Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by petrol engines and utilizing the 5-door hatchback body style within the same 'City car' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (rear for the Smart and front in the case of the Audi). The first one has a Renault-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 70hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 86hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the Audi being a slightly better choice apparently. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, Audi A1 offers a considerable difference of 19% more metal.

Manufacturers have been building their reliability reputation for decades now and, generally speaking, it appears that Smart as a brand displays somewhat better results, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Smart with an average rating of 4.3, and models under the Audi badge with 4.2 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as ForFour rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.9 out of 5.

Audi is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 5 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 180 kilometers per hour, 29km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be ForFour, averaging around 4.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (67 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 21% difference compared to Audi A1.

Smart appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, Audi A1 beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with Audi outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Audi. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser™, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.