Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

General consensus seemed to be go diesel if longer journeys, go petrol if shorter journeys. They are surprisingly practical - the rear seats can be completely removed which creates quite a big load space. Think I remember reading of someone fitting four 18in alloys with tyres on them in the back. 1-2 bikes should be easily doable.

I've got a 1.4 diesel as most of my driving in it is 40-60 mile trips to clients offices with work. There were a couple specific things I looked out for but in general it was just typical used car stuff - good service history, evidence previous owner didn't scrimp on upkeep (premium matching tyres, advisory items on MOT sorted etc).

Mine is an absolute dog cosmetically - it spent a good majority of its life in London and you can tell - its been keyed, terrible kerbing on the alloys etc. but mechanically its been fine (bar one hiccup I mentioned earlier in this thread).

Specific A2 things that worth thinking about but nothing you won't find on the A2 forum:

• I avoided cars with sunroof (Opensky) as they all tend to go wrong
  
• Optional bose stereo a nice to have, standard one is terrible especially with the loud diesel lump
  
• Electric window switches tend to go (my passenger side is intermittent)
  
• Worth getting a car with all four windows electronically controlled - with just the fronts open it creates quite a thwump, thwump thwump effect and its a hassle opening the rears a smidge to stop this is they are manual winders
  
• A lot of the soft touch controls rub off - someone in my cars history replaced the climate control with harder wearing buttons
  
• I wish I'd found a car with adjustable lumbar support. I've got the leather sports seats but they are lacking in this department
  
  

Mine only cost £1k but its got mega miles. For what it is I don't think you'd do much better if you are looking for a practical car to get about it at that price point.