Simply not good enough

Richie D

Full Member
May 24, 2005
87
0
Shropshire
Cupra Kid said:
i cant understand why the qualities getting worse, as a business studies student it baffles me. They are obviously cost cutting but if its putting customers off then its loosing them money not saving them it.

Looking over this forum for the last few months its the older cars that have the least problems and the generally happier owners.

Companies are always going to be changing the materials used in cars, especially mass produced. This is usually the case when introducing new technolgies to the cars it compensates so that the end user doesn't pick up the thick end of the bill, or maybe just a little bit.
As for calling the cars a 'lemon' do you think that no other car companies have problems with new cars?
I think you'll find 'older cars' have less technology within them compared with new cars, newer models tend to have more of a brain to control to operate the equipment. Obviously these things will have problems does your Windows operating system run flawlessly? They do take time to iron out thats why we have warrantys.

Rich
 

hibitdat

Leon FR TDI 150 Plat Grey
Sep 30, 2004
347
0
Dorset
No amount of warranty work will fix what is a fundamentally poor dash construction! Sure it has some semi decent kit in there, but so do pleanty of cars costing less. Looks as though some of the fears in the motoring press have come true and VAG are 'dumming down' SEAT build quality to stop them encroaching on VW sales. So much for coming under the Audi arm improving things.
If Skoda can make the Octavia feel solid, why can't Seat.
 

hibitdat

Leon FR TDI 150 Plat Grey
Sep 30, 2004
347
0
Dorset
Tell said:
Well the speakers are easier enough to change... but you could wonder why they installed them in the first place. I haven't had a terrible problem yet, but my cruise control has indeed packed up, after being intermittent.... must get that fixed.

Hi Tell. I spoke to soon! My Cruise had fixed itself, but today its gone all intermittent again! Another 'issue' I left off the list is that the climate control sometimes goes funny, resetting to full blower power and either LO or 23degree settings!
 

agynjo

Guest
Yeah mine makes a 'clicking' noise from the glovebox / air vent area when cold. Starting to get on my nerves now but apart one minor issue (new intake-regulator-control-valve-thing replaced under warranty) it's been perfect. Then again, it's only done 3k miles.

One thing.... what is the ESP supposed to do ? Now I'm used to the car I'm pushing it a bit more - you can get it to understeer on demand, and I even had a bit of oversteer a few weeks ago coming off a roundabout (admittedly it was -1 degrees). I was expecting ESP to step in, but nothing happened. Luckily I had my superior driving skills to fall back on.....:whistle:
 

nsj

Guest
I think SEAT are now building down to spec to avoid conflict with other VAG cars. A few years ago you read loads of reviews that said "don't buy a Polo/Gold/A3/Sharran because the SEAT versions is better made, better equipped and cheaper". These have now stopped, because its no longer true.

I was dismayed that my 02 SE Toledeo was lower spec than my 00 SE, usually the later models are better kitted and it was no where near as quiet either . The mechanics in the dealer all commented on this.

The Altea/Toledo/Leon is continuing the trend.

While other manufacturers are going the other way. The Altea or a SEAT is no longer a cheap car, but get in an Altea and then try a similar size/priced Ford, Vauxhall, Nissan, etc and do your own comparison. Then try some cheaper cars - Citroen, Hyundai or Kia. Then look at the Which Survey, JD Power and Warranty Direct reliability figures.

SEAT ands the Altea does not come out well in these comparisons.

I blindly bought another SEAT because the others were well made, a mistake.

The competion has passed now them, the golden years of SEAT the 'best kept secret' are gone.

You have to say the new designs look sexier though - perhaps SEAT really does want to be the Alfa Romeo of VAG - all the money goes on the design to leave the engineering and build a bit short.
 

leonlad

Full Member
Mar 28, 2004
1,123
48
london
seat`s will always be the underdog compared to vw`s so when the vw`s quality starts to slide the underdog that is seat can only get worse too.

from a business point of view i dont see why it`s like this since it`s a brand not a quality issue.

people like to be seen driving vw`s when others like to be seen driving seats.
judging by all these quality reports the FR and cupra models will need to be a bit special to warrant the cost
 

the cat

Like a dog with a bone.
Jul 20, 2004
224
0
Geordie Land
nsj said:
While other manufacturers are going the other way. The Altea or a SEAT is no longer a cheap car, but get in an Altea and then try a similar size/priced Ford, Vauxhall, Nissan, etc and do your own comparison. Then try some cheaper cars - Citroen, Hyundai or Kia. Then look at the Which Survey, JD Power and Warranty Direct reliability figures.

Hmm, not sure thats entirely fair - the Focus cmax is a rip off and whilst it may use better plastics, it looks like a dog. Some of citroen's efforts are woeful inside - my uncle has a picasso and I can pull bits of trim off at will. Almera Tino? Nasty. Plus the Altea seems well liked by Autoexpress, Testdrive and whatcar....

That said, I'm genuinely sorry you had such a bad experience. Maybe one day Seat will produce something to tempt you back into the fold....
 

ALTEA

Guest
I have just disposed of my 05 Altea after 1 year, because I think SEAT lost the plot with this one.

Apart from the really awful stereo, terrible speakers, bug ridden bluetooth implementation, there are far too many squeeks and rattles. I am a high mileage driver cica 20k pa and compared to my previous Toledo's the Altea does not have the same build quality. Yes, I think they improved the design both inside and out but lost the plot on the engineering. They look to be going the Alfa Romeo way - style over content.

I dont nessesesarely think that seat has lost the plot with the altea, but I can see your point about the build quality of the toledo mkII being of a better standard. I had a leon mkI and felt that it was better put together than the altea, I'm not saying that the build quality of the altea is bad, far from it. It's still a lot better than most of the other cars in this sector of the market, I just think that seat put the leon / toledo together a bit better.
 
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