Non-Starting Cupra - Whats Wrong Now? (Inc Video)

[RCS2K4]

You say you don't want to keep the car any more. If the fault was identified tomorrow and fixed would you change your mind? I'm assuming you've considered taking out a loan from a bank etc. to pay off SEAT finance?

Scott

If the fault was rectified tomorrow I dont want the vehicle back. I'm not paying VagTech to carry out any further testing on the vehicle. The only thing I am paying them for is to replace all aftermarket parts with stock ones.

A tow truck is collecting her from there next Monday, where the car goes back to the local dealer, and they will be paid to rectify the wireing fault, as they wont do it under warrenty, and then move the car to their used vehicle forecourt. I have already cancelled the insurance on the car, and removed all my personal things from it.

I'm the going to run without a car for the next few months, as my personal finances have taken a pretty big dent with this already. I also need some £4K to pay the difference, unless I can get the trade price of the Leon up...

 

[RichardBW]

a few things worth trying if you want to still fix the thing...

Remove every fuse in turn and try starting, if it suddenly bursts in to life with any removed then trace that particular circuit for the crimped/shorted/broken wire or faulty component.

Remove the plug to the forge DV solenoid. Forge use a different solenoid to operate the mechanical valve and if this has failed it could be grounding or spiking the ecu. Its a doubtful one but worth eliminating.

If revo can wire the ecu up on the bench then why not ask them to flash the complete stock ecu file back in? Again I very much doubt the software is the problem but worth eliminating from the equation. Also on the revo front...I dont know if you have the sps device but has the anti theft mode been checked to see the status of this?

I will be back with more daft sugestions tomorrow.

Seriously though I hope you get a good outcome after all this.

 

[Syphon]

If the fault was rectified tomorrow I dont want the vehicle back. I'm not paying VagTech to carry out any further testing on the vehicle. The only thing I am paying them for is to replace all aftermarket parts with stock ones.

A tow truck is collecting her from there next Monday, where the car goes back to the local dealer, and they will be paid to rectify the wireing fault, as they wont do it under warrenty, and then move the car to their used vehicle forecourt. I have already cancelled the insurance on the car, and removed all my personal things from it.

I'm the going to run without a car for the next few months, as my personal finances have taken a pretty big dent with this already. I also need some £4K to pay the difference, unless I can get the trade price of the Leon up...

Fair enough. It's a real shame this has happened, and so quickly. I hope things look up for you on the car front at some point in the future.

Scott

 

[RichardBW]

oh well, you can pass on those suggestions to SEAT.

I bet the car goes up for resale after all this with full warranty, breakdown cover, etc!

 

[RCS2K4]

oh well, you can pass on those suggestions to SEAT.

I bet the car goes up for resale after all this with full warranty, breakdown cover, etc!

That would not supprise me...

As per your earlier post, I do have the SPS device, and the anti-theft status was the first thing checked! When the ECU was on the bench, the stock map was put back on there, but it still wont get the car started...

 

[Hurdy]

I feel sorry for the OP and how harshly SEAT have come down on him.

However I can see SEAT's view on the situation too.

Like Mark has said, it is a really difficult one to call.

Personally, I believe SEAT could have dealt with the situation more amicably. Rather than going off the deep end and issuing a final ultimatum, perhaps they should have gone down the road of saying that if he returned everything back to stock and got the car running and then either left the car stock (and stayed with the finance) or paid off the finance and could then do what he liked with the car - SEAT would have been seen in a slightly different light. As it is, it is all conjecture now as the OP has decided to cut his losses due to a wrong approach (IMHO) by SEAT.

 

[Al]

This is not good. I would echo Mark on this and also feel really sorry for RCS.

There are some lessons to be learned from this though, albeit at RCS's expense. It is good that you have such a forward looking and "positive" attitude to it after being royally shafted mate.

All this said, I have been surprised that SEAT have not offered warranty backed modifications in the UK. This is even more surprising considering Cupras can be sold abroad with an optional Revo Remaps, and other special models like the white Cupra from Holland, and the special edition Copa elsewhere, both with over 300bhp.

Subaru, Vauxhall and even Ford offer tuning packages for their vehicles now (albeit at a very inflated price). These kits are fitted by "specialist technicians" at a main dealer. Once done, they then rubber stamp the book so that the warranty is not affected. How many peopler knew Ford could turn the 150bhp Fiesta ST in to a 180bhp car? How many people know you can have a Stage 3 conversion (290bhp-300bhp) added to an Astra VXR at your local Vauxhall dealer?

The fact that SEAT do not appear to listen to their customer base with regard to opinions on things like this and other things like appearance (the Marmite Aero bumpers), colours, interior quality etc etc seems pretty strange. This is especially the case when it is considered some things might be enough for an individual to want to part with the brand, potentially for good. If so many people want to personalise their cars, why alienate/punish them for doing so when money could be made by embracing it? After all, it is often easier and better for a company to retain its customer base than to encourage new ones in to the fold.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses from here.

 

[warren_cox]

Is it not worth buying the car, fixing and then selling it privately to try and recover some of the losses? I guess there would be an issue that the first time SEAT saw the car come back in they would show the new owner the 2 fingers too.

It seems 'interesting' that they've chosen to offer you just over 50% of the orignial selling price of the car back, almost as if this covers a legal loophole for them (eg. if you'd paid and owed less than 50% this would be much harder for them to conduct). They have offered you the minimum they can get away with which is pretty rude.

One question, do you have GAP insurance with the car. Does that offer you any scope for recouperation?

If this had happened to me, I'd never buy another VAG car. Whilst I believe that rules are there to be 'noted', these days they are so extensive and all encompassing that it's a miracle they allow you to break wind on the seat of a car which is being financed.

I long for a day where a paying customer can have an intelligent and constructive chat with dealers/SEAT UK about issues like this. You could argue when we put on a Forge DV it is ONLY to mask the inadequecies of their flawed and regularly revised product. Your exhaust is better than OE. Your FMIC is better than OE. Neither effectlvely change the core engine parameters. Although the remap does, it's hardly evasive surgery. We are just expoiting the weaker point of their already fragile product (the S3 is just as bad and suffers similarly with fueling / misfire / electrical issues). We could all work together for the greater good, helping them to build a 'known issues list' of dealer fixed faults, or we could all walk round blind with our heads up our ars£s driving Ecomotions which will still fail but because you've got a Richbrook tax disc holder your voided your warranty.

I can fully appreciate in purist terms SEAT can legitmately say you have devalued their stock asset by modifying and subsequently impacting how they can apply a warranty to that vehicle for you or future owners, but I also disagree with the Hitler approach to resolving the issue. It' apprarent from your mindset that your an articulate person, so how this cannot be resolved in a reasonable fashion by SEAT is frankly worrying.

Based on what I've experienced or heard recently for a salesman to sell me a new VAG car (after 17 years of pure unfiltered devoted VAG ownership) it's basically going to have to be free.

 

[m0rk]

Why have you cancelled the insurance? if the car burns or gets damaged it's still your responsibility (I would seriously suggest you check your T's & C's again, as I bet it states you must have it insured.... whether it's in your custody or not, you'd still be liable

 

[UncleFester]

Vauxhall next eh Warren? The only other option is to buy 2nd hand out of warranty and buy something you know you can fix yourself.

All of a sudden the old classics are looking more and more appealing if you want a 'drivers' car.

 

[warren_cox]

Vauxhall next eh Warren? The only other option is to buy 2nd hand out of warranty and buy something you know you can fix yourself.

Apologies, now the red mist has settled I would buy a VAG car, it would just have to be well out of warranty and something classic and enjoyable that I could tinker with! I don't think I could stomach the smarm of another new purchase that only lasts till you get out of the showroom and the ink dries on the contract.

I'd love to go BMW next, but the way things are going probably going to buy something a bit more conservative and that doesn't cost a mini mortgage payment every month.

 

[UncleFester]

Apologies, now the red mist has settled I would buy a VAG car, it would just have to be well out of warranty and something classic and enjoyable that I could tinker with! I don't think I could stomach the smarm of another new purchase that only lasts till you get out of the showroom and the ink dries on the contract.

I'd love to go BMW next, but the way things are going probably going to buy something a bit more conservative and that doesn't cost a mini mortgage payment every month.

Tbh for what you can pick up an E34 M5 for - is it really worth spanking £20k on a 'new' car. By the time you mod the hell out of the Leon or the Audi, you will be paying the same insurance and probably getting less mpg than the M5 in the first place.

I'm seriously looking at going this way in the new year.

 

[warren_cox]

Tbh for what you can pick up an E34 M5 for - is it really worth spanking £20k on a 'new' car. By the time you mod the hell out of the Leon or the Audi, you will be paying the same insurance and probably getting less mpg than the M5 in the first place.

I'm seriously looking at going this way in the new year.

Can't knock it can you, and the M5's are so good tthat you'd have to be pretty unlucky to pick up a really bad one. Still look great too, and no tubby related issues!

 

[Al]

I fancy an Escort RS Cosworth for fun next......

 

[P0LKR]

RCS

Bet you wish you hadn't made that phone call to SEAT Assist now. Looking back if only you had just called VAG tech and got them to have a look at it directly Would have cost you the tow money but hey. In hind sight eh. Doh.

Gutted for you, totally gutted.

If it were me in your situation I would be back on 20 a day and another 20 at night cos I would be sitting up in bed all night with matchsticks in my eyes.

 

[RCS2K4]

Why have you cancelled the insurance? if the car burns or gets damaged it's still your responsibility (I would seriously suggest you check your T's & C's again, as I bet it states you must have it insured.... whether it's in your custody or not, you'd still be liable

It does state that it must be insured, taxed and serviced for the life of the contract. As they have effectivley cancelled this arrangement with 28 days notice, do I still have to do this?

The car can't be driven anywhere too, and it will have to be towed back to Seat anyway. Once it gets there, they are buying it, so it is no longer my car then?

Cancelling the insurance was taken so I dont have to pay the next months premium. My current account is not looking to sweet ATM thanks to all of this, so I need to save where ever I can. I have some money avaliable, but I will most likley need that to pay the difference between what has been offered for the vehicle, and the financed ammount outstanding.

This will then leave me with nothing to put into a new vehicle, hence the decision to run without a car for a while. When I do buy another car, it wont be VAG...

 

[phil3012]

Have you signed over the V5 back to SEAT yet?

I would say that you are still responsible for the car until that point and as per the contract it most likely will need to be fully comprehensively insured.

I don't think the contract will have offically terminated yet. I think it will run until the car is back in their hands (or the 28 days has expired).

One thought, will you have to make any further monhtly payments on the car in the meantime before they take posession of it again?

 

[warren_cox]

given how 'reasonable' SEAT have been about this, can you leave anything to chance?? Could you take out new insurance with a temporary cover period and then cancel it?

 

[Pummy]

Call up all the mags and get them to report on it in the interests of other modders. If you get stung for a large bill, I would be happy to sling a few quid your way via paypal or the like to help out a member. Feel for you, hope you get things sorted, shame they tugged you on the HP side.

 

[2zeroalpha]

I'd like to echo the support, I hate to see this happen to someone.
Have you had any legal advice yourself? Obviously the breach of T&Cs is cut and dried, there's no fighting that. However you do have certain rights as a consumer regarding how long you have to find the money to make up the difference. They have to go through a number of procedures before they can even issue a court summons for the amount owed. 28 days to find over 4k is going to be difficult for most people in these times.
I've pm'd you link which you might find useful
Best of luck mate.