Thoughts after 4 weeks...

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Neil P

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We bought a new A2 in mid August after waiting 8 or so weeks for it to made - it's just about done 900 miles since then, and is now loosening up, it was a little tricky at low revs for a while which made pulling away interesting.

We had a problem in the first week, with the 'service grill' not opening when you pulled the release - we happened to be at our parents in the middle of rural Yorkshire when I tried to check the oil. I phoned the Audi support number, and they sent an ADT (Audi Dedicated Technician) to sort it out. He was with us within the hour, but couldn't fix it properly, but he fixed it so we could open it if we needed to, but we had to book it in to the main dealer for the repair. It's all fixed now, and we had a 1.6FSI as the courtesy car while it was in the garage - the 1.6 had good/v.good performance, but was incredibly rough and noisy as soon as you pressed the accelerator.

Other than that, everything has been really good - we're currently averaging around 45mpg per tank (or so the DIS says), which is about what we expected. Really like the build quality of the interior, and the little touches like the window buttons and the multi function steering wheel buttons that light up with the rest of the dash when you have the lights on (shallow I know). The DIS is great, we were forced into it (couldn’t have the steering wheel without the DIS), but I’m glad we were – it’s pretty useful, and well worth the money.

I'm a little disappointed with the quality of AM radio in the car, it's patchy at best - worse than any car I've owned in the past, but the in dash CD changer is much better than the under seat stuff I've had previously.

The spec is

1.4 SE (petrol)
Brilliant Blue
Yellow Seats (Cloth)
Climate
Open Sky
Symphony
DIS
Multi Function Steering Wheel
 
Neil - I think you may have bought the same car as me. I have had identical problems - the service grill jammed almost immediatelyt after leaving the dealership. I never knew Audi would come out and fix it though. Is the support number in the manual?

(I actually took my car back to the dealership - it took them about half an hour to fit a new mechanism while I waited - which was good.)

The AM reception is nothing short of awful - in London I can just about pick up 5Live - sometimes - but little else. I'm a sports fan - so actually used to listen to this a lot - but cannot really cope with the interference. My dealer said that this was a known problem - and that Audi Germany were working on a solution - but it was not a priority issue for them! I think all the car needs is a proper external radio - which I think Audi should now provide - as they have known about this problem for 15 months and do not yet have a solution. As the A2 may go out of production in 2005 and most people usually change cars after 3 years, I get the feeling that nothing will be done. My dealer said we should keep pestering our dealers to keep the pressure on Audi UK and Germany.

Hasd anyone else found a solution to the radio issue yet - or had any progress reports from dealers??
 
Personally find AM reception fine (tested from Thurso to Exeter!), when you bear in mind that AM quality is generally pretty dreadful anyway.
 
NeilP,

You say “it was a little tricky at low revs” – do you mean you were often stalling the engine, or kangarooing ?

Regards
John Disdale
 
John, I think I only stalled it once or twice, but it needed to be at around 2.5 - 3 rpm for a smooth start. At revs lower than this it would threaten to stall. This has gone now, and it's possible to set off at sensible revs smoothly and without incident.

Interestingly, when we first got it, there was also a flat spot in first gear when accelerating - once you'd negotiated the start, building up speed was fairly ponderous (and a little scary on busy roundabouts), but this has also sorted itself out, I can't really remember at what revs it occured as it only lasted for a day or two.
 
I find the 1.4 petrol is a bit strange on take off - the clutch never has any bite to it. The diesel is much more normal.

MartinW - Dolphin Grey 1.4SE
 
I agree with the fact thnat the 1.6fsi is noisy, when you start up it sounds like a diesel, then it calms down, but at higher speeds it does boom a little when you accelerate, but I have grown to like it! So there's a mention of 45mpg is that on the 1.4? The 1.6 at the moment is giving me 40mpg I hped it would give 45mpg, but not yet anyway, maybe when the engine loosens a little.

A2 1.6fsi sport climate cd amulet red
 
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