View Full Version : Considering an Altea
Its new company car time again, can't believe i've had the Leon Cupra for nearly three years now. I wasn't looking forward to losing the Cupra so we've decided to buy it for the missus (£5k - bargin).
Anyway, the altea is high on my list for the next car along with Saab 9-3, Mondeo STTDCI and a few others and I have a few questions :-
1) I have TomTom5 on an XDA for the car but can afford factory Sat Nav. Has anyone got factory sat nav and if so what are there opinons ? Also, what sort of features does it have and what make is it ?
2) Is the stereo any good ? I had a 9-3 for 4 days and as much as I liked the car the sound quality was unacceptable from a £23k car.
I should be having an extended test drive for a week or so soon but I doubt it'll have sat nav hence the question.
Ta
also looking at the altea, went to the local car show, and the speakers are truely awfull, would have to replacing as 'tell' has done.
still waiting for the local dealer to have a dsg in so i drive that.
Nov
Doesn't anybody have Sat Nav in their Altea ?
OBee
also looking at the altea, went to the local car show, and the speakers are truely awfull, would have to replacing as 'tell' has done.
Nov
My sound system sounds pretty good now;).... the DSG is good as well.
no to sat nav in my car - can't justify the £1600 cost for a system that can be had for £300 or £400 as a portable unit i can move between cars, or take walking with me. :)
Which model would you take walking... that one appeals.
The 2.0 TDI Sport. I am hoping to try the DSG. Not really a fan of auto's but I am intrigued to see if I can live with it. It does seem popular.
RE the GPS - i use Memory Map which gives 1:25k or 1:50k OS maps on your PC - you export areas to a PDA, and either connect a GPS or bluetooth GPS to give me a moving map (with gradients too!) - for normal road navigation, as opposed to the previously mentioned mapping product i use a Makro bought PNA device BlueMedai, Transonic are typical brand names of these PDA's that have a GPS aerial and are setup to run bespoke versions of tom-tom like software - mine uses Navigon Mobile Navigator 4, which can be hacked to give Point-Of-Interest overlays of anything Gatso locations to Maccy-Dees - you simply don't get this chance to customise the £1600 factory fit units, but i do admit they look good, and are easy to use.
hibitdat
29-06-2005, 20:44
The sound system is truly poor. A bit of tweaking with the 3-band tone controls can make it almost listenable for certain content but it is really poor for a car of that price and needs sorting. I wish people would buy Altea's other than 2.0 TDI Sports - how are we supposed to overtake the lesser models when there are none on the roads! ;)
Well some one was driving the low performance one here and moaning recently and we told him as I recall that he had the wrong car....
You not changed your speakers yet hibitdat... it's well worth it, you'll be surprised and my notes are wonderful even thou I say it myself;). Nah... it did annoy me first when I got the speakers and found I had to do something and needed the speaker kit, the spacers of the Pioneer web site were wrong.
But thanks to Paul and his words of wisdom on the tweeter wiring and chance or luck that the Golf iV speaker kit can be used once chopped to size it works well. As I mentioned my replacement Altea radio since I had a row of dots that were out on the one it came with delivers better sound than the first one and that was pretty good with the Infinity speakers I put in. Speaker do need to be warn in, but the bog standard Altea Philips paper ones are crap.
hibitdat
02-07-2005, 10:07
Hi Tell you are correct your notes are excellent! When I have some spare time and cash I will probably do the speaker upgrade because having spent the last few weeks in a rather nice LCR courtesy car (Altea was in having some rather major warranty work done) I had got used to a marginally better stereo again! Now I'm remembering all over again how poor the Altea sound is!
altea-ego
02-07-2005, 20:17
Come on Hibitdat, spill the beans,
what is the major warrenty work you had done? Should we be worried. I know you haven't got a dsg so I'm half relieved already!
Yeah my mental notes Hibitdat are pretty good in real life and it's good for spooking people on boards with what you remember;)....
Altea Ego, think it will be his dash board which has been rattling for months, if my memory services me well - LOL ;).
Thanks for the complement Hibitdat :).
SCORPION
02-07-2005, 23:23
I was considering getting one for my wife, what do they handle like in the twisty stuff?
Great.... with the DSG and the variable power steering think linked to the speed of the vehicle you just drive and fling the wheel around in your hands. The Sports model diesel that is. Something that I have been enjoying more recently, probably as the engine has become more flexible. Once you get use to the number of turns of the wheel changing to speed it gets very good and for the wife think you'll need parking sensors... even I find them useful :) .
[does she have problems with the twistly stuff :( ]
loadswine
03-07-2005, 15:35
I agree with Tell, the handling is excellent, it goes round corners almost as slickly as my MR2 Roadster and that really is amazing. The thing is that it handles well without any real effort. The combination of chassis,grip and steering make it stand out from other hatchbacks and if you compare with other MPVs, I don't think anything comes close.
Driving it is the only way to fully appreciate it. :)
hibitdat
05-07-2005, 07:33
Yep the handling is fantastic on Altea Sports, really second only to the LCR in the Seat range methinks. I really am chuffed to bits with mine - heck I didn't even mind giving the LCR courtesy car back when mine was in for its repairs, which for those who are interested was because the thing started missing badly one day whilst pulling away from a junction and the engine management light came on. The garage eventually traced the fault to the number one injector and replaced it under warranty (aparently Seat wanted to be involved as well because its a rare thing) and I am so glad it is under warranty because aparently the pump-injectors are about £400 each! Anyways its back now and running as good as ever, and I had fun in a new 1.6 Toledo then a new LCR for a couple of weeks :)
Hopefully I won't get that, so it wasn't the dash board rattle after all;). I am going to look for that mirror strap thingey this morning whether it's on the left or right, can't say that I've noticed it.