A2 - shocked

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Even though we are talking about an Audi (not something like an Alfa), the A2 is more of a decision of the heart rather than the head. The price is more of a factor than the car itself. Would a dodgy engine, boot latch, squeeks/rattles, lack of spare wheel mean a few clouds on the horizon or constantly overcast skies during my ownership? A premium price just makes you even more sensitive to the smallest of pitfalls.

As with Edward452, I will have to see once I am actually ready to buy a car (probably after Christmas due to moving house/holiday). As I'm buying secondhand, I'm not going to bother to test drive a demo car, but the one I'm actually prepared to buy.
 
Karcsi/Edward452

I would not let our moaning and whining put you off this truly iconclastic car. There are many decent examples around - and you will undoubtedly hear horror stories about every car. Test drive the one you are buying - and remember you have a decent warranty if anything should go wrong. People will usually complain long before they praise.

By the way, I had actually gone into the Audi showroom to place an order for 5 door A3 (having failed to locate one locally - they are very rare) - before falling for the A2 whilst the salesman was talking at me about the A3! There is more space inside than in an A3, it is cheaper and it is far more advanced (not just a fancy but dated Golf with four rings and £3k attached). The new A3 out next year may however be worth waiting for.
 
I wouldn't buy a A3 new - if I were, I'd get a A4 instead for virtually the same money: although they depreciate far faster.

I've seen a couple of A3's tottering about in London (they are almost as rare as an A2), and there does not seem to be very much room in the rear.

It's a old design, but looks far more modern than the seriously dated Golf. I'm still considering the Golf. But it looks like an old man's car - despite it's heritage.

As you recommend, I will probably not be able to decide until I drive the things. But I'm still waiting for the Royal Bank of Scotland to find the deeds to the house I'm buying!!!!
 
not many people have had any major faults, its mostly small niglly things and the only reason we moan about them is because of the poor service and help from the dealerships albeit there are some good ones out there so rumour says. A test drive will more than convince you that the A2 is an excellent car [8)]

2002, 1.4, azure blue, 2 tone leather, concert II single cd. Member of A2OC site.
 
MartinW: The Leon would be the perfect car, if I wasn't so much of a snob. Before I had the opportunity to buy a car, I was peddling the virtues of the Skoda Fabia (having driven one in Hungary - albeit a 1.4 8v with no PAS, man that was hard work!). Now I wnat something with streetcred as well! Although, when the day comes to buying something, I'll will test drive all of the possible cars.

Mal2002: I know a very good Audi dealership (Listers Worcester), so I have no worries about that. The trouble is that I'm an accountant and Hungarian. Which means I want to get what I pay for, but I also want to but something I have a passion for. If Alfa produced a decent diesel 147 (which is due to appear in April, but I don't want to wait that long), whether or not my nearest dealer was in Kent or its build quality was a bit iffy, I would have made my decisions and certainly wouldn't be writing here at 1.00 in the morning!! Unfortunately, I don't quite have the same feelings for the A2.
 
Karcsi.
Being an accountant (sends shivers down my spine :D) and Hungarian then I'd happily recommend the Golf GT PD130..
OK it might look a little dated by A2 standards but it drives fantastic, it's quick, it's VERY quite, it's tax efficient and it's mean on the juice.. Top all that with good low depreciation and surely this is the car of your head and not your heart!!!
 
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
 
Would fitting particulate traps/filters reduce the flow of air from the engine, so reduce power output? If not, why don't manufacturers add the filters? Or why not offer after-market kits that would mean you could reclaim the additional environmental tax imposed on diesel fuel?

I am still yet to be convinced why diesel car drivers are being penalised whilst iron age lorries/buses/trains continue to negotiate our cities pumping out what seems to be vastly more noxious fumes than the diesel car population. How many average diesel cars are needed to produce the equivalent amount of particulates to a london bus/lorry? If it is such a threat to human life (I guess mainly to asthma suffers - I don't think they are carcinogens, are they?), then why have not these vehicles been banned from the centre of London, or somehow modified? Then again, why haven't single hulled oil tankers been banned already?! Probably the fault of accountants such as myself - cheaper to pay the price of liability and insurance costs rather than doing the right thing; a policy with which world governments seem to support.
 
Agree entirely that it is criminal that larger vehicles seem to escape legislation/taxation on emissions when compared with cars etc. It all comes back to economics and jobs etc. Mind you, local authorities are now under heavy pressure to hit air quality targets, so watch this space...

For the full low-down on the human health effects of diesel engines and emissions, see

http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/trucks_and_buses/page.cfm?pageID=238

which points out that diesel emissions are carcinogenic, both because of VOCs and particulates
 
Interesting article. I can quite believe that living and working in central London would be the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day! Especially if you travel on the tube - all that brake dust cannot be good for you.

But I cannot help feeling that the effects of all this polution doesn't amount to a hill of beans. While tens of thousands die due to polution in the first world nations each year, hundreds of millions die due to malnutrition and war in the world. I wonder how much is spent on the causes of each.
 
The issue with particulate traps is that while you can constantly pump the partices into the atmosphere as "smoke" the environmental legislation makes it difficult and expensive, if not impossible, to dispose of the little pile of black dust you would collect in a particle trap.
The technology exists but implementation would create another problem since you would have to pay to dispose of the contents of your filter every 1000 miles or so! Most people would just dump it so there would be no gain.

Ian

ps If you think diesel is bad consider what is added to petrol instead of lead, from what I have seen these could be more harmful than lead.

2002 1.4 Petrol SE, silver with climate control.
 
I read somewhere that one of the most polluted streets in the UK was Regents Street in London-a street only open to taxis and buses...read into that what you want!.

Steve - 2003 1.4SE petrol, Silver, black/black interior
 
Strange logic. Rather than have the majority of people dispose of little sacks of dust responsibly, the government prefers all of the dust to be dumped into the atmosphere.

I suppose if you spread the crap thinly, it doesn't look as bad.
 
I found Crawfster’s post on diesel/petrol very interesting. All I know is that if you want to be chocked to death just sit up the bum of a London bus with the car windows open. Quite how some lorries get away with pumping out black killer smoke I will never know.

It’s funny really how the British Government are obsessed by motorists and terrorists, yet it is industrialists and Government’s themselves that create our biggest threat to the quality of life, and for sure this has been seen yet again with the sunken oil tanker off the Spanish coast. For sure it would take thousands of A2 drivers over many years to create the pollution and threat to the environment equal to one lovely “Yank” bomb – as used to save the world.

Regards
John Disdale
 
The way I see it is that the goverment are like an Audi garage, they want to take your hard earned money off you, and not give you back anything in return[}:)]

2002, 1.4, azure blue, 2 tone leather, concert II single cd. Member of A2OC site.
 
Regent Street in London? Open only to taxis and buses - since when?

The pollution I could well believe but I would imagine it would be "marginally" worse at Piccadilly Circus down the road. And as for the other end of Regent Street, well Oxford Street just doesn't move - and has plenty of buses idling away. Still at least the American tourists think the Routemasters are "quaint"!
 
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