Altea XL - First Impressions

[bobbycfc]

Well just completed first leg of journey from Glasgow area down to my brothers in Bishops Stortford. Observations on yesterday's drive

Wipers
I love the automatic wipers, they are so much better than the Scenic. The fact that they hide in the pillar and there is a plastic lip at the bonnet side means that you don't have the "creep" of water up the windscreen that you get when wipers are parked at the bottom.
Lights
Again better than the Scenic in that the auto lights come on when heavy rain. This is due to the lights being linked up to the wipers "speed".
TomTom
Had a hold up on M6, think between 16 and 17, dialled up the TomTom traffic and it took me a detour to avoid the accident. Very impressed!
Cruise Control
This is the first time I have had a car with cruise control and really liked it. However I now know why sometimes I see cars blipping their brake lights for no apparent reason - just deactivating the cruise. I also found that this could make me lazy in that I was prepared to overtake another car at 1mph difference slowly, rather than I would normally accelerate past it and complete the manoeuvre quicker.

Fuel consumption on a tank of BP Ultimate was 40.7mpg, with the cruise set at a GPS speed of 76mph.

Kids don't like back seats, so low down compared to Scenic. In fact even though they are taller than the legal guidelines, we might go and buy them booster seats today.

Road noise probably noisier than the Scenic but when you have the music turned up then you don't really notice.

All in, enjoyed my lengthy drive yesterday and although I was expecting my back to be sore it was actually fine so quite pleased with that.
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[oliverpe]

Can't wait.

Glad to hear so far so good. Keep up the reports.

I should take delivery of my XL within the next few weeks. Ordered the 170bhp DPF with almost every extra option, leather, winter pack, extra air bags, ESP & EBA. So can't wait.
Currently own Leon Cupra, and has given me 6 years of fun driving, the odd fault or two, but not put me off the Seat make. Growing family requires the Leon to go.

 

[DAN M]

Might as well give my trip report, as I spent this weekend doing just over 300 miles in my 5 week old XL1.9Stylance.
It's my first car with cruise, so I wanted to try it out this weekend. I went for a 1.9 mainly because of economy. The trip computer stated an average of 44mpg. Thank God, its only done 1200 miles, but I haven't seen an average of over 39mpg on a full tank.
The auto wipers and lights as already mentioned are brilliant. No having to fumble around when a freak downpour hits on the M62 (so bad that a motorbike came off on the other side of the 62)
TomTom kit is good, but the microphone problem is not really on. I have tried shouting but its not practical.
One thing that did alarm me, was the tyre pressure sensor, this beeped on the journey, I did a quick visual check, everything seemed fine. I can only put this down to the poor road, and the bad weather conditions (possibly the sensor giving an incorrect reading).

Overall i'm happy to be back in a SEAT.

 

[bobbycfc]

Altea Ego, re your earlier post, still waiting for pics of the sound deadening covers etc etc?

 

[bobbycfc]

Just to put my "reporting" to bed, my final thoughts on the car having now taken it to France and back from Glasgow, and with the mileometer now reading 2300 miles.

Very impressed by wipers and the auto headlight link to them

Not impressed with the headlights in that there is no warning light for sidelights, headlights or front fog lights on the dash which I find totally unbelieveable! The only warning light there seems to be is the rear fogs. I checked this time and time again and definitely no lights. Must check the manual in case there should be!

With lights set to Auto, you only know that headlights have came on if

A, it is dark enough to notice the red glow in the instrument cluster

B, apparently the “auto” light on the light switch changes from red to white or vice versa! But definitely not noticeable!

Kids definitely prefer the high up Scenic seats and flat floor to the low down Altea with hump in middle of floor., I picked up a booster seat for my 9 year old for a fiver in Argos which he appreciated.

I am not totally convinced by the boot, OK I had the rear seats pushed back as much as possible but I don’t think I got any more bags in the boot than I did with the Scenic although I may be wrong as it is 2 years since we last went a driving holiday.

I miss the option of folding flat the front passenger seat, used to do this regularly on Scenic so that kids could see better and even put feet up on seat (them not me!)

Fuel consumption over the whole trip was 39.5, quite disappointing since I never went above 80 for the whole time and did a lot at much less. However I fully appreciate that the engine isn’t run in yet etc etc.

Anyway, car has now had a full 6 hour valet, inside and out and is now looking gleaming again. An upside of the poor weather and torrential rain was that there was very few beasties on the front of car!

Re previous comment on cruise control, a quick flick of the on/off switch is enough to release the cruise without having to touch any of the pedals.

If filling the car, make sure you check the tyre pressures and reset the sensor switch, the difference between normal and fully laden pressures are 35/32 to 36/41 on mine!

TomTom worked well, was quite eerie seeing it track my progress through the Dartford Tunnel with no signal! I had taken advantage of the free month’s subscription to TT Traffic so twice it told me about delays and re routed me (coincidentally both times on M6 at Holmes Chapel!

In the Scenic if you pressed the “lock” button at the electric window switches, not only did it prevent the rear windows from being operated but also locked the rear doors. However with the Altea, unless you actually activate the child lock inside the appropriate door, the kids can open the door whilst driving. Unless this is something that can be programmed with the key, there is something in the manual about that.

Regarding the manual, I suppose it is the same with all cars, it covers lots of features “dependent on model”. But doesn’t tell you whether yours has got this! I have the Stylance which is the top spec, but there are loads of features covered which I don’t have.

Finally a small point about the Scenic I miss is the handsfree keycard! Didn't realise I had got so used to it. I am constantly getting out the car and having to go back in and retrieve the key from the ignition!