The £200 A2, what could possibly go wrong?

[martin mrt]

Yes, that’s right, £200 was the asking price for this semi working Audi A2 TDI a couple of weeks ago. Bought completely blind, without viewing, And I say £200 was the asking price, but I paid £250 as the seller was kind enough to drive it to the next village so I could get it transported home.

I think just about every rule in car buying was broken in this purchase.

Semi working A2, it drove fine in Reverse, 1st and 2nd, no 3, 4, 5th gears, advertised as needing a replacement gearbox, I however wasn’t convinced it did.



The sellers picture, looks good for the money.



Loaded on a truck from work ready for its trip south to Aberdeen.

Anyway I done some research, and I found that the shifter tower on the gearboxes on these can give bother due to the placement of the bonnet water drains, could I be THAT lucky a £10 part from a scrap yard will fix it??
YES I could, pulled the old one out, and it collapsed as I lay it on the workbench, replacement fitted and all gears now work. Result.
The gear cables need lubricated and final adjustments, but work fine for now.

I hated the wheels it came on, and I’ve always liked these on TT Comps, a set was found on marketplace locally and fitted Once I’d got the car driving with a complete set of gears




These are not to everyone’s taste, however I really really like it. It’s far from perfect but as a winter/beater car it’s perfect.

I looked at fitting winter tyres to my C63 but this has came in at less than half the cost of a decent set of tyres and winter wheels

The total spend so far is

Car £250
Shifter £10
Wheels £200
Tax £30
Tank of fuel £30

£520 with a years tax and a full tank of juice I’m chuffed to bits with it

[martin mrt]

Thanks for the positive replies, it is an interesting car and I’m glad I took the gamble on it.

At the moment it’s not proving to be terribly economical, as the I believe the thermostat is sticking open and it’s not getting to temperature. I will rectify that hopefully today.
Which leads me to the next comment regards engine access, Very easy, the bonnet pops off.

All in all I’m rather pleased with my little quirky car

Between this and my C63 estate you couldn’t get more different

[martin mrt]

rossub said:

How did you get it onto an HGV in a village?

We work alongside Northwards, they loaded on the ramp at the fish market.

[martin mrt]

agent006 said:

martin mrt said:

At the moment it’s not proving to be terribly economical, as the I believe the thermostat is sticking open and it’s not getting to temperature. I will rectify that hopefully today.

There's also a diesel burning heater that keeps the coolant up to temperature. If the eco button on the a/c is on then it won't run, assuming it's working at all. Idling or in slow traffic in winter the temperature will drop without it on.

I will investigate those tonight, saying it’s not terribly economical is a bit harsh, it’s still doing near 40mpg in town, a far cry from the 17-18 I get from my other car

[martin mrt]

Thank you to everyone that’s contributed to the thread, I never expected such a small cheap car to get so much attention on here.

There is still some work to be done on the gearchange, as it’s woefully stiff still but I’ll get that done at the weekend as it’s always too dark now in the evenings.

[martin mrt]

agent006 said:

You seem a VW type so you probably already know, but this is the gearshift adjustment process:
https://www.a2oc.net/community/index.php?threads/g...

I remember getting 45mpg from my A2.

I’ve adjusted the cables as per spec, done it loads in the past but either the cables are stiff through lack of lubricant or the gear stick itself needs cleaning and lubricated

I’ll try and get both done over the weekend

[martin mrt]

StuntmanMike said:

martin mrt said:

Thank you to everyone that’s contributed to the thread, I never expected such a small cheap car to get so much attention on here.

There is still some work to be done on the gearchange, as it’s woefully stiff still but I’ll get that done at the weekend as it’s always too dark now in the evenings.

I often find the budget stuff more interesting.

I did not like these when they came out, they do look a very interesting car now however. Time I think has been very kind to them.

Wouldn’t mind one myself.

I’m the same as you, I often find the cheap stuff interesting and I’ve had a fair few cheap sheds pass through this year.

I never liked them either, but I’ve grown to appreciate their uniqueness over the years.

Get one, you’ll not regret it

[martin mrt]

ALBA MELV said:

Seems like a decent enough buy there. Glad to hear it wasn't forklifted on! haha

You’ll be gutted to hear that’s how it came off.

Joking aside it was done carefully with blocks on the jacking points so no damage was done

[martin mrt]

mr momo said:

That is schweet - suits the red. Liked the alloys in the ad, but see the issues in the second photo, hence your change.

Will toot if Isee it in Aberdeen !

Red is my favourite car colour, just a shame that this is covered in laquer peel, but I can’t complain too much.

The wheel issue I “rectified” Perhaps a bit prematurely after seeing that pic I was sent. Turns out the matching grey wheel was in the boot. I didn’t like the grey ones much anyway