Another Potential A2 Owner

GordonS

GordonS

Member
Hello All.
GordonS here, and I live in East Anglia near Thetford. Can I start by complementing the board administrators on an excellent board in terms of design and layout and the threads seem to be of a good quality too. I'm not an A2 owner yet, but there is the possibility of a new job coming up and I'll need a car to do about 15000 miles per annum. I've been a long term admirer of the A2 and, financially, an A2 makes a lot of sense as I will be paid the standard mileage of 45p per mile for the 1st 10k miles. I'll be looking for a TDi version, preferably the 90bhp version - but if anyone can give me any pointers to a decent standard TDi I'd be more than happy to take note.
My current car is a Merc W124 300D of 1992 vintage, that is in daily use - although mainly for transporting the dogs around, I love it - but its not suitable for the new job but I keep it for taking the dogs out every day..
Anyway, nice to be here and if everything goes ok, I hope to be an owning member on here in the not too distant future.
 
Hello GordonS and welcome to A2OC! There are a few TDIs for sale in the Selling section of this forum so please have a look.

Oh, and the W124..nice!:cool:
 
This is exactly what I use my A2 for it costs me very very little to run, I have averaged 64mpg over the 18k I have done this year and has cost £200 in servicing (2 services) and has had no repairs. It’s a very cheap car to run


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I also bought my TDi 90 for £2k at 140k mileage last year.


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Hi Gordon,
Welcome to potential A2 ownership and A2oc. As a proud and more than satisfied Tdi 90 owner I’m a bit biased in my view that it is in fact the best engine of the bunch. Watch out for poor servicing intervals which will affect the reliability and longevity of the VGT turbo, the intercooler is also prone to failure. The clutch and DMF are also weak points if not driven sympathetically and all three of these could be (and from personal experience are) costly repairs which add to the cost of ownership and overall yearly running costs. Once/if you get these sorted a Tdi 90 is a very special place to be. I regularly do over 600 Miles from a 42 litre tankful of diesel and have enjoyed over 60,000 trouble free Miles in four years of ownership.
Buy one it will be a good one, Fasten your seat belt and enjoy the ride ?.
Regards,
Drew.
 
Welcome. Could I pose the question (and it wont be the first time this has been asked): Do you really need a 90? They do have problems with the dual mass fly wheel which is expensive. Many, including myself, have gone for a 75bhp and had it remapped (e.g. at Stealth). That gives a nominal 93bhp but in reality is more as the 75bhp can be +80bhp in reality (i.e. the base for the remap is more that 75)

Best of luck in finding your ideal A2
 
Alan_uk said:
Welcome. Could I pose the question (and it wont be the first time this has been asked): Do you really need a 90? They do have problems with the dual mass fly wheel which is expensive. Many, including myself, have gone for a 75bhp and had it remapped (e.g. at Stealth). That gives a nominal 93bhp but in reality is more as the 75bhp can be +80bhp in reality (i.e. the base for the remap is more that 75)

Best of luck in finding your ideal A2
Click to expand...
A very good Point.

Stealth remapped my 75 to 105 BHP.

I guess if you have plans to remap a 90 then it would possibly be a reason for that choice. A possible extra 15 bhp is something that would appeal to many.

A DMF when done will last at least 60,000 miles and probably a lot more will cost about £600 to £800 including a clutch (depending on the garage you take it to. So it is true that the 90 has more things to go wrong than the 75, but I would not class them as a weak spot.

I can't remember hearing of many turbo problems on either the 75 or the 90 and the 90 turbo seems to have a very long life in any case.

In short, yes there is more to go wrong, but to some (including me) feel that extra power is worth it.

I am always trying to get the best of all options for an A2 and to me the 90 is an "extra".

But if you are really looking for maximum reliability then removing those two additional mechanical parts does seem to be a good idea,
Would you use the same logic though that without the turbo at all it would be even more reliable? I guess it is the age old thing about everyone is different and looking for different things, nobody is right or wrong they just have different views.

Steve B
 
Alan, Dick thanks for your input to my thread.. This is why I joined this forum - I'm no expert on the A2 or cars in general.. I just want to be able to make a reasonable decision based on sound knowledge.. Before your post, my impression was the 90bhp was a better choice for the car, but you are saying that remapping is another option open to me that can broaden my car selection options.
 
Some people get scared of remapped cars but there is no reason to as long as it is done by a reputable company. The one thing that you should also consider is that you must declare it on your insurance. Some insurance companies will not cover remapped cars and others will only cover up to a certain % of the increase in BHP.

Albus is not remapped as there is no point with the 1.4 petrol, but I do have a 5 series BMW that was re-mapped from 177 BHP to 235 BHP. It is not just the added power, but the smoothness of power delivery and torque throughout the rev range.
 
Sound advice.

I have heard that SOME insurers will not charge extra for a standard remap as long as the percentage increase is not huge.

But declaring it is the right advice even though the remap is not easy to determine. In a serious / large claim, they can check.

Steve B
 
What if you bought a car and had no idea it was remapped, would that go against you if you had a claim?

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I suppose that they would claim that you cannot prove that you didn't know and also they often say "Ignorance is no defence", but I realise there is no easy way for you to find out.

But it would be extremely rare for them to even think of looking for it. But if the crash was speed related and the car "Looks a bit sporty" they MIGHT.

Better safe than sorry.

Steve B
 
Another factor is availability. Only 148 952 TDI 90s were sold in the UK (5% of all A2s and 11% of all TDIs) compared to 6,000 odd TDis (Sep 2005 figures, so less now due to write-offs) See my DVLA stats here http://www.alancooper.me.uk/A2/A2_stats.htm

If you want a certain colour and extras then it may be hard to find a 90 and you may have to then retrofit them (except some options like open sky and bench seat / 2 rear seats swap cannot be retrofitted - well one chap in Europe with a 1.2 3L (did not ever come with open sky option) did take a tin opener and cut out a big hole in the roof!!)
 
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According to your list Alan there were 923 tdi 90,s registered in the UK or am I reading it wrong.
 
Member AUDIO was after a well specced 90 and I think he found what he was looking for.

If you have a bit of time then it might be worth looking for a suitable 90, not many with top spec but they are out there!!!

Steve B
 
Special edition said:
According to your list Alan there were 923 tdi 90,s registered in the UK or am I reading it wrong.
Click to expand...
Well spotted :) - I read the wrong column. Now corrected. Less haste more speed as they say ;) Actually my list says 952 not 923, but 923 is closer than 148. And the total TDi s is a bit over 8,000. I think I will go back and recuperate fully before posting again!
 
Birchall said:
I suppose that they would claim that you cannot prove that you didn't know and also they often say "Ignorance is no defence", but I realise there is no easy way for you to find out.

But it would be extremely rare for them to even think of looking for it. But if the crash was speed related and the car "Looks a bit sporty" they MIGHT.

Better safe than sorry.

Steve B
Click to expand...

If the make and model are well known for remaps then a lot of insurers now plug and check the firmware versions on the management systems and compare that to the manufacturers' data.

The insurance may not be much more, my BMW had to change insurers when i remapped it as the one at the time would not cover it after remapping. It only cost me approx £50 extra for cover after it had been remapped.

I don't use the power for top end but use the extra torque on the hills in Cornwall to get past slower vehicles/trucks on the overtaking lane.
 
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