Subtle Enhancements - Like to Have
 

Whilst you cant fault the driving experience of an Audi D2 I am wondering what would be any subtle 'modern day additions' that are achievable and would enhance but keep the originality of the platform. Things such as:

Auto lights
Rain sensing windscreen wipers - also the ability for the wipers when on full to switch to intermittent when at a stop
Head units (though comprehensively covered by Ronin) - my personal preference would be something like BMW's iDrive system, but its not a daily driver so my phone is adequate, for now......

Any of you have any "it would be nice to have's"?

My #1 like-to-have would be a modern gearbox

I've mostly reverted mine to standard except for the reversing camera which is very useful.
Though I do really need to replace it with one that's better at night. :tuttut:

Adaptive (radar) cruise would be handy at times too. Apart from that nothing needed.

SatNav (RNS-D) works well enough most of the time and phone/passenger deal with real-time traffic congestion issues. :ROFL:

Decent headlights - xenon plus headlights are laughable joke. I'm working on this already
Auto fold mirrors - working on this too.
Front parking camera - this will be half a day's work once weather improves.

Auto fold wing mirrors would be a dream.

Hidden rear wiper. Hidden so it doesn’t spoil the D2 lines.

Manual gearbox option for RHD.

Not as laughable as the bog standard halogens.

It's worth noting that Xenons have a finite life. The internals are slowly consumed by use. The lamps adjust for this but eventually, there is no remaining adjustment and the light output degrades, it's then for new bulbs.

+1. Mine were fine after I replaced the bulbs a few years back now. Still good.

I don't believe anyone saying that their 21+ year old xenon pluses are good.
They were good when brand new and now they are utter crap they are like shining a flash light through a bathroom privacy window because of that stupid lens inside which cracks and goes yellow.



halogens and xenons are way better now than xenon pluses after 21 years.

The only person with brand new X+ in the country is MJ, i was actually going to have a 'hadlight-off' with her yesterday, but we finished working on a car way before it got dark and both went home.

It was supposed to be
new x+ vs my 21yo x+
21yo x+ vs 21yo halogens
and 21yo halogens vs brand new x+

There's also a retrofit mod I'm working on for halogen/single beam xenon headlights which is tbc.

LED lights?:)

anyone recommend what bulbs to use to replace?
Mine are the original ones, so need to replace with new ones.

not much else, but would consider a professional manual conversion.
Anyone know who I could go to?

There's only one person in UK who has done it, and done it properly.
The cost would more than likely be ~20k which usually scares people away.

I know of 5 RHD manual converted D2’s in the UK now.

I know of others too, a 2.7tt d2 manuial but its a hack job

If you want to go that route, better get some halogen/xenon headlights(not X+), they will become expensive and scarce once the word is out.
There are led kits and stuff already out for them, designed and sold by the Dutch.

Sounds interesting. Would you have a link to them?

https://retrofitlab.com/collections/...hid-headlights

This kit will turn xenon headlights (not xenon plus!) into bi-xenons so you get xenon dipped beam and full beam.

I'm in the process of making hybrid headlights out of xenon plus self-leveling motors and electronics, put into basic halogen headlights with those projectors in.

If you look at the difference its staggering, expecially compared to xenon plus
https://retrofitlab.com/cdn/shop/fil...g?v=1688450761

Oh yeah, if any of you buy this you will have to pay a ransom fee of £10 to UPS

If you ar willing to DIY fit projector units you might want to have a look at second hand LED units from other cars. 2nd gen Nissan Qashqai are pretty cheap on eBay, I got one with broken bracket for £20ish, and there are no electronics in headlight so can just be wired up like halogen.

I think I have xenon plus.. How can I check?
Simply renew the bulbs would make a difference/benefit?
They are 20+ yrs old. Looking at the history, never been replaced.
Re the manual...would like to drive one, but think this one is too nice to do a swap on...

People replacing xenon bulbs often go for 6000 K bulbs, in the mistaken belief that a higher K represents more light when in fact it means a more blue light.
As human eyes are not especially well equipped to see light in the blue spectrum these bulbs are not very effective, and in fog or rain they are be downright dangerous.
Audi fits 4300K bulbs as this gives a warmer output for better vision.

If your headlights are rubbish it could be that the bulbs are the wrong K.