Chat Back in an A2 - couple of questions...

Evans78

Evans78

Member
Hi all,

Not so much a new introduction, more a "hello again". I joined the forum and A2 ownership for the first time back in Nov 2020 with an Island green Tdi 75 but sold it earlier this year. Life without an A2 lasted all of 5 months when I was tempted by the blue A2 petrol below and acquired from @Shippers84 over xmas - who i believe bought it from @simufly on the forum a year or so earlier.

Despite the 10 owners and 143k miles, it drives well. Decent specification too with heated leather, Bose, cruise and, crucially for me, 5 seats. A cambelt service will be happening soon and I may be on the lookout for a cobalt (i believe..?) blue front bumper if anyone has one?

I can't believe how much lighter on it's feet it feels than the tdi i had before. Those with experience of tdi's and petrol's - is that to be expected?

Lastly, does anyone have experience of mapping the 1.4 petrol? I know the gains are nothing like you would get from a turbo'd car, and, i'm not looking for much, but wondered what experience people have of eeking a few more lb/ft out of the little petrol engine.

Cheers

Steve.
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Yes, the 1.4 petrol and indeed the 1.6 are far lighter on their feet, lighter steering, lighter clutch, beautiful gearchange too.

It looks to be azure blue and definitely isn't cobalt blue.

There's not really anything that can be done to the 1.4 petrol to give it any real noticeable difference in power.

I've got down the following route which isn't a massive job if you are handy with the tools.

Converting a 1.4 petrol A2 to a 1.6 non FSI

Fist of all, a little disclaimer, @celsisone did the donkey work with this setup with trial and error in working out which parts do and don’t work. Having chatted with Brett about this conversion and having met him (great guy) and now done the conversion on my own car, I thought it would be...
www.a2oc.net www.a2oc.net
 
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A2Steve said:
Yes, the 1.4 petrol and indeed the 1.6 are far lighter on their feet, lighter steering, lighter clutch, beautiful gearchange too.

It looks to be azure blue and definitely isn't cobalt blue.

There's not really anything that can be done to the 1.4 petrol to give it any real noticeable difference in power.

I've got down the following route which isn't a massive job if you are handy with the tools.

Converting a 1.4 petrol A2 to a 1.6 non FSI

Fist of all, a little disclaimer, @celsisone did the donkey work with this setup with trial and error in working out which parts do and don’t work. Having chatted with Brett about this conversion and having met him (great guy) and now done the conversion on my own car, I thought it would be...
www.a2oc.net www.a2oc.net
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Agree, the petrol seems so much lighter in all the controls and feels like another 15/20 bhp would make it really useful.

Thanks for the correction on the colour...👍

I've seen the thread to your conversion before, sounds like a real weapon. And I love the A8 wheels!

As a gauge of how handy I am with tools... I replaced the rear number plate lights on my old Tdi and that was a day I felt like I had really achieved something! An engine swap is a very long way from my current skillset so i'll probably just revel in the things it does very well and use my other cars when I want to go a little quicker.

Thanks for the help.

Steve
 
Dave M said:
The current 1.0 litre 115 bhp turbo VAG engine with a 6 speed gearbox would sit nicely in a petrol A2 if it could be fitted. 😩
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It would almost certainly be possible from a mechanical point of view, but getting the wiring loom to work and the car speak to the engine is a whole different ball game.
 
One option that has been tried is the exhaust. Worth a read

My new stainless exhaust system

I bought my 1.4i A2 in October 2016 aware that it had all the original exhaust and I thought that (barring any obvious problems) I would run the car at least until its next service to get a better sense of whether it was worth investing for a custom stainless exhaust system. The car had an...
www.a2oc.net

Justin
 
Evans78 said:
I can't believe how much lighter on it's feet it feels than the tdi i had before. Those with experience of tdi's and petrol's - is that to be expected?
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I have already written about that and you are correct. Not only that it feels much lighter, but it also does not untersteer in the corners as much as TDIs. I was quite astonished by the difference in cars. But of course TDI has other positive things, such as pulling power, where 1.4 petrol is not really good at it.

Evans78 said:
Lastly, does anyone have experience of mapping the 1.4 petrol? I know the gains are nothing like you would get from a turbo'd car, and, i'm not looking for much, but wondered what experience people have of eeking a few more lb/ft out of the little petrol engine.
Click to expand...
My opinion is that it is not worth spending any money on the ''tunning'' of 1.4 petrol. Better spend it on better tires, brakes, suspension.

audifan said:
Another advantage of using the current 1.0 turbo engine is IT IS A THREE CYLINDER and makes a wonderful sound.
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Interesting, I hate the 3 cylinder sound of VAG 1.0 turbo engine :).
 
birtyA2 said:
One option that has been tried is the exhaust. Worth a read

My new stainless exhaust system

I bought my 1.4i A2 in October 2016 aware that it had all the original exhaust and I thought that (barring any obvious problems) I would run the car at least until its next service to get a better sense of whether it was worth investing for a custom stainless exhaust system. The car had an...
www.a2oc.net

Justin
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This is what I’d look closely at for sure - although I’d place more emphasis on noise suppression for maximum refinement, if possible.
 
1.4 petrols begin life with 75bhp, if you lose 1 horse a year, that means there`s not a lot left.

Great around town for short pops, not as much fun on motorways, but with a drop to 4th on inclines you can sit at 80mph, thats enough for me..

Still Love mine,,
 
Axit said:
1.4 petrols begin life with 75bhp, if you lose 1 horse a year, that means there`s not a lot left.

Great around town for short pops, not as much fun on motorways, but with a drop to 4th on inclines you can sit at 80mph, thats enough for me..

Still Love mine,,
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I think losing 1hp/year depends on a lot of factor, like servicing and build quality, but degrading happens to all engine noneless.
I'd say my 1.4 petrol pulls surprisingly good in 1 and 2, but probably slower than it used to be above that, so approx. 63 hp still there. I mostly drive urban and can do 70mph at 3k.

The 1.6 conversions would be great, but until a member offers it as a service, or I find someone who's willing to do it, I'm not bothered about more hp.
 
As others have said the 1.4 A2 is what it is, very light and nimble and a great town car where speed is far less important, it also warms up very quickly. Trying to tune it is like knocking a square peg in a round hole - can be done a little but lots of effort for very little gains.
if you want performance buy a mapped tdi :)

Paul
 
My 1,4 petrol is positively asthmatic compared to modern cars. Now relegated to occasional supermarket duties as it can’t keep up with anything on the school-run. However, love the idea of @A2Steve’s 1.6 conversion!
 
QuattroA2 said:
My 1,4 petrol is positively asthmatic compared to modern cars. Now relegated to occasional supermarket duties as it can’t keep up with anything on the school-run. However, love the idea of @A2Steve’s 1.6 conversion!
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Yes me too, if there was the definitive shopping list for different models and someone would accept fitment for them, I'd the probably among the first people knocking on their doors :D
 
I do not know what 1.6 conversion would mean regarding the weight increase, but with any retrofit I would look for the weight to stay at least the same or go down. In this view the 1.0 TSI is probably the best option. All other options (such as 1.9TDI, 1.8T, etc.) would just destroy the lightines and chuckability of the 1.4 petrol. Unless if you are only after a drag race car or a highway rocket.
I really use my 1.4 just for a weekend car, so I do not care about the lack of power, because I just smile when I rev it to the limiter. And it also gives me all back at the turns where there is a very limited understeer. Though I would really like to replace rear drum brakes for disc brakes. They are a serious let down for me :(.
The chuckability of A2 basically destroyed my enjoyment in newer cars up to the point that I am considering buying a Twingo RS CUP for part daily part fun car use. :( I hate my A2 for that.
 
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birtyA2 said:
One option that has been tried is the exhaust. Worth a read

My new stainless exhaust system

I bought my 1.4i A2 in October 2016 aware that it had all the original exhaust and I thought that (barring any obvious problems) I would run the car at least until its next service to get a better sense of whether it was worth investing for a custom stainless exhaust system. The car had an...
www.a2oc.net

Justin
Click to expand...
A bit of an investment but sounds like a decent option.
 
Thanks for the replies all. I didn't think there was much I can do about the performance but it does what it needs to do and I'm happy with that. The relative lack of torque has been a godsend in the snow too.
 
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