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

I asked him and got this replay. Repairing faults is the same for any car. It takes a good mechanic to work out the issue from the fault codes. With the petrol A2 he has seen cars with a lot of odd faults which are difficult to repair or work out what they are.
He advises staying away from the 1.4 petrol and buying a diesel.
Hope that is of some use, probably not what you wanted to hear.

Rookie numberz. 😎

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Speaking of France, lets revisit this - my route to Morzine from dropping the Mrs off for PBP:

Anyone want a lift to Morzine btw?

One of my friends has an 2003 5 door that he's owned from it being a year old. I'm still living in hope that when he does eventually come to sell it, I'll get first dibs.

I was just listening to Chris Harris' Collecting Cars podcast on the way to work this morning and the subject of the Audi A2 and how values were on the rise came up.

Did you want to go through Switzerland specifically?

I would have gone down to Bourg en Bresse and then across. Probably with a stop for lunch in Burgundy (Nuit saint Georges or Gevrey Chambertin or maybe in the Cote de Beaune somewhere - have also had very good food in Meursault) as the food is awesome there (and the wine obvs, but you are not going to be interested in that)

Not married to the route as-is, it's based on suggestions and also driving the D996 (and the D968 and D959 IIRC).

Given that I'll in the 911 I wanted to avoid six hours of cruise control at 130 km/h and instead take D roads. I'll probably autoroute it back to pick the Mrs up again.

So @8b, @TGR @BrickMan @paininthe thanks for the positivity as I have a had a think for the A2 for a while and really wanted skully A2 that had a broken glass sunroof (no longer available). Unfortunately getting a diesel in London is a pain with parking permit surcharge and on street parking surcharges.

Looking for a bigger car to transport cats to Paris for two to three weeks, looking and focus's and mondeo and the audi came up and thought it might be fun.

Speaking of France, lets revisit this - my route to Morzine

Not quite enroute but the road through the Vosges is great

You got a speed camera ticket in France....Oh fuck I've been setting them off and waving for the photo. Think I better stop doing that.

A2 that had a broken glass sunroof (no longer available)

A forum member repairs them, parts are still available from Audi. As far as is known, the only person anywhere who is doing them. Even broken they make the inside brighter.

Was a few years ago.

Seeing if I can find a cheap left hooker A2 diesel on UK plates to leave in France

It’s a good car if faultless. Or diesel.

What about moving up a number A3? I like them.

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Quite a different car.

A2 once had the lowest CdA of a production car, quite cool.

Part of the point of getting an A2 is they are quite interesting. Like the idea of taking the back seats out and leaving it like that. Air con seems to be the issue.

Found another petrol one needing a sunroof motor and tyres but quite pricy.

If I'm looking at estates Im looking at cheap fords and maybe Honda.

I agree it’s different. 18 month old S3 vs 16+ year old A2. I actually like both but for different reasons.

@dammit I'm kind of with Danb - Burgundy is great to drive through. Beaune is fabulous for a lunch stop, also Puligny if you want to gorge on some of the best grilled Rib of Beef.

I'd avoid Switzerland like the plague, I know 2 people now that have got speeding fines running into the thousands of swiss francs and one that got close to having his bike confiscated. Both from well hidden stops out on the mountain roads, not in villages or anywhere populated. They're total dicks.

Makes me blanche at some of the speeds I used to do on the Peage....the A6 and A20 in particular. The fastest I've ever been was southbound on the A6 towards Lyon.

I was planning in taking in the scenery whilst in Switzerland rather than charging around- driving a cab is quite handy for this.

However, looking at a "stick to France" route, is there an enjoyable driving road that could be taken rather than the A6?

Seems like a bit of a miss to drive across France in a sports car on the peage

Can't recommend specific roads but Jura region is great

There's not a lot interesting between Paris and Troyes (Troyes is very pretty for a pit stop.) The D901 / 971 from south of there to Dijon is a good bit of road, fast and swoopy..
From Dijon, take the famous D971 (Route des Grand Crus) through burgundy and cut off at the bottom towards Chalon. From there, cut over to Bourg en Bresse and get on the D979. That can go either around the bottom of Geneva and then on to the D907 (great road) or down to Lac Annecy and back up. Both good options.

I haven't been for a few years now but there's so much good tarmac in the Rhone Alpes, you can't go wrong really. Well surfaced, smooth, few heavy cambers, almost all fixed radius, sweeping views. Happy days - the Porsche will eat it up.

To be fair to Switzerland, their attitude to speeding (it is literally never acceptable) and enforcement (punishments are means tested), means that they are one of the very few countries in the world with fewer road deaths per capita than the UK.

Only Micronesia and Monaco (zero deaths) are safer.

I seem to remember reading about a Swiss guy being fined over €2m for a relatively minor offence. Probably made him more careful in the future.

EDIT: It was €200,000CHF