So far a Disappointed MK4 owner

[Sjdickso]

Well ownership of our low mileage late 2006 FR 1.8, we have had it 5 months and what a expensive and not great time it has been. Disappointed is a light way of how I feel about our car.

Issues galore, costs well approx we have spent about £350 each month totalling a nice £1750 that's on just parts and labour not tax and fuel etc.

We had a MK3 on the last reg 02, what a sound solid car, apart from the rear washer pipe it was a dream what went wrong with the MK4?

The car looked spot on when I bought it, but it soon started go down hill after I visited so called tuner of vags, which did a oil change and and fitted a panel filter for £210.

The car supermarket I bought it off did a $hite wheel refurb job, that got worse, they also only changed the belt and not the tensioners or pump so that was next and plugs well the list goes on from there, I won't bore you with the saga.

So 5 months on :-

Service and ITG filter.
Full cambelt and water pump G12 coolant.
Spark plugs.
New dog bone and bush with gearbox oil change.
Wiper blades
New front brake setup
Brake fluid flush and replace
Coil packs
New diverter valve
Removal of dodgy vacuum hose and T piece
Air con treatment
New front boots
Pollen filter
Top mount cover
New wiper arm
New oil and filter, sump plug with correct grade oil.
Turbo to down pipe gasket and bolts.
New rear discs and pads
New polo 9N ariel


Just had wheels off to get refurbed, they need new rear boots and have the following to fit
Genuine Ibiza Cupra rear wishbone console bush
Front powerflex wishbone bush
Genuine ARB bushes
FAI ARB drop links


And to top it off I can hear a whine in the box which isn't right talked to gearbox place and it could be a cost of £450 to £1k depending on DMF. The extended warranty was a real waste time but am going to try with the gearbox.

Bring back our French Clio Sport!

 

[great_kahn]

Sounds like you bought a pup tbh. Would have been cheaper to buy the cupra, then you would have already had the good brakes and the solid bushes

 

[Sjdickso]

Sounds like you bought a pup tbh. Would have been cheaper to buy the cupra, then you would have already had the good brakes and the solid bushes

A pup, think I bought a 12" rusty nail the reason I went for this was for the 5 doors, we still wanted a small sportish car with 5 doors how a car with full service history and only 38k on the clock could be so bad I don't know.

In all fairness you could take the cost off of a few items like the cosmetic stuff, Ariel and Wheels, tyres well you expect that. The brakes I wanted it to be safe so bought correct branded items.

Live and learn next time I will get a full check done even at a large car place, I am now thinking about writing off what I have spent and chop it in.

 

[cupra-barn]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of that is general service/wear and tear items.

Things like brakes etc dont just go in 5 months you would of seen that they were low when you purchased so why not negotiate that into the deal?

I'm sorry but from what I'm readin the only thing you couldn't pre-empt was the Downpipe gasket, brake fluid and possibly plugs if you replaced them because they failed.

Now on a constructive and helpful note, when you had your gearbox oil changed what fluid did they use? It's a commonly known thing that using the proper fluid from the dealer is highly advised and not to use an equivelant specification of oil from the aftermarket. Personally I would get you fluid changed again using the proper stuff from SEAT and see how that is...will be a lot cheaper than circu £500

 

[Sjdickso]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of that is general service/wear and tear items.

Things like brakes etc dont just go in 5 months you would of seen that they were low when you purchased so why not negotiate that into the deal?

I'm sorry but from what I'm readin the only thing you couldn't pre-empt was the Downpipe gasket, brake fluid and possibly plugs if you replaced them because they failed.

Now on a constructive and helpful note, when you had your gearbox oil changed what fluid did they use? It's a commonly known thing that using the proper fluid from the dealer is highly advised and not to use an equivelant specification of oil from the aftermarket. Personally I would get you fluid changed again using the proper stuff from SEAT and see how that is...will be a lot cheaper than circu £500

You are correct, most is wear / tear items, I had issues with car place saying they had done a chunk of the above and they blatantly hadn't, if they had done the tensioners and pump while doing the belt I wouldn't have had all that done.

I did have plugs done due to the service interval, as for the brakes the rears where apparently 6 months old and front discs and pads brand new, after a few weeks I had no trust in the brakes they must have fitted the cheapest tat they could find, with just moister in the air brake surface would rust and that was just the start so all the lot was changed for safety reasons.

When I changed the oil and dogbone mount/ bush as I had a crunch from 1st to2nd I used Opie oils, went for Fuchs Titan sintofluid which cured the crunch.

Everything apart from that has been genuine.

In all fairness you could say this has been a poorly maintained car, upto me buying it hence the issues and cost implications, not down to the make or model. But I will say after a few months driving the MK3 did feel more of a solid car

 

[RUM4MO]

Well, I'd think that when comparing a MK4 with a MK3 you might have missed the point that where the MK3 was a modified/updated VW 6N Polo design, the Ibiza MK4 and 9N Polo are just Skoda Fabia platforms with some better bits added on top, as they say, "you can't polish a turd" !

Add to this buying from a car supermarket and you have a recipe for much potential grumpiness.

At least your car could have been built in Europe, the 5 door Polo that my wife will want/need soonish, will probably have been built in South Africa - I'm a bit uncertain about that, might wait a while and try to grab an early 5 door Audi A1(?) at least that car will still have rear disc brakes.

In general, I think that you have been reasonably lucky so far, 3 years after buying my wife a brand new Polo 9N 1.4 16V 75PS, it started asking for lots of money for a couple of years, mainly to fix known design/production issues - one of which was the crappy TCA rear bushes - got indie to fit Cupra ones so that is not an issue. It was the cost of replacing some parts by a VW dealer followed by the cost of replacing front tyres after I had been assured I needed a full four wheel re-alignment (first ARB failed) and got it included in the ARB replacement task, followed by needing that work repeated a year or so later when the TCA bushes failed by a proper VAG indie, followed a year later by another four wheel re-alignment when the new tyres had "gone" by MOT time etc etc. For the past 5 or 6 years the alignment has stayed okay, so that is good! All these costs add up and make me feel that my faith in VAG products has been misplaced. Compare that with my almost 13 year old VW Passat 2.8 V6 4Motion - an old Audi platform with some cheaper bits on top, the only failures have been battery + A/C flap motors + a rear brake calliper!

Remember, "you can't polish a turd" - I have had a few Ford Escort/Orion Ghias, but in the final analysis they were all no better than an Escort/Orion.

 

[cheshire cat]

so where was this supermurcado?

 

[krussel]

Sadly this can be the cost of buying a poorly maintained car. We bought a 2 yr old Vectra SRi for a cheap price but paid heavy later on.

On a positive note you have replaced a lot parts which hopefully will last so you should reap some reward over the next few years

To put into prospective a cambelt change, water pump, full service and MOT will set you back the best part of £850 at a main dealer.

 

[Earthling]

I bought what was probably one of the most poorly maintained 2002, 1.4 Ibizas on the planet, with bits of shredded timing belt still in the housing and an on-off glowing engine check light.

Having replaced both timing belts and alternator belt, front lambda sender, front suspension bush, temperature sensor, treated it to an oil-filter and brake fluid change, its first replacement pollen filter and cleaned the, what can only be described as a pigsty interior, it's quite a nice car.
Or not.

 

[Sjdickso]

Cheers for all your comments, I have now put my toys back in the pram, I am not blaming the model or manufacturer, just got to put it down to a poorly maintained car like some of you have also had previous experiences of, think I am catching up with 4years or owners not having anything done.

There is that saying "buying someone else's trouble" I think this was the case.

Now the customer service wasn't great where I bought it from but I took it to a more local branch of the Car People and they where pretty helpful, the technician seemed to want to help, he seemed to think there wasn't a issue with the transmission noise but for peace of mind they would or I could take to independent gearbox place, the issue with warranty could arise if it was bearing as it may be classed as "wear and tear".

The technician did say he has drove a few Cupra MK4s and they sounded very similar.

I may go and the gear box oil changed again for OEM stuff although the FUCHS stuff is meant to be good.

As said at least I have replaced most parts that may need doing at some point lol.

I am looking forward to getting all the refurbed wheels on and front end bushes sorted, and a detailing session.

Thanks for putting things in perspective for me.

 

[Crumpyz]

I own a mk4 cupra, and the manual 5 speed gear boxes are naturally notchy and noisy. Mine whines when I let off, and of course 1st, as no doubt its probably straight cut. I would not worry about it if it is just a subtle noise, my mate has a mk4 FR and it produces the same noises. Try some redline gearbox oil, it does well at smoothing changes and reducing noise, and if in doubt pop to seat and get their gearbox oil.

 

[Crumpyz]

Sucks getting a poor maintained car though, I bought my cupra in an annoying state, the garage I brought it off changed the cam belt before I bought it, and fitted new front discs and pads. They bodged the belt, didn't replace the pump, so due to a new tight belt it gave out on me, and the buggers just grinded the lips off the discs, oh and smashed a pad retaining pin in so it didn't come out as they couldn't be assed to buy a new one. Didn't bother to check as I was so excited about getting the car and trusted them. Ended up buying a new calliper and taking the other to work to machine out as a spare, and did the came belt my self. They only paid for the broken bits as well which was like £30 for a water pump. My advice is don't trust anyone, even dealers.

 

[Nath.]

What went wrong?

You didn't do your job very well.

As a buyer of a 2006 car you need to be way more on the ball than you were.

You should have insisted on a proper cam belt job and chased it up.

you should have got under the car and checked the boots and bushes.

etc,etc,etc.

Sorry, you can't blame the car.

 

[Sjdickso]

What went wrong?

You didn't do your job very well.

As a buyer of a 2006 car you need to be way more on the ball than you were.

You should have insisted on a proper cam belt job and chased it up.

you should have got under the car and checked the boots and bushes.

etc,etc,etc.

Sorry, you can't blame the car.

Your right I can not blame the car, I had just had enough of it by the end of last week, cam belt was done by the same people 6 months previous the car people, I was told it was a full cambelt but turned out to be just belt, for peace of mind I had it all swapped especially after i found no coolant at all in the system when I had the initial service done externally.

Tyres I knew about as I did with the wheel refurb, brakes where new but deteriorated badly due to low quality items and bad weather.

The reason I had a service done as well even though I told it just had one was the fact the oil was jet black and the housing of the oil filter looked liked it has seen a few thousand miles of road dirt. I am glad I did as it showed the non coolant ratio.

It kinda snow balled from that point.

In all fairness I had rose tinted glasses on, buying a new car trusting it had FSH and on only 38k on the clock.

 

[Sjdickso]

Sucks getting a poor maintained car though, I bought my cupra in an annoying state, the garage I brought it off changed the cam belt before I bought it, and fitted new front discs and pads. They bodged the belt, didn't replace the pump, so due to a new tight belt it gave out on me, and the buggers just grinded the lips off the discs, oh and smashed a pad retaining pin in so it didn't come out as they couldn't be assed to buy a new one. Didn't bother to check as I was so excited about getting the car and trusted them. Ended up buying a new calliper and taking the other to work to machine out as a spare, and did the came belt my self. They only paid for the broken bits as well which was like £30 for a water pump. My advice is don't trust anyone, even dealers.

As said in previous posts seems like few of us have fallen victim to a poorly maintained car. Your situation sounds similar to mine, very similar indeed sounds like these boxes are just a bit whiney and notchy, which puts my mind to rest a bit.

That's really good advice.

 

[Sjdickso]

I own a mk4 cupra, and the manual 5 speed gear boxes are naturally notchy and noisy. Mine whines when I let off, and of course 1st, as no doubt its probably straight cut. I would not worry about it if it is just a subtle noise, my mate has a mk4 FR and it produces the same noises. Try some redline gearbox oil, it does well at smoothing changes and reducing noise, and if in doubt pop to seat and get their gearbox oil.

Thanks for that I think i will do a change soon and either try some redline or get a dealer to do a change .

 

[JPS3290]

Think you have just been unlucky and maybe bought stuff you could probably have waited until your next service for if you only have 38k on the clock.

On the positive side the car itself should be fine if looked after. I bought my mk4 Cupra TDI new in Sep 07 and its still my everyday workhorse and it was remapped from just 6k on the clock. Currently at 107k. Only parts that NEEDED replacing have been a couple of turbo pipes and 1 knackered turbo. Turbo would probably have lasted another 20k before replacing but i changed it to prevent further costs should it have gone suddenly due to the noise it made.

Apart from that i find the serviceable parts quite reasonably priced and do brakes etc myself.

 

[cupra.al]

Sucks getting a poor maintained car though, I bought my cupra in an annoying state, the garage I brought it off changed the cam belt before I bought it, and fitted new front discs and pads. They bodged the belt, didn't replace the pump, so due to a new tight belt it gave out on me, and the buggers just grinded the lips off the discs, oh and smashed a pad retaining pin in so it didn't come out as they couldn't be assed to buy a new one. Didn't bother to check as I was so excited about getting the car and trusted them. Ended up buying a new calliper and taking the other to work to machine out as a spare, and did the came belt my self. They only paid for the broken bits as well which was like £30 for a water pump. My advice is don't trust anyone, even dealers.

i got my gearbox oil changed under warranty when i had a cupra 20vt and the car was out of warranty it was a recall on the car.
mine was notchy untill they changed the oil might be worth a try with the dealers for you.

 

[krussel]

did the came belt myself.

Can i ask how you found the job. Easy or hard etc ?

 

[Crumpyz]

Thanks for that I think i will do a change soon and either try some redline or get a dealer to do a change .

No worries mate, I know how horrible it is when you first get a car and how you hear all these different sounds and start thinking, should that sound like that? Is that okay? and so on...so it is a relief when someone has the same noise Don't worry about subtle rattles inside the cabin btw, Ibiza are pretty rattily cars, my passenger seat belt holster is driving me crazy atm ^^