Altea Common Problems

[nellsey]

Firstly, hi to everybody

I am downsizing from a Vectra Estate and have been looking at the Altea XL which seems to tick most boxes for me and the better half.
It looks really good quality and have been very impressed all round so far.

I tried the 1.9TDI but it was lacking a bit of power for me so will probably go for the 2.0TDi Stylance manual, which I am waiting to test drive and looking forward to as it is quite lively i have been told.

I think I will be looking at secondhand as the 2.0TDi adds quite a premium on a new one, so probably one about 6 months old.

Are there any common problems that are appearing on the Altea?
Is there anything that I should look out for or check when purchasing a used one?

Thanks for your comments and help.

Nells

 

[pdh 14a]

From what i have read on here so far! Common problems are
1. windscreen de-laminates at the bottom (Warranty should change it for free)
2. Water leaks (normally Windscreen/condensate pipes or door seals)
3. not brilliant MPG
4. Bad alignment from factory ( Uneven Tyre wear)

I think they are pretty good cars though

 

[Doddsy]

had ours nearly a year now from new ... 14k miles now and absolutly nothing to report not even a minor problem... get it bought

 

[andyj]

Picked my '06 Altea up last weekend from a main dealer, and the only problem with it was the white windscreen, which the dealer replaced under warranty before I picked it up

 

[nellsey]

Surely thre must a some negative opinions
Do I detect a happy bunch of car owners for a change?

I will be out looking over this weekend to see what I can find.
I would prefer one with ESP but as it's an option I may struggle to find one.

 

[josh263uk]

Not sure if it was just the Altea that I had as a courtesy car, but the relays were really noisy.

 

[CrispDust]

Bad points?
I find the interior plastics cheap and too hard. My alfa has lovely "soft" (and sound deadening) plastics.
Bonnet should have struts, not cheap prop.
Doors a bit tinny
soundproofing could be better, double door seals would help.
other than that not much else

 

[nellsey]

Thanks for your comments.

I have had no joy finding a 2.0TDi to even try, let alone buy this weekend
Nothing within 30 miles of me, in any direction.
Some on the Seat used website but not at the dealers they are being advertised at, which is frustrating.

 

[k5roc]

we went from Birmingham to Cardiff to get our Altea, saving us £1500 off a similar one from the local dealer who would not budge on price

Keep shopping around and you will get a cracking deal

 

[pdh 14a]

Yep when your after a certain model then you have to travel!
I went from Swansea to Reading to get my Altea
And Swansea to Basingstoke to get my 200sx

 

[Snarf]

I can add some problems into the mix (sorry!).

The inlet valve on the turbo on our 2.0 TDi has failed (fortunately under warranty) which caused a massive loss of power.

Current problem is the control unit for the ABS/ESP etc which needs fixing (now out of warranty). Total cost for fixing is ~£1400, SEAT have gone good will for 50% of the part (bit tight in my opinion!) bring the cost down to just over £900.

On the positive side, if you don't drive like a loony you can get decent mpg. I'm currently averaging 50mpg on my commute to work (14 mile round trip).

Engine is fantastic too - shame about some of the reliability though, had problems on a Leon, Ibiza and Altea now, might be getting rid of our Altea!

 

[Tabintab]

From my experiences I would say stay well clear of the Altea. Has to be one of the most unreliable cars i have ever owned. It was always going back to the dealership for 1 thing or another. Personaly I put it down to very poor quality control.

Try reading back through this forum to get an idea with the car problems, there are just to many to list.

On a good point I loved the power & handeling, car was great to drive 2.0l TDI sport 05 plate.

If u want to get an idea what went wrong with my car take a look at my posts.

Tab

Firstly, hi to everybody

I am downsizing from a Vectra Estate and have been looking at the Altea XL which seems to tick most boxes for me and the better half.
It looks really good quality and have been very impressed all round so far.

I tried the 1.9TDI but it was lacking a bit of power for me so will probably go for the 2.0TDi Stylance manual, which I am waiting to test drive and looking forward to as it is quite lively i have been told.

I think I will be looking at secondhand as the 2.0TDi adds quite a premium on a new one, so probably one about 6 months old.

Are there any common problems that are appearing on the Altea?
Is there anything that I should look out for or check when purchasing a used one?

Thanks for your comments and help.

Nells

 

[CrispDust]

On the other hand, nothing major has gone wrong on mine. 3 years old, I've had it for 6 months.
Like all cars, some people will get a bad 'un, when Pedro at the factory had a hangover or such like.
Show me anybody that gives 100% attention to their job 40 hours a week!
As with most things, if you look after it with a bit of tlc, things work.
I've also got an Alfa 166, notoriousley unreliable, mine has let me down once in 5 years and 40K miles.

 

[markirel]

Current problem is the control unit for the ABS/ESP etc which needs fixing (now out of warranty). Total cost for fixing is ~£1400, SEAT have gone good will for 50% of the part (bit tight in my opinion!) bring the cost down to just over £900.

Don't suppose you know the error code that your car was throwing up do you? My ABS/ESP light is on and I have a 1435 code which indicates either a brake pedal switch fault or the pressure sensor in the ABS unit. If I'm in for the thick end of £1400 for a repair (3-months out of warranty) and seen as though I'm due a 40k service I'll be trading in.

[brake pedal switch changed and not fixed so now traded up]

 

[Snarf]

Sorry no, the repair centre started tracing the fault, which apparently led to fault upon fault, culminating in them realising that the whole unit had gone wrong. It actually took them 1.5 hours of running the diagnostics to get to the root of the problem.

Looking at trading in as soon as the fault is fixed

 

[pantsdavies]

I have had my 2005 1.9tdi stylane a year and have had:

New Climate control Stork
New clutch and flywheel
new Cd player as the eject button stuck in

But still love the car would recommend

 

[cherryone]

Altea reliability ..... mmmmm
Mines had to have sorted at the garage or replaced !!
Front and rear bearings,
Tracking,
Rear tyre due to above,
Heater fan assembly,
Windscreen,
Oil Intercooler seals,

Considering what other people on here have had go wrong with theirs I consider myself lucky.

When it its running trouble free it really is a pleasant car to live with !!
(praise the lord !)

Would I buy another, not in a blue moon.

 

[Jaytee]

My Toledo (basically an Altea!)

Replacement cruise control stalk (faulty batch at time?)
Uneven trye wear (wrong wheel alignment camber/castor from factory)
Porous cylinder head with resultant slow rate coolant loss (not unheard of prob with 2.0TDi)
Noisy Turbo unit (common problem across VW group cars)

Apart from that, I am generally pleased with my car, now done almost 50k miles - minor niggles:
Fuel consumption not great - average around 38mpg but I do a lot of town driving for my office commute
Road noise - tried various tyres but still fairly loud
No heated mirrors - weren't fitted in production and my protest brushed off as "obviouly not included in UK spec" presumably during that build week, as they were shown in brochure!!

John.

 

[k5roc]

we have had cruise control intermittently not working
now MW on the radio doesn't work
and the throttle housing broke (shortly after the MOT) and was replaced with goodwill by SEAT as the car was 5 days out of warranty

I will never take it to a SEAT garage again, I use the VW garage in Redditch who are far more helpful and a lot cheaper

 

[JohnS]

Altea probs

Had my Altea 1.9tdi Ref Sport since Jan 06 bought brand new and never had a problem with it.Always starts 1st time even when it has been left out all night in sub zero temps with snow and gale force winds here on the North East coast. I am a shift worker and can't afford to have a troublesome car as no public transport is available to get me to work. The Altea and the Ibiza we also own have never let me down no matter what the weather. Runs like a dream, good fuel consumption on long motorway runs have had up to 48mpg. Only ever been back to the dealers for servicing and an underbody check after I hit a large piece of scrap metal on the motorway at over 70mph. I have noticed that it runs quiter when I use BP Ultimate diesel instead of the supermarket stuff and get better mpg.
I have replaced tyres when needed and use Pirelli P7's which seem to run quiet especially on smooth roads, but no matter what tyres you have on if the roads are concrete or rough asphalt which a lot of local authorities use you'll notice the road noise more. Have just replaced the rear brake pads this evening and the car goes in for a 30k service on Friday, hopefully nothing should be amiss.
I am also driving down to Paris later this month with a full car and roofbox fitted and don't envisage any probs, but after reading some of your tales of woe I hope I don't get paranoid lol