Audi A2 Handling

[Shoestring7]

Hello all,
Long standing lurker here. I joined a while ago, but have been pretty quiet although I do pop in from time to time. I've like Audi's little city car since I first saw them at Le Mans in 1999 where they were being used to ferry Audi's VIP guests around. Since then I've owned three A2s, an early tdi (from new), and a couple of FSi, one Sport, one SE.

Recently, I had a pax trip in a tdi SE. It was on 16" wheels, and the front suspension had had a recent refresh (springs and dampers).

While the ride was nice and compliant over the bumps, I did notice that if it hit a transverse dip running across the road, the car 'nodded' in response. A sort of front to rear pitching that wasn't very pleasant, and didn't really inspire confidence. At speed on a motorway it would have been very disconcerting.

I can't really remember this being particularly noticeable in the cars I owned, in fact the only vehicle I can recall displaying something similar was a big Range Rover Discovery 3. so and don't think it is related to the A2's size.

There are plenty of ride threads, but I can't see this characteristic mentioned. Was it just this car, and can it be modified out without ending up with a concrete ride?

Cheers,

 

[Proghound]

There's similar in a couple of places on my regular commute. Not really sharp like an open trench, but as if there had previously been a trench several feet wide where the infill is now compacted in the middle. All three of my A2's nod to a greater or lesser extent over them, one even with very recently refreshed suspension. I guess it's because they're (relatively) both light and stiffly sprung, and the dips are long by comparison to the reaction distance of the suspension at that speed. My Volvo C70 on the other hand weighs half again as much and is definitely softly sprung. I still feel the front go into the dip but it soaks up a lot more of the rise on the other side on its way back to level.

 

[carlston]

Recently, I had a pax trip in a tdi SE. It was on 16" wheels...

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Fed up with ride comfort, any suggestions?

Hi everyone Last month I changed all shocks (front Bilstein b4, rear Monroes), top mounts, drop links, and arb bushes (springs looked fine). However, I am getting more and more fed up with the ride comfort. Minor bumps an dips feel like hitting boulders, whereas in other cars driving down the...

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