Saile
Member
I’m Elías, from Barcelona (I guess it’s Elijah in English) and I formally joined this club a few month ago although I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself until now that I’m on holidays!?
I’ve always had a sense of passion towards Audi cars and I’ve been lucky to own a few ones since I was young. When I noticed the Audi A2 back in the early 2000s I was totally convinced I needed to purchase one of those as a city car for my wife and for me. However, I decided to invest the money on an Audi Allroad 2.5 (which I still own it today and I still love and keep it in perfect mint condition) but due to its high price at that time, there was barely no money left for our desired Audi A2 and had to buy a Seat Ibiza instead –a fraction of an Audi A2 price then, but a lot less car in all senses-. Well, as I was also member since many years ago of the AudiSportIberica forum website (Spanish generic website devoted to all Audi cars) following all related threads on the Audi Allroad I own, I must admit I was always keeping an eye on the Audi A2 specific forum too… which basically proved that I already had ‘the bug’ in my blood by then!
Well, the thing is I was learning to love the Audi A2 even without still owning it! One day looking for specific topics related to the A2 I came across to this fantastic club website and found out an incredible amount of upper class detailed information, a greater number of enthusiasts actively participating on it, and above all, a sense of proud and privileged owners of this wonder car. I guess this was the final inspiration push I needed to start considering buying a second hand one ever since… and I started the hunt! Actually, It took me around three years to find the one I was really looking for, considering all the tips and advises extremely well documented in your forum.
The chosen one was purchased one year ago, it’s an Audi A2 1.4 2002 SE petrol, 1290 cc in line 4 cyl 16 v (75 PS, 74 bhp) Akoya Silver (metallic) color with 102,526 miles on the clock, OSS (which still works but proving its age and known problem symptoms), 4 seats, fog lights, electric window at the rear, and Audi Concert II (showing the volume knonw problem) but in general although it was from being a tidy unit at first sight, it had all the key elements to check in quite decent condition , with a full service history (except no evidence of a cambelt change at all) … so during the first year, I started what I called ‘the project’ (as I want my wife and I to be able to drive it in a perfect condition)
THE PROJECT
Fist of all, I started with the basic maintenance procedures which included:
Cambelt and water pump changed (first thing)
Dog tower replaced (I could feel a weird sound/engine gearshift reaction that showed the problem)
All filters and fluids service (including brake fluid, engine oil, steering column fluid, coolant fluid, etc.)
New front brakes and rear pads
New clutch
New temp sensor
New transmission gearshift fluid change
New interior led lights replacement
New catalyst
New wheels (Pirelli P1 Cinturato 185/55/15 82V)
New plugs (believe it or not, after 18 years, they were never replaced as they were showing the original Audi branded logo on them!!!)
New flywheel (tried to clean the old one, but proved useless as there were more electric/mechanic problems on the original one)
COSMETICS
Actually, apart from a good in depth valet (including ozone final treatment) the most significant operations were.
Outside in depth cleaning and waxing treatment
Fixed the liner roof (I bought it totally saggy from the rear side)
Fixed the mirror switch button/wheel broken that I successfully managed to replace following the guide published in this fantastic forum.
Fixing the worn buttons/symbols on the headline switch
FUTURE PLANS
Full scratches repair and possibly repainting wings, rear and front bumpers.
Shock absorbers and springs full replacement (including bearings, silentblocks etc.) I will try to fix this before the end of the year.
And finally will try to get the car’s OSS fully repaired with new metallic spare parts option (although I have not found any garage in Spain proving to be able to deal with it)…maybe I will have to drive to UK in a future (not a big deal for me as I’ve got relatives in London and could easily organize a trip as a ‘holidays option/project’ excuse…).
JUST DREAM PLANS
In general, I try to keep my cars with their original OEM parts, but there are a few things that I would certainly like to consider in a future:
In my dream wish list, would mainly love replacing the odometer to one of those configured by Timmus (I am a great follower of his professional skills and knowledge and would love to get my A2 ‘treated’ by him some day in a future) showing the color DIS with full engine real time info…but this is just a dream now! Additionally, a Bose retrofit for the rear doors would be something desirable too.
Once again, would just like to thank all members of this club that have provided tones of interesting and useful information to others for so many years (Timmus, Birchall, A2 Steve, and many others). You have certainly been a source of inspiration to others just like me -who are not really skilled on mechanics but just love to keep our cars under the best possibly conditions for a long time. We owe it all without any doubt to this club and all its enthusiastic members!
Finally, I would like to apologize for any written mistake I may have done in my introduction. I show you now some pictures of my A2. Hope you like them! Best regards from Barcelona!
I’ve always had a sense of passion towards Audi cars and I’ve been lucky to own a few ones since I was young. When I noticed the Audi A2 back in the early 2000s I was totally convinced I needed to purchase one of those as a city car for my wife and for me. However, I decided to invest the money on an Audi Allroad 2.5 (which I still own it today and I still love and keep it in perfect mint condition) but due to its high price at that time, there was barely no money left for our desired Audi A2 and had to buy a Seat Ibiza instead –a fraction of an Audi A2 price then, but a lot less car in all senses-. Well, as I was also member since many years ago of the AudiSportIberica forum website (Spanish generic website devoted to all Audi cars) following all related threads on the Audi Allroad I own, I must admit I was always keeping an eye on the Audi A2 specific forum too… which basically proved that I already had ‘the bug’ in my blood by then!
Well, the thing is I was learning to love the Audi A2 even without still owning it! One day looking for specific topics related to the A2 I came across to this fantastic club website and found out an incredible amount of upper class detailed information, a greater number of enthusiasts actively participating on it, and above all, a sense of proud and privileged owners of this wonder car. I guess this was the final inspiration push I needed to start considering buying a second hand one ever since… and I started the hunt! Actually, It took me around three years to find the one I was really looking for, considering all the tips and advises extremely well documented in your forum.
The chosen one was purchased one year ago, it’s an Audi A2 1.4 2002 SE petrol, 1290 cc in line 4 cyl 16 v (75 PS, 74 bhp) Akoya Silver (metallic) color with 102,526 miles on the clock, OSS (which still works but proving its age and known problem symptoms), 4 seats, fog lights, electric window at the rear, and Audi Concert II (showing the volume knonw problem) but in general although it was from being a tidy unit at first sight, it had all the key elements to check in quite decent condition , with a full service history (except no evidence of a cambelt change at all) … so during the first year, I started what I called ‘the project’ (as I want my wife and I to be able to drive it in a perfect condition)
THE PROJECT
Fist of all, I started with the basic maintenance procedures which included:
Cambelt and water pump changed (first thing)
Dog tower replaced (I could feel a weird sound/engine gearshift reaction that showed the problem)
All filters and fluids service (including brake fluid, engine oil, steering column fluid, coolant fluid, etc.)
New front brakes and rear pads
New clutch
New temp sensor
New transmission gearshift fluid change
New interior led lights replacement
New catalyst
New wheels (Pirelli P1 Cinturato 185/55/15 82V)
New plugs (believe it or not, after 18 years, they were never replaced as they were showing the original Audi branded logo on them!!!)
New flywheel (tried to clean the old one, but proved useless as there were more electric/mechanic problems on the original one)
COSMETICS
Actually, apart from a good in depth valet (including ozone final treatment) the most significant operations were.
Outside in depth cleaning and waxing treatment
Fixed the liner roof (I bought it totally saggy from the rear side)
Fixed the mirror switch button/wheel broken that I successfully managed to replace following the guide published in this fantastic forum.
Fixing the worn buttons/symbols on the headline switch
FUTURE PLANS
Full scratches repair and possibly repainting wings, rear and front bumpers.
Shock absorbers and springs full replacement (including bearings, silentblocks etc.) I will try to fix this before the end of the year.
And finally will try to get the car’s OSS fully repaired with new metallic spare parts option (although I have not found any garage in Spain proving to be able to deal with it)…maybe I will have to drive to UK in a future (not a big deal for me as I’ve got relatives in London and could easily organize a trip as a ‘holidays option/project’ excuse…).
JUST DREAM PLANS
In general, I try to keep my cars with their original OEM parts, but there are a few things that I would certainly like to consider in a future:
In my dream wish list, would mainly love replacing the odometer to one of those configured by Timmus (I am a great follower of his professional skills and knowledge and would love to get my A2 ‘treated’ by him some day in a future) showing the color DIS with full engine real time info…but this is just a dream now! Additionally, a Bose retrofit for the rear doors would be something desirable too.
Once again, would just like to thank all members of this club that have provided tones of interesting and useful information to others for so many years (Timmus, Birchall, A2 Steve, and many others). You have certainly been a source of inspiration to others just like me -who are not really skilled on mechanics but just love to keep our cars under the best possibly conditions for a long time. We owe it all without any doubt to this club and all its enthusiastic members!
Finally, I would like to apologize for any written mistake I may have done in my introduction. I show you now some pictures of my A2. Hope you like them! Best regards from Barcelona!
