Buying advice/tips

[afcajax73]

Morning all, I hope everyone is well and you had a good Christmas/New Year period.

I'm looking to chop in my Mk3 Leon FR for a Tarraco.. growing family and all that!... I'm looking at the 1.5TSI EVO Excellence Lux. I've had a quick snoop over the forums (they've been excellent for me all through all of my Leons.. Mk1 Cupra, Mk2 FR Mk3 FR) but can't see much to scare me off with this model. it's a 19plate with 25k on the clock. I've had a couple of looks over it and all seems fine, I'm planning to test drive today.

 

[Billyray911]

Hi mate,like you my circumstances have changed and am leaning towards the Tarraco.
I’ve been looking at the Fr sport and was looking for a lightly used,either 190 or 245 petrol.
I’ve had a word with a few owners and all are really happy and you seem to get a lot for your money.
They have mentioned that with the rear seats up there’s not a massive boot,so they tend to permanently have the rear seats down.
I’m trying to find out a bit more about the new fr sport e-hybrid,but can’t find much for the UK-in Europe it seems to be a five seater only…
Keep your thread updated if you don’t mind,as I’d be interested in your thoughts.

 

[afcajax73]

Hi Mate, thanks for the reply.

I went for a test drive and decided to go ahead with getting it.. There's a few things I and they need to do before I collect so it will be next week before I get it now.

The situation for me is, I've got 3 kids, ages 13, 4 and 2.. so with two car seats in the back for the 4 and 2 y/o the eldest has to really squash in the middle almost sitting sideways.. which really isn't good/safe and means we've been taking two cars everywhere. When I went to look at the Tarraco, I took my two eldest to see how they'd fit. As you say, when the seats are up the boot isn't huge but I figured if there's going to be two car seats in the second row, I can put one seat up and one seat down at the back which leaves a kind of L shaped boot which is plenty big enough to get a pushchair and some bags in.

When I get the car here and have the seats in, I'll get some pictures for you so you can see what space there is / isn't.

 

[Billyray911]

Hi Mate, thanks for the reply.

I went for a test drive and decided to go ahead with getting it.. There's a few things I and they need to do before I collect so it will be next week before I get it now.

The situation for me is, I've got 3 kids, ages 13, 4 and 2.. so with two car seats in the back for the 4 and 2 y/o the eldest has to really squash in the middle almost sitting sideways.. which really isn't good/safe and means we've been taking two cars everywhere. When I went to look at the Tarraco, I took my two eldest to see how they'd fit. As you say, when the seats are up the boot isn't huge but I figured if there's going to be two car seats in the second row, I can put one seat up and one seat down at the back which leaves a kind of L shaped boot which is plenty big enough to get a pushchair and some bags in.

When I get the car here and have the seats in, I'll get some pictures for you so you can see what space there is / isn't.

There’s not much choice out there and the Tarraco has passed me by for some reason-probably until I saw a Tiguan allspace and started looking at alternatives.
We’ve only got one kid, but one big dog with a second large dog planned for later in the year.
I just like the idea of being able to throw everything into the back of the motor without having to compromise much.
I like the look of the Tarraco and there are plenty of different specs to choose from.
Best of luck with the purchase and I’ll look forward to any updates.

 

[jcbmally]

Morning all, I hope everyone is well and you had a good Christmas/New Year period.

I'm looking to chop in my Mk3 Leon FR for a Tarraco.. growing family and all that!... I'm looking at the 1.5TSI EVO Excellence Lux. I've had a quick snoop over the forums (they've been excellent for me all through all of my Leons.. Mk1 Cupra, Mk2 FR Mk3 FR) but can't see much to scare me off with this model. it's a 19plate with 25k on the clock. I've had a couple of looks over it and all seems fine, I'm planning to test drive today.

The 1.5 performs ok but be aware that mpg isn’t the best. A colleague has one at work and knocking about he’s getting low 30’s. He wishes he went for a bit more power however he is getting it remapped.

 

[Tell]

Stretched Ateca it will go fine like a Kodiaq or AllSpace. The kids go in the back row or one seat down etc. I like the increased front passenger leg room over the Ateca if you do long journeys and want to relax with your legs out.

 

[afcajax73]

The 1.5 performs ok but be aware that mpg isn’t the best. A colleague has one at work and knocking about he’s getting low 30’s. He wishes he went for a bit more power however he is getting it remapped.

cheers for the info.

In reality, I only do about 4k a year. Kids have clubs 4x a week, and then journeys out further at the weekend. My Leon at the minute gets around 32/36mpg on the journeys I do.. so low 30s wouldn't be too bad.

I mainly wanted to avoid a diesel and stick with petrol. The one I've gone for seemed a decent price for the spec. I did look at the DTUK boxes for these as I did wonder if it could benefit from a bit more power but I'll see how it goes for a while first.

 

[afcajax73]

There’s not much choice out there and the Tarraco has passed me by for some reason-probably until I saw a Tiguan allspace and started looking at alternatives.
We’ve only got one kid, but one big dog with a second large dog planned for later in the year.
I just like the idea of being able to throw everything into the back of the motor without having to compromise much.
I like the look of the Tarraco and there are plenty of different specs to choose from.
Best of luck with the purchase and I’ll look forward to any updates.

I did forget to add on that we have a Weimaraner... she hates the car though haha..

It will likely be the tail end of this week when I collect so I'll get some updates on here asap after that.

 

[Tell]

I did forget to add on that we have a Weimaraner... she hates the car though haha..

It will likely be the tail end of this week when I collect so I'll get some updates on here asap after that.

I'm sure there will be plenty of room for the Weimaraner and two children in the two rows of rear seats one way or another. I wouldn't be too frightened of a diesel although if concerned about pollution you could steer away on principle grounds if you live in a town. With the filtration you get these days there is zero smell. The adblue fill up is easy yourself via lorry pumps, no big deal every 5,000 miles or so. No swishing around with bottles of Adblue, nossle in the Adblue fill cap by the diesel cap, fill till it stops, cap on, swish with water in case anything got on the paint, press ignition button without foot on brake pedal, leave on ignition only for 30 seconds to reset adblue level sensor, job done. Obviously you run the risk of more complicated system with SCR which could go wrong but back in 2016 on the Ateca if you wanted a DSG with 4Drive you had to have a diesel. You can reckon on about 80,000 miles before you need to start worrying about clogged up diesel particle filter and having it cleaned. No current restriction in the UK of where you can enter with a Euro 6 standard diesel. Ive had no problems with SCR.

If it's a second hand Tarraco with mib2, pre ~2020 facelift, you have all the stability of that. With mib3 you get the issues of mib3 that everybody currently gets. If the box in the glove box has two SD cards on it, it's a mib2, no SD slot or CD slot with just a flat plate in the glove box it's a mib3. The world is your oyster with mib2 updates to map updates and firmware. Mib2 plus (mib2 high) were never an option on UK Tarracos.

Tarracos are manufactured in Germany while it's sister Ateca is manufactured in Czech Republic on the VAG mainly Skoda production line, so it's considered build quality is better on Tarracos. They didn't manage to line up the chrome trim on my doors in the Ateca. Reckon they would have done that a bit better on a Tarraco.

I was going to get a Tarraco at launch and pass the Ateca to the partner but by that stage Seat had stopped selling the configurable options to up the spec within the model range. Since I bought all of the toppings for the Ateca back in 2016 (navigation plus, panoramic roof, virtual pedal, lane assist, TSR, Traffic Assist etc), didn't fancy a downgrade to get the extra front passenger legroom and the flexibility in the rear seats so stuck with what I had. Both models are good.

 

[afcajax73]

Sorry for the delayed reply on this @Tell,

That's some excellent info, thank you. I'm fairly confident that it's the mib2 unit, but I'll certainly check when I have it.

the main reason for avoiding a diesel was the fact that in order to get the saving of having a diesel (compared to petrol prices) I'd have to really increase my mileage.

 

[afcajax73]

Just a quick update, I picked the car up on Monday.. all god so far! Pictures/updates to follow.

 

[Billyray911]

Just a quick update, I picked the car up on Monday.. all god so far! Pictures/updates to follow.

Great stuff-I’m going for a test drive in about an hour at a main dealer…not the spec that I’m after,but it will give me a general idea about size etc and whether the Cupra Ateca would suit me better.
Got a few quotes from Drive the Deal,Motorfinity,Broadspeed.DtD are the best by far.
Look forward to your photos and updates.

 

[Tell]

Just a quick update, I picked the car up on Monday.. all god so far! Pictures/updates to follow.

Got the dog in the back and the kids . They are nice roomy cars. Pleased that I got a free anti freeze top up today as the light came on, marginally low. Good when you get a good dealer. The tails of wow are on the other platforms. Ateca's, Tarracos, Arona's and Ibiza are all + all pre 2020 models .

 

[afcajax73]

Great stuff-I’m going for a test drive in about an hour at a main dealer…not the spec that I’m after,but it will give me a general idea about size etc and whether the Cupra Ateca would suit me better.
Got a few quotes from Drive the Deal,Motorfinity,Broadspeed.DtD are the best by far.
Look forward to your photos and updates.

hope it goes well.. keep us updated!

 

[afcajax73]

Got the dog in the back and the kids . They are nice roomy cars. Pleased that I got a free anti freeze top up today as the light came on, marginally low. Good when you get a good dealer. The tails of wow are on the other platforms. Ateca's, Tarracos, Arona's and Ibiza are all + all pre 2020 models .

awesome! I had the dog in this week for a short trip to the vets. I put two car seats in the back, and there's much more room in the middle than in my Leon. My eldest is not longer squashed in the middle, I expected he would still be squashed and need to go on the 3rd row, but he fits nice in the middle of the second row.. I bought a cheap dog guard from Halfords, £35 I think it was, which worked really well.

There's lots of nice features and the car its self drives well... I've only really done a few close short trips and I get around 28-35mpg which isn't too dissimilar to my Leon.

 

[Billyray911]

hope it goes well.. keep us updated!

Well,it went really well.it’s a Cupra dealership as well,so the test for me was,was I pulled more towards the Ateca when I saw them together?
Whilst the Cupra Ateca is nice-really nice!,I think that I have gradually started to move towards something with a bit more space as a long-ish term investment.I’ve a 335d touring at the moment and that has always been a pain,space wise.I feel that I would have the same issue with the C-A.The Tarraco is just a nice package.
I was honest with the sales advisor as to what offers I have had and he couldn’t touch what Drive the Deal had offered;which is a shame as he was a nice and honest bloke without the usual blah.He gave me the keys and left it with me.
So…I went home and paid my deposit to DtD.It will be a long wait-August time,but I’m in no hurry.
I’ve ordered a 190 petrol fr in dark camouflage with a pano and spare wheel.Was a bit unsure of the colour,but there was a dark camouflage Formentor in the show room and it looked pretty good-hope it translates well.
I’m a bit worried about the MIB3 issues,but I’ll have to adapt to that.
Anyway,sorry for the ramble/thread hijack!

 

[afcajax73]

Well,it went really well.it’s a Cupra dealership as well,so the test for me was,was I pulled more towards the Ateca when I saw them together?
Whilst the Cupra Ateca is nice-really nice!,I think that I have gradually started to move towards something with a bit more space as a long-ish term investment.I’ve a 335d touring at the moment and that has always been a pain,space wise.I feel that I would have the same issue with the C-A.The Tarraco is just a nice package.
I was honest with the sales advisor as to what offers I have had and he couldn’t touch what Drive the Deal had offered;which is a shame as he was a nice and honest bloke without the usual blah.He gave me the keys and left it with me.
So…I went home and paid my deposit to DtD.It will be a long wait-August time,but I’m in no hurry.
I’ve ordered a 190 petrol fr in dark camouflage with a pano and spare wheel.Was a bit unsure of the colour,but there was a dark camouflage Formentor in the show room and it looked pretty good-hope it translates well.
I’m a bit worried about the MIB3 issues,but I’ll have to adapt to that.
Anyway,sorry for the ramble/thread hijack!

Morning mate, that's excellent to hear... no worries on any "hijacks" I'm happy for anyone to say anything in any of my threads if it helps someone

Apologies for the huge delay in reply in this thread.. I've lived with the car for a couple of weeks now and I'm really quite impressed so far.. Lots of room, lots of nice features, good performance. I've added a few little bits, centre console sorter, bought a dog guard, SEAT dustups Planning on getting the carlink device and some rear blinds.

 

[Billyray911]

Cheers for that and great to hear that it’s all going well.What dog guard did you go with?-I quite like the Ergotech or Travall option on EBay.
Boot cover wise,I’ve always had a Hatchbag,so will probably stick with this unless there are other,decent options.

 

[afcajax73]

Cheers for that and great to hear that it’s all going well.What dog guard did you go with?-I quite like the Ergotech or Travall option on EBay.
Boot cover wise,I’ve always had a Hatchbag,so will probably stick with this unless there are other,decent options.

sorry, (again), for the huge delay in this reply! I was randomly in Halfords killing time until the sports shop next door opened, and noticed a "universal" dog guard which looked a similar shape to the Tarraco boot space.. It was £35 so thought I'd take a punt and it's absolutely excellent. It comes in three parts which you can attach (or not) however you like. There's clips to secure it to the headrest and it seems sturdy enough so far,

 

[Tell]

sorry, (again), for the huge delay in this reply! I was randomly in Halfords killing time until the sports shop next door opened, and noticed a "universal" dog guard which looked a similar shape to the Tarraco boot space.. It was £35 so thought I'd take a punt and it's absolutely excellent. It comes in three parts which you can attach (or not) however you like. There's clips to secure it to the headrest and it seems sturdy enough so far,

Suspect that would fit an Ateca as well. The beauty of the Tarraco being a stretched Ateca.