A2Steve
A2OC Donor
I came across the A2 back in early 2013 when I needed a second car to use just for commuting back and fore to work. With a budget of less than £2000 and a desire to have good reliability and mpg I stumbled across an A2 on Gumtree advertised less than 30 miles away. I hadn’t even considered an A2 as in my mind at that time they were going to be way out of my price range. I was pleasantly surprised that the values (of the petrol models at least) had dropped significantly since the last time I looked.
I wasted no time in buying the car advertised, it was a 2001 1.4 SE (110k) complete with a private plate.
Fast forward a year and we had taken the big step of buying our ‘forever house’ so were looking to change our family car for something a bit more economical. The Golf Plus was sold and armed with a more substantial budget came across this 2004 1.4 TDI SE with FASH and only 95k miles.
I travelled the 350 mile round trip up to Sheffield with a mate to go and collect it and was instantly impressed with the TDI in comparison with the petrol. This is the only A2 we still own and the one that will be staying with us for the rest of its life.
What then pursued was a period of purchases all with the aim of finding a second car to replace the black petrol that was as good as the 2004 TDI:
2001 TDI (150k)
A nice little car, needing a bit of work but nothing major. Owned for a few weeks before I was involved in a rear end collision and it got written off as a Cat C by the insurers for what was very minor damage. Luckily the forum came to the rescue and Tony bought the car as a courtesy car for A2 Cars (I’m sure some of you may have already driven it).
2001 TDI SE OSS, sports seats and BOSE (175k)
Again a nice little car that I run for a few months but the call of another tempted me into selling. This one has now gone to live in Northern Ireland and was my quickest sale ever, selling within 45 minutes of being advertised….note to self I really should ask more for cars.
2003 TDI SE Black Sports Leather, BOSE (110k)
Purchased from Mr Birchall a nice little car very fairly priced (as Steve’s items always are). Driven for a few months again but with an 18 month old and an ever growing plethora of crap that we needed to cart around with us as a result, the days of us being a two A2 household were numbered so it got sold and a….(I can barely bring myself to say it being an absolute VAG follower) Megane Scenic replaced it.
So as you can see I’ve been bitten by the A2 bug quite firmly and despite a lot of chopping and changing the end result is we have an A2 that will be staying with us for life.
A rare pic where they were all outside the house at once. I think the neighbours thought I was nuts.
Spec as per signature.
Having now driven 4 A2 TDI’s the best bit of advice I can pass on to anyone looking to buy a TDI is:
1. Get it re-mapped, it really does transform these little cars and you won’t regret it.
2. Buy your TDI based on condition and not mileage. The mileages of the A2’s I’ve had have had no correlation to the way they drive or their reliability. I’d sooner have a well looked after TDI with 200k miles than one that hasn’t been looked after with half that mileage.
I’ll get some more pics up when the weather breaks as its currently on winter steels and not looking the prettiest. I’ve got the Audi S3 Avus wheels from the black TDI I bought from Steve to go on and will give it a good machine polish.
Anyway that’s it for now. I’ll be at ADI this year so now you know which car is mine, pop over for a chat.
Steve
I wasted no time in buying the car advertised, it was a 2001 1.4 SE (110k) complete with a private plate.
Fast forward a year and we had taken the big step of buying our ‘forever house’ so were looking to change our family car for something a bit more economical. The Golf Plus was sold and armed with a more substantial budget came across this 2004 1.4 TDI SE with FASH and only 95k miles.
I travelled the 350 mile round trip up to Sheffield with a mate to go and collect it and was instantly impressed with the TDI in comparison with the petrol. This is the only A2 we still own and the one that will be staying with us for the rest of its life.
What then pursued was a period of purchases all with the aim of finding a second car to replace the black petrol that was as good as the 2004 TDI:
2001 TDI (150k)
A nice little car, needing a bit of work but nothing major. Owned for a few weeks before I was involved in a rear end collision and it got written off as a Cat C by the insurers for what was very minor damage. Luckily the forum came to the rescue and Tony bought the car as a courtesy car for A2 Cars (I’m sure some of you may have already driven it).
2001 TDI SE OSS, sports seats and BOSE (175k)
Again a nice little car that I run for a few months but the call of another tempted me into selling. This one has now gone to live in Northern Ireland and was my quickest sale ever, selling within 45 minutes of being advertised….note to self I really should ask more for cars.
2003 TDI SE Black Sports Leather, BOSE (110k)
Purchased from Mr Birchall a nice little car very fairly priced (as Steve’s items always are). Driven for a few months again but with an 18 month old and an ever growing plethora of crap that we needed to cart around with us as a result, the days of us being a two A2 household were numbered so it got sold and a….(I can barely bring myself to say it being an absolute VAG follower) Megane Scenic replaced it.
So as you can see I’ve been bitten by the A2 bug quite firmly and despite a lot of chopping and changing the end result is we have an A2 that will be staying with us for life.
A rare pic where they were all outside the house at once. I think the neighbours thought I was nuts.
Spec as per signature.
Having now driven 4 A2 TDI’s the best bit of advice I can pass on to anyone looking to buy a TDI is:
1. Get it re-mapped, it really does transform these little cars and you won’t regret it.
2. Buy your TDI based on condition and not mileage. The mileages of the A2’s I’ve had have had no correlation to the way they drive or their reliability. I’d sooner have a well looked after TDI with 200k miles than one that hasn’t been looked after with half that mileage.
I’ll get some more pics up when the weather breaks as its currently on winter steels and not looking the prettiest. I’ve got the Audi S3 Avus wheels from the black TDI I bought from Steve to go on and will give it a good machine polish.
Anyway that’s it for now. I’ll be at ADI this year so now you know which car is mine, pop over for a chat.
Steve
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