Should I buy it?

[merlin_mog]

Looking to replace our Focus TDCI which has been the biggest pile of poop you could possible hope to own and just got back from test driving an 06 Altea 1.9 TDI Reference Sport.

It had no pick up and on the motorway top speed was 60mph. Got back to the dealer and he said it was most likely turbo failure - apparently a common problem and was caused by short runs i.e. back and forward from the garage onto the forecourt and standing around for a long time. He's booked it in tomorrow with SEAT. I also noticed when we had a very short test drive on Saturday that there was one large cloud of blue smoke earlier on and then (as far as I could tell) a clean exhaust.

Reading around here there are some horror stories about the Altea but are they really that bad? I know most people usually moan before praising but our Focus (suposedly super reliable is CRAP. No other word for it). And I dont want to sell it for something that will be just as bad?

We want something along the lines of the Focus and there only seems to be the Golf or Altea as viable options (wouldn't have a french car after past experiences which limits the choices). After tonight I'm a little lost on what to go for. The car we've found is very very cheap and driving it is light years ahead of the drive in our Focus so I'm drawn to it but would you go for it, even after it's been fixed by SEAT? I'm wondering if this will be the first of many problems. (Its got 40k on the clock with main dealer FSH, 1 owner).

 

[bungle]

We've had a 1.9 Ref Sport from new since 2006 and have done 25K without the slightest problem. The car has actually been one of the best new cars I've ever bought and I'm very fussy. I don't know specifics regarding the 1.9 engines reliability but bear in mind the exact same unit is fitted into Seat, Skoda, VW and Audi brands and must therefore be considered pretty tried and tested.

 

[Toxic]

more likely to be a MAF sensor if there is no pull. turbos do fail but not very often. could you hear the Turbo at all?

MAF sensors on the 1.9 however are known to fail, mine did on my Leon Mk1 and I have heard VW recommend these be changed every 20,000 miles on there cars.

As Bungle says the 1.9 is a tried and tested, so Unless something is drastically wrong with the Altea it maybe fixed with a new Sensor. whilst Seat has it ask them to check for any outstanding recalls.

if you want a better engine then i would recommend looking for the 2.0 Diesel TDI Sport. 140bhp and engine is sweet.

 

[Mel D]

Hi, I would go for a 2.0 litre diesel leon or altea, I have had 3 Seats, my first one was a bright red leon 1.9 diesel that I regret p/x for a altea xl dsg,which I only had for 3mths because I hated the transmission.
My 3rd seat was another altea xl that I have had for nearly 2mths now,it is a 2.0 diesel and is a brilliant car, but my favourite would be the leon or leon automotive because I have driven one of those and considering its only a 1.9 diesel it is quicker then the other Seat 1.9 diesels.
Hope this helps.

 

[boogiewa]

hi new to ther forum
the turbo problem is quite accurent i first experiance it 5 years ago on a vw sharan and again on a seat alambra what it is most likely to be is the veins on the turbo soot up and cannot go to ther extreems causing the vehicle to go into safe mode if the ignition was turnd of and trhen on again you would most likely find it to be ok although the turbo would need taking of and cleaning
not realy a major issue if seat are sorting it out

 

[merlin_mog]

thanks for the input. MY main worry is that it broke on the test drive so makes me nervous about what will break when I get it away from the garage. Had a couple of lemons in the past (including our current focus) so dont want to jump straight back into the fire.

I might be a bit nieve but I think it's pretty bad that a turbo can fail in this way after only 40k miles. When it happens again out of warranty what's the damage and how often can i expect it to happen?

 

[CrispDust]

walk away mate, there are LOADS of Alteas on Market, Pick and choose for a good 'un

 

[merlin_mog]

Yep. Thats pretty much the conclusion we've come to.

 

[mjr600]

My 2.0Tdi DSG has gone, couldn't trust it, I loved the car but in over 20 yrs of motoring I have never owned a car with as many niggles, electrical gremlins, DSG hiccups and potential costs. I was sad to see it go and I really mean that.

Replaced it with a year old SAAB 9-3 2.0 Turbo petrol Vector Sport manual estate, got a drop dead deal at 11k with only 2.5k on the clock from a main dealer. High spec with stone leather, metallic, cruise, climate, sat nav, reverse sensors, mp3, phone and bags of power, clocked 250 miles today on a round trip to Coventry and averaged 38mpg at around 80mph.

They can't give give large cc petrols of any make away at the moment and the 9-3 petrol is a much better car than the Altea so I'm quite happy. The peace from petrol is nice too, the 9-3 diesel I liked was the twin turbo 1.9, it was 4k more, it had 180hp but the power band was tiny and it sounded like a tractor.

SAAB Turbo petrol is goooood, maybe a remap for the full fat 210hp Aero power is needed for Xmas happy motoring all you SEAT fans and ta ta.

mjr600

 

[markirel]

On the flip side I got quite serious about a 9-3 vector sport estate (diesel) with a similar spec but decided against it because the boot space was pitiful incomparison to the Altea XL had even though having 150 bhp on paper it pulled nothing like the Altea's 140 bhp which is much better. It was basically a vauxhall engine and I couldn't console myself to buying it. I prefer the sporty arm of VW than a tarted up vauxhall vectra.

My Altea XL with DSG has been superb to-date with no niggles, gremlins or hiccups and a remap to 176 bhp and a mountain of torque leaves a smile on my face that no four cylinder petrol can replicate. Three years of "regular" Altea ownership before this with only minor issues (suspension alignment and tyres), a Leon Cupra and Toledo V5 leave me a happy Seat customer.

 

[Gary@Cookies]

Yep. Thats pretty much the conclusion we've come to.

Don't know where you're located but the best bet is a main dealer, if you buy from a non-franchised dealer who do you go to if you have a problem? Main dealer if its still in warranty or back to the selling dealer if its not, if he tells you to bugger off where do you go to then? With a main dealer supplied car if you're not happy with the service he's providing, you simply pick up the 'phone dial 0500 222222 for SEAT customer services and they fire a rocket up his arse!

There are some cracking deals to be had at the moment as most of us dealers have got forecourts full of cars. If you're anywhere near oldham give me a call.

 

[PhilOfCas]

Don't know where you're located but the best bet is a main dealer, if you buy from a non-franchised dealer who do you go to if you have a problem? Main dealer if its still in warranty or back to the selling dealer if its not, if he tells you to bugger off where do you go to then? With a main dealer supplied car if you're not happy with the service he's providing, you simply pick up the 'phone dial 0500 222222 for SEAT customer services and they fire a rocket up his arse!

There are some cracking deals to be had at the moment as most of us dealers have got forecourts full of cars. If you're anywhere near oldham give me a call.

to a dealer ?

 

[Gary@Cookies]

to a dealer ?

Yes of course you can go to a dealer, but if, as I said its out of warranty then who's going to pay for the repairs. The non-franchised dealer has probably put either his own warranty on the car or a Mickey Mouse insurance type warranty such as the Warranty Assured, AA, RAC warranties that cost the dealer about 60 quid apiece and are not worth the paper ithey're written on.

So you go to a SEAT dealer and say, "I chose to save a couple of quid and bought this car from Pykie Cars round the corner, now its gone wrong will you fix it please?" the dealer will reply "Of course we'll gladly fix it sir, we pay thousands of pounds a year to VAG every year to train our technicians to specifically identify and fix problems on VAG cars, we invest tens of thousands of pounds every year in the highly sophisticated equipment that VAG insist we buy to diagnose and fix problems with VAG cars and we pay tens of thousands of pounds every year to maintain our premises to the standards insisted on by VAG. The piece of paper in your hand purporting to be a warranty is only good for firelighting and unfortunately we don't carry charity status, so, how are you going to pay for the repairs sir?"

If you'd bought a car from a SEAT Approved Used Car dealer you would have received a SEAT Approved Used Car warranty which costs the SEAT dealer between £250 to £600 depending on model of car and age etc, is almost as comprehensive as the new car warranty and includes 2 years SEAT Roadside Assistance.

It must also be considered that every year many rental cars suffer serious accident damage and because the rental companies don't claim on insurance for their own cars they don't appear on HPI or Experian. These cars are often to be found for sale on non-franchised dealers sites after being cobbled back together, we know because we're often the ones who have to tell someone that they're the proud owner of a car thats been bent in half and bodged back together.

Does that answer the question?

 

[Viking]

Don't know where you're located but the best bet is a main dealer, if you buy from a non-franchised dealer who do you go to if you have a problem? Main dealer if its still in warranty or back to the selling dealer if its not, if he tells you to bugger off where do you go to then? With a main dealer supplied car if you're not happy with the service he's providing, you simply pick up the 'phone dial 0500 222222 for SEAT customer services and they fire a rocket up his arse!

There are some cracking deals to be had at the moment as most of us dealers have got forecourts full of cars. If you're anywhere near oldham give me a call.

Never seen that happen in all the months I've been a member on here. All that seems to happen is customer phones Seat on 0500 222222 and Seat say "Sorry, nothing we can do."

Rocket up his arse indeed.....

Of course Seat dealers are all very good, just like the one I mistakenly used a few months back to fit me a new clutch while replacing the flywheel under recall. When they got in there it transpired that the flywheel didn't actually qualify for the recall (Sachs unit instead of LUK) and instead of giving me a call to ask what I wanted to do, they fitted my new LUK clutch to the old (and knackered) Sachs flywheel and gave me it back. Now I have to pay a proper garage to replace the flywheel, because "useless dealership" will not get their hands on my car again.

 

[PhilOfCas]

Yes of course you can go to a dealer, but if, as I said its out of warranty then who's going to pay for the repairs. The non-franchised dealer has probably put either his own warranty on the car or a Mickey Mouse insurance type warranty such as the Warranty Assured, AA, RAC warranties that cost the dealer about 60 quid apiece and are not worth the paper ithey're written on.

So you go to a SEAT dealer and say, "I chose to save a couple of quid and bought this car from Pykie Cars round the corner, now its gone wrong will you fix it please?" the dealer will reply "Of course we'll gladly fix it sir, we pay thousands of pounds a year to VAG every year to train our technicians to specifically identify and fix problems on VAG cars, we invest tens of thousands of pounds every year in the highly sophisticated equipment that VAG insist we buy to diagnose and fix problems with VAG cars and we pay tens of thousands of pounds every year to maintain our premises to the standards insisted on by VAG. The piece of paper in your hand purporting to be a warranty is only good for firelighting and unfortunately we don't carry charity status, so, how are you going to pay for the repairs sir?"

If you'd bought a car from a SEAT Approved Used Car dealer you would have received a SEAT Approved Used Car warranty which costs the SEAT dealer between £250 to £600 depending on model of car and age etc, is almost as comprehensive as the new car warranty and includes 2 years SEAT Roadside Assistance.

It must also be considered that every year many rental cars suffer serious accident damage and because the rental companies don't claim on insurance for their own cars they don't appear on HPI or Experian. These cars are often to be found for sale on non-franchised dealers sites after being cobbled back together, we know because we're often the ones who have to tell someone that they're the proud owner of a car thats been bent in half and bodged back together.

Does that answer the question?

sorry, i misread your original quote, you'd said who would you take it to if was out of warranty, no i personally wouldn't go to a main dealer asking for help, that just sounds silly, you'd pursue the warranty claim through the place that sold you the car, it would be up to the individual to check that the warranty covers you adequately in the first place.

I don't quite understand your attitude on this reply, wo betide anyone seeking help from you, i'm just glad you're not my local main dealer if that's your attitude, you sound very bitter to me . For your info i've bought my last four cars from main dealers (2 new and 2 used) and personally i wouldn't trust any of them

 

[Tony Lawrence]

To add my comment about my Seat dealer in Swindon.

I'm on my second Altea bought from the same dealer and got a cracking deal. They collect and deliver the car when it needs a service at times that suit me, (and they now clean it). They phone me if there are any problems. When the first car needed the flywheel recall a replacement car was available for me (clean and petroled). When my new Altea was delayed they lent me a Freetrack until it arrived as l had already sold the old car.

I'm a moaning old git, so it hurts to make these positive comments, but credit where credit is due.

 

[Gary@Cookies]

sorry, i misread your original quote, you'd said who would you take it to if was out of warranty, no i personally wouldn't go to a main dealer asking for help, that just sounds silly, you'd pursue the warranty claim through the place that sold you the car, it would be up to the individual to check that the warranty covers you adequately in the first place.

I don't quite understand your attitude on this reply, wo betide anyone seeking help from you, i'm just glad you're not my local main dealer if that's your attitude, you sound very bitter to me . For your info i've bought my last four cars from main dealers (2 new and 2 used) and personally i wouldn't trust any of them

I think the first line of your reply is correct, you didn't quite understand my reply.
No, I'm not bitter at all just telling the truth, how is that not being helpful?

We're a family dealership thats been SEAT franchised for over 21 years, all I'm doing is passing on some of that experience. Its awful to see the look on some peoples faces when you tell them they've been sold a dud thats going to cost a fortune to put right because the warranty they were given with the car is worthless, not all these people have a degree in law and therefore didn't understand the small print of their warranty. In general, main dealers are much more accountable than independants as standards payments are withheld by SEAT if our SSQMS figures drop so by a kick in the arse I actually mean a kick in the pocket!

If you're so disillushioned with 4 different main dealers I would suggest it may be you who is a little bitter. As for pursuing the warranty claim etc, surely its better to have a decent manufacturer based warranty in the first place, the SEAT Dealer Approved Used Car programme has won many awards and is recognised within the motor industry (alongside Network Q) as the best around.

When buying a car looking at forums such as SCN is the right thing to do but make sure you don't just take individual advice look up the dealer you're thinking of buying from on the dealer feedback posts and see what feedback they have on here, its not surprising that not all feedback is good but what is interesting is that over the years one sees the dealers with bad feedback disappear off the forums because inevitably they don't last long as dealers.

 

[jtmac]

Gary

You may be a great Main Dealer, I don't know. But there are rotten main dealers too, And there are good and bad independants too.

If I were you I wouldn't associate your self with some of the useless stealers that I've come accross (probably the same ones as PhilOfCas)

It better advise to buy your car from someone with a good reputation (Main Dealer or not) and if the deal is too good to be true. It might not be true.

 

[PhilOfCas]

I think the first line of your reply is correct, you didn't quite understand my reply.
No, I'm not bitter at all just telling the truth, how is that not being helpful?

We're a family dealership thats been SEAT franchised for over 21 years, all I'm doing is passing on some of that experience. Its awful to see the look on some peoples faces when you tell them they've been sold a dud thats going to cost a fortune to put right because the warranty they were given with the car is worthless, not all these people have a degree in law and therefore didn't understand the small print of their warranty. In general, main dealers are much more accountable than independants as standards payments are withheld by SEAT if our SSQMS figures drop so by a kick in the arse I actually mean a kick in the pocket!

If you're so disillushioned with 4 different main dealers I would suggest it may be you who is a little bitter. As for pursuing the warranty claim etc, surely its better to have a decent manufacturer based warranty in the first place, the SEAT Dealer Approved Used Car programme has won many awards and is recognised within the motor industry (alongside Network Q) as the best around.

When buying a car looking at forums such as SCN is the right thing to do but make sure you don't just take individual advice look up the dealer you're thinking of buying from on the dealer feedback posts and see what feedback they have on here, its not surprising that not all feedback is good but what is interesting is that over the years one sees the dealers with bad feedback disappear off the forums because inevitably they don't last long as dealers.

This is part of the problem, it's somehow ingrained that you are right and the customer (and anyone other than a dealer) is wrong, i think you'd do well by not voicing off like you are doing and just keep it to yourself, maybe that way you'd let people believe that you care. I hope "non-franchised dealer's aren't reading this as i'm sure they won't like you for saying they are " Pykie" who offer "Mickey Mouse" warranties, you've then gone on to take the p*ss out of people who've been let down and it appears you take pleasure from telling said people that they might have a ringer, in my view this isn't the attitude a responsible professional dealer should have.


I think i've every right to be bitter (not that i am) as i'm the one who has paid out over £40,000 to these four dealers and had everything from (VW) clutch not covered under warranty even though the problem surfaced the day after buying it (Used Golf), to having car damaged (SEAT) in dealers possession (new rear bumber required, that funnily enough now doesn't match the colour of the rest of the car.

 

[Gary@Cookies]

This is part of the problem, it's somehow ingrained that you are right and the customer (and anyone other than a dealer) is wrong, i think you'd do well by not voicing off like you are doing and just keep it to yourself, maybe that way you'd let people believe that you care. I hope "non-franchised dealer's aren't reading this as i'm sure they won't like you for saying they are " Pykie" who offer "Mickey Mouse" warranties, you've then gone on to take the p*ss out of people who've been let down and it appears you take pleasure from telling said people that they might have a ringer, in my view this isn't the attitude a responsible professional dealer should have.


I think i've every right to be bitter (not that i am) as i'm the one who has paid out over £40,000 to these four dealers and had everything from (VW) clutch not covered under warranty even though the problem surfaced the day after buying it (Used Golf), to having car damaged (SEAT) in dealers possesion (new rear bumber required, that funnily enough now doesn't match the colour of the rest of the car.

Oh dear, I really am sorry if my comments were misunderstood, I thought I'd written them in English!

As I said, and stand by, there are good dealers and and there are bad dealers, the bad dealers tend to get found out and don't last long. Dealers (and how do you think we feel when we're called stealers?) are accountable to SEAT UK, in fact, I'm currently sorting out a problem on behalf of SEAT Customer Services that another SEAT dealer has created.


Some problems caused by unscrupulous people in the trade can't be so easily fixed; Two months ago we had a customer come in with an intermittant airbag light fault, upon inspection we found out the problem; NO AIRBAGS!! The car had been in an accident, sold by the rental company that owned it, bought and repaired by a bodger who cut out the front airbags, rigged the sensors and glue the covers back on, it was bought in auction by a local independant dealer who sold it and is now saying "It ain't my fault".

The new owners of this car could have been killed, do you really think I'd take pleasure in telling the customer that his car was a death trap? Guess where he'll buy his next car from, independent or franchised?

As for warranties, most people think if the warranty has a reputable name on it then its a good warranty, not true, most are useless and don't cover half the things you would expect them to. Also, how many people are aware that dealers get back a percentage of the money they pay to the warranty company if no claims are made on the car so he has no real incentive to carry out the warranty work, this isn't the case with SEAT warranties.

So there we go, I'm not bitter, I love this business and I love cars. I try and help our customers as much as possible and try to give straight talking, no holds barred advice based on decades in the motor trade, along the way I might even have helped save someone's life, but I can't please everyone all of the time, and, by the way, even the factory have trouble colour matching bumpers!!!!