Audi A2 review
Audi A2 1.4 Road Test
Test date 16 August 2000
Price as tested £13,700
For Styling, steering, build quality, economy, space, likely resale value
Against Only four seats, and they're uncomfortable. Lumpy low-speed ride
The A2 designers and engineers had many briefs to fulfil of course, but their main goals were to create a car that was as light, as good looking and as safe as possible.
The A2 began life in 1997 as the AL2 concept. Initially shown by Audi as a design study to demonstrate what is achievable using lightweight aluminium (the car is named after the symbol for aluminium), the A2 became a reality last year. But even then, Audi was keen to learn as much as it could from the Mercedes A-class before putting the A2 on sale, hence the long waiting period before it entered the showrooms.
So it’s difficult not to feel at least a tinge of sorrow for Mercedes-Benz that pioneered the art of the super-desirable supermini. And it was therefore Mercedes that was inevitably going to make all the first mistakes.
What must really hurt the creators of the baby Benz, however, is that Audi, having sat back and watched the A-class stumble its way into life, has learned from those mistakes and delivered a car that looks all set to blow the A-class away.
It’s not just a straightforward plagiarism that has enabled Audi to make such a success of the A2, though. Audi has introduced a new spin on the theme and built the A2 largely from aluminium, and the result is a kerb weight around 150kg less than the opposition. The engineers’ target weight for the car was 900kg, and the fact that we measured the test car at 899kg with half a tank of fuel on board proves how well they have done their job.
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