A2 a family car?

D

Don Q

Guest
Hi guys, we're expecting our first born in a couple of months and since I've been a fan of the A2 for a while now, I was wondering if it's usable as a family car.
The trunk should be able to hold 390 litre and the backseat should be large enough for a baby's seat.

What do u think?

By the way, happy new year. ;)
 
With 5 doors and a deceptive amount of usable luggage space I'd say the A2 is a family-friendly little beast. Although mostly used by me solely, ours carried the family (2 adults and 2 teenagers plus luggage) as far as Holland last year without complaint from car or passengers.

You'll need to investigage matters such as front passenger airbag deactivation and buggy stowage but I'd be surprised if the A2 doesn't fit the bill.

Regards

Ian - 2004 Tdi 90 SE
 
A2 Family Car

Happy New Year Don Q!

Just thought I'd kill a couple of minutes to look at new threads before going out (for drinks again!!) and spotted your message.

We too have our first baby due mid February and I can heartily recommend the A2 - masses of space for a small car; cheap to run and you don't feel like the poor relation when pulling up alongside the BMW X5 brigade at the lights (just before burning them up!).

We bought our A2 a few months ago now, and paid £10k for a 53 plate A2 Colourstorm TDI with 15k miles on the clock. Managed to knock £1000 off the Audi main dealer we bought it from; full tank of fuel; mats; alloys refurbed and delivered 100 miles to our home!!!! Blinding from an Audi main dealer. The salesman must have gassed himself when he got home! Oh, I didn't mention the complimentary bottle of Audi boxed wine sat on the back seat - very nice touch.

One word of caution though, if comfort is important to you (wife and baby), avoid the 17" alloys - they're real bone shakers. I've improved the ride of mine by upping the tyre size - see other related thread. Go for the 6 spoke 16" or smaller 15"s.

Now then - baby talk.........Once you've bought the A2 (gone on, you know you want to), I can thoroughly recommend buying the Jane Carrera Pro pushchair and Matrix Pro car seat. The chassis folds up so small as to occupy only 1/6 of the boot - very important when all other baby gear needs to go in as well. AND unlike the Mamas & Papas et al, I found the adjustable handle comfortable for my height, and didn't kick the back of the chair with my size 12's when pushing it along.

Good luck in your quest and let us know how you get on with baby.

Regards,




Ian.
 
Hello, and congratualtions!

Background for this info: our two children are 11 months and 2.5 years old.

The A2 is fine for fitting rear-facing and front-facing child seats in the back. The only potential problem area here is if you're very tall (so the driver's seat would be very far back). In my view it's always worth taking your car to the baby supplies shop when buying seats, buggies etc. Some models just fit particular cars better than others and the only way to check is to try them.

I think the boot space is a bit marginal to be honest if you're planning to use a buggy. But it's better if you have the no spare wheel option. We chose to have a spare wheel so our A2 has this in the bottom of the boot, and a false floor above the wheel, which eats into the available space. The loss of boot space isn't a problem for us because we pretty much think buggies are useless (there, a heretic statement!) - slings, backpacks, and toddlers using their own legs work much better for us.

Cheers, Richard.
 
A2 is very nice family and city car which was purpose of this cute car.
There is enogh room space for 'quattro' family ( I have two kids 8 &11 ) and they are also happy with space around rear seats.
Maybe it's not for long trips but it will satisfy any urban young family.

LONG LIVE A2 :) :D ;) I LOVE THIS CAR
 
Happy new year to all !!

In my opinion the A2 is an excellent family car. We are on our second A2 now; the first one we had for over three years. Our three children are now 7, 5 and 3 years old. We have the youngest in the centre in a Britax isofix seat and the eldest two in the excellent Recaro child seats which use the normal seatbelt. The kids are really comfy and are high up so can see out of the windows - which are a bit high.

Due to the exceptional boot and the deep rear footwells we have never had any real issues with space. You just have to be a bit creative on how you pack the car - 'stuffsacs' for clothes in the rear footwells. In fact for the last four years we have had driven all of us to the south of France for our annual holiday. Plus numerous camping weekends in between.

The only real issue we now have, as the children get older, is transportation of bikes - so we need to get a towbar fitted for this. We cannot put on a roof rack due to the Opensky system.

Why an A2 for such a big family ? My wife will not drive anything bigger and loves the A2 and I won't change my Audi TTR. Although I may bow to a Q7 in the next year or so. :)
 
We have had our A2 for almost 2 years now and have a 4 year old and a 10 month old baby. We have successfully been on a UK holidays for the last 2 years without any problems.
These new buggies where too expensive when we were looking at buggies but we managed to get a three wheeled style in the boot if the two rear wheels where removed it would fit flat in the boot. otherwise it would have to stand upright. The boot on our A2 has no spare wheel or false floor so we can make the most of the room avaialble.
You can get the weekly Morrisons shop in there and if if necessary can always use the space behind and under the front seats.
Be different and get the A2, you will not regret it.
My wife loves the car and I think it is one of the best cars I have owned.
 
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/-\ ']['\/\/() said:
Happy new year to all !!

The only real issue we now have, as the children get older, is transportation of bikes - so we need to get a towbar fitted for this. We cannot put on a roof rack due to the Opensky system.
Click to expand...

We made some enquiries about towbars - the official line seems to be that you cant fit one to an A2 - due to aluminium space frame perhaps? Having said that, one of our colleagues on here apparently has one fitted. I keep meaning to ask him how!

Also, I believe Johann has done some posts about using a bike rack on an OpenSky equipped car....
 
GrayB said:
We made some enquiries about towbars - the official line seems to be that you cant fit one to an A2 - due to aluminium space frame perhaps? Having said that, one of our colleagues on here apparently has one fitted. I keep meaning to ask him how!

Also, I believe Johann has done some posts about using a bike rack on an OpenSky equipped car....
Click to expand...
I No it is possible as i saw an A2 pulling a boat/dinghy on a trailer last summer....
You may find this useful http://www.a2oc.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2706&highlight=towbar
 
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ULP said:
We recently managed to get four adults, 5 suitcases (2 of which were huge and 20-odd kg each...) and three (large) rucksacks to the airport in total comfort!
Click to expand...
Wow get that man a Brandy !!!!
 
currently have an A4 avant (se 130) and an A2 (tdi 75) - and both have their distinct strengths, which do overlap in the middle somewhat.

comfort-wise, the A2 lags behind, mostly due to the ride quality - but also in cruising ability due to the smaller engine and lack of a 6th gear. There really is no way you can compare it favourably to a bigger saloon in that respect.

for zipping around town though, it's the far better car - although far less powerful, it's suited much better to start/stop driving and much more agile.

load carrying wise - only a roofbox will give you anything like the usable space available in a 'larger' car - the A4 got used for the first time last year for the annual Scottish holiday, and I think the A2 would've swallowed 2/3 of the gear, at best - I've also packed both cars for boot sales on occasion, so I'm pretty sure I haven't missed a secret magic compartment in the A2.

I'd be quite cautious before really recommending the A2 like it's a real load carrier to be honest - you can be creative with the seating arrangements, but if you have to seat more than 3 people, the scope for exactly what you can get in one, and how much of it, becomes limited. Suitcases are easy, but a bootful of the sort of stuff you need to take on a self-sufficient family holiday isn't going to happen.

It's far shorter and narrower than most 'family' cars - and there's only so much a clever engine/interior layout can make up for that.

I'd say it was a match for the next size class up though, definitely - a Focus/Astra sized hatch for instance.
 
I had a Focus as my last car, I can still carry the same amount of gear in the A2 (camping trips, holidays etc). Still useful to have a roof box though.
 
I didn't expect so many replies.
So thank you guys for the massive and hounest response.

I've always liked the uniqueness of the A2, so I'm defenitely going to check some models out.
Now it's time to convince the misses. ;)
 
yes - height is one area where I can see the A2 would win easily, due to it's taller design :)

Humans aside - I hate packing above parcel shelf level though, and that's the only way you could ever say it rivals usable volume.

I avoided the A4 saloon as it was no better than the old Vectra B, space-wise... possibly even worse - the avant isn't exactly a quantum leap either, but with only one little 'un, we certainly didn't need or want a 'proper' estate.

I will fully admit though - considering the external dimensions, what you can get into an A2 is amazing, and from the front at least, it feels roomier than the A4 - from the waist up, at least.
 
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