Morning

[shao_khan]

Hello - Its me again I just cant stay away.

I've been looking for a new run around, my last A2 got sold to make way for my A3 Cab which was sold when I got forced to have a company car (Ford POS), so as a result I've been looking for something I like to run around in at weekends.

I've seen on Autotrader early A2s for sub £3k - should I or shouldnt I? I see on here early examples are all around £3.5k, so are the cheap ones gunna be bad (I havent been to look at any yet) or have prices at the bottom dropped that low? I quite fancy a 3rd A2 and this fits into my budget restriction of £3k. I figured over time if I am lucky enough to find one in this budget with the right options it could be a keeper to play with, but should I rule the A2 out - at this price are they gunna be 'problem' cars.

Anyone any opinions.

Cheers

 

[Skipton01]

Hiya Shao - nice to see you back!

If you can get into a diesel for that price, you should have a decent car, but the spec may be low.

The earlier petrols are seemingly getting a little costly to look after now - cats are going, as are lambda sensors.

Other than going for a diesel, you should be OK with a cheap early A2, as they are well put together and take high mileages well.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[fbi]

If you have a company car, why would you want to look for another "daily runner" ?
Instead, with a budget of 3K, I'd look for a decent MGF or something like that. They are damn cheap in the UK, and there are loads of them for sale...

Keeping the A3cab would have made more sense to me, but financially that wasn't maybe not possible, I guess.

 

[Adrian888]

I have much sympathy at the loss of your a3 cab to be replaced by a Ford of all things, my commiserations!

i am sure the tech gurus and murdo will point you in the direction of what to look for on a cheaper a2, although if you are happy with a miley car I would not expect too many problems if it has a good service record.

 

[Skipton01]

The words decent and MGF - I thought they were mutually exclusive?!

They're cheap for sure, but if anything goes wrong, you're up the swanny now, with no dealer back up and no parts available.

Stick with an A2 - they handle better anyway!

Cheers,

Mike

 

[shao_khan]

Daily runner - well I plan to retire (again) in the next 6 months, so will need my weekend car to be a 4 seater due to the kiddies. The second reason for the A2 is that i still think of it as 'good fun', esp with sport suspension they do handle well. I didnt keep the A3 cab because I still have the RRS at home and having 3 cars was just silly. I had a ring around a dealers were offering very good money for the second hand A3, so alas it had to go

Another driver for me is that if I can find a good cheap example of the A2, if I an keep it long enough it will be a very cool car for the kids when they're older rather than some Hyudrai Coupe (or whatever Top gear recommended).

With regards to MGF - I did test drive a few some time back, 1st time I eneded up with a MX5 instead, second time with a boxster instead.

 

[fbi]

The words decent and MGF - I thought they were mutually exclusive?!

They're cheap for sure, but if anything goes wrong, you're up the swanny now, with no dealer back up and no parts available.

Stick with an A2 - they handle better anyway!

Handle bettter ? that's a point of view... FWD vs. RWD... I also know people who prefer BurgerKing to anything.

You're right, MGF's are proper examples of the best English engineering you can dream of (after the Austin Allegro of course)
They are not so well put together, they blow their head gasket nearly always once, but they are fun to drive, cheap to maintain and are a piece of Heritage.
The A2 is not really trouble free, to say the least ! But it's rather well put together, miles ahead of "MG-over's".
In my 6 years of MGF (+ 6 years TF) ownership, they haven't cost me alot in maintenance...
Dealers are not mandatory, mots of them weren't so capable anyway. And for a £3K 2nd hand little motor, that makes more sense to go to your trustful little backstreet garage. Most of the parts are available, and cheap.

Anyway, shao_khan has explained why he's looking for a 4-seater daily runner... So the A2 choice makes sense.