Do up or trade in?

Do you do up or trade in or just run them into the ground?

  • Do up

    Votes: 27 90.0%
  • Trade in

    Votes: 1 3.3%
  • Just buy another

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Run it till it dies and keep your money in the bank

    Votes: 2 6.7%

  • Total voters
    30

Robthebank

Member
When I bought my £750 run around with a list of small issues and a notchy 3rd gear.
My plan was to run it for a couple of months rake in the company mileage rate and then trade up. That slowly changed to, well let’s give it a good service first, to well let’s fix some of these issues so it’s reliable, and then to well let’s up-grade the wheels, tyres and give it a re-map so it’s really nice to drive all those business miles. Now it’s 5mths later and I have spent about £1200 on the car. Next will be the MOT in February which I have already planned a full brake refresh for. After that there is only 3 jobs left that will then leave the car issue free, but they are all relatively expensive.
DIS needs a refresh, gearbox needs 3rd sorting and needs a bit of paint/bodywork on the rear quarter. So I’m back to the original dilemma of “Do up” or “trade in”, or at least just run it till something breaks. How did your A2 purchase pan out and what did you do?
 
My original plan was fix and keep though I've bought four more since! New plan is similar though I don't have space or time to maintain the four that are still here. Regardless, any A2 living here will be treated to preventative maintenance measures as I'd much rather spend some of the money maintaining a vehicle that would otherwise be lost to the depreciation of a younger one.
 
When I bought my £750 run around with a list of small issues and a notchy 3rd gear.
My plan was to run it for a couple of months rake in the company mileage rate and then trade up. That slowly changed to, well let’s give it a good service first, to well let’s fix some of these issues so it’s reliable, and then to well let’s up-grade the wheels, tyres and give it a re-map so it’s really nice to drive all those business miles. Now it’s 5mths later and I have spent about £1200 on the car. Next will be the MOT in February which I have already planned a full brake refresh for. After that there is only 3 jobs left that will then leave the car issue free, but they are all relatively expensive.
DIS needs a refresh, gearbox needs 3rd sorting and needs a bit of paint/bodywork on the rear quarter. So I’m back to the original dilemma of “Do up” or “trade in”, or at least just run it till something breaks. How did your A2 purchase pan out and what did you do?
I remember researching the A2 as I was looking for a low cost diesel A to B car at the time.
I then discovered this forum and kinda got swept along a bit.
I spent along time searching then finally found a high spec runner in need of attention (understatement)!
I was in love with the 2006 Honda civic s gt diesel which was my first choice but after researching it decided the A2 was more affordable or so I thought.
I have spent over £1500 on the car so far to get it up to speed (a lot more to do) and have wanted to sell it on more than one occasion but as some one said on the forum, buy an older car and your gona be spending a lot to keep it on the road what ever make it is.
Trouble is this car is a bit addictive, its cute looking, unique in a way and there arnt that many around which for me is a plus point.
I`ve decided to hang on to mine and not upgrade its a keeper for now. I also have a VFR and a VW T4 they are keepers too.
I`m a big fan of repair and re use when I see my cute little car It always brings a smile to my face and a groan to my wallet! but I do love it.
 
My first one was only intended to be a cheap runabout, a lugger of loads that my Volvo convertible wouldn't handle, and a spare car for anyone in the family that needed one. Then I found this site :D and the car got under my skin. I've probably spent twice the £1250 I paid for it in garage work (I'm not really a tinkerer any more) to keep it sound and everything working, plus I've refreshed some panels and the interior, and it's had considerable spec upgrades from a breaker I acquired. In the longer term there's probably another four figure sum to be spent, it's starting to need a clutch and eventually the suspension will need a refresh, but it puts a smile on my face to drive and I love it - so much so that I bought a second and a third one!
 
I wanted a car that was reliable and under £5000 to soak up my 15,000 miles a year. I looked and could either get a relatively new(ish) car or a solid and good Audi A2 with all the features of a good and higher cost car but a few years older. The expected build quality really sold me on the A2 versus a corsa or similar.

I’ve spent over £2000 in the last year on repairs to MOT standard and have spent a lot on leather seats and heated seats and so on.

I look at my car and think ‘what could a modern car offer that mine cannot?’ And the answer really is nothing! Newer doesn’t equal more reliable. I may have done almost 240,000 miles but the cars I usually see broken down on the roadside are rarely older than 5 or 10 years.

The cost effectiveness of my A2 versus an NHS lease car is staggering - I was offered a BMW electric with range extender and it would only cost around £170 a month. That’s more than twice my A2 normally costs me!

I say keep it and any little feature you want added add it and it’ll still be a cost effective and environmentally conscious decision. What could replace an A2?


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Mine is on 294,000 miles now and has a 3rd gear weakness and a broken sky, but I have replacement working open sky and double declutch for the 3rd gear issue. To find something as reliable would cost many times what fixing the gearbox and replacing the roof would. The car does everything I need it to, no dpf to worry about and I use the train to London so the ulez coming in is not a problem.


I do own an a5 3.0 tdi quattro but I still prefer the a2

So fix it is my answer :)
 
Definitely fix it, I bought my first A2 1.6fsi as as winter hack so didn't have to risk my nearly new Ibiza being hit in the bad weather. Like others have said they get under your skin, just over 3 years on I have 4 A2's, although one will be for sale soon. Like also been said what car do you replace the A2 with, nothing gives the warm feeling like the A2 does.
Good luck with your decision.
 
I would replace the gearbox with either an EBX or JDD
I picked up a JDD with 55K miles for £100, add on the clutch that is not needed but will be replaced when I get around to fitting the JDD box and I'm still only in at £250 (will be doing the gearbox swap myself so no labour bill)

DIS is not particularly important more of a cosmetic thing, keep your eyes open for a TDI in the scrap yard and buy the cluster, there is a place down south that Steve B used that replaced the display for about £120 and did it within a couple of hours by arrangement

Paintwork - is it on the bumper / rear wheel arches If so these are bolt on bolt off parts, so keep your eyes open on the market place for good replacements, but after all is said and done these are cosmetics

in summary fix it / live with its short comings until a second hand replacement part comes along

Paul
 
I sold mine 3 years ago (was seduced by a twintop with heated leather etc) and miss it.
Mine had the iffy gearbox, replcaced with a jdd, and a new injector loom and apart from brakes etc little else.
I would repair it and keep it. i will most likely be getting another myself in the new year, probably a TDI project vehicle
 
Had to laugh whilst reading the OP, as I was in a similar position when I bought mine nearly three years ago... I bought it as a cheap (hopefully) reliable runaround whilst the insurance company sorted out the mess of my A5 that had been rammed from behind. Having leant me a Porsche Boxster S which, whilst great fun, was costing me over £250 in fuel a week to run, I needed it to be economical. A very quick decision made on an A2 in Bournemouth. I made back the purchase cost in fuel savings in about 5 weeks, and decided I enjoyed the car so much I would do some of the work needed on it … the rest, as they say, is history.

Since March 2017 I have had approximately 35-40 of the things (I lost count after the first year) and they keep coming and going.

Like I said when you came to see me @Robthebank … You'll get another one soon #A2BA.
 
I would replace the gearbox with either an EBX or JDD
I picked up a JDD with 55K miles for £100, add on the clutch that is not needed but will be replaced when I get around to fitting the JDD box and I'm still only in at £250 (will be doing the gearbox swap myself so no labour bill)

DIS is not particularly important more of a cosmetic thing, keep your eyes open for a TDI in the scrap yard and buy the cluster, there is a place down south that Steve B used that replaced the display for about £120 and did it within a couple of hours by arrangement

Paintwork - is it on the bumper / rear wheel arches If so these are bolt on bolt off parts, so keep your eyes open on the market place for good replacements, but after all is said and done these are cosmetics

in summary fix it / live with its short comings until a second hand replacement part comes along

Paul

What is entailed In fitting the JDD box?

Steve
 
Not a lot as I understand it
Minor mod to the bracket on the gearbox that holds the gear change cables it’s a bolt on part do easy mod and it’s steel do weldable if needed
Change the tower counterweight for the A2 one
And that’s about it
I would only go the jdd route if you have a well remapped engine as the gearing is long especially in 5th
I am expecting 5th to only be available at 50mph plus
But 4th is very near to the A2 original 5th so it’s more a case of retraining your brain about what gear you should be in

I run the std A2 box with a long 5th gear which is great for motorway work but there is a gap between 4th and 5th that you need to manage
The jdd is higher gearing still than my long 5th gear

Cheers. Paul


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Yes
Also known as the blue motion gearbox
Ex polo bluemotion


Much much cheaper than a 6speed Box


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polo bluemotion, fabia greenline etc. it will only need 1 lug at the bottom cutting off, it does not need a bracket for the gearchange cables.
the pendulum mount will have 3 bolts on the bracket, the JDD only has 2 fixing points, so 2 bolts only required.
you will also need some washers to use as spacers for the pendulum mount.
its not as difficult as peeps make out, especially if you remove the LHS drive shaft hub to re-fit.
 
Ha yes I always remove the drivers side drive shaft flange as it’s much easier to get the box out and into the engine bay
I made a plug to replace the flange so the oil does not leak out
I was told the cable bracket needed modifying is this not the case ? Is the lug to be removed on the outside of the box ? Do you have a photo ?
Cheers. Paul


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The story of a little AMF’s journey...


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yes, lug on the outside of the box, and i definitley did not renew or need to alter cable bracket to fit, i did change the counterweight over as well
 
Thanks guys some great comments and ideas!
Just to clarify “trade in” = buy a better A2 compared to spending the money on this one.
Congratulations to all who said “do up” your A2OC membership is secured for another year ! (Just kidding).
Blue Motion was on my wish list when I was doing all the trips to Newcastle but in reality there are no motorways in Cornwall and sooner or later this will become the kids or my wife’s car, as work will insist on a company lease vehicle at some point. So after digesting you’re comments my rough plan A is:
Fix what I like or need.
So get the DIS done the brake re-fresh the car through its MOT and the petrol button finally sorted.
The gearbox can wait unless the clutch goes or the gears start miss behaving, and then I think it would be like for like.
The paint doesn’t bother me at all, so I may lookout for a wheel arch (once I can track down my paint code) or I may just leave that so I don’t cry when the wife or kids scrape it ( lots of single lanes here).
The good news is my wife is on board with keeping the A2 when a company car arrives, so that should secure its position for many years to come.
 
If you box is ok you could look at the long 5th gear. Being a remapped car the engine will pull this fine
Yes there is a gap between 4th & 5th to manage by you soon get used to it and for faster A & B roads and motorways it’s a great mod and sooooo much quieter in the cabin
This can be done without removal of the gearbox.
Takes me about 2 to 3 hours to fit the gear set
Happy to do it for you if you want to go this route
Paul


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