Hey folks! New TDI 75 owner in the New Forest

C

Chris B

Member
Hi all, Chris here. I joined about 13 days ago, so apologies for the delay in saying hello.

I took the plunge into A2 ownership on April 7th, having done a fair bit of research after clocking an ad on Gumtree. This forum was a huge help with that, and the fact that there is excellent friendly club support for the car was a big part of my decision to go ahead.
I wonder if this car (photo below) may have appeared on the forum previously, as I have a feeling the previous owner of 7 years Terry, may be a club member.

This is by far the highest mileage vehicle I've ever owned at just over 223k! I've never bought a car less than 15-20 odd years old, so I'm no stranger to high mile cars, but this sets a new benchmark!

What is it? 2005 Special Edition Tdi75 BHC with Soul interior and Sinus cloth upholstery. As far as I can tell, not remapped, and the only modifications are an aftermarket rear PDC system, Black 17" wheels (which I believe may be from a TT?), the bonnet was replaced with a black one following damage, and a black/grey flag design DIY painted on the roof - I'm told it was to cover some clear coat defects.

It has a full stamped service history up to 7 years ago, and it's evident from MOT history the car has been looked after since, though it's inevitable the engine will need some love before long surely?! It's on it's third timing belt (2016 @ 196k) so I'll need to replace before too long. There's no record of (and Terry hadn't had done in his ownership) replacement of items like balancer/oil pump chain, tandem pump, or remedial work to injectors/clamps etc. so there are some unknown quantities to be aware of to avoid an A2 shaped paper-weight!

My other "modern cars" are:
2002 Renault Scenic 1.6, which is a definite keeper as an all-rounder.
2002 mk1 Focus (fate yet to be decided as it has finally succumbed to rear inner arch rust which I discovered doing pre-MOT checks in March)
2005 mk1 Yaris. I bought this around a year ago to be my fun, cheap to run daily transport (and it is great on both counts) but my girlfriend has recently taken it on, which left me looking for a replacement frugal car, which had to meet one or two criteria to make sense:
  • Economical on fuel
  • If a diesel, then no DPF, DMF or emissions additive systems to cause expensive nightmares.
  • Working air-con (my ability to cope with a baking hot car in summer has long gone!)
  • Low annual Tax
  • Good to drive
  • 5 door and rear seats with space for older family members etc.
  • Enough boot space for lugging my tools and other gear around when needed
  • NOT a Peugeot/Ford/BMW 1.6 Hdi or Ford 1.8 Tdci as I've had endless nightmares with their common issues!
  • Below £1000
  • And the tallest order, bearing in mind all the above and the fact that a sub £1000 car is going to be getting on a bit - must have no rust issues! I've had more than enough of that to deal with on my other vehicles, and welding upside-down under a car getting molten metal down my ears has lost it's charm!
So, that's when I remembered "Hmm, didn't Audi made a frugal aluminium bodied car", and that led me to where I am today as an A2 owner!

I'm well into the process of giving the interior a serious deep clean to make it fresh and presentable again, and working through the issues I knew about going in, and others as I find them. It's probably best I start a separate thread in the appropriate spot to cover that side of things.

Cheers all, and glad to be here. Chris.


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Welcome aboard :) With a '55 plate, that must be one of the last few registered, so hopefully it has the most life left despite the mileage. They do go on, the record is at least 350k, on the first engine ;)
 
Welcome aboard, Chris.

Warmly recommend getting the cambelt and water pump sorted right away. Liked your paperweight comment!
 
Welcome Chris.

You missed Beaulieu a couple of weeks back where a number of us were in attendance at the Simply Audi event.

Most people would be put off by that mileage, so well done you. I also have a 2005 & that’s on 232k, if the odometer said 130k you’d believe it.

A silver bonnet should be an easy find if you wanted to change as it was a popular colour.


Sent from thin air
 
Chris, welcome to the club.

First order of business - your car’s oil pump chain and tensioner plus sprockets must be changed quickly - If not then without wishing to put the willies up you, you’re starting to really take your chances above 200k miles on the original - This job can be combined with the cambelt change as the belt has to come off anyway. Your belt is overdue by a couple of years so best to prioritise this.
 
i have a spare silver bonnet for my car. My car is crystal blue so the wrong colour for mine anyway, happy to swop them if you would like a nearer match (not sure which silver it is, off a Y reg car) i'm Newbury area but come past Southampton most weeks
 
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Thanks @PlasticMac & everyone for the welcome.

@Cenick Yes, I clocked you were all attending Beaulieu, and would've come along too, as it's only about half an hour away. Sadly, the timing didn't work out. (Edit: It's funny you mention your high miler being in good nick for the miles. With mine, aside from being grubby, it is notable how well the upholstery, pedal rubbers, steering wheel etc. have held up. On many cars, the bolsters would be ripping open by 150k and the leather wheel would be in tatters!)

@Proghound Yes, it is a late one. The interior plastics I've been removing are dated March & April 2005 so definitely mfd in 2005 too.

@simon martyn & @dj_efk The timing belt & chain certainly are a high priority. Before I go that far though, I need to be sure I can get the interior up to a standard I can live with, as there was a lot of ingrained dirt in everything, and smelt quite smoky & musty. I don't mind a car being scruffy on the outside, but I don't want to feel like I need a shower every time i get out! Plus I need it to be pleasant for any passengers I carry.
More importantly there's a running issue I want to be sure can be solved without getting into replacing other expensive parts such as injectors, as I need the money for the timing belt and chain job parts & consumables. I will cover the issues in a thread in the Projects section.
If the above turn out not to be feasible, then I may have to offer the car to a club member to rescue or to A2 Steve for example to break for parts.

@steveb Thanks very much for the offer. Would it be ok to get back to you at a later date, as I don't know which way things will go with the car just yet. Also, if it's not the right silver, that may look worse than the black which sort of co-ordinates with the roof. The paint on my black one isn't great, though haven't yet taken a buffer to it, and the rear corner tips are a little rough as a previous owner has stored the bonnet on edge on the ground in the past. I wouldn't want to leave you with a worse bonnet than you have.
 
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Chris B said:
Also, if it's not the right silver, that may look worse than the black which sort of co-ordinates with the roof.
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The same shade LY7W Light Silver / Silver Sea ran all the way through A2 production. Although in later years there was an Akoya Silver but that's noticeably a silvery light grey.
 
Proghound said:
The same shade LY7W Light Silver / Silver Sea ran all the way through A2 production. Although in later years there was an Akoya Silver but that's noticeably a silvery light grey.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification, and yes mine is LY7W. I'd looked at the chart of available colours and saw Avus Silver Pearl. Was that not used on UK market cars?
 
Avus Silver Pearl is LY7J. The only Avus Silver connection with the A2 that I know of is that it might be the shade for the 16" wheels.
 
Chris B said:
Thanks @PlasticMac & everyone for the welcome.

@Cenick Yes, I clocked you were all attending Beaulieu, and would've come along too, as it's only about half an hour away. Sadly, the timing didn't work out. (Edit: It's funny you mention your high miler being in good nick for the miles. With mine, aside from being grubby, it is notable how well the upholstery, pedal rubbers, steering wheel etc. have held up. On many cars, the bolsters would be ripping open by 150k and the leather wheel would be in tatters!)

@Proghound Yes, it is a late one. The interior plastics I've been removing are dated March & April 2005 so definitely mfd in 2005 too.

@simon martyn & @dj_efk The timing belt & chain certainly are a high priority. Before I go that far though, I need to be sure I can get the interior up to a standard I can live with, as there was a lot of ingrained dirt in everything, and smelt quite smoky & musty. I don't mind a car being scruffy on the outside, but I don't want to feel like I need a shower every time i get out! Plus I need it to be pleasant for any passengers I carry.
More importantly there's a running issue I want to be sure can be solved without getting into replacing other expensive parts such as injectors, as I need the money for the timing belt and chain job parts & consumables. I will cover the issues in a thread in the Projects section.
If the above turn out not to be feasible, then I may have to offer the car to a club member to rescue or to A2 Steve for example to break for parts.

@steveb Thanks very much for the offer. Would it be ok to get back to you at a later date, as I don't know which way things will go with the car just yet. Also, if it's not the right silver, that may look worse than the black which sort of co-ordinates with the roof. The paint on my black one isn't great, though haven't yet taken a buffer to it, and the rear corner tips are a little rough as a previous owner has stored the bonnet on edge on the ground in the past. I wouldn't want to leave you with a worse bonnet than you have.
Click to expand...
yes thats fine. 😊
 
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