The grass is always greener...

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rspecial

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There seems to be lots of posts on here by people who are obviously not happy with their A2 experiences ! As I said in my other post, so far (5 days) I am really happy with our A2 and really love it.

Some thoughts occur to me :

If you want reliability in any car from any manufacturer then its really a bad idea to buy a newly released model. It seems that you need a good couple of years for all the teething problems to be sorted out. This applies even more if the model is radical and has lots of new parts (e.g. A2, Mini, etc.).

Internet forums really show a skewed view of owners experiences. People often only seek out forums to post problems for advice and furthermore the people who post on forums tend to be 'keen' owners who are really into their cars and hence most upset with faults with some people wouldnt even notice. Have a look at http://www.mini2.com/forum/ and look at the faults and fixes area to see good examples of this.

Service from dealers varies widely from dealer to dealer - a good brand such as Audi can have bad dealers, and equally lesses brands can have really good dealerships. My experience at Audi so far has been really really good, compared to my nightmare in dealing with BMW. I dont believe that all BMW dealers are that bad, just this particular example.

Basically the grass is always greener !!!! :D

- Alex


A2 1.6 FSE SE
 
I don't agree. The grass is always greener is a theoretical concept.

In my case the grass was greener, Mercedes sold me a flawless car with excellent dealer backup. My experience of my BMW company car was also the same.

I have no doubt that the grass could sometimes be considered to be greener in isolation but for me Audi were the suckiest bunch I have ever dealt with.

My personal experience however was that the A3, A4 and A6 were excellent cars that I never had a moments trouble with.
 
I don't agree, I never had this many problems with my Volvo's, my Audi dealer has been great despite the apalling attitude of Audi UK
 
Alex,

I agree with your comments, as I know where your coming from. I have owned my A2 now for 1 year (10300 miles), with no problems, however also appreciate that based upon this forum I have been lucky.

quote:If you want reliability in any car from any manufacturer then its really a bad idea to buy a newly released model. It seems that you need a good couple of years for all the teething problems to be sorted out. This applies even more if the model is radical and has lots of new parts (e.g. A2, Mini, etc.).
Click to expand...

On this point I dont really agree with this statement when it comes to AUDI. As you may know, AUDI have very very severe durability testing requirements for all components they use. This is an almost 'cost no object' development principle that enables them to manufacture high class cars, however with the A2 something has gone seriously wrong. It seems that on this point AUDI are not willing to accept any responsibility and just lose good custom in the process.

Personally I would buy AUDI again, but maybe something a little bigger next time. AUDI should stick to what their good at.

Kaine :)
 
Mmmmmmmmmm....
Look at some of my other posts......
We have all had a varied experience of Audi, their cars, dealers etc. This forum is a place to air those views, seek help, have a giraffe (laugh), and moan when it goes wrong. We do this for a number of reasons-to see if other have the same problem, to highlight problem areas...sometimes just to let off steam.

It will be used by other potential buyers to gauge who is a good dealer, and what to look for in their future A2.

If we all searched the internet, spoke to friends etc, we would live in a cave, with not a shirt on our backs because ALL companies/products have faults and if we avoided these brands, well we wouldn't buy a thing.

What makes the difference is when a company sits up and takes notice of individuals complaints and deals with them in a fair manner-in fact it shows that they can go beyond selling the product-they are able to do more. This is what we have all suffered on this forum (those with complaints of course).

It doesn't matter if it's a Jag or a Peruda Nippa-you pay your money for a decent product and service-if you don't get it you expect it to be fixed and compensation paid for losses. It's only fair.

If I look at the SEAT forums now, I'll find complaints about dealers and cars-however my SEAT experience was fantastic-I had issues with the car, but these were sorted quickly, with compasion.

At the end of the day, no one on this forum should be put down for airing their views, however strong, unless they are unfounded lies, and I'm sure none of us stoop to that level.

Steve - 2003 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior
 
Dont get me wrong, I'm not trying to put any one down for airing views. Its more that I was trying to present a balanced counter view based on what I have experienced and seen elsewhere on the web. When I bought the Mini I thought the it didnt matter that it was a new car as surely BMW would have spent ages ironing out all the faults. Unfortunately that doesnt seem to be the case. In terms of dealer service BMW were terrible and so far (fingers crossed) Audi have been really really great.

I also do wonder about the nature of faults - on the Mini there are plenty of really worrying faults - DSC failures, oil emptying out of the engine, coolant loss, gearbox failures, etc. With the A2 they seem (and I stand ready to be flamed for this !!!) to be more minor niggles that are really annoying but not generally the type that leave you marooned by the roadside.

- Alex



A2 1.6 FSE SE
 
Alex,

I do agree with you generally that the majority of A2 complaints have not left the owner marooned, however for those who have experienced their engines just dying (maybe as they are pulling out onto a main road) I would not personally classify this as a minor niggle. Outright dangerous or a potential killer would be a more fairer description.

Regards
John Disdale
 
I have had two 'proper' BMWs in recent years. Both were far from fault free. The dealers were ...OK the second much better than the first.
Then there was Alfa. A good car surprisingly well screwed together but a dealer who was inept at best and totally incompetent at worst. Spolit the whole ownership thing of my GTV.
Luck of the draw. You win some - you lose some.
I had high performance Fords for many years XR2, RS Turbo, XR4x4 and never expeienced a problem.
BM probs included....
Deep breath ball joints, steering joints, rear shocks, clutch, fuel pump, paintwork and whistling bodywork. :( and that was only one!
Headlamps, rear shocks (again), total engine failure and a gearbox problem on the second.:(
BM hoped that my 'minor problems had not destroyed mt faith in the marque!' They were surprised that I was not going to replace the BM with another!
I guess what I am trying to say is that they are all at it. It is not just Audi. For every bum job there is always a good one.[xx(]

icon_smile_cool.gif
 
rspecial-I know you were-it's good to hear people are enjoying trouble free A2 motoring-if we all gave up on the thing residuals would fall faster than a Merc A-class when Stelios sold his easycar fleet!!.
I think with the exception of a couple of power problems (as JD mentioned above), the only terminal failure has been blown turbos on the diesels. The rest have been fit or other mechanical. At the end of the day, if the all our dealers had fixed the problems, first time, or in some cases didn't lie point blank, or generally treated us with a bit of nonce, we would all be happy (well, nearly!).

Steve - 2003 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior
 
Just slightly JD-but I suspect it comes way down the list below "taking accurate oil level reading with dip-stick"

Steve - 2003 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior
 
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