hello all

Z

zimzimmer

Member
hiya folks im J
signed up coz i am looking into buying an audi a2 tdi as i do mass miles. ive heard there great on fuel also only 30 quid to tax so its quite apealing to me. wanting to know the pros and cons of owning one which year do i need to avoid etc....

also will be great to join in on the forum especially when i get one
kind regards J
 
Hi J, and welcome to the A2OC.

Your question is extremely open-ended. Although the answer is on this forum, it's divided across a few hundred threads. The pros and cons of the A2 are covered here by the huge knowledge base built up over years. However, in an attempt to summarise...

Pros: build quality, fuel economy, cheap tax, no rust, tardis interior, Audi refinements, etc... all the things that probably prompted you to consider the A2 in the first place.
Cons: terrible factory suspension, unreliable central convenience electrics, lack of A2 knowledge at garages, plus a few other little things... But, these things are easily remedied if you, like many, believe that that pros seriously outweigh the cons.

So, which one do you buy...? Well, that depends very much on the individual. The forum has helped many a member decide upon the car for them, but you've got to help us by letting the forum know how you plan on using the car and what your priorities are. How much do you care about spec? Are you one for luxury comforts, or maybe electronic gadgetry? Is power of real importance to you, or are you essentially looking for something that'll just do as many miles for each drop of fuel with minimal fuss?
The A2 isn't a common car and the very youngest is now 8 years old. As such, buying a decent A2 TDI often requires patience and a willingness to compromise. However, prices have come down in the last 6 months, so it's a good time to get your hands on one.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Thankyou Tom for the great summary
i would of thought there would be hundreds of posts like mine so Thankyou for taking the time to reply. much appreciated. ive heard about bouncy suspension. i would prob use coilovers remap and just drive it tbh. im not really a gadget man and aslong as the seats are comfy id be happy or i would fit some recaros lol.
i have seen prices plumet as of late so it has made me consider 1 even more as they seem to be good value. every car has faults i suppose more than others.
 
Hi J,

I'm pretty sure your kind of question has been asked numerous times before, but such threads generally get lost in history. Also, they tend to be tailored to one individual, meaning they're not always suitable as generic advice.

It's hard to offer advice about which cars to consider as I'll inevitably just push my own priorities onto you. For instance, I'd rather have the reliability of the TDI75 than the power of the TDI90. I couldn't own an A2 without Sport seats, but I'd hate to have a car with stock Sport suspension. I could go on...

The advice that I'm sure everyone would offer is quite simple, really: buy based on service history and condition. Any car between 8 and 13 years old is bound to need a bit of TLC in one area or another, so try to keep remedial bills to a minimum by using your head. Don't fall in love with a car based on its looks and ignore other warning signs. Remember, wheels and such can always be changed if they're not to your liking. Extra items of spec' can always be added if you later find that you'd really like something that your car lacks. There are very few things that can't be retro-fitted.

Post here the link to any cars that catch your eye. I'm sure a seasoned member will be along to point out the pros and cons of any given vehicle. For instance, pre-2002 cars could potentially have a slipped anti-roll bar, or have a common issue with their stereo head unit. Again, I could go on, but I'm sure you understand that I can't possibly list everything to consider.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Thankyou spike.
do both 75 and 90 have a dmf and why are the 75 more reliable than the 90. sorry if all this has been covered before but they are so many different posts.
 
Only the 90 has the DMF which is why i went for a 75. I bought it 100,000 miles ago and had it remapped when I bought it. Still on original clutch. Mine has FSD shocks on Spiden springs with 15" alloys and RARB to sort the ride/handling out. It is a bit bouncy but otherwise ok on teh twsity bits and the ride is much much better than standard sport set up. Agree about sport seats too, they are very comfy having driven upto 600 miles in a day without any aches. Also has 5th gear upgrade and retro Audi sat-nav amongst it's many mods. Do you have a budget?
 
I brought a Tdi75 6 months ago and they are a lovley little car, I paid £2700 for one with 108,000miles on the clock. Since then I had to spend £300 on a new set of glow plugs, battery (surprisingly large) and a fuel filter. I also had the cambelt checked as altough It had been changed I had no reciept for the work in the documents. From my experience i'd suggest paying a little more and going through a garage may be a good idea as they will have done most the of the checks for in and in the case of mine when it suddenly struggled to start when cold it took quite a lot of head scratching to find the problem as mechanics generally have no experience on them.

As for the stats mine has no engine mods or remapping and does btwenn 55 - 70 mpg depending ont he road and how it is driven. Seats are comfy and suspension is hard so you do watch for pot holes a little more but the car is so small you just dodge them fo rthe most part, hit a speed bump hard and you'll feel it though! If you do get one with mods be wary as not everybody has done a good job (but thats true of all cars i guess) I did see a couple of example which had not been lavished with care when upgrading.
 
great i will take all this into account. i will prob buy a standard car, remap it and lower it me self then i know whats what.
ideally looking for pointers common problems etc..... really looking forward to owning one
 
I personally wouldn't recommend lowering it, the suspension on the A2 is not really suitable for that. As an alternative, I would suggest upsizing the tyre size (Timmus has really filled his wheel arches as far as they can go, I forget his sizes but it looks impressive).
 
I'm inclined to agree with Mike. I don't know of a single regular member of this forum who has their A2 on coilovers. There are plenty of us with heavily modified suspension, but we're all on uprated dampers and springs, picked to match. Suspension is the single most common complaint about the A2 and there are more threads covering suspension than almost anything else. After many years of educated trial and improvement, there are now a few different recommended setups, each with their bias in one direction or another.

Lowering the A2 much beyond the ride height of the Sport variants results in uneven tyre wear, a further reduction in comfort and reduced grip/handling. Many of the recommended suspension combinations result in the A2 sitting at the lower end of the range that works well. Beyond that, the 'lowered' look can be furthered either with the Votex bodykit or by filling the arches... or even both. As Mike mentions, I've filled my arches by upsizing the tyre profile to the max. See... http://www.a2oc.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=10625&d=1348747046

Cheers,

Tom
 
Last edited:
zimzimmer said:
looks lovely that does tom. what are the sizes
Click to expand...

They're the 17" Sport alloys with 205/45/R17 tyres.
The car sits at Sport height (about 10mm lower than standard/SE height), using Koni FSD dampers and Spidan springs.

Cheers,

Tom
 
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