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Comment by dded | Hacker News Reader

Car and Driver once had a piece about a largely aluminum Audi that they were reviewing [1]. They got into an accident (not terrible--no one hurt), and the $30,000 repair took months at the only facility in Michigan that could repair aluminum-built cars. Now the Audi used aluminum in its frame, and maybe that's all the difference in the world, but I'd like to see Ford address repairability.

Otherwise, I'd welcome not only the weight reduction, but the avoidance of rust and body rot.

[1] http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2007-audi-s8-long-term-r...

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I have an aluminum Audi A2, and it's great! The fuel economy is good, and it's perky because of the lightness. Also happens to be one of the most reliable vehicles in it's age group. It drives really well because of the low center of gravity and thoughtful suspension, even if it is narrow and tall on the outside. It's actually a car that has been coherently designed.

http://www.motormobiles.de/motor/a2i.jpg

The model was too expensive to produce and was cancelled by Audi in 2005. No aluminum Audis after that except some sport models. It's sort of a hidden gem.

To an outsider, making a big pickup truck from aluminum is like creating a paperweight out of some expensive lightweight material. Isn't the whole point of a pickup to most people (not all) being imposing and bulky? They even mention the 5000 pound weight in advertising, I assume they try to impress that it weighs a lot.

> The model was too expensive to produce

Due to aluminum?

> Isn't the whole point of a pickup to most people (not all) being imposing and bulky?

This is a whole discussion in itself. Modern pickups, to my eyes, look more like cartoons of pickups. The manufacturers (in my mind, especially Nissan and Ford) go out-of-their way to add big, chunky fenders and grills and such. It must sell. And small trucks are disappearing: Ford's Ranger is gone in the US market, and Toyota's Tacoma is now as big as the F150 of a decade or two ago.

The fuel efficiency of the A2 is mostly due to it being a small car with a small engine. However if they saved 100kg from the body mass, that's l0% of the A2's overall mass. Shame they cancelled it, people who had them loved them.

Cool photo. Bare aluminum is really shiny and attractive compared to mild steel. What are your maintenance costs on the A2? I need a new used car...

The windshield wiper motor died and I ordered a new one from a German web shop Audi Zentrum Göttingen for 100 euros (payment with Paypal), and a small town VAG specialist changed it. There are lots of repair shops around here that fix these cars just fine, even when they weren't imported here when they were new. So all cars are second hand imports. The wiper motor part cost would have been more than double locally. It helped to know some German. :)

Then the rear brakes also had to be fixed for the yearly checkup, normal wearing parts. And the internal heater had a connection problem, discovered when it started being cold enough that it was used (it's an aftermarket job anyway, to connect the car to an electricity outlet and warm up the engine block with a resistor and the interior with a resistor+fan).

I've had the car for six months and from rough memory, spent maybe 400 euros for maintenance.

I don't think body shops will much care either way once they get over the initial shock and how to prep for paint. Most body work these days is remove & replace of large panels. Instead of welding they will have to use adhesives (or train their workers to use a TIG) and they will need to have a dedicated set of abrasives for the aluminum work.

Aluminum damage to the structural (sub)frame is a whole different beast than in the (non-structural) body panels. Aluminum work hardens when bent. When it hardens it become brittle and can crack from stress and vibration. Any damage has to be completely replaced with fresh metal.

Corrosion is still an issue with aluminum though it tends to self-protect itself. If you really want to mess up something aluminum add some mercury..

More often than not, repair places simply replace body panels as it is, because trying to fix much more than minor dings tends to be more labor intensive than just putting a new one on. So for the average service shop, it wouldn't be much difference.

How is this any different than most body panels now being a composite material? Body shops usually just buy a whole new panel and then paint to match.

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