Searching for a TDi

Philip said:
To the average used car buyer, there are far more appealing options at £5-6k than a ten-to-fifteen year old, funny-looking Audi. The market must be tiny above about £3k.
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Exactly - but this is good news for us enthusiasts!

Later cars with Opensky seem uber rare - any reason for this - I thought later ones were more robust with metal gears rather than plastic.

Simon.
 
The good un's will sell same day, if reasonably priced.

Theres some wrecks out there for under a grand, but also some show worthy examples for £6k.

Ive been watching used prices for years now and although prices have dropped recently, the best examples will sell quick.

There was a grey tdi with OpenSky that recently sold advertised at £5295 with 29k miles. That would have been perfect for you.
 
It is very hard to be objective as a marque enthusiast whatever the car is. My A2 is very well specced even if not quite the holy grail and would love to think it worth £4/5k however in reality it's probably nearer half that. £4/5k buys a very good car 5 year old and if you are not into cars that will sway your decision.
 
Yep I've seen that one - think it has had a recent price drop as it was over £4k. It's a nice colour - not seen one similar but I discounted it as I believe it has a bench rear seat.

Simon.
 
Yes it does, is that a problem?

The only drawback of the bench is the fact that you can't split the rears, and the seat is heavy to get out.

Steve B
 
How easy does the bench come out? Was fairly set on the non-bench for it's practicality.

Simon.
 
sco said:
How easy does the bench come out? Was fairly set on the non-bench for it's practicality.

Simon.
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I too can manage to get ours out but it is a bit of a struggle.

Other than that they are fine. I have had 5 full sized adults in ours many a time any everyone said they were comfortable.

I would suggest looking out fir out for a later rear seat to get the full 3 belts rather than the centre lap one.


Steve B
 
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We have a bench, I've not tried removing it TBH. There seems to be plenty enough space with it just folded down.
It has to be said though, the flexibility of being able to fold just one side down is something I miss a little. Can't do it in either of our cars.

Chris
 
We have a bench. It's heavy but one person can lift it unless you have health or mobility issues.

In the 7 years plus we've had the car it's been out a handful of times. The main negative for me with bench is that it only has 3 isofix anchors whereas the 4 seater split variant has 2 on each side.

That's the only reason I'd see the bench as a serious inconvenience if you have 2 wee ones to transport and wish the safest possible kiddy seat fixture. Are you really going to be using the split seat options so often for extra luggage plus one rear seat passenger that it discounts the bench as an option?

Mebbes I'm missing other negatives to the bench model . The Azure one looks lovely. Interesting it's posed as 60k miles but has 68. !!!

Still barely run in.
 
sco said:
I think you misunderstand .....

it's price is being set by what the general market will pay rather than what an enthusiast 'thinks' it is worth.

Simon.
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The price tag on 'enthusiast' cars isn't a whimsy or a subjective perception Simon. Like Paul (manhattan) I've kept a close eye on A2 prices since before I bought our car ( so 8 years ish) and a genuinely rare / low mileage/ mint condition / high specification car will command an asking price up to 300% of the 'book' value and sell very quickly too in the right circumstances.

So its not enthusiastic owners with rose tinted glasses. It's a fact.

A good example was a low mileage high specification TDI 90 which Nick Sinfield recently had for sale. It was snapped up in a matter of hours after being marketed and was pitched way above its retail 'value'. I highly doubt there would have been any haggling done in the bargain.

You occasionally see a car on offer which the vendor really doesn't know how to price. Those are the real bargains and it's happening a little more often these days. Sometimes treated with suspicion by the enthusiast cadre who have a better idea of what a rare gem ( invariably a pedigree TDI) is 'worth'
 
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murdo said:
We have a bench. It's heavy but one person can lift it unless you have health or mobility issues.

In the 7 years plus we've had the car it's been out a handful of times. The main negative for me with bench is that it only has 3 isofix anchors whereas the 4 seater split variant has 2 on each side.

That's the only reason I'd see the bench as a serious inconvenience if you have 2 wee ones to transport and wish the safest possible kiddy seat fixture. Are you really going to be using the split seat options so often for extra luggage plus one rear seat passenger that it discounts the bench as an option?

Mebbes I'm missing other negatives to the bench model . The Azure one looks lovely. Interesting it's posed as 60k miles but has 68. !!!

Still barely run in.
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That's helpful Murdo. Most of the children have grown up and left home so we are a family of three - just seemed nice and easy with the split seat version to fold them up and lift them out - takes only a few minutes, they are easy to store and you are left with a very reasonable load area.

Simon.
 
Before having the new interior fitted I used to leave my rear seats out most of the time and just put them in as required.Very light and easy to do and creates a huge load space.I have never tried the bench version though I would be wary if you have back problems if the bench is heavy and awkward to remove it could make matters worse.
 
sco said:
Yes I think you are right Ian, removing the bench would be a pain.

Here's the next one up for consideration - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2001-Audi...av-99k-60mpg-History-SE-offers-/311453866957?

Lots of goodies but major downside is the Cat C and it's quite old.

Simon.
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Yes, VERY good spec.

The Cat C is a shame, but that would only matter when you come to sell again, but you get it cheaper and sell it cheaper, so that cancels out.

The paintwork looks highly polished too.

Not bad!

Steve B
 
Not sure about the paintwork - photographing it over gravel means the reflections can hide a multitude of sins, looks like a fairly deep scratch on the offside front wheel arch for starters. Plus point with this one is apparently although it lives in London it occasionally visits Brackley so I might be able to view it without having to travel! I have a Saab with an auxillary heater which I've converted to a parking heater (ewp so that it can run without the engine running) so I quite like the idea of the Webasto heater.

Simon.
 
Steve - can you explain this sentence on your project page (Like your car btw);

Must be a 2003/4 (i.e. not a "Special Edition", so that ruled out virtually all late 2004/2005 cars!)

Simon.
 
sco said:
Not sure about the paintwork - photographing it over gravel means the reflections can hide a multitude of sins, looks like a fairly deep scratch on the offside front wheel arch for starters. Plus point with this one is apparently although it lives in London it occasionally visits Brackley so I might be able to view it without having to travel! I have a Saab with an auxillary heater which I've converted to a parking heater (ewp so that it can run without the engine running) so I quite like the idea of the Webasto heater.

Simon.
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The webasto is standard on that age of car, replaced by an electric heater element the following year and that is not as good as the Webasto.

When it comes to age, I would rather have a well cared for 2001 to a neglected 2004/5 and when you do the maths the 2001 is 14 years old and a 2004 is 11 years old, it doesn't sound such a big difference when you say that.
Also the 2004/5 Special Edition spec is very basic whereas the early A2s seem to have a better spec generally.

Steve B
 
sco said:
Steve - can you explain this sentence on your project page (Like your car btw);

Must be a 2003/4 (i.e. not a "Special Edition", so that ruled out virtually all late 2004/2005 cars!)

Simon.
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That is a coincidence, I almost explained that in the post a few minutes ago before you had chance to see it.

The "Special Edition" cars (2004/5) have a much more basic spec than the SE of earlier years.

I am used to seeing the end of line models being given lots of extras to shift them (and the extras) before the model goes out of production, but Audi chose to reduce the spec on the A2 instead (perhaps they didn't want to manufacture the extras knowing that it was the end of the road for the A2?

Steve B
 
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