Audi A2 review

Interesting one, because the interior of the A2 initially feels a little odd, but you soon grow to enjoy it. The wraparound fabric beltline – ‘softwrap’, as Audi calls it – stretches around the dash and continues through both sets of doorcards, making the car feel quiet and soft.

There’s loads of storage in the middle console and doors, a kind of stumpy flying bridge with some physical controls in the middle centre (hazards, volume control), with the other stuff in the touchscreen. With the gear selector on the steering column in sort of a wing arrangement, there are also a pair of mag-lock wireless phone chargers in the centre console: active cooling and 25-watt power means your phone is safe, secure and charged about five times quicker than you’re used to on a conventional pad.

Are the front seats comfy?

They sure are, with everything trimmed in recycled plastic and aluminium. In fact, the A2 actually contains more than 300 reworked items (steel, aluminium and plastics), with an eye to being able to recycle again when the A2 gets sent over the automotive rainbow bridge at the end of its lifecycle. Some nice detailing in the seats and stitching, too.

The dash consists of an 11.9-inch Audi Virtual Cockpit and 12.8-inch MMI touchscreen, faired into the same slightly curved blade. The driver’s display bit only takes up the bottom portion of the available screen real-estate (probably because the top part is obscured by the flat top of the squircle steering wheel) but it still makes it look like it’s got too much bezel and not enough pixels, making it look less expensive.

Oh dear. How can I make it look more expensive again?

The optional 1.6 metre-squared panoramic glass roof is worth having if you can swing it, simply because it lets in a tonne more natural light, brightens up the inside no end, and probably prevents depression and seasonal adjustment disorder. Probably.

Then there’s the ‘Fidlock’ system, a third-party magnetic/mechanical accessory clip job for cupholders, phoneholders, hooks and straps. It works pretty well: standard-fit, but only comes with a few bits like cupholder and side-of-boot securable cable bag. It’s all very nice and slick though, and you can obviously add to it.

And how big’s the boot?

The boot is big at 396 litres, plus there’s a frunk. But that front storage is uselessly weeny, and you have to access it from a handle in the passenger footwell, which is always annoying.

As for electronic systems, it feels like the A2 is very well served; there’s a ‘connected work’ set up that has Teams and Outlook, and an AI-based work agent to schedule everything, plus all the usual ADAS that appears on everything these days. It’s even got trainable parking and park assist plus for those who are spatially challenged. It feels largely futureproofed.