Vava Vroom
Member
Hello everyone, My name is Chrifi.
This is my first post on this wonderful forum, however I have been an avid follower and reader on this forum for the past 2 years, and I feel like I know some of the members personally.
I havent posted anything on here before, as I was waiting for my car to be completed, before writing about my journey to create my perfect a2, a project that I poured my heart and soul into, and a substantial chunk of money. unfortunately things haven't panned out as I'd hoped.
My story so far
I stumbled across this forum by complete fluke, 2 months before I purchased my first a2 in 2016. Up until this point I didnt know a thing about these cars, nor did I have any interest in ever owning one. However after seeing what some of the members managed to achieve with their cars,( Steve birchals ) car in particular was a huge inspiration, as well as many others, and with the wealth of information about all the possible upgrades, I become hooked on the site.
And what started off as a bit of morning reading with my coffee, Turned into essential bedtime reading, and every possible moment during the day. In the next few weeks I probably read hundreds of posts, from suspension to double din conversions, I found it so interesting, that I even started reading German and Dutch forums, mainly for suspension upgrades. by this point I was itching to own an a2, but it made no sense to purchase one as I already owned a car. So I decided to buy one for my sister who just passed her driving test. I found what looked like a good example on eBay (fsi se) put in a bid, and got it for £950. When I went to pick the car up, I was really impressed with the cosmetic and mechanical condition of the car, but what impressed me even more was the drive back from Coventry to London. I couldn't believe that a 15 year old car can feel this responsive and handle this well, less impressed when I arrived in London though, as the quality of the roads here are truly atrocious.
Anyway, my sister hated the car!! I guess she was too young to appreciate the finer things in life. So I decided to keep it as a second car for occasional driving. The car continued to impress me the more I drove it. Soon enough the wife noticed that I wasn't driving the Kia so much, so she claimed full ownership of it, and I was left driving the a2 full time (happy days). By this point I was convinced that the a2 was the car for me. And the search started for a keeper a2 that would be worth ploughing my money into.
In July 2016 after about 3 months of searching, the perfect car for me was advertised on eBay.
Fsi sport dolphin grey, exactly the colour I wanted, fully loaded, OSS, black heated leather seats, full electric windows, and 39k miles. The auction reached a bid of £3300 but didn't sell as it was on reserve. I contacted the seller straight away to find out how much he wanted for the car, £4500 was his asking price, I would have paid that much in all honesty, as I haven't seen an example that good for sale in 3 months of searching, but after a bit of negotiating we settled on £3800. And the seller offered to drive the car from Edinburgh to London for petrol money, which gave me a lot of assurance about the condition of this car. A few days later I was the proud owner of this car.
now I'm not a vain person by any stretch of the imagination, but I just could not help looking at the reflection of this car when driving past a glass building, or give it an admiring backward glance as I'm walking away from It, I really loved this car!! It made feel uniquely special.
Driving this car was definitely a step up in terms of engine performance, it felt much faster much quieter and generally more capable than the se, however I still missed the lighter steering and more forgiving ride of the se on 16 wheels. The ride on the sport was intolerable, and the first upgrade I did on this car was a new set of tyres, Dunlop sport max soft compound tyres, they really made a marked difference to the ride comfort.
Next I contacted Tony of a2 cars Milton Keynes, may he rest in peace. after reading all the glowing reviews and positive feedback from members, he was the only garage I was going to trust with my car. I had many lengthy phone conversations with Tony about the possible upgrades, including a 6 speed gearbox. I booked my car with Tony for a complete suspension overhaul, as well as many other upgrades, the car was booked for march 2017. In the meantime I went on a frenzied spending spree for the car, it was round about Christmas time, so it just felt right !!
By the time had come to take my car to Tony, I had spent close to £5k on parts.
Koni fsd, new batch 2017 no corrosion issues.
Weitec springs.
Cast iron control arms.
H&r front and rear anti roll bar, As well as many other suspension items.
Brand new rnse mk2 193b version, took ages to source.
Over £1k of Hi fi items.
Brand new s line steering wheel.
There's more… but you get the idea, this was a no expense spared project.
Car was dropped off to Tony in march 2017, all of the mechanical work was completed prior to Tony's unfortunate health condition.
I wasn't really aware of the extent of the seriousness of Tony's condition, as whenever I spoke to him on the phone, he sounded very upbeat and positive. I assumed that everything was fine, and that eventually Tony would be fit enough to complete the work on my car.
As many of you are probably aware, Tony sadly passed away earlier this year.
A special mention to Petra (Tony's wife) who despite her tragic loss and the extremely difficult time she must have been going through, is still managed to arrange to have the car delivered to me, along with all the parts that weren't installed.
I've hardly driven the car since I received it in May. The car has been mainly parked outside my house for the last 3 months, and it really deserves more. Some personal stuff has taken precedence over the completion of this project, plus my heart is no longer in it.
Hopefully a new owner will carry on from where I left off, and give this car the care it deserves.
A copy of the final invoice, that might give some indication to the extensive amount of work that was done on this car.
I will posting the car on the sale section, with full details of all the work Performed as well as all the parts that will be included with the sale in the next couple of days.
Thank you all for bearing with me with my long winded story.
This is my first post on this wonderful forum, however I have been an avid follower and reader on this forum for the past 2 years, and I feel like I know some of the members personally.
I havent posted anything on here before, as I was waiting for my car to be completed, before writing about my journey to create my perfect a2, a project that I poured my heart and soul into, and a substantial chunk of money. unfortunately things haven't panned out as I'd hoped.
My story so far
I stumbled across this forum by complete fluke, 2 months before I purchased my first a2 in 2016. Up until this point I didnt know a thing about these cars, nor did I have any interest in ever owning one. However after seeing what some of the members managed to achieve with their cars,( Steve birchals ) car in particular was a huge inspiration, as well as many others, and with the wealth of information about all the possible upgrades, I become hooked on the site.
And what started off as a bit of morning reading with my coffee, Turned into essential bedtime reading, and every possible moment during the day. In the next few weeks I probably read hundreds of posts, from suspension to double din conversions, I found it so interesting, that I even started reading German and Dutch forums, mainly for suspension upgrades. by this point I was itching to own an a2, but it made no sense to purchase one as I already owned a car. So I decided to buy one for my sister who just passed her driving test. I found what looked like a good example on eBay (fsi se) put in a bid, and got it for £950. When I went to pick the car up, I was really impressed with the cosmetic and mechanical condition of the car, but what impressed me even more was the drive back from Coventry to London. I couldn't believe that a 15 year old car can feel this responsive and handle this well, less impressed when I arrived in London though, as the quality of the roads here are truly atrocious.
Anyway, my sister hated the car!! I guess she was too young to appreciate the finer things in life. So I decided to keep it as a second car for occasional driving. The car continued to impress me the more I drove it. Soon enough the wife noticed that I wasn't driving the Kia so much, so she claimed full ownership of it, and I was left driving the a2 full time (happy days). By this point I was convinced that the a2 was the car for me. And the search started for a keeper a2 that would be worth ploughing my money into.
In July 2016 after about 3 months of searching, the perfect car for me was advertised on eBay.
Fsi sport dolphin grey, exactly the colour I wanted, fully loaded, OSS, black heated leather seats, full electric windows, and 39k miles. The auction reached a bid of £3300 but didn't sell as it was on reserve. I contacted the seller straight away to find out how much he wanted for the car, £4500 was his asking price, I would have paid that much in all honesty, as I haven't seen an example that good for sale in 3 months of searching, but after a bit of negotiating we settled on £3800. And the seller offered to drive the car from Edinburgh to London for petrol money, which gave me a lot of assurance about the condition of this car. A few days later I was the proud owner of this car.
now I'm not a vain person by any stretch of the imagination, but I just could not help looking at the reflection of this car when driving past a glass building, or give it an admiring backward glance as I'm walking away from It, I really loved this car!! It made feel uniquely special.
Driving this car was definitely a step up in terms of engine performance, it felt much faster much quieter and generally more capable than the se, however I still missed the lighter steering and more forgiving ride of the se on 16 wheels. The ride on the sport was intolerable, and the first upgrade I did on this car was a new set of tyres, Dunlop sport max soft compound tyres, they really made a marked difference to the ride comfort.
Next I contacted Tony of a2 cars Milton Keynes, may he rest in peace. after reading all the glowing reviews and positive feedback from members, he was the only garage I was going to trust with my car. I had many lengthy phone conversations with Tony about the possible upgrades, including a 6 speed gearbox. I booked my car with Tony for a complete suspension overhaul, as well as many other upgrades, the car was booked for march 2017. In the meantime I went on a frenzied spending spree for the car, it was round about Christmas time, so it just felt right !!
By the time had come to take my car to Tony, I had spent close to £5k on parts.
Koni fsd, new batch 2017 no corrosion issues.
Weitec springs.
Cast iron control arms.
H&r front and rear anti roll bar, As well as many other suspension items.
Brand new rnse mk2 193b version, took ages to source.
Over £1k of Hi fi items.
Brand new s line steering wheel.
There's more… but you get the idea, this was a no expense spared project.
Car was dropped off to Tony in march 2017, all of the mechanical work was completed prior to Tony's unfortunate health condition.
I wasn't really aware of the extent of the seriousness of Tony's condition, as whenever I spoke to him on the phone, he sounded very upbeat and positive. I assumed that everything was fine, and that eventually Tony would be fit enough to complete the work on my car.
As many of you are probably aware, Tony sadly passed away earlier this year.
A special mention to Petra (Tony's wife) who despite her tragic loss and the extremely difficult time she must have been going through, is still managed to arrange to have the car delivered to me, along with all the parts that weren't installed.
I've hardly driven the car since I received it in May. The car has been mainly parked outside my house for the last 3 months, and it really deserves more. Some personal stuff has taken precedence over the completion of this project, plus my heart is no longer in it.
Hopefully a new owner will carry on from where I left off, and give this car the care it deserves.
A copy of the final invoice, that might give some indication to the extensive amount of work that was done on this car.
I will posting the car on the sale section, with full details of all the work Performed as well as all the parts that will be included with the sale in the next couple of days.
Thank you all for bearing with me with my long winded story.
and GLWS.
