Desperately trying to become an Audi A2 Owner, advice please.

B

Bulldog

Guest
Morning all,

We have joined the site in the hope that we will be the owners of an Audi A2 very soon, but before we do I would like a bit of advice please as we have a dilema. A TDI with cloth interior or a 1.6 FSI with leather?

We have been searching for an A2 for about a month now and are getting more and more frustrated every day by looking at the same cars for sale, waiting for the perfect one to come up.

Ideally we are looking for a TDI with air con, leather interior and if it also had a panoramic sunroof then that would be a bonus. The mileage isnt a big issue as long as there is adequate service history and it has been well looked after.

Thats where our problem lies as finding a TDI with leather seems a rare find. All the cars we have seen that offer what we want are all 1.6 FSIs but do we want a petrol???

We have always had leather interiors in all of our cars and the reason for wanting leather is for the ease of keeping them clean. We have a one year old now and the thought of crushed crisps, biscuits, juice and milk on a cloth interior doesnt really sell cloth to us.

The A2 will be a second car for me, the wife, to travel to work twice a week, through a traffic jammed town in rush hour and the second car also has to be a car that is cheap to keep and run. The family car is a BMW d M Sport Touring which isnt bad on fuel, but it still needs filling more than we would like. The cost of tax is also astronomical at £270 a year so the A2 TDI tax of £30 is very very appealing.

I want a small car that is fun to drive for me and my son to ride about in, across to grandparents houses, work, supermarket and days out but what I dont want is to watch the fuel gauge drop massively each time I get in it as I will be gutted.

So from experienced A2 drivers what do we do? Do we opt for a cloth Sports interior in a TDI, or would a 1.6FSI with leather be economical to run?

I must admit getting a petrol scares me and like I say I would be gutted if it cost me the same to run as if Id opted to get a bigger car like I used to have. The whole point is to get a cheap second car. We have had Mercedes, BMW and Audis and the best by far in our opinion is an Audi as we have never had any problems with them.

So any help would be appreciated as Im desperate to get in one.....Oh and thats another thing, finding one in the North East to even look at is like looking for rocking horse poop, they are all miles away from us so although we wil travel for the right car, thats the key, it has to be the right car, for the right reasons.

Thanks all :D
 
I would say go for tdi if economy is so important.
Even though fsi is also quite good on fuel but only if engine's in mint condition.
From what I've experienced fsis suffer a lot from clogged injectors ( not because of bad design but mainly bad fuel. You have to feed it with premium petrol every single time ) and that problem will cause your mileage to drop dramatically.
Fsi mileage will be between ~28 to ~48 combined depending on its injectors but other bits have to be in goon order as well.
It's also very nice to drive around.

My humble opinion.
 
My advice would be to try both, even if it dosnt have the spec you are after (you can always say no) The Tdi is a very different beast and an aquired taste to a petrol. (the 1.4 petrol is slightly less troublesome and could be highly spec'ted, it is very refined compared to a Tdi and if its a 'shopping car' performance shouldnt matter) Also bare in mind as most are nearly 10 years old there are always going to be ongoing maintenance issues. Try to find one with the best service history and if from a dealer some sort of warrenty. Usually if someone is getting rid of their A2 there will be a good reason and it might be because of impending doom. Hope this helps. Cheers Colin
 
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I'd recommend a diesel and buy some seat covers that will preserve the original fabric seats but can also been thrown away themselves once they look too tatty. It won't give you the OEM look, but if you and/or the kids are regularly spilling food it offers the most practical solution.
 
Hi

I just got my A2 tdi 75 Sport on Friday and cant believe the economy averaged 61 mpg in a horendous journey back from Cardiff area M6 like a car park!

Like you mine is a second car also for my son to drive.

Filled it up for £40.25 still got over half a tank left after 215 miles.

As you can gather I had to travel from Manchester to get mine a Colbolt blue 2 owner car with FSH 56k with part leather alcantera and open sky roof which was the option I really wanted, Im going to remap it fit some driving lights etc.

Main reason for choosing the TDI was pure economy and for the A2 the aluminium space frame and bodywork which dosn't rust also £30 road tax

My son loves it.

Goo luck
 
For the type of driving that you do, then you will not get great fuel economy, I do a lot of town driving with a tdi with short trips and get between 40 /50 mpg.

I would not discount a petrol as you will get around 40mpg with your driving.

Cheers

David
 
My 1.6fsi will return 40mpg no problem. I'd recommend the 1.6 as the extra go is useful if you plan to do distance driving but if your doing town driving the Tdi takes some beating. Look out for a 90ps Tdi. Like hens teeth but might be just what you are after.
 
I may be parting with ours if SWMBO ever makes up her mind. I don't want to part with it but she is now looking at going back to a 4x4 as she is finding it too small in the back for what she needs (although it is rather big for such a small car)

Like yourselves I had a 2 month hunt around and it ended up being a compromise. But the advise I got on here helped me to get the one we have.

Ours is a 54 plate 1.4tdi 75 Sport (less powerful than the 90 but a simpler turbo that is less troublesome and they can still be remapped by stealth if you find it lacking in pace, which it does not when compared to most cars)
It is on almost 90k I think but would have to check.
It has:
Lovely condition Red paint (non metallic but it really shines well and was one of the things SWMBO liked) it was suffering with swirl marks when we first picked it up so I have machine polished it but only quickly to improve it, being fussy I would like to do it again to get it to perfect but the weather is against us.

Alcantera leather Sports seats (a lot of leather are the normal seats which are not as supportive as these)

Panoramic roof (all working which we searched high and low for as SWMBO wanted a sunroof)

Sport suspension although to improve ride I have changed the 17" sport alloys with 205/40/17's for far more reasonable 15" Audi pepperpots with 185/60/15 Kleber Quadraxers. This has improved the ride enormously and has the added benefit that the economy is massively improved as well due the 10lb weight saving of each wheel/tyre combo.

The day we bought it we put it in for cambelt and all filters (oil,air,fuel) and oil as we knew that oil and filters had been regular but no cam belt done.

I have changed the engine temperature sensor as it was faulty (common across all VAG cars and the fifth one I have changed)

I have also changed the thermostat as it too was faulty. Also refreshed the g12/13 at the same time.

The tool kit and first aid stuff is still in there as well.

Oh almost forgot it is the split folding rear seats as well so easy to convert them for loading stuff. I had two sets of wheels in the back with the seats folded.
 
Bulldog said:
Oh and thats another thing, finding one in the North East to even look at is like looking for rocking horse poop, they are all miles away from us so although we wil travel for the right car, thats the key, it has to be the right car, for the right reasons.
Click to expand...
Did 500 miles all in to get mine.
Sounds like you're realistic in not expecting it to find you! The right one will come along.
 
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