I am ready to buy my first A2...

slimlavud

Member
Hello all. I have long admired the A2, as a truly innovative vehicle. I tried a couple of them when new, wrote about them, as a motoring writer.

My allegiance has long been with Lancia, and I think the Lancia engineers would have approved of the A2's wonderful technology.


I have a rather tatty 1972 S2 berlina which is my only car (pictured, yes, that is me in the picture, pouring water on a rear brake that stuck on and almost caught fire on the day I collected the car...) I have always admired Lancias and worked in a Lancia restoration business with well-known early Lancisti Roger Perry at Classico in Suffolk, UK, which became part of Omicron, 25 years ago where we worked on Fulvia, Flavia, B20 and Strato's. I went through a long period of driving and racing 1960s and 1970s Maseratis, Mustangs, Fairlanes and Corvettes but gave that up when kids came along...
Dozens of other marques have come and gone since then: W123 Mercedes', five Citroën CXs, some GSs, an Alvis and various Japanese grey porridge cars. When my everyday Mitsubishi was destroyed by a runaway BMW X3 while parked, I decided that I would buy the cheapest 'classic' (I don't like that word, I'm so old (60) that what we now call 'classics' we're just cheap old cars when I was younger) that I could find and it had to be a Lancia. The berlina has rusty flapping door skins and is missing most of its rear valance but is structurally and mechanically sound. It is my only car so will be a rolling restoration...

But with a son at university in Falmouth, I do need a more modern everyday car.

So I am looking for a yellow 1.4 petrol A2, with air conditioning, and preferably an Open Sky Roof, and petrol not diesel - in Islington, London, where I live, the council has a £96 surcharge on any diesel on top of the already expensive parking permit charge...

Having read a bit about the A2, it seems that strut top bearings and rusty anti-roll bar ends are two major areas to check, any other areas or is there is sticky on what to look for please?

I can spend up to about £1400 - any cars available please?
 

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I bought mine last week after wanting one for ages!

Sadly I didn't find this forum until after I had bought mine... 1.6FSI which sadly had to be driven from islington (Also where I live) back to the trader/dealer i bought it from due to Inlet manifold leaks, inlet manifold sensors, Mis-firing and a whole bunch of other errors that were not explain.

I think the spec you are after is probably the best of the bunch. a reliable engine from what I have learned, and the open-Sky sunroof which is nice to have.

Good luck in your search and if the dealer can't fix mine, I shall be looking for something similar. The prices are still quite high i find on Auto trader.
 
Thanks, I am hoping that a 1.4 petrol in yellow is not that popular... I have a very good official but moonlighting Skoda/Audi mechanic friend who works at a main dealer but does work on the side if you need help... And a very cheap local mechanic for non-tech stuff. PM me for details if this will help.
 
Thanks! that's good to know!

I will do, but hope what i've got will be fixed by the trader i bought from or money back. Then on to one that works...
 
I am hoping that a 1.4 petrol in yellow is not that popular...

Hello and welcome to A2OC!

Unfortunately, as far as I'm aware, there is only 1 completely yellow A2 in the whole of the UK and it's a TDI (and I doubt its owner would sell it, anyway!).
Are you familiar with the Colour Storm variant of the A2? If not, see this photo: http://www.audia2museum.de/resources/Audi_A2+colorstorm.jpg
There are a number of yellow Colour Storms in the UK, but they're not completely yellow. On models without OpenSky, the roof is painted black, along with the rubbing strips, the wheel arches, etc. Not everyone is a fan of the Colour Storm, and if you'd rather not own one, then the only way to get a yellow A2 is to have it resprayed.

Cheers,

Tom
 
So I am looking for a yellow 1.4 petrol A2, with air conditioning, and preferably an Open Sky Roof, and petrol not diesel

I can confirm that in 2005 there were only 54 petrol A2 in yellow, so no doubt less now. 44 of these were FSI. Whether any has Open Sky is subject to conjecture but the phrase "hens teeth" comes to mind ;) Good luck in your quest.

See my DVLA stats at http://www.alancooper.me.uk/A2/A2_stats.htm and scroll down to A2 Petrol by Colour by Model by Year
 
Thank you Timmus, Alan, and sciroccorrado
Yes, now I have also done a bit of research I can see that yellow A2s are rather scarce. I remember writing about the Colour Storm variant when it came out. sciroccorrado's A2 is actually the perfect car and if it is still available in a week or so, I shall be in touch - just waiting for a car accident compensation cheque to clear (I'm not a whiplash claimer/scammer, I was hit while parked and the driver claimed he blacked out and his insurance company claimed automatism - so they did not have to pay out at all but my lawyer would not let it lie and took 1.5 years to get a settlement...).
 
Thank you Timmus, Alan, and sciroccorrado
Yes, now I have also done a bit of research I can see that yellow A2s are rather scarce. I remember writing about the Colour Storm variant when it came out. sciroccorrado's A2 is actually the perfect car and if it is still available in a week or so, I shall be in touch - just waiting for a car accident compensation cheque to clear (I'm not a whiplash claimer/scammer, I was hit while parked and the driver claimed he blacked out and his insurance company claimed automatism - so they did not have to pay out at all but my lawyer would not let it lie and took 1.5 years to get a settlement...).

That's just crazy :eek: Funnily enough, my A2 was bought as a stop-gap between write off of my A5, and the insurance payout which took a lot longer than it was supposed to, but I ended up keeping it and loving it :)
 
Yes, the 'automatism' defence is particularly nasty - one law firm fought for compensation for a woman who was crippled by a driver claiming that he blacked out and they lost - the law firm started a fund to equip the woman's house with wheelchair ramps etc.
The defence is also known as the 'swarm of bees' defence - if you have one bee in the car stinging you, you are still liable, if it is swarm of bees, you are not culpable for an accident - and neither is your insurance company. The Motor Insurer's Bureau (the fund that all insurance companies pay into to help the victims of uninsured drivers) do not help out either, although after several months they changed their policy a little and paid my £550 excess but no damages. I suffered a badly wrenched shoulder and some chipped teeth and some nasty cuts - I had taken my seat belt off and was about to exit the car - if I had, I might have been killed as the runaway BMW X3 knocked my old Mitsubishi Space Runner 2 metres onto the pavement and pushed it back to write off the two cars behind me... The driver who had 'blacked out' danced out of the BMW looking quite conscious... and then avoided me and refused to give me any details so I called the Police... and an ambulance.
 
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Yes, the 'automatism' defence is particularly nasty - one law firm fought for compensation for a woman who was crippled by a driver claiming that he blacked out and they lost - the law firm started a fund to equip the woman's house with wheelchair ramps etc.
The defence is also known as the 'swarm of bees' defence - if you have one bee in the car stinging you, you are still liable, if it is swarm of bees, you are not culpable for an accident - and neither is your insurance company. The Motor Insurer's Bureau (the fund that all insurance companies pay into to help the victims of uninsured drivers) do not help out either, although after several months they changed their policy a little and paid my £550 excess but no damages. I suffered a badly wrenched shoulder and some chipped teeth and some nasty cuts - I had taken my seat belt off and was about to exit the car - if I had, I might have been killed as the runaway BMW X3 knocked my old Mitsubishi Space Runner 2 metres onto the pavement and pushed it back to write off the two cars behind me... The driver who had 'blacked out' danced out of the BMW looking quite conscious... and then avoided me and refused to give me any details so I called the Police... and an ambulance.

Hi and welcome to the forum. I'm liking your love for the Lancia brand, i too have been an admirer from afar and would love a GTV6 the one driven by a certain Mr Moore RIP, sadly that ship has sailed and any chance of owning one is impractical now.I fully understand your need for a 1.4 petrol when your having to pay a £96 diesel surcharge just for owning it, time will come when this surcharge will most probably be rolled out to other cities not least to extend the life of people dying early due to particulates clogging up their lungs. I live towards the end of the Metropolitan line and we bought our 1.4 petrol a year ago and think it's a fabulous car, despite what some say they are capable of a good turn of speed if well maintained and in fine fettle. We got rid of our A4 diesel as it was starting to become a money pit what with all diesels doing their famous party trick of strangling themselves to death if used on short journeys as ours was used for 90% of the time.

The problems you've described with your insurance sounds terrible, it's a good job you have a good lawyer as some would perhaps wrongly let it go as too much hassle. I used to think Insurance was a part of the economy that was well above board and fully compliant with the highest letter of the law both legally and ethically. I hope you get you get your payout and wish you all the best in finding that 1.4 petrol beauty you seek. :)

All the best Mark.
 
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