We just had to do it... £119 a week for a 3 door Corsa with no AC, or £120 a week for an A-class 5 door with climatronic... just no contest. And I had to do it for the sake of the A2OC... 
I've driven them before, most notably an A190 on my last trip to South Africa... but this time I had friends with me to judge as well (as well as the owner of said A190 that works for Daimler Chrysler South Africa...) So I moaned a lot... he just listened and said nothing... Apologies again Guy! But I even asked the friends which was best A2 or A-class and all of them said A2!
Most noted quality, looks and one thought A2 was more spacious as their reasons... The A-class certainly has more room in the back especially width wise, but your knees are around your cheeks as the Merc's sandwich floor runs the full length of the car. The A2's is hollowed out at the rear so people's feet are lower... But then the A2's battery is in the boot and the fuel tank is much smaller... The Merc uses the sandwich to house a decent tank and a full size spare wheel...
Trip started from home to Gatwick with four people and their luggage for a week... Had to leave space saver and 2nd floor at home, but everything fitted under the roller cover! Arrived in Malaga and said same bags had to go in Merc... fitted, but not as easily as I would have thought and it was packed higher and some bags had to travel on top of the solid rear shelf (better than A2's soft one). Bare stats do state that A2 has bigger boot than Merc... but that is sans spare which the Merc ALWAYS has under the floor... Thankfully no punctures going to or coming back from Gatwick!
But the interior! Urgh... Low rent De Luxe... Good quality plastics yes and better than the original first A-classes... but absolutely NO match for the A2. Strange ergonomics as well:
One stalk that does EVERYTHING, so a simple wipe of the windscreen wipers is not just an unmeasured down flick of the right hand stalk, NO, you have to press the tip ever so lightly otherwise it wash wipes and not just wipes. Inboard from this you twist the stalk to adjust the speeds. It never rained so I'm not sure how the intermittent speed adjustement works or if it even has it... and to top it all the rear wiper is controlled not by the stalk, but by a botton on the centre console! All other "normal" cars have a proper dedicated stalk to all wipers...
The electric mirror adjustment sits pride of place centre of the dash!!!
The electric window buttons are hidden next to the handbrake and don't have one-touch. They are also very nasty shiny plastic blobs with two very visible blanks for the not present rear electric windows (in the A2 you won't even know they were missing as there are NO blanks in an A2...)
There are no pictograms to tell you which doors are open... DIS A2s have a particularly nice pictogram.
The central display can only give you outside temp OR trip distance but not both!
The speaker covers look like something from a 1980 Datsun... round shapes in the door plastic with little round holes punctured through... urgh...
As to the driving position: it was not uncomfortable, but it was weird... the steering wheel is near vertical in front of you and behind it is some really ugly dials - none of the simple classic round A2 dials... You can also touch the mirror and steering wheel with one hand so close are they to each other! Due to the rake of the windscreen the mirror also blocks of your entire front right three quarter view (in a left hand drive car)! I was constantly craning my neck to look "around" this massive horizon blotting mirror! It was especially annoying around the mountain pass we had to go up to get to our villa... and believe me I found this FAR more irritating than the A2's A pillars...
The top of the windscreen is also nearly on top of your head, so you easily hit it and you have to use the sunvisors far sooner than in the A2. The A2 has a top of windscreen that is unusually far from the top of your head and forward... VERY good for keeping sun out!
I also felt very exposed in the thing... half the dash is visible from outside!
The above also shows the messy door, dash, windscreen junction... urgh...
OK enough ranting... how was it to drive? I specifically asked for a A170CDI diesel. Because it is a four cylinder it is far quiter than our TDIs... but thus also lacks character as a result... Not nearly the same amount of poke though, even though it has 300cc more! Going up a hill, same four people, same luggage you I felt I had to gear down as the car slowed down... same type of hill and same load the A2 just went and went with power seemingly in reserve. The Merc felt underpowered... It was economical though... no idea how much as it did not have a computer! But we filled it once and handed it back with diesel still in it (Easycar.com works a weird system of empty out and empty back - thus they usually score some fuel of you in it back in the end...)
Handling: how it came 99th out of 100 in the AutoExpress Driver Power Survey I will never know. It was fine. Softer than the A2, fine on motorway, fine on bends (though more leaning than A2) and no worse over bumps than the A2. It was very nice on motorways, less engine noise, maybe more wind and tyre noise...
How did I feel driving it? It is like an appliance. Nothing special. Just a car... a funny looking one at that... Will I buy one? Nope, it is not distinctive enough or as good as the A2. But it is not bad or the worst car in the world... it is good enough etc etc... but just not special enough for me... far better than a 3 door non AC Corsa by a mile in 30 degree Spain, but somehow also no more exiting than a Corsa either...
____________________________________________________________________________________
[img=left]http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/180225.jpg[/img=left]
2001 A2 TDI SE Crystal Blue with Open Sky, 6CD Symphony II, BOSE upgrade, DIS and HALF a winterpack!
iPAQ 3970 with Sat-Nav sleeve, rear cupholders, luggage net and floppy wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk23.htm
I've driven them before, most notably an A190 on my last trip to South Africa... but this time I had friends with me to judge as well (as well as the owner of said A190 that works for Daimler Chrysler South Africa...) So I moaned a lot... he just listened and said nothing... Apologies again Guy! But I even asked the friends which was best A2 or A-class and all of them said A2!
Most noted quality, looks and one thought A2 was more spacious as their reasons... The A-class certainly has more room in the back especially width wise, but your knees are around your cheeks as the Merc's sandwich floor runs the full length of the car. The A2's is hollowed out at the rear so people's feet are lower... But then the A2's battery is in the boot and the fuel tank is much smaller... The Merc uses the sandwich to house a decent tank and a full size spare wheel...
Trip started from home to Gatwick with four people and their luggage for a week... Had to leave space saver and 2nd floor at home, but everything fitted under the roller cover! Arrived in Malaga and said same bags had to go in Merc... fitted, but not as easily as I would have thought and it was packed higher and some bags had to travel on top of the solid rear shelf (better than A2's soft one). Bare stats do state that A2 has bigger boot than Merc... but that is sans spare which the Merc ALWAYS has under the floor... Thankfully no punctures going to or coming back from Gatwick!
But the interior! Urgh... Low rent De Luxe... Good quality plastics yes and better than the original first A-classes... but absolutely NO match for the A2. Strange ergonomics as well:
One stalk that does EVERYTHING, so a simple wipe of the windscreen wipers is not just an unmeasured down flick of the right hand stalk, NO, you have to press the tip ever so lightly otherwise it wash wipes and not just wipes. Inboard from this you twist the stalk to adjust the speeds. It never rained so I'm not sure how the intermittent speed adjustement works or if it even has it... and to top it all the rear wiper is controlled not by the stalk, but by a botton on the centre console! All other "normal" cars have a proper dedicated stalk to all wipers...
The electric mirror adjustment sits pride of place centre of the dash!!!
The electric window buttons are hidden next to the handbrake and don't have one-touch. They are also very nasty shiny plastic blobs with two very visible blanks for the not present rear electric windows (in the A2 you won't even know they were missing as there are NO blanks in an A2...)
There are no pictograms to tell you which doors are open... DIS A2s have a particularly nice pictogram.
The central display can only give you outside temp OR trip distance but not both!
The speaker covers look like something from a 1980 Datsun... round shapes in the door plastic with little round holes punctured through... urgh...
As to the driving position: it was not uncomfortable, but it was weird... the steering wheel is near vertical in front of you and behind it is some really ugly dials - none of the simple classic round A2 dials... You can also touch the mirror and steering wheel with one hand so close are they to each other! Due to the rake of the windscreen the mirror also blocks of your entire front right three quarter view (in a left hand drive car)! I was constantly craning my neck to look "around" this massive horizon blotting mirror! It was especially annoying around the mountain pass we had to go up to get to our villa... and believe me I found this FAR more irritating than the A2's A pillars...
The top of the windscreen is also nearly on top of your head, so you easily hit it and you have to use the sunvisors far sooner than in the A2. The A2 has a top of windscreen that is unusually far from the top of your head and forward... VERY good for keeping sun out!
I also felt very exposed in the thing... half the dash is visible from outside!
The above also shows the messy door, dash, windscreen junction... urgh...
OK enough ranting... how was it to drive? I specifically asked for a A170CDI diesel. Because it is a four cylinder it is far quiter than our TDIs... but thus also lacks character as a result... Not nearly the same amount of poke though, even though it has 300cc more! Going up a hill, same four people, same luggage you I felt I had to gear down as the car slowed down... same type of hill and same load the A2 just went and went with power seemingly in reserve. The Merc felt underpowered... It was economical though... no idea how much as it did not have a computer! But we filled it once and handed it back with diesel still in it (Easycar.com works a weird system of empty out and empty back - thus they usually score some fuel of you in it back in the end...)
Handling: how it came 99th out of 100 in the AutoExpress Driver Power Survey I will never know. It was fine. Softer than the A2, fine on motorway, fine on bends (though more leaning than A2) and no worse over bumps than the A2. It was very nice on motorways, less engine noise, maybe more wind and tyre noise...
How did I feel driving it? It is like an appliance. Nothing special. Just a car... a funny looking one at that... Will I buy one? Nope, it is not distinctive enough or as good as the A2. But it is not bad or the worst car in the world... it is good enough etc etc... but just not special enough for me... far better than a 3 door non AC Corsa by a mile in 30 degree Spain, but somehow also no more exiting than a Corsa either...
____________________________________________________________________________________
[img=left]http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/180225.jpg[/img=left]
2001 A2 TDI SE Crystal Blue with Open Sky, 6CD Symphony II, BOSE upgrade, DIS and HALF a winterpack!
iPAQ 3970 with Sat-Nav sleeve, rear cupholders, luggage net and floppy wiper!
http://www.audi-a2.co.uk/uk23.htm
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