Germany, September 22. On a rainy morning, six copies of the same remarkable car model park in front of the Audi Forum in Neckarsulm, Germany, an exhibition and leisure center for Audi enthusiasts. Leaning against their cars, they happily pose for the photographer. The car is the Audi A2, which was built in this city from 2000 to 2005. At the invitation of Audi, I am here to celebrate its 25th anniversary with other journalists, co-owners. Audi gives us presentations from its makers, a mini exhibition of prototypes, a tour and cozy get-together. Then a group portrait should not be missing.
Although you have to wonder whether the A2 is worth celebrating from a commercial point of view. The controversially designed car was not really successful. In the five years that the A2 was on the market in Europe, 176,377 units were built. With numbers like that you’re a flop in the car industry. On the other hand, this was a groundbreaking car from an ecological and architectural perspective. The A2 was incredibly spacious for its size, unique in shape, super light and incredibly economical. In automotive history, the A2 became a milestone of the caliber of Duck and Mini.
The story behind the A2 is as remarkable as the car itself. In 1991, the authoritarian Ferdinand Piëch, then CEO of Audi, made a bold promise. Before the turn of the century, the VW group, of which Audi is a part, would launch a full-fledged three-liter car. That working title did not refer to the cylinder capacity but to the intended consumption of three liters per hundred kilometers, say 1 in 33.
Herculean task for Audi engineers
Because no passenger car was nearly as economical at the time, Piëch’s announcement was received with amazement in professional circles. How did he expect to achieve this with a car that performed normally according to his wish list, and which had to fit four people with luggage at a competitive price? Unthinkable.
Unfortunately, even before he started leading the VW group in 1993, Piëch’s word was law in Germany. Its compelling preconditions made the A2 project a Herculean task for the Audi engineers. Safety features, luxury, physical growth and prosperity had led to a sharp increase in the weight of cars in the 1970s and 1980s. To achieve the specified consumption, Audi had to develop an extremely light and streamlined car. And how did you create enough space for that?
The Space Frame.
Photo Daniel Roeseler for Audi
The Audi engineers achieved this with a feather-light aluminum cage construction – the so-called Audi Space Frame – can be packaged in a compact but high aluminum body with a long roofline, creating a cross between a station wagon and a mini SUV. To save weight, parts from sun visors to the rear seat were made as light as possible and they even screwed the hood closed, which saved a few kilos on hinges. The hood could no longer open. Windshield wiper fluid and oil could be refilled through a niche behind the grill-like flap in the nose. The oil dipstick was also located there. Sounds cumbersome, but you can live with it. For maximum weight reduction, the three-liter A2 also received a thinner windshield and extremely narrow tires on magnesium wheels. Where Audi could save grams, it did so.
To save weight, they even screwed the hood closed, which saved a few kilos on hinges
The result of that consistent cheese slicing method was astonishing. With a three-cylinder turbo diesel engine plus what turned out to be a rather breakdown-prone automatic transmission, the production-ready A2 1.2 TDI weighed 830 kilos for a diesel. And thanks to its favorable air resistance coefficient of 0.25, it still achieved a top speed of 168 kilometers per hour with 61 mere horsepower.
Even more economical than promised
Furthermore, it turned out to be even more economical than promised. When introducing this savings model, Audi organized a consumption competition for journalists. Almost everyone of the participants stayed below 3.0 liters per 100 km. The most economical driver even achieved 2.4, which is 1 in 41.7. Following in the footsteps of Volkswagen, which launched a technically related three-liter car with the two-door Lupo 3L of 1999, Audi was able to create the first three-liter car with four doors – with the diesel engine from the Lupo. Piëch, who, as VW group chief and not coincidentally now boss of both brands, had his way.
Because obviously not everyone wanted a diesel, you could also order the A2 with manual petrol engines, four-cylinders with 75 or 110 hp. Due to the low weight of 895 kilos, even the least powerful were fast enough. In the competition, a car with its internal dimensions was easily two hundred kilos heavier. This A2 also remained unique, although with a consumption of at best 1 in 20, it was no longer a three-liter car. Apart from the first Mini, no small car has ever been as efficiently designed and constructed as this one. Nothing more stunning than a 3 meter 82 long mini car with so much interior space for four to five adults and a 390 liter trunk, where even the almost half meter longer but not more spacious VW Golf of today does not go further than 380. The A2 is reminiscent of the flying red British telephone booth in which the title hero of the British sci-fi youth series Dr Who makes his wonderful journeys: outside Madurodam, inside a spaceship.
Many people find it unsightly with that pug nose and that strange Table Mountain-like spoiler on the double rear window. I get angry when they say that
Too far ahead of its time, converts sighed, forgetting that that time never came. It went out of production in 2005 and was not given a real successor. But we in the A2 community will remain forever loyal to him. We inherited his enduring virtues. The consumption. German solidity. The rust-free bodywork. The removable rear seats, which when removed release a loading volume of 1140 liters – something no midget car can match. The mature driving behavior, which allows the A2 to drive like a larger car even at high speeds. Its friendly appearance with round headlights in an angular glass box is a very nice social bonus. Many people find it unsightly with that pug nose and that strange Table Mountain-like spoiler on the double rear window. I get angry when they say that. Its endearing modesty contrasts liberatingly with today’s often aggressive-looking monsters with their enormous grilles and ditto wheels.
Objections? Yes. The A2 was far too expensive. That’s just aluminum. For the cheapest Audi A2 you paid around 21,000 euros in the Netherlands. Now all small cars cost that, but at the time you could also buy cars with more horsepower within the VW group for that amount, which friends were less sympathetic about. For a larger and faster A3, the Golf from Audi, you only paid 1,500 euros more in its introduction year of 2000. Audi asked 28,000 euros for the A2 1.2 TDI, without air conditioning. Ammehoela, thought the buyers.
And now, as always too late, everyone sees his genius.
Irresistible red leather interior
Ours came our way eleven years ago when second-hand A2s had become cheap. We paid around 8,000 euros for the black A2 1.4 with only 95,000 kilometers on the odometer and an irresistible red leather interior. Now you can get a good copy for four or five grand and that could be a good investment given its rarity and durability. They are becoming scarce and the best preserved specimens are already seeing a slight increase in value.
Our car has never let us down and with 218,000 kilometers on the odometer, it is great to see how beautiful it has remained. With manufacturers of lesser quality, the leather would be torn and worn after so many kilometers; in the A2 it looks as if the car has run a ton less. Nothing rattles, the rock-solid plastic of the door panels is scratch-free. While ours has lived hard. The children borrowed it for outings, house moves were carried out in it, bicycles were transported in it, which, after removing the back seat, swallowed it more easily than much larger SUVs. It has become part of the family DNA and although we now drive electric cars, we didn’t have the heart to part with it.
So we couldn’t say no to that Audi party, even though you have to brace yourself for a more than six hundred kilometer drive to Germany. Our A2 with 75 hp is actually too high for the Autobahn, between Mercedes and Audis that drive 200. I’ve sometimes thought about having it replaced with a light, small turbo engine. Or have it equipped with the electric drivetrain for which the A2 was prepared by Audi, that’s how far-sighted they were back then. A battery pack could have fit in the double floor under the floor, which has been broken up in the rear footwell to create more depth for the legs. If battery technology had been as advanced as it is today, Audi could have completely revolutionized the car.
I cover the 610 kilometers to Neckarsulm in six hours with an average consumption of 1 in 20, while I regularly drive 130 or 140. In front of the Audi Forum I see the other fans, friendly colleagues from the United Kingdom and Austria, relaxing out of their cars after their long journeys. And everyone with an A2 is nice, that’s just how it is. We exchange tips and experiences, anecdotes and addresses. We like everything, compliment each other’s cars with childish satisfaction. Look, the boy from Austria has red leather just like us. He again: “But at least your rims are original.” True. Still nice to hear. Nerds remain nerds.
German thoroughly
But the highlight is the meeting with the engineers behind the jubilee the next day. With the Space Frame of the A2 at hand, they explain in detail in German how they put the car together in such a way that the cage construction could be produced with maximum crash resistance and efficiency. We fans are delighted to listen to the explanation about the special laser welding techniques that they had to develop at Audi to weld the aluminum components together. “I sometimes wonder how we managed all that back then,” sighs Kirsten Oberschelp, who was responsible for connection techniques and production processes at the time. Her colleagues André Kasperzak and Werner Holl smile modestly. I think with emotion that German engineers in their ethos and dignity should never die out. During the Q&A I thank them from the bottom of my heart for their good services. Then I drive back to the Netherlands in the twenty-year-old dwarf with 150. He doesn’t flinch. Thanks to brilliant technicians who no one recognizes on the street. The real elite.
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