My story with Audi A2 ( by Roy Craig )

We had owned a VW Polo 1.6 GLX for 16 years, having bought it new. It had served us well, but now we are a two-audi family, having purchased a silver a2 1.6 FSI in June 2013 to add to my a4. We bought it from Sytner Select in Leicester, a long way from home but, after searching the web for a2s, there weren’t many out there for sale. on our first viewing at Sytners it was apparent that this hadn’t been an enthusiast’s car. Someone had made a very bad job of touching up the alloy wheels with a silver paint aerosol; not a pretty sight, but they could be refurbished. There were no actual dents in the bodywork, but there was a scuff or two. The saving grace was the fact that all a2s are made of aluminium, so there was no rust. Sadly, it had no service history, but it looked quite good for the 95,000 miles it had covered, most of which had been in the previous three years. We haggled somewhat over the price and settled on £3,600, and this ensured that it would get a full service, two new tyres and the misaligned driver’s door corrected. When we traveled back to Leicester by train a week later, it looked better after having been valeted and we knew that a few days of our personal treatment would improve the looks even more. My drive home to Buckinghamshire was a new experience. I love driving different vehicles but, in over 51 years, I had never piloted an a2. It was vastly different to my a4, and the first thing you notice is that there is no solid clunk when closing the doors; they are much too light for that. In fact, I found the overall lightness of the vehicle very noticeable: it does give it lively acceleration, but it also makes it very skittish on poor road surfaces, reminding me of owning a Mk 1 Golf GTI ! The materials used in the cabin don’t seem to have the normal well-honed finish that I
have got used to with a4, although the dials and switches are familiar. It does have singlezone climate control, which works well, and this model has the four-spoke steering wheel.

I found the gearing too low, so that the engine revs were much higher than I’m used to and the engine noise is quite intrusive. You can almost do without first gear other than when pulling away on an incline; it seems a strange choice of ratios for such a light car. The suspension is somewhat bouncy, harsh and unrefined, although the steering has good turn-in and, considering the high centre of gravity with this body style, it corners quite well as long as the surface is not ridden with potholes. Braking is excellent but, even so, we decided to replace all discs and pads. The wheels were refurbished by Monty’s Wheels & Tyres, a company I’ve been using for many years and which must be well known to many Audi Driver readers. The interior is quite spacious, made better for back seat passengers by the deep footwells. The front seats would benefit by having larger side bolsters, but they have comfortably firm seat backs and bases. The driving position is higher than normal and gives a good view through the large windscreen, which is virtually dominated by a massive single wiper blade that does have a nice sweeping action due to its double-arm design. Why audi did not fit a normal hinged bonnet puzzles me. Yes, you can check levels of oil and windscreen wash via a flap in the front without lifting the bonnet but, to check coolant and brake fluid levels, you have to literally lift the whole bonnet section off. It is quite easy to do, but you have to put it somewhere! It would be so much easier to just lift up in the conventional way. This example had paint damage around the back of the bonnet and to the wing surfaces and I suspect this has been done by mechanics or owners when trying to place the bonnet back on, as it’s not particularly easy to line up. The gear-change action is nowhere as smooth and refined as the Polo, being quite clonky. It stiffened up some time ago, but a liberal amount of lubrication around the gear linkage has sorted that. an annoying fault has developed on start-up: the temperature warning light is illuminated in the driver information panel, accompanied by a very loud three beeps. This would normally be a signal that the coolant temperature is too high or the level too low, neither of which is the case. a new sensor was fitted last year, but the fault has shown itself again, although it does return to normal after some minutes. overall, we like the quirky design, including the tea-tray rear spoiler, and our a2 has now covered over 100,000 miles. apart from a little persistent oil leak that drips on to the driveway, it’s quite easy to live with. It’s not particularly good on fuel but, in fairness, it doesn’t travel far either, being strictly a second car. at least it won’t go rusty!