Despite niggles with the car - and these have been very minor (rattles, squeaks) - I've found Audi to be extremely accommodating in putting things right immediately and remain utterly delighted with my A2. I personally find it a vastly superior drive to the A-Classes I have used (and this use has been extensive). I found it very hard to be enthused and excited each time I approached the A-Class for a journey. I still get a major buzz as I unlock my A2. Simply, and despite the name, I believe the A2 to be the victim of some vastly superior engineering.
The point was raised earlier about owning a TDI in urban areas. Although I'd agree that my A2 engine is unpleasantly noisy and unresponsive at low speeds/in low gears/in slow traffic, it's the environmental angle of diesel engines in urban areas that bothers me. Bear with me while I get to the point....
Whilst not an out-and-out tree hugger, I am environmental transport/climate change policy specialist and bought my A2 primarily because of its low CO2 emissions (I can hardly profess environmental credential if I turn up in a TT or a 4-litre Jeep....).
Simply, diesel engines are dirty - even new ones - it's a fact.
Apologies to those who know all this already, and to those who smply don't care [shame on you] but, for those who don't....
Diesel angine CO2 emissions per km are vastly lower than petrol engines [as we all know - via higher efficiency, higher mpg etc etc] and are much better than petrol engines on the greenhouse gases/climate change angle. But, diesel engines do punch out a marked amount of air quality pollutants - especially particulates and VOCs (volatile organic compunds) - which, in high concentrations, are very bad for human health - causing asthma, lung cancer, emphysema etc etc. It's known that much of urban air quality problems are caused by diesel engines, esp from buses and freight vehicles (hence the drive by many urban authorities to move to LPG/CNG-driven buses).
It's for this reason that diesel is still taxed at the same rate as petrol in the UK. You may remember that diesel became much cheaper in the UK in the late 1980s/early 1990s, when its climate change benefits were realised and acted upon by politicians - the lower price incentivised many people to switch to diesel engines. However, the air quality issues then came to light in a number of scientific reviews and diesel prices have been realigned with those of petrol - annoying many of those who swiched to diesel in the past.
It's also why, when identical car models are compared, a diesel-engined model is taxed more highly than a petrol-engined- model under the new UK company car tax system.
In Europe, diesel is still much cheaper than petrol in the main, partly because climate change is a seen as a bigger issue there (and because Kyoto targets will be much tougher to reach in Germany, Holland etc than in the UK).
By 2005, all new diesel engines bought in the EU will have to conform to much tighter air quality legislation and must be fitted with particulate traps. At present, manufacturers are seeing fit not to bother.
Now (to get to the point) the air pollutants from diesel engines are not a problem in low concentrations, but above a certain threshold - as occurs in urban areas on still days - they are a major issue. In the countryside, the concentrations are so low as to be of negligible threat to human health.
So, being a bloke with a conscience, if I was living in central London, Glasgow, Leeds etc, I'd have bought a petrol engine. Living in the Highlands of Scotland, as I do, and being very concerned about climate change, and using the car very little for urban journeys, I feel reasonably happy.
Yours piously,
Crawfster