New owner

T

Timonya

Member
Hello happy fellow A2 owners!

Just purchased my first ever Audi A2 - 2001 silver 1.4SE TDI with 75,000 on the clock. Picked it up from Pontefract in Yorkshire and drove it home to Sussex, so a good first run for it. Feels like quite a firm ride compared to my Saab, and the couple of potholes I hit felt like I'd just driven into a 6 inch high kerb, so I'll be doing my best to avoid any of those in the future, not that I don't usually! My wife is unconvinced at present, probably more due to a lack of trust in me stemming from my previous used-car purchase record, which isn't great, than anything else. For me, it looks great, very stylish and pretty, and drives great, and, in stark contrast to my Saab, it's wonderfully fuel efficient, not to mention the 30 quid road tax, especially when my Saab's was due next month at 320 quid - yes, OUCH!! So I am very happy. One ? if anyone can help me. The car is a 2 eater at the back. I've done some inquiries about putting a 3 seater in there, and they are available at a reasonable price, so what I want to ask is if anyone has experience of changing a 4 seater into a 5, ie, is it just a question of unbolting one and replacing it with the other, or is it not quite as simple as that.

Cheerio!
 
Hi Timonya, and welcome!

You'll not find any argument from us; you've made an excellent choice! You've also already discovered the A2's major weakness, namely its over-firm suspension. Solutions are available if you're willing to invest some money in it.

The rear seating arrangement cannot be swapped between 4-seater and 5-seater A2s. So, if you buy a 4-seater A2, you cannot install a rear bench, and vice versa.
As a group, we've retro-fitted pretty much every available optional extra, from the simple to the horrendously complex. However, the rear seating arrangement is set in stone.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Last edited:
Hi and welcome to the A2oc and A2 ownership.

The A2 is known for its firm ride. There are more options to deal with this now.

You cant go from 2 seats to 3. The floor plan and fixing points are different. So it would be a major job to do. And would have serious safety implications in a accident.

Cheers

David
 
Thank you Timmus and riverlad for your quick and helpful responses. Shame about the seats, just have to live with it I suppose. The firm suspension is not a problem for us, even with my skinny posterior, and I'm not planning to do very much off-road driving anyway, though if they don't do something about the pothole situation in these parts pretty soon, that's what we'll all be doing day in day out!

Thanks once again for you help, it's greatly appreciated!

Tim
 
Hi Tim, Welcome. I'm new here myself, but this is a really friendly forum and sounds like you've picked up a nice little motor. If you want to feel a little better about the Saab, I had to fork out for the Q7 road tax last week @ £490..... :rolleyes: - The wife will warm to it, they're soooo addictive... :)

I had the same A2 4/5 seater conversion question and hit the same issue sadly...... I did it on an A8 once, but it was only a few rivnuts and a small piece of ally that needed fabricating. No welding, which seems to be sticking point on the A2 from what I hear.
 
Well, there are pros and cons to both arrangements -

The 4-seater version obviously has two seats in the back, but they can be removed individually, meaning the car's either a 2-seater, a 3-seater or a 4-seater. In 3-seater mode, you get a much larger, L-shaped boot. You can choose to keep the folded seat in the car or take it out completely, etc, etc.
The 5-seater version's bench is a single piece that seats 3 people. It can only be removed in its entirety, making the car either a 2-seater or a 5-seater, but nothing in between. So, whilst it has the benefit of being able to seat 5 people, that is its only advantage. The flexibility of the 4-seater version is lost. Also, the positioning of the seatbelt buckles on the bench means that it's less comfortable than the split rears, even when you've only got two people in the back.

I never need to put 3 people in the back of my car, so I'm much happier with the MPV-like flexibility offered by the 4-seat arrangement.

Cheers,

Tom
 
Thanks guys! What a friendly, helpful bunch you all seem to be - must be the Audi effect! I'm already feeling comfortably reassured that this time I've purchased wisely and so will the wife when she finds she doesn't have to stop at the petrol station every other day. My 8 year old son, who has named every car we've ever had, has named it ' the silver bullet from hell', more in reference to some computer game I think than to the car itself - I just hope that this name doesn't prove to be somehow prophetic!!

Love to you all!
Tim
 
timmus said:
Well, there are pros and cons to both arrangements -

The 4-seater version obviously has two seats in the back, but they can be removed individually, meaning the car's either a 2-seater, a 3-seater or a 4-seater. In 3-seater mode, you get a much larger, L-shaped boot. You can choose to keep the folded seat in the car or take it out completely, etc, etc.
The 5-seater version's bench is a single piece that seats 3 people. It can only be removed in its entirety, making the car either a 2-seater or a 5-seater, but nothing in between. So, whilst it has the benefit of being able to seat 5 people, that is its only advantage. The flexibility of the 4-seater version is lost. Also, the positioning of the seatbelt buckles on the bench means that it's less comfortable than the split rears, even when you've only got two people in the back.

I never need to put 3 people in the back of my car, so I'm much happier with the MPV-like flexibility offered by the 4-seat arrangement.

Cheers,

Tom
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the weight of the 3 seater is formidable when removing it.
The two single seats are not light either but at least you remove them one at a time!

Steve B
 
The rear bench weighs at least 40kg I think so removal is a bit of a struggle!
I've only had 3 rear passengers in the car on a very small number of occasions and it's not very comfortable for anyone involved, but it did get us out of a capacity issue - fortunately just for a short journey.
 
Birchall said:
Not to mention that the weight of the 3 seater is formidable when removing it.
The two single seats are not light either but at least you remove them one at a time!
Click to expand...

If my memory serves, the bench seat weight = both split seats + 3kg.

ULP said:
There's one other for the split seat - the split rear seats each have isofix points on them...
Click to expand...

Ah yes! You can tell from my list of pros/cons that sprogs don't feature in my thinking! :p
 
it_s8 said:
I had to fork out for the Q7 road tax last week @ £490..... :rolleyes: - The wife will warm to it, they're soooo addictive... :)
Click to expand...

She might not
My wife also has a Q7 and point blank refuses to even get in "the stupid little car"
N'mind. My daughter calls the A2 the 'shrink car' and loves it.

J
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top