Swiv signing off - another A2 being replaced by a Honda

swiv

swiv

Member
Hi all,

Sorry to have to announce this. And the same time I'm also sort of pleased to move on to another car.

The story, in short:
After nearly 100k miles in 3.5 years my company car's contract will be ended next month.

I know I'm the inpatient type of person, wanting a new 'toy' as often as possible. And although brilliant in design, my own A2 was starting to loose its appeal to me.
All of that will change in a few years, when I'll probably wonder what a TDI90 Sport would feel like again.
But in the meantime I've chosen to stop throwing cash out the window with my company car. I'll start driving a (rather old) Honda Civic Aerodeck on LPG for the next few years. Like I did 4 years ago, albeit as a company car. History repeats itself.

I'll pop by this forum every once and again to see how things develop.
There's absolutely no comparable forum for the Aerodeck. Too bad, because I really enjoyed being here. There's a great forum for the 2006 Civic over at www.civinfo.com , but that car was simply out of budget currently...

So, thank you all for having me here. See you again in a few years, probably with a high specced Sport TDI90 or FSI ;)

Cheers,

Edo
 
ULP said:
Good luck Swiv, and don't be a stranger here.
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Hi Swiv,

I echo Chris's comments!! Best of luck with your chosen replacement and I hope like some of the others that have moved on you continue to assist us more 'inexperienced' owners with your own contributions on a regular basis.

Cheers,

Darren
 
Hi swiv
After all this time and over 300 posts, i've just noticed your A2 had the ABT chiptune. Because of their factory links I have always assumed this must be the most well sorted performance upgrade available. I know it's very expensive and not the most powerful upgrade but it would be my No1 choice.
Were you pleased with it -and if you ever get another A2 would you go for the ABT chip again ?

Cheers and good luck with the Honda Spike
 
Thanks guys :) And yes, I'll answer some headlight or door trim related questions every now and then (like I've done over the last 300 posts ;) )

@Spike: here in Holland they offer the ABT chiptuning when you buy the car from the dealer. Just like any other accessory.
Not the cheapest nor the most efficient upgrade; you're right about that.
But they do offer the regular warranty. And my lease company accepted it without any problem, probably because of the warrenty.

Whether I liked it? I guess I should say 'yes'. However, I've always been doubtful about it too.

Why? Because I don't seem to have those 'wow!' experiences that others always rave about when they get there cars chiptuned by other companies.
Okay, so they get about 10 bhp more. That will help. But I always felt that my car never got any quicker than it was.
There's a reason why I cannot be sure about that. Getting my car chiptuning turned out to be very difficult for the dealer. I took delivery of the car without the chiptuning because the engine type nr was new at that time. ABT couldn't do it. Yet. So I drove around for 3 months in what I recall as being quite a nippy little diesel for its 75 bhp.
Then they took my car in, to be tuned. It was gone for like 2 weeks. In the meantime I got a replacement car, a brand new but sorely underpowered 1.4 petrol Golf V.
Getting back to my car was great. Sure. But everything would have been, after the dreadful Golf.
I never timed my 0-60 attempts. Or in gear accelleration. But I should be able to outrun quite a few cars, but in practice that only happens when the other car doesn't push as hard as I do at that time. Also, on the freeway, it sometimes feels lazy. Same story at rpm below 2100 or so. Just as if it wasn't ever tuned at all. Sometimes I'm doing 60 behind cars with badges on them that should mean they could never out-accellerate me on the freeway, but they always seem to do so without any fuss. That annoys me.

So either I've gotten used to it, or the 3 month wait/struggle before the tuning made my paranoia, leading me to believe that the dealer fooled me, 3 years ago.

All I know is that I'd love to drive a TDI90 for comparison. If that flies, then something was wrong and I paid 700 euros for nothing but the badge on the back of my car.
Must be my imagination. Dealers are good people too, right? Yeah right... ;)

Okay. Enough text. Been through this before.
On to the Civic that at least _sounds_ like it is going fast! (it's not fast at all, with 90bhp from 1.4 petrol for more weight than a diesel a2 - but I love the sound, especially with a cold air intake!)

See you around!

Edo
 
Hi swiv
Thanks for sharing your experiences with the ABT chiptune. It's even more expensive in the UK (around £700 I think) and from what you say, probably not worth it.

Cheers Spike
 
and here it is...

the replacement, as bought this weekend.

Very happy with the car, despite the mileage (100k). Picking it up next saturday and will probably drive straight to my good old friends at the Honda tuning shop to have it lowered by about 30mm, cold air intake and some nice aluminium interior touches...

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See you later,

Edo
 
It's gone

Just a quick piece of history for now. Last monday I handed in my A2, after stripping it of all my personal audio-equipment and other self-installed options.

It was a goodbye without tears. Strange how I can detach myself from a car that I know I have liked so much for so long.
But well, it was replaced by a very nice car indeed too. That helps.

To mention the chiptuning again: now that I'm in a 90bhp petrol car again, I seriously feel that the little diesel was performing quite well. In-gear accelleration is currently 'non-existent', compared to the Tdi pulling on and on and on.... ;)
Still like the sound of this Honda better, though. But can't have it all!
 
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