New Member and New Car

Dash

Member
Hello Everybody,

My name is Don and I am a new member here, nice to meet you all and happy to be here! I am looking at a A2 1.4 SE to buy and wanted to ask what trouble spots I should be looking for before I buy it. It has about 90k miles and looks from photos to be in nice condition. It has service records as well. I am thinking of getting it inspected by the RAC before I buy it. Can you please give me any advice before I commit to the car? Thank you in advance!

Best-DON
 
Welcome aboard :)

The good news is that the 1.4 is generally considered one of the more reliable engines in the A2. There are plenty of members with knowledge and experience of the 1.4 on here, but to get the best advice relevant to the car you're interested in, could you share the registration plate or a link to the advert?
 
Welcome aboard :)

The good news is that the 1.4 is generally considered one of the more reliable engines in the A2. There are plenty of members with knowledge and experience of the 1.4 on here, but to get the best advice relevant to the car you're interested in, could you share the registration plate or a link to the advert?
Thank you! Here is a link to the advert. It is getting its MOT now and I plan to have it inspected by AA or the RAC before I commit to buying it. I don't like the wheels that are on it, but think I will wait to change them for alloys until the tires need replacing too.


Thanks!
 
If you need access to the market place here is how to do it.......

  • from the menu bar at the top of the screen, select your picture icon(on computer this will also have your name next to it)
  • from the drop down list provided select 'Account Upgrades'
  • You will then see the option to click the link to pay the £2 upgrade fee
Cheers

Dave.
 
Looks a nicely kept and well-prepared one :)

One thing I would have your RAC guy check very carefully is the condition of the lower control arms, it will probably still have the later model pressed steel ones that rust from the inside out :eek: and can fail catastrophically in mid-corner. The earlier cast type are bulletproof as long as you keep an eye on the balljoint dust covers, because on those ones the balljoint is integral and not separately replaceable (and that's one easy way to tell the difference). These do come up secondhand on the Marketplace here from time to time, and most of them come from 1.4's.

Also check that each door gives you an indication in the dash when it is open, and that the interior light comes on and the fuel flap release works when the driver's door is open. There is a manual release for the fuel flap in the boot but there is a risk of locking the keys inside the car if the doors auto-close because the car doesn't realise that one has been opened. The cause is usually a faulty soldered connection to one of the microswitches in the door lock, which is a strip-down and re-flow job for each door concerned. You'd want some money off for an autoelectrician to sort that.

Best of luck with the inspection and purchase ?
 
If you need access to the market place here is how to do it.......

  • from the menu bar at the top of the screen, select your picture icon(on computer this will also have your name next to it)
  • from the drop down list provided select 'Account Upgrades'
  • You will then see the option to click the link to pay the £2 upgrade fee
Cheers

Dave.
Thank you, I was wondering about that....
 
Looks a nicely kept and well-prepared one :)

One thing I would have your RAC guy check very carefully is the condition of the lower control arms, it will probably still have the later model pressed steel ones that rust from the inside out :eek: and can fail catastrophically in mid-corner. The earlier cast type are bulletproof as long as you keep an eye on the balljoint dust covers, because on those ones the balljoint is integral and not separately replaceable (and that's one easy way to tell the difference). These do come up secondhand on the Marketplace here from time to time, and most of them come from 1.4's.

Also check that each door gives you an indication in the dash when it is open, and that the interior light comes on and the fuel flap release works when the driver's door is open. There is a manual release for the fuel flap in the boot but there is a risk of locking the keys inside the car if the doors auto-close because the car doesn't realise that one has been opened. The cause is usually a faulty soldered connection to one of the microswitches in the door lock, which is a strip-down and re-flow job for each door concerned. You'd want some money off for an autoelectrician to sort that.

Best of luck with the inspection and purchase ?
Thanks for the tips, I will check that out.
 
There is a manual release for the fuel flap in the boot
Hi, Would you please tell me where the fuel flap is in the boot, I have been opening the flap from inside the boot by pushing the spring mechanism for a while. Thank you very much.
 
Remove the access panel for the right rear lights. Almost in line with the front edge of the opening you will see a vertical metal rod. This is the remote release, by pulling down gently on this rod the flap is unlocked. When you let go of the rod it returns to its normal position so you can click the flap closed after refuelling. All this information is in the owners hand book.
 
Hello and welcome!

A few pointers I have:

1) It's on Audi dealer plates: always nice to see as usually means it's not been accident damaged and generally cars with dealer plates are the nicer ones.
2) On the face of it, it looks very straight and unmolested on the outside.
3) The seats have a lot of staining: I'd want either the dealer to do a full wet-vacuum clean on them or give a discount as the car is top money (not unfair if it checks out, but at the top end price-wise). The good news is they will clean up like new.
4) The 'soft touch' coating around the light switch has started to wear away so expect the same around the climate control and the stereo. Not massive problem but if you like detail, it's tricky to resolve without replacing parts.
5) The 1.4MPi petrol engine is prone to 'piston slap' if not looked after. It should be sewing machine quiet: you want to hear it start from stone cold: there should be no tapping sounds. Looked after though and they are brilliant: can do big miles and the 1.4MPi is the sweetest handling of all A2's due to the very light engine and gearbox. So far, my favourite of the range.
6) The gear-change should be exceptionally sweet: these have a lovely gearbox so any stiffness in the change means the gear-shift mech at the gearbox end needs some maintenance.
7) As stated above, check the front lower wishbones. Regardless, if you take ownership, have them Waxoyled (or Dinitrol'ed) to prevent them rusting from the inside out in the future.
8) Make sure all the of climate control functions work: these can give mild problems although all four of my A2's over the last few months have worked fine.
9) You'll hear about E10 unleaded coming in next year: this is raising the ethanol content from 5% to 10%: don't worry, the 1.4 is O.K. on this, unlike the 1.6FSi's.
10) The car should be sitting on alloy wheels. Plus they're cheap aftermarket hup-caps. My betting is you might even find the wheels aren't A2 as not many in the U.K. had steels. They're as likely to be Polo / Ibiza and so on. Therefore check that the tyre sizes printed on the tyres match with one of those inside of the fuel filler. On the other hand, there is at least one Continental tyre there: people that fit matching sets of quality tyres rarely neglect their cars. Similarly, always be wary of cars running a disparate collection of individual budget tyres: people that do that are hardly likely to then specify the very best engine oils etc.
11) A2's wear their wiper arms out. As they wear they drop onto the screen and scratch it, starting at the bottom. @depronman here rebuilds the arms at not much money to a very high standard, but do check the screen as it's usually not possible to polish the marks out much.
12) Make sure everything is in the lower boot caddy: from memory you should have: jack, wheel-brace, locking wheel key, screwdriver, one spanner, hopefully a hub-cap puller (wire thing: a circle with a hook on the 'side' there to pull off the alloy wheel hupcaps. £5 to replace), a 12v compressor and a large white bottle of Audi tyre gunk.
13) You should have a false (double depth) floor in the back, a retractable load cover and ideally a set of carpet overmats.
14) It should have two remote keys (check these work), a plastic white key tag, and the main owner's wallet.

After that, you're doing all the regular used car checks, which is where your RAC man comes in. I could write several pages on that, but no-one needs to be wading through that on a Monday morning :)

Oh yes: check the glovebox works O.K.: it should have a light inside that comes on when you open it (but shouldn't be on all the time). Glovebox handles and light switch mechs sometimes give problems. And on the right hand side, bottom of dash area, make sure you have the fuse cover in place: they often break off. Again, @depronman does a fix for this if broken, but if it's not in place have a hunt around the car for the cover: they often are put in the glovebox or a door pocket.

Good luck! And don't worry if this one falls through or doesn't feel right. At that price you can afford to be very picky and cars are always cropping up on here at very fair prices.
 
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Remove the access panel for the right rear lights. Almost in line with the front edge of the opening you will see a vertical metal rod. This is the remote release, by pulling down gently on this rod the flap is unlocked. When you let go of the rod it returns to its normal position so you can click the flap closed after refuelling. All this information is in the owners hand book.
I think that's what Mari has been doing by the sound of it ?
 
I have some comments to add:

Somebody who has owned this car in the past clearly sees the benefit in putting a set of steel wheels with winter tyres on during the cold months - That bodes very well as someone who is conscientious and cares about their own safety and that of others - What's more, the one close-up reveals that the tyre of that wheel (and therefore one would hope, the other three) is a Continental - which are among the best you can buy. This suggests it has been through the hands of an owner who is not of the "on a shoestring" mentality when it comes to maintenance; and one who has two sets of wheels - I would definitely ask the dealer where the SE spec alloy wheels are (it's definitely a SE as you'll see below) - given that it's on inappropriate tyres for the current season!

HOWEVER - I note that the MOT record in 2012 includes a comment about it being on winter tyres - Given it passed every MOT from new to 2013 with no advisories first time - and then has failed almost every one thereafter - I would assume the said conscientious owner was the first, then the one change of ownership occurred around 2012 / 2013 - and it has been owned by someone who has neglected it since, judging from the running thread of fails and advisories. I am also appalled at the prospect that it may have been running those same winter tyres since then, I hope this has not been the case, but I see from the 2014 MOT submission that there is the same comment - plus the recent MOT advisory on tyre wear could mean that this is a real possibility - The date code on them would reveal all and never lies!!

I would not purchase this car personally - It's certainly not worth what the dealer is asking for it unless they have gone through it and corrected every possible defect inflicted on it by the previous owner - which I sincerely doubt seeing as they haven't even professionally prepared the car for sale (the state of those seats! If I was a dealer I'd be ashamed to have my business associated with standards that low).

@Dash - My strong advice would be to not waste your money on an inspection, instead put a wanted ad on here and buy from another forum member. You will end up with a far better car for the same or (most probably) less money. You will almost certainly buy from someone who has cared for the car and corrected any faults it had when they got it - or else will be honest about faults it has now. Don't buy a car from a dealer looking to make a profit like this (especially as you're looking for a 1.4 petrol, the most numerous of the A2 variants).

Here is the MOT history so you can see what I mean - This really does highlight the importance of spending a few minutes (at zero cost) doing this research:

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Hi, Would you please tell me where the fuel flap is in the boot, I have been opening the flap from inside the boot by pushing the spring mechanism for a while. Thank you very much.
@Mari, it sounds like you're doing more or less what I was thinking of. See @audifan's reply, copied in here:

Remove the access panel for the right rear lights. Almost in line with the front edge of the opening you will see a vertical metal rod. This is the remote release, by pulling down gently on this rod the flap is unlocked. When you let go of the rod it returns to its normal position so you can click the flap closed after refuelling. All this information is in the owners hand book.
 
Remove the access panel for the right rear lights. Almost in line with the front edge of the opening you will see a vertical metal rod. This is the remote release, by pulling down gently on this rod the flap is unlocked. When you let go of the rod it returns to its normal position so you can click the flap closed after refuelling. All this information is in the owners hand book.
Thank you very much for your answer.
 
I looked past the wheel trims and was swayed by the mileage to go and view that car about a month ago...it looks ok in the advert but was cosmetically a bit worn in the flesh, paintwork was scuffed in areas and the spoiler looked like it had been opened against a garage roof or wall several times, and as someone has already pointed out the interior isn’t in great condition. The guy wouldn’t open it for me to have a look inside as he said he was waiting for the MOT to be done and the battery changed...I walked away...
 
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