Seem to have bought an A2... Always been intrigued by them, and drove a few as courtesy cars when they were current... In fact we did get as far as test driving one in 2002, but bought the then new MINI instead. Even in Cooper trim with a shed load of extras it worked out around £5k cheaper!! But I liked the slightly left field, and wilfully unconventional approach taken by Audi. So, £850 later...
Brings the total to 3, though it wasn't a deliberate attempt to expand the Audi fleet... It's a 2002 A2 1.4 SE. The A2 is high mileage and a little worn, but everything still works (including the climate control), and it's moderately well equipped. Reasonably comprehensive service history (though a service is now due...) and 12 months MOT. Last service (12 months ago) cost around £700 though, which isn't much less than I paid for the whole car!
The flat red paint is suffering from a lot of laquer peel though, and it has more than its fair share of scuffs. The interior is fine, bar the typical peeling of the soft touch plastics that all Audis of this era seem to suffer from. I had an '03 A4 as a company car, and the climate control, DIS, stereo all seem to be exactly the same! Only the A2 has steering wheel controls, where the A4 had a 3 spoke sports wheel with no controls on it
First job will be a service, and a new thermostat. It's running very cool. But the cabriolet was the same when I bought it 3 years ago. It's had a reasonable amount spent on the suspension over the last few years, but I think fresh dampers (and springs?) would be a good idea if it's a keeper...
i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/C4P_PeterS/Audi%20A2/image_zpsnbeaw5uv.jpeg
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I sort of predict that the answer is "why not?", but the burning question is "why?"...
;-)
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I had one of those as a courtesy car back in the early noughties. Lovely to drive, but those A pillars caused massive blind spots I just could not get on with, particularly in town traffic.
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>> I sort of predict that the answer is "why not?", but the burning question is
>> "why?"...
>>
>> ;-)
>>
Well.... Why not :p. It's £850, aluminium and boxy. Loads of room inside, and it's red. I was actually looking for a cheap V8 estate...;)
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I know why...because I always fancied one as well.
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Yeah, but you like Roomsters too...
;-)
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Indeed. It's not that that makes me a bad person.
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I had an A2 as a courtesy car once or twice.
I will always remember, when standing in traffic, how the car rocked from side to side with each swipe of the big single wiper blade.
Horrible, horrible car.
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Weren't the diesels very good on fuel, something like 60mpg.
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I think they used that rough 1.4 3 cylinder TDi, as in the Polo. I had one as a hire car once (the Polo) and was pleased to hand it back.
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>>Horrible, horrible car.
Possibly expensive to insure too due to the aluminium bodywork.
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There was a beardy kind of a guy who lived near us who had one when they were new. I never knew what he actually did for a living but I decided he was probably a geography teacher. Wore the same tweed jacket every day.
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Did he have sandals, those Jesus Creeper things with socks?
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"Polyveldts"
RP Surreptitiously checks his chosen footwear....no not wearing mine today.
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Do you think, perhaps, that you might have been in Wales a little bit too long? Just saying...
;-)
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>> >>Horrible, horrible car.
>>
>> Possibly expensive to insure too due to the aluminium bodywork.
>>
Insurance is just over £150, mirroring NCD from another policy :).
Fuel economy (petrol) is 52mpg if the trip computer is to be believe - going by an '03 A4 I had that's probably at least 10% optimistic, but who cares ;)
An oil service is £159 at Worthing Audi :)
It's £850, aluminium, spacious and goes okay. If you squint it looks like a BMW i3 :p.
So it was years ahead of its time on looks as well as materials and construction!!
And, it was £850.... ;)
It'll go for that any day when I sell it, so I don't care!!
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I've always liked the look of the A2, it looks as good today as it did 16 years ago when it was first introduced IMO.
HJ reckons "It was originally trendy among the well heeled" :)
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I doubt the well-heeled would have been too impressed by the rough noisy diesel engine as they pulled up outside the private school. "Oscar's mummy's come to pick him up in a tractor"
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I would imagine the well-heeled would have gorn for the ultra-economical 100bhp 1.6 FSI petrol engined jobbie.
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Wife had two, both 1.4 petrol. Loved the higher seating position and the width which made it easy to park. I drove a 1.4 (75bhp) diesel as a courtesy car and felt it was better (but I prefer diesels) and a friend at work commented on the exhaust note (he didn't know it was 3 cyl).
Hated the squeaks from the dash which Audi never managed to sort and the sound of rain on the roof (had to have the sunroof on the second).
Didn't sell well new because they were too expensive (our second came out at £18k in 2004) but as I say - she loved them.
The best one is the 1.4 diesel because it can be chipped and the 1.4 will give 90-110bhp. There was a super economical 1.2 diesel with very narrow tyres, specially designed aloys etc - very rare. It was the first car brochure I saw which told you how much extra CO2 use each option would cuase.
Tyres are an odd size and can be difficult to get. 185/55R16 IIRC
Suggest you look at A2OC on line, I think it is still going.
I would be tempted to see if one of the new turbocharged engines would fit.
Another impulse was strip it back to aluminium but it wouldn't work as the front wings were plastic.
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Funny isn't it how it seems to be mostly women who like driving while sitting up in air. My wife loves her Qashqai because of that. I prefer my bum nearer the Tarmac personally.
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>> Funny isn't it how it seems to be mostly women who like driving while sitting
>> up in air. My wife loves her Qashqai because of that. I prefer my bum
>> nearer the Tarmac personally.
Must be the jock in you.
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Maybe so, but I just don't like the top heavy feeling of tall cars.
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You ought to stick with 'lower' cars then
Something like, oh, er, a Westfield perchance
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Had one of those you know. I'll tell you about it sometime.
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>>Funny isn't it how it seems to be mostly women who like driving while sitting up in air
Y'all get used to it too, and when yoos get a low-down loan car while your high-riding car is in for a service, ya can't wait to give it back. Dat's my experience anyroad.
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I had a Qashqai for two years. Never really did get on with it for that reason. Wife still has one and when I drive it the elevated seating position annoys me.
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A Qashqai huh, a Forester does things differently IMO. I did consider said Nissan when I was looking for an AWD estate-type car. I also looked at the X Trail, Rav 4, Freeloader, Grand Vitara etc. etc. before deciding on said Subaru and I'm still pleased with it 3 years later.
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Try driving a W169 A160 for a day while your LEC is being serviced, Hound. No worries about giving that back and getting down to a proper driving height again.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Tue 12 Apr 16 at 11:59
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I can see the attraction in the A2. Pistonheads had one as their Shed of the Week last week. Clever design, but too clever for the market at that time.
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Too expensive was its main problem. It offered little that wasn't available elsewhere (even within the VAG empire) for less money. The aluminium body was just a gimmick.
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>> The aluminium body was just a gimmick.
Not if it made the car significantly lighter.
Did it?
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>>Did it?
Kerb weight 895–1,030 kg (1,973–2,271 lb) depending on the model
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>> The aluminium body was just a gimmick.
>>
Well it's not going to rust. Shame Ford didn't do it with the Ka.
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Course, if I was doing the mileage which Humph, and maybe you are putting in each week, I'd rather be driving a LEC than a SUV any day!
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So would I ... Even only driving 5k pa I'd prefer a LEC to an SUV. Although given the requisite spondoolies I could be tempted into a Macan.
Back to the A2, spotted an 02 plate 1.6 petrol outside the gym in Settle this evening. Dull looking dark blue colour.
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In October 2010, an A2 converted to electric power by Lekker Energie and DBM Energy completed an early morning 600-kilometre (370 mi) drive from Munich to Berlin on a single charge. Upon arrival, Rainer Bruederle, Germany's Economics Minister, called the test drive a "world record."
The car was said to still have 18% of its charge remaining on arrival in Berlin and the average speed was reported as being 90 km/h (56 mph). The "kolibri" batteries used in the design are so compact that the vehicle retains its four seats and boot space. A production version would be possible. "The technology could be implemented today. It is up to industry to use this potential," commented Mirko Hannemann, the head of DBM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_A2
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I always liked the A2, but never managed to get one.
Always thought it was a bit ahead of its time before people really appreciated light weight materials and fuel burn.
Not so sure now but Audi's of that era were really well built, and with reasonable care just keep going - my old A3 that I ran for 6 months is still MOT'd 18 months after I got rid with almost 260K on it
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Well this one has done 160k miles, has a reasonably comprehensive service history, 4 newish tyres of the same (if unheard off :p) brand and everything it came with still works. It hasn't worn it's mileage as well as the cabriolet, which is 8 years older and has done 130k miles now. It's got a few more rattles, and the interior trim is more scuffed. Though I imagine that's a function of the type of opener and use its had. I'm sure it carried more passenger, and more children!!
I've discovered the rear seat do come completely out, which makes it like a little van spacewise!!
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Children are the reason I parted company with my A4 Cab :-(
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I found that the average adult was ok in the rear seats of my 3 series 2004 convertible. The individual seats are most comfortable, and you sit well back in them. I recently had two almost six footers in the back and their only complaint was the wind buffeting, which really is quite bad, and the rapid progress on a quiet Sunday morning.
One of them used to drive a fire engine red Dennis ( actually it was ) until recently and he complained that the heater did not work particularly well in the back.
Pussy.
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Clearly he's used to a lot more heat.
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Quick
That's why he just over wintered in Moraira, and is returning next December
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Lovely colour
Mind you next time I'd be tempted to spend a little more and not get the base spec model
Is that what they call a 'Friday afternoon' car?
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Base spec!! :O. An SE I'll have you know; climate control, trip computer, multi function steering wheel and everything :p
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Did a lamp post jump out in front? or a swerve to avoid something much bigger & more dangerous?
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Pillar in a multi storey car park appeared from nowhere apparently...
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Write-off which is a pity.
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Yes, more's the pity. And with a £250 excess and £200ish value for spares, plus the loss of the remaining insurance premium if I'd claimed not worth making a claim for either!!
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It was certainly a bit of a clout though, because despite the bumper not looking too because opening (well, removing...) the bonnet shows some fairly distorted metalwork!
i1296.photobucket.com/albums/ag18/C4P_PeterS/Audi%20A2/image_zpsw3thj5dv.jpeg
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So it didn't come off the production line Friday afternoon looking like that?
Seriously, I hope whoever was driving had no whiplash or suffered any problems....apart from the financial loss
Wanna buy my pals X5 for £2k?
Thought not. Nor do I!
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No, the car did its job brilliantly in protecting the driver... No ill effects at all!! The dodgy eyesight must have been present before the accident ;)
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Ebay - sell it for spares or the scrappie - must be worth something as 2 days ago it was viable transport despite its age.
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Audi A2 - eBay...another Audi - Runfer D'Hills
