New Toy....

[Sir WIll]

Love my little A2 its the perfect runabout and compliments the D2 superbly.

Mine is a 1.6 and its been fine, 40+ mpg on a run and a great car. In fact its really good to drive and even today feels modern.

[tintin]

I agree with all the positive comments above - it's the only other Audi I'd currently buy (ok, maybe an RS6, but I don't really need another fast car that's slower than mine ).

The A2 was way ahead of it's time - put an A2 and a BMW i3 (also on my list...) next to each other and you can see what the electric gokart was inspired by.

Glad I've got 1st dibs, but I think I may have to wait a little while...

[Johnmed]

Again. I agree with what Ian has said. I'm biased, and the TDi is the one to have. The character and charm of the thing really does get under your skin.

The choice really depends on your intended use. Lots of short journeys = petrol, higher mileage and hypermiling = diesel. My only issue with the TDi is the webasto isn't accessible and programmable a la D3 (after VCDS coding).

Some years ago I spent a winter commuting and using the TDi for business use. In the A2 if you set the climate control to AUTO you get A/C and webasto controlled automatically. So, kept cool in the summer and warm in the winter, however the webasto will only operate below 7 °C. This seems reasonable until you're driving short journeys at say 8°C and the engine does not get a chance to warm up AND the webasto won't operate.

So I was cold. Essentially cold and a bit miserable.

Having said that. I do have second dibs!!!!

[pete-p]

That's some great info there, thanks. It won't be until the new year but I'll update here if I get one.

What plans do you have for this one Ian?

[IT]

I'm not sure about this move, but I think its time to let this one go..... I have a lot on at the moment and the missus has decided she'd rather have an automatic for work, so the A2 has become a bit surplus.....

I've just run through the A2 brochure and can't find anything that money could have made the factory bolt any more onto this car. It really is the holy grail of one off builds, and on the uber desirable Tdi engine too.

On the original sales invoice (present) has the following options:

Acoustic Parking, Aluminium pack, Sat Nav +, Bose, CD Changer, TV, Autodip rear view mirrors, Cruise control, DIS, electric rear windows, Isofix prep, Metallic paint, Open Sky, Sideguard airbags, Winter pack, headlamp wash, heated seats, multi function steering wheel, leather upholstery and phone prep.

This is probably one of the (if not _the_) most expensive A2s ever to hit the UK roads @ £24846.92, and that's after the dealer gave 4% discount !

The basic price of the car was a whisker under £16K, making the options amount to over 50% the value of the base car.

And that's why high spec A2's are like hens teeth......

This car also has had a genuine Audi towbar fitted at some point. Interestingly, I don't think it was possible to order with one from the factory as when you specify bose, the boot fills with subwoofer and there is nowhere to store the towball when not in use....

This one is ebony black with platinum leather interior, which is a nice combination to have.

It is on ~162000 miles, which its wears well and there are many A2 TDis sailing on into the 200+ mark without an issue. The A2 only came with the higher grade fine nappa leather also, which means it takes the mileage very well with no obvious signs of wear.

Since I bought it:

Had a full oil & filter service
Cambelt & water pump change
New Front shocks / springs
Replaced luggage cover, missing wheel caps.
2 new front brake hoses & brake fluid change
Fresh MOT end Feb
Removed the naf aftermarket leds that were stuck on the front
Replaced the faulty Sat nav unit & updated map.
Replaced the interior light / broken grab handle
Swapped a tyre that had a nail in
New wiper blade
Replaced missing bits in the tool kit


It has a few faults remaining:

• The open sky doesn't work. Its mechanically broken and will need the unit replacing. Note it does not leak and the blind works fine, so its possible to leave it as is if opening if not desired.
• The gearbox will only allow entry into 3rd gear from 2nd. So you can go 1 - > 2 - >3 -> 4 ->5 fine, and 5 -> 4, but can't go 4 -> 3. You have to go 4 -> 2 -> 3. The gearbox engages well without crunching so it doesn't seem completely toast. I have bought the special locking tool that is needed to calibrate the gear linkage. If it is simply a linkage issue, then as soon as me and Dave and the A2 get together in the same place, it will be correctly calibrated. If that doesn't fix it, its a replacement or refurb box worst case. I've driven it for 6 months like this and you just get used to it lol...
• The central locking clicks the door locks every 5 or 10 mins whilst driving. Not investigated as it was bottom of my list. Central locking etc all work absolutely fine.
• The DIS is completely inoperable. Fading is a common problem and this one has failed completely. It just needs someone with a steady hand and A1 soldering skills to swap over a new LCD. I have a replacement cluster with a good LCD which will come with the car.
• There are a couple of dings in the offside doors. I had a dent guy round the other day looking at a different car and he said they'd come out no problem, but its not been a priority
• The windscreen has some scratches on it, but not mot failure.
• Some of the interior plastics show signs of age/mileage, but no actual damage as such. The climate module that normally suffers wear badly is in excellent condition
• There are some age related minor scratches externally. I suspect it would significantly better for a good bit of TLC / Polish.
• Aux belt squeals a little on start up
• There is no key for removable towball

Remember.... It *is* a 16 year old car

Highlights:

• Insanely high spec makes it very usable by todays standards
• Mechanically, pretty good for its year
• Excellent MPG and only £30 / year road tax
• Cambelt / service / MOT recently done (all genuine audi parts)
• Lots of documents / history
• A practical, and increasingly collectable classic

Now. I know you all want to know, how much ?

Well, I don't really know how to value this to be honest. I think potentially, like a well sorted and specced D2, it could be worth quite a lot.

In its current state I can only practically value it by considering what its cost me, so for round numbers I'd need to see £3K to let it go.

I know this thread needs photos, but I don't have any to hand right now. Potentially over the weekend it could get a nice wash and sort that.

I know some folks on this thread showed interest in it already, and I will honour the order that people showed interest before marketing wider

[tintin]

I'm interested (as you know...), depends partly on how quickly you want to move it on...

[HPsauce]

Originally Posted by tintin

I'm interested (as you know...), depends partly on how quickly you want to move it on...

Timing is everything Stephen, this was only yesterday....

Originally Posted by tintin

Thanks - I'll never buy another ICE car again - apart from Ian's A2

[Johnmed]

I love my A2s, but I'll have to declare myself out of the running order of dibs, so to speak (ploughing money into other things). Re: the recalcitrant gearshifts, be careful adjusting the mech', the young lad who bought my old (ebony black with black leather and alcantara sports seats) was an engineer, and he managed, I think, to make the shift worse by adjusting it. My OSS was also stuck closed, and really best left alone unless you're lucky or have £££ to spend.

You can now have colour DIS LCD screens installed BTW, that show much more info than standard.

GLWTS Ian.

[IT]

Originally Posted by tintin

I'm interested (as you know...), depends partly on how quickly you want to move it on...

Sooner the better really. Although it costs nothing to have it stood there, it is taking up very valuable driveway space at the moment.

Also forgot to mention, it comes with a spare fully working roof too.... Just needs collecting from a8parts, and fitting.... (or could knock a couple of hundred quid off I guess if not wanted)

Given the rarity of its spec, its worth a fortune in parts but that would be an act of vandalism....

[IT]

Originally Posted by Johnmed

Re: the recalcitrant gearshifts, be careful adjusting the mech', the young lad who bought my old (ebony black with black leather and alcantara sports seats) was an engineer, and he managed, I think, to make the shift worse by adjusting it.

We're had a couple of go's at adjusting it already, but with a makeshift locking pin that didn't quite lock it perfectly. No horror story to report, but we're hoping now I have the genuine (£3) locking tool, it might just get exactly where it needs to be.

It doesn't crunch, or struggle to get through gates into gears, and third selects nicely coming up the gears, so I've high hopes it could be a simple fix, but not promising !