Audi A2.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

Hello all! 

I thought it might be time to start a thread on these innovative little cars. 

They have an all aluminium body shell; only the slam panel is steel. 

Despite having nearly 250,000 miles on the clock Alison; my 1.4TDI is still capable of 60mpg.

I bought Alison at 125,000 miles and I consider her to be a Rolling Restoration. 

Various things have been changed; mostly Preventative Maintenance. 

Here, Alison is observed in a highly effective disguise at a BL\Rover Car Meet. I thought I'd add a couple of other pictures; Lord Boots is always on hand to help me with cleaning jobs. 

Also, the Balance Shaft, Chain and Tensioners were replaced along with the Clutch and Cambelt, etc... 

My previous car was Sara, a 2000 Rover 75 2.0 V6... 

[Asimo]

Good to see one of these maintained. They often get thrown away at the first sign of need which is a shame.

Once you’ve had an old aluminium car the prospect of an old iron+branflakes car is hard to face...

[Leyland Worldmaster]

11 minutes ago, Asimo said:

Good to see one of these maintained. They often get thrown away at the first sign of need which is a shame.

Once you’ve had an old aluminium car the prospect of an old iron+branflakes car is hard to face...

Cheers! Yes, she has been expensive at times; but; still much less than an Audi A1 on Finance! 

Bloody good fun to drive around in and they still turn heads. Not a car for shy people! 

What aluminium bodied car did you have? 👍 👍 👍 

[dome]

I wanted to like these, I really did.

I was so keen to own the forum bike one (even with HGF) that I rigged the roffle in my favour by buying most of the tickets whilst drunk!

It was cool with some nice design touches but I never bonded with it (or fixed it) and it ended up going to @320touring who trundled about in it. 

It was the same little 3 cylinder diesel as you have and I wasn't overly impressed by the economy, although it had done over 180k miles and enthusiastic driving would have it empty it's coolant reservoir pretty quickly so it probably wasn't the best example to judge the breed by!

Good to see one getting some loving

 

[Asimo]

44 minutes ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

What aluminium bodied car did you have? 👍 👍 👍 

https://autoshite.com/topic/17934-honda-inshite-now-collected-the-end/

[Leyland Worldmaster]

1 hour ago, Asimo said:

https://autoshite.com/topic/17934-honda-inshite-now-collected-the-end/

Wow! I really like these! I used to see one regularly in the Croydonshire area. The greeny\yellow colour I think. 

Glad it has gone to another good home! 👍 👍 👍 

[Leyland Worldmaster]

It hasn't all been plain sailing. Back in April 2019, a Ford Fiesta tried to get "Intimate" with Alison. 

Months of pissing around saw me lose patience with Insurance Companies out to try and write her off because she is old and aluminium. 

I happened on https://www.motorclaimguru.co.uk/ and used advice from this excellent Internet Resource. 

Alison lived to drive another day! All she needed was a Bumper and Tail Lamp! 

A week after getting her back, I stopped at a red traffic signal. The Audi A4 behind didn't. 

A scuff on Alison's bumper was nothing compared to the fucked radiator fan and buggered grille on the A4... 

Tough little buggers, these! 

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Leyland Worldmaster
Incompetence!

[gm]

I rather enjoyed the six months that I was tootling around in this happy little chap (I'm not so sure subsequent owners have such rose tinted memories  )

Had I not won the roffle 106, I could have spared everyone else the heartache  

if I was to have another, I would probably go for a petrol, ideally in that really bright shade of yellow that they did 

[320touring]

Do you know, the thing that annoys me the most is the half assedness of them.

The bonnet on pins? Why?

The lack of fairly basic aero aids like tucked wipers, faired in mirrors etc.

Sorry @Leyland Worldmaster I'm not a fan - based solely on my experience of the one I had, and it's attendant issues.

 

I hope you continue to enjoy yours, and I'll enjoy reading this thread 😀

[Leyland Worldmaster]

10 minutes ago, gm said:

I rather enjoyed the six months that I was tootling around in this happy little chap (I'm not so sure subsequent owners have such rose tinted memories  )

Had I not won the roffle 106, I could have spared everyone else the heartache  

if I was to have another, I would probably go for a petrol, ideally in that really bright shade of yellow that they did 

I'm loving that Pine Green\Beige combination! Rare to see an X or Y Registration too! 

Looking at the shape, it is hard to believe that this styling dates back to 1999 (or two years earlier if you count the Al12 Concept Car)... 

I'm not really a fan of Audi Styling after 2006. Seemed to go a bit fussy! 👍 

Ps: I really want that AS Sticker! 👍 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Leyland Worldmaster
More incompetence...

[Leyland Worldmaster]

2 minutes ago, 320touring said:

Do you know, the thing that annoys me the most is the half assedness of them.

The bonnet on pins? Why?

The lack of fairly basic aero aids like tucked wipers, faired in mirrors etc.

Sorry @Leyland Worldmaster I'm not a fan - based solely on my experience of the one I had, and it's attendant issues.

 

I hope you continue to enjoy yours, and I'll enjoy reading this thread 😀

Ha! Yes, they're certainly not for everyone. That's why I like them, to be honest! 😀

The bonnet is like that so as to keep the front as smooth as possible. Rarely need to pull the bonnet off anyway, although it's funny to do at shows to see the reactions of others! 🤣

What flavour of A2 did you own? Was it a 1.6 Petrol? 👍 

[wuvvum]

7 minutes ago, 320touring said:

I'm not a fan

Really?  You've never* mentioned it before...

[320touring]

2 minutes ago, Leyland Worldmaster said:

Ha! Yes, they're certainly not for everyone. That's why I like them, to be honest! 😀

The bonnet is like that so as to keep the front as smooth as possible. Rarely need to pull the bonnet off anyway, although it's funny to do at shows to see the reactions of others! 🤣

What flavour of A2 did you own? Was it a 1.6 Petrol? 👍 

It was the 1.4tdi as mentioned by @dome@gm.

 

you can hunt down the thread if you want. I won't as I don't want PTSD🤣

[320touring]

1 minute ago, wuvvum said:

Really?  You've never* mentioned it before...

What can I say, I keep my feelings hidden..

[Leyland Worldmaster]

It must have been pretty borked to have HGF. These are not the easiest to break like that. 

The late A2 Specialist, Tony serviced one at his garage and it had 400,000 miles on the clock. Just routine servicing! 

😎 👍 👍 👍 

[gm]

4 minutes ago, 320touring said:

It was the 1.4tdi as mentioned by @dome@gm.

 

you can hunt down the thread if you want. I won't as I don't want PTSD🤣

probably best not to mention it to tayne either  

[SiC]

21 minutes ago, gm said:

I was to have another, I would probably go for a petrol, ideally in that really bright shade of yellow that they did 

A friend had a 1.6 FSI. Shat it's swirl flap and then later had a misfire when it burnt one of it's valves. No-one wanted to touch the car apart from the main dealer. Even they were begrudgingly working on it and usually priced the jobs as if they didn't want to do them.

Has anyone mentioned that these cars rock back and forth to the wipers when they're on?

[SiC]

I'm not a massive fan of them having been in one. I put them in the category of the mad chemistry teach at school type of car.

I completely respect the engineering that went into them and the looking forwards of where cars would go. Lightweight chassis with excellent aero ... that was designed to be hard to work on in pretty much everyway 😂

The packaging now probably would lend itself well to being electrified. High up to get the pack underneath and short snout to house the few ancillaries that an electric car needs. 

[320touring]

The thing that got me was the only direct competitor was the Merc A class. It literally couldn't stay upright..

 

It outsold the a2 10 to one...

[Leyland Worldmaster]

4 minutes ago, SiC said:

A friend had a 1.6 FSI. Shat it's swirl flap and then later had a misfire when it burnt one of it's valves. No-one wanted to touch the car apart from the main dealer. Even they were begrudgingly working on it and usually priced the jobs as if they didn't want to do them.

Has anyone mentioned that these cars rock back and forth to the wipers when they're on?

From what I've read, the 1.6FSI doesn't appear to be the most reliable Power Unit... 

That's why I went for the TDI 75... 

Mine doesn't rock with the wipers on, however I suppose the lighter Petrol and 1.2TDI might... 🤔

[SiC]

Just seen this:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=1427004

"What's the first car you think of when somebody utters the immortal phrase 'ahead of its time'? If your answer was 'Austin Allegro', please browse off to another, browner website."

Is that a reference and nod to AutoShite? 🤣

[gm]

the whole sorry saga, it started so well  ( 320t please look away now)

 

 

 

 

[SiC]

From what I've read, the 1.6FSI doesn't appear to be the most reliable Power Unit... 
That's why I went for the TDI 75... 
Mine doesn't rock with the wipers on, however I suppose the lighter Petrol and 1.2TDI might...

FSI ... Fully Shit Inside

It was VAGs first mass market petrol direct injection effort. Like most early direct injection engines they were plagued with issues...

That been said, despite their fragility and desire to bork themselves, it was nothing on Renaults first direct injection system - IDE. So bad that even Renault couldn't get away with it and axed the engine range after just over a year with product support pulled pretty quickly not much after.

[rickvw72]

FSI = Fucking stupid idea

TFSI = totally fucking stupid idea.

[dome]

The packaging was pretty good on these-I ran it with the rear seats removed to cart my bike about. The Honda Jazz that followed it did the same though and with similar running costs-I guess i always thought the mpg would be amazing on these yet it wasn't. It's almost like Audi got half way through the design process then phoned the rest in. 

Amazingly, despite my best efforts, @320touring still talks to me.

[Leyland Worldmaster]

I'm almost afraid to ask if that A2 still lives? ❓🤔

[Dj_efk]

Here’s mine - a 2004 TDi90 that has been remapped and had a custom / all-alloy intercooler installed and a six speed gearbox from a 2014 Audi A3. It’s a terrific car with bags of power and long legs successfully updating it into a fun daily driver that doesn’t tire you out on long journeys - It romps along nicely on the motorway in the lane reserved for the marque.

I paid top money in buying it and having all the preventive maintenance items sorted but now it will last me until diesel cars are banned with some annual maintenance and a bit of care to avoid the kind of lunatics that yours seems to attract!

[Leyland Worldmaster]

That's a bloody lovely colour! Not many in colours other than Silver or Black! Interestingly, a few years ago, I was thinking about letting Alison go. 

The second set of Clutch Hydraulics failed. My friends weren't impressed... 

So I decided to keep her on the road! 😎

[HMC]

I think I want one at some stage although I’m determined not to have a silver one, not with that cloth interior that seems to attract water stains. Prices seem all over the shop from say £500 to £3k with often no obvious reason for the price differences.

[Lacquer Peel]

I didn't mind the A2 TDI of many shiters to drive briefly, one that isn't fucked might be nice to drive. I still think they sound like a Kubota mini tractor.