporting satin silver wing mirror covers quad exhausts and with many wearing optional 18 inch alloys in place of the standard 17s.

A bolder S grille defines the front end along with Audi’s ever-evolving LED daytime running lights.

Inside the S1 oozes quality. It might not have the immediate quirkiness of a Mini’s retro cabin but the tactility is of another order, every bit the miniature A6.

Supportive leather sports seats look the part, as do the touches of red trim and a quattro badge above the glove box.

Four gloss black vents bulge from the soft touch dash with a neat array of centre console dials trimmed with machined aluminium bezels. A 6.5-inch colour display folds from the dash, giving access to Audi’s MMI Interface.

Google Maps equipped sat-nav, Bluetooth phone connectivity and music streaming are among the features that it allows access to.

An aluminium engine start button immediately entices once behind flat-bottomed steering wheel and in the stairwell below, three gleaming pedals. Yes, after years of pushing high-tech dual clutch automatic gearboxes, the S1 will be available exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Spark up the engine and the two-litre unit familiar to TT and Golf drivers fires up in relatively subdued fashion.

The S1 feels remarkably comfortable and easy to manoeuvre at low speed from the off, adaptable steering and suspension damping ensuring its manners.

Negligible rear passenger space in the three-door S1 quattro and the tiny 210 litre boot aside, it’s a hassle-free daily driver. Claims of 40.4mpg fuel economy and 162g/km CO2 emissions reinforce this.

What really matters about the S1 is what happens when the wick is turned up.

Plunge the throttle pedal in any one of three gears and 273lb.ft. of torque available from just 1,600rpm lifts the front of the car and fires its tiny frame down the road.

Although turbocharged, the TFSI motor is lively and revvable.

The sweet six-speed gearbox allows ratios to be changed with vigour and heel-toeing on down-shifts is a joy, with well-placed pedals and easily accessed revs blipping in appreciation.

Hook the S1 into corners on a twisty b-road and the sensations served up by the tiny four-wheel-drive is pure rally racer.

Audi often creates fast vehicles safely balanced on the margins between neutrality and understeer, but the S1 feels lively and alert.

Switch the traction control system to its Sport setting and it will swing its tail into a corner and power out on a wave of torque.

There’s little sense of a rearward power bias during acceleration through, and out of, corners but the angle of attack can be metered a little on the brakes and throttle and I’d wager that it would drift beautifully in the right hands...and with a bit of space to play with.

Audi’s S1 rightfully claims the title of ultimate compact performance hatchback in terms of quality and pace. It’s a class above.

There remains a sense that traditional hot hatches serve up similar dose of fun for far less, with more malleable chassis operating at more accessible speeds, but Audi’s S1 successfully takes the format and turns it up to 11.

Far from being an anodyne hunter of headline performance stats, it’s a real hoot...