Our A2

Gonzo

A2OC Donor
Well, as we've got a new forum, might as well use it!

Here's our Azure Blue 13 year old 2002 Tdi SE. My wife bought it as an impulse purchase to replace her previous company car while I was away on business in January 2006 from a couple who lived 400 yards way from the local Audi dealer. The original new invoice price was about £18.5k and it has:

Lumbar support (very important!)
OSS (now broken sky but still nice to have the glass roof)
Cruise (very handy)
Symphony (with cassette player!)
False boot floor
Auto dimming mirror
Heated door mirrors (added by moi)
Climate (probably standard then)

It had 24k on the clock then, 9 years later it now has 65k. It's used pretty much daily and is serviced at least once per year whatever the mileage. We'll be keeping it for the foreseeable as even my wife is somewhat attached to it and she doesn't "do" cars and isn't really a fan of me "doing cars". As it gets older the decision to spend money on it becomes more of the heart than of the head and she's mellowing slightly when it comes to the A2 - I think she'll support getting the suspension done by A2 Cars at some point this year which I'm sure will transform it.

Apart from the pepperpots (comfort is the priority) and the heated mirrors, there are no mods at all. We just love it for its individuality and quality. I'm no detailer and get bored after about 7 minutes into cleaning a car so the shiny paintwork you see here is a testament to how well it was painted when it left the factory.

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And as this is the "Member's Cars" forum as opposed to the "Member's A2s" forum, here's the other main member of the fleet.

Our A6 2.0 Tdi SE Auto acquired new in 2007, firstly as my company car which I then bought at the end of the 4 year lease as we loved it so much. It's got 122k on the clock and I can honestly say that this car has been everything that we've needed. We're big travellers with our nearest relative being 150 miles away and many of our holidays (both skiing and summer) being in Europe. This car has been to 11 countries outside of the UK and always delivers us comfortably. It's only a 140 bhp 2.0 engine but it will cruise at 100mph in silence if required whilst doing 35-40 mpg day in day out.

I specified it new with quite a few options. I could have gone for the S-Line version but the suspension would have been stupidly hard for a luxury barge. From memory: Xenons + DRLs, 18" S-line alloys, Sports suspension (the in-between option), leather, folding rear seats (brilliant!), DVD Nav, AMI, electric lumbar, Auto gearbox, probably one or two other things I've forgotten about.

Surprising things: full size alloy spare and a heating system that works after you switch the engine off - ideal when you're waiting for kids at sports/activities in the winter and don't want your engine running. Apparently it harnesses the residual heat in the cooling system as opposed to just running the fans. It last for up to an hour. Brilliant! Also on winter tyres on snowy alpine roads - unbelievable! A FWD 2-tonne auto has no right to go where it went this year!

It's only broken down/failed to start once but it's had its fair share of repair work and is cherished (mechanically) as much as the A2. Oil pump, turbo, intercooler, starter motor, DMF........If it doesn't get to 200k I'll be very surprised! The engine sounds like it did the day it was delivered to me (OK, ok, it's an old lumpy PD engine so that was never the smoothest thing in the world at ticker but it soon irons out!) And financially, I'm still many thousands of pounds to the good compared to if I'd chopped it in at 3 or 4 years and got another massively depreciating £30k car.

Haven't really got many photos but this was it last week. Buffs up well for a much used and abused family barge.

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And the other recent addition to the fleet is an 11 YO Honda Jazz for the teenagers to use. No photos yet but we bought it new in 2004, passed it onto my um in 2005 and have just bought her another Jazz - auto this time - so this one has come home. Not as emotionally appealing as either of the other two but it's a Honda - so it will run and run and run. Far fewer problems than either the A2 or A6 in it's 11 years (to be expected with a Jap car) but this is a cheapie that serves a purpose rather than one that we'll become attached to. And it really is very clever - it makes the A2's interior space management look half-hearted with it's false floor and "magic" rear seats. It is officially the family van.

So the tenure of our cars....8, 9 and 11 years (the latter "in the family" so to speak). Buy quality, buy once! :D

And that's it for now. Never really written up on my cars. Look forward to hearing about others (although I feel like I know some of them quite well though the rest of the forum!). :cool:

(And sorry - the picture links aren't great. Google have recently change something about Picasa!:mad:)
 
You A2 looks like a very clean straight car. I agree with the statement 'buy quality, buy once'. Our little 11 yr old A2 feels far better quality than any of the more modern equivalent cars i've driven recently.
 
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