A2 newbie......so petrol or diesel?

[Marts500]

I am looking for a nice A2 but really don't know whether to start looking at petrol or diesel models.I never owned a diesel or Audi car before but i am under the impression from browsing this my favourite new website are very popular and more reliable therefore perhaps more economical to run than the petrol ones.

 

[Rob Earl]

I think the general concensus seems to be that the diesel is the better engine to go for. However, test drive both cars and see what you prefer.
We have a 1.4 petrol and find it perfectly adequate for our needs. A lot depends on how you are going to be using the car - mainly town, mixed or mainly motorway.

You will get more MPG out of the diesels for certain - 60mpg + is quite often seen by people on here. Now we've started doing more miles (approx 30 miles a day), the average mpg has gone up from about 36 to 45mpg

For info, there are 2 types of petrol - 1.4 and 1.6 FSI - and 2 types of diesel - 75 bhp and 90bhp.

 

[spike]

Hi Marts500, welcome to the A2oc.
The A2 was my first diesel. I drove the petrol and diesel cars back to back before deciding and once I got used to the agricultural engine noise at slow speeds I definitely preferred the drivability and more relaxed nature of the diesel. The £35 road tax is also nice but you probably pay more for the diesel in the first place so in the scale of things its not a big plus point.
I would agree with your observation that the diesel engine seems to suffer less problems. Ignition coils and emissions related warning light issues are often mentioned on petrol models.
As Rob Earl said, test drive both models, preferably more than one of each, before deciding.
If you have not already noticed, we have a section in the forum with copies of three model year brochures which give accessory info, specs and prices.

Cheers Spike

 

[lyndonbuck]

Just had a coil changed on my FSI - it would still drive but was a bit rough and stalled a couple of times. Nice Audi man came to me in the morning, diagnosed the coil in 5 minutes, then drove to Woking (quite a way from me) to get the part and came back and fitted it. Now I will wait and see how long the other 3 last. If you buy a car with an Audi warranty all this is free of course, and coils have a 5 year warranty from new. So I wouldn't let the coil/emissions light issue worry you unduly.