Strange days indeed....

[cliveseat]

...most peculiar, mama, as I think some minor pop star once said. Because it has been an odd weekend with the Exeo, starting late on Saturday afternoon when I found a nail sticking out of a rear tyre. It resisted all attempts at removal by hand, so I decided to risk it, get it to the nearest tyre depot (one mile away) for a quick repair - job done. (Of course I'd have stopped if he TPMS had kicked in, officer).
It was 5pm by this time and the shutters were down on all the major operators, so - no choice - I'd have to put the spare on. Drove home, removed nail, tyre hisses and deflates, it's dark outside now, and there's no street light. Rummage about for locking wheel nut and jack - boot light goes out. Locate both, note odd design of jack but locate as per manual, raise car, remove wheel, replace with space-saver spare tyre (max 50mph), tighten nuts and finally start lowering the car.
To a chorus of tortured plastic.
Stop winding, can't see anything. However, the wheel is still not on the ground and the jack can't be pulled out - so I'll have to keep winding. The graunching gets worse, followed by a loud "pop" as the plastic door trim....well, breaks free of its mounting and cracks. There's another pop, which is the light bulb going off in my dim-bulb brain, as I realise what's actually going on here. That odd design I mentioned about the jack earlier? Well - stay with me here - when raising the car, there's sufficient clearance but coming back down... there just isn't. The car is actually lowered ONTO to the jack -and the graunching is the sound of its metal frame cutting two perfect grooves into the (I hope) plastic sill covers and (on the Sport) hacking through the lower door trims!
Anyway, chuck everything into the boot - wheel included - bit rushed now, got to visit sick relative in hospital an hour away, and it's 7pm (visiting time finishes at eight). Reverse into next door's car because the stereo's turned up a tad too high and the sensors are TOO BLOODY QUIET!!!!!!!
No damage to neighbour's Rover 75 - but rear number plate surround on Exeo cracked and distorted. Resolve to take a trip to the paint shop once weather improves to sort out sills, door trim, rear valance.
Then, tyre pressure dash warning goes off. Stop to get diesel, check newly-installed spare tyre. Gauge say's it's ONE psi down. One.
Set off again - right headlamp bulb is out, says the dash, as is one rear plate bulb, a consequence of the bump, no doubt. TPMS comes on again - same tyre. Resolve to get tyre and bulbs sorted in the morning. Get to hospital just as visiting time ends. Return trip uneventful, apart from permanently wagging fingers from the dash about the tyres and bulbs.
Following day - trip to Halfords. The nail has caused a hole on the shoulder of the tread and tyre wall. They say it would be "illegal" to repair it, so new tyre it is then? Except you can't really have just one, can you? Maybe I'm picky, but I prefer to change them a pair at the time, so they wear at the same rate. As they're balancing the wheel, however, it shoots off the machine - "that's the first time that's ever happened" - and is scratched and damaged. Fair play, they immediately offer to get it repaired by local Wheel Wizard. Resolve to get the others done at the same time. Shudder to think of the cost of all this work.
Halfords guys very apologetic, bless 'em, and relieve me of £245.
Agree to get car booked in when weather improves...
Now - when I last posted, I was highly critical of the Sport's ride, but I've been wondering if I got a bit carried away. After all, I did drive the car extensively before I bought it and I WAS very impressed so - yes - it's my own fault
These Falkens (yeah, me too) SEEM to have a softer compound than the previous and (I suspect rather cheap and nasty) Federals, and the initial impression is of a SLIGHTLY more supple and smoother ride - and a bit less road noise. Since we're not talking about the driving wheels, it's difficult to tell for now. Resolve to investigate decent rubber for the front pair.
It's not dampened the interior creaks I keep banging on about, but - hey, you can't have everything. Today, driving to the hospital, I simply turned up The Beatles and for once the standard stereo sounded OK and drowned out most of the irritants. The latest suspect is the piano black plastic trim above the glove compartment......
Resolve to sort out dash and centre console squeaks when....I think you know the rest.
Get back in tonight and read elsewhere on the forum about the end of the line for the Exeo. Feel depressed again.
Happy motoring, everyone.

 

[Legohead]

Thats a whole lot of damage in a short space of time there mate I feel for ya! However I just don't understand the jack issue. If it fits under the car before jacking up then surely it should lower back down in the same position? Or am I missing something? Normally a car will sit slightly higher after being jacked up until rolled forward or backwards as well.

I can understand the TPMS going off if the spare is a different size as the system works on wheels speed. Mine comes with what looks like a full size spare, albeit s steel wheel so its odd that you have a speed restriction.

I'm with you replacing tyres as pairs, unless the remaining good one is quite new and can be matched. The wheel coming of the balancing machine sounds like classic uder error to me. Personally I'd push for a new wheel as a lot of these mobile wheel repair guys do such a crap job, with a finish that never lasts

 

[M7R]

No wider the ride was pap, federal s are a cheap nasty tyre! Falken is better but never liked their grip levels, I've always gone back to Kumhos, good wear rat vs grip and ride.

The jack works, but you have to be very careful where you put it, I did the same thing on my old Audi the first time I had to use the widow maker!

Tpms will go off with the space saver, it's a smaller diameter tyre, tpms works by using the abs sensors to work out how fast each tyre is going, if one or more starts to rotate faster than the computer expects for a given speed then it knows the tyre is low on pressure, as low pressure means smaller rolling radius for the wheel and hence it spins faster.

The parking beep can be made louder, but its a dealer or a visit to someone with vag com to alter the settings,

 

[cliveseat]

Yes - I've been thinking about this and the only conclusion I've come to is that it must be something to do with difference in size between the two wheels (18" alloy vs 16" spare).
It means you have to wind down the jack that bit further once the smaller Spacesaver is in place, although the spare tyre is a 55-profile rather the 40 of the 18s, so there can't be much in it. But it's enough to catch the plastic trim, that's for sure. I'd noticed on the way up that the jack seemed a bit "snug", if you know what I mean, but never considered there might be consequences on the way back down in the dark.
I take the point about the TPMS and, to be fair, it was just indicating that it was "aware" of an issue at one corner of the car - but I was aware of it too. After all, I'd just been floundering about for half an hour putting the bloody spare on!
Plus, a headlamp had blown and I was feeling pretty irritated about the electronic babysitter warning me about that too, as I was on the way back from a non-too-positive hospital visit.
Giving the only non-damaged alloy a good kerbing today - not the car's fault, obviously - hasn't improved my mood one jot, either. Must be going through a clumsy period or something. Sub-zero all day as well - so that's introduced a couple of new creaks to the cabin.
Considering giving up driving for Lent.

 

[cliveseat]

Am I being a bit hard on the Exeo? Possibly. Going through a difficult period at the moment, and logging many more miles than I expected, so I'm looking for a soothing and cosseting ride - and I'm finding the Exeo a bit......frustrating in those areas.
Slogging up and down motorways and A-roads, it's at times like this that you notice a car's foibles and the things you're prepared to tolerate or not.
My last V5 Toledo had many faults but I'd argue that it was as well-built as the Exeo, rode better, was just as fast, had a brilliant (but dirty) engine, better seats (electric adjustment - perfect) and just as much room in a more compact package. The stereo sounded better too, although it was only a CD stacker, and the sat/nav packed up eventually, but looked pretty as it conked out.
I'm not sure the Exeo represents much by way of progress - typified by the half-hearted way that SEAT foisted it on to the market in the first place. And now they're pulling it.
On the plus side, it's still pretty comfy, the air-con's brilliant in this weather and it looks great (whatever happened to Urano Grey? Much nicer than Fifty Shades of Grey, or whatever the other one's called). And with more 50mph motorway stretches springing up by the day round here, 55-ish mpg is OK by me.
The other thing that's nagging at me, I suspect, is that the money I was setting aside for the re-map (141 to 171 - yeah!), which might have answered the "more poke needed in fifth and sixth" issue, will now be going on tyres, body and wheel repairs. But the REALLY galling bit is that I can't even blame the car any of those for those - they were MY chuffing fault!

 

[ozz]

Bad day at the office. Keep calm and carry on as the ever increasing range of merchandise says.

Can't you reset the TPMS by holding down the tyre pressure button next to the handbrake/aux socket? Do it whilst driving on a flat straight road after pumping tyres up to correct pressures.

 

[cliveseat]

Reset it numerous times. OK for about two minutes and then came back on.
On another note, saw a transporter carrying new Leons the other day. That's a very good looking car, especially with the big alloys...oh, hang on....

 

[JohnMcL7]

The comments above about the Toledo are pretty worrying to me I have to say, I previously owned an 04 plate Seat Toledo Sport TDI 150 which while is my favourite car of those I've owned it certainly had plenty of flaws. I bought the car at around two years old but the build quality never felt that solid (even compared to the 100K mile Octavia mk 1 I'd just sold) as there always seems to be a few creaks and rattles around the cabin, the stereo wasn't great nor were the seats. I realise the V5 was a bit better spec but not a completely different car.

The reason I find that worrying is that when I drove the Exeo it felt much more solid than the Toledo I had both in terms of the materials used and lack of creaks/rattles but then that car was only a 60 plate, I have noticed a few other people mentioning squeaks and rattles. I was also hoping for a better stereo than the Octavia has which is ok but has never sounded good.

John

 

[cliveseat]

There could be a couple of factors at play here. First - maybe I've got a bit of a downer on the Exeo at the moment when (as I've been at pains to point out previously) most of its issues are my responsibility (prangs, wheels, crap tyres). Secondly, it might be a case of nostalgia viewed through rose-tinted beer goggles with reference to the Toledo. Driven with a bit of vim soon had the fuel consumption plummeting below 28mpg and I objected to paying £245 a year for the VED on a car which (at only 150bhp on mine - wish it had been the 170) wasn't exactly the last word in performance. Mine had had a decent respray, wheels refurbished and renewal of various suspension bits, plus other work which is part and parcel of running (what was by then) a nine-year-old car. And there was ONE creak from the dash, as I remember, which was cured by re-adjusting the steering wheel. And it ate coils for fun - so maybe I'm overlooking plenty here. And the front armrest got stuck. And the aerial froze one night so the sat/nav packed up. And the ride could be a bit bouncy - but never crashy.
However, the V5 engine was super smooth, lag-free and sounded brilliant even at modest revs, and the cream alcantara really gave a quality feel to the interior. The Exeo's cabin is like a cave by comparison, albeit a classy one, provided you don't stare too long at some of the scratchy plastics lower down.
Did your TDI have all the trimmings of the V5? You know: Nav, cruise, seats, sensors, up-rated sounds etc? The spec was as good as the Exeo - and this was in 2002.
The Toledo felt chunky, and the steering weighted up at speed (which I liked), but the Exeo seems to feel heavier, and the steering gets lighter the faster you go (which I don't). I understand it's the reverse with the 170 Sport.....
The Exeo's a good car, but the impression I get from other contributors is that it's worth paying the extra for top spec, if you can afford it or the company is paying, by which time it's a lot of money for an ageing design.
Still wouldn't mind a 170 ST Sport Tech, though!

 

[JohnMcL7]

The TDI I had wasn't as well specified as the V5 and the ride was a lot harder as far I'm aware, very bone jarring although I liked it that way. It perhaps contributed to the creaks and rattles in the cabin which came from all over the place, the main dash, the ceiling and the boot (which leaked initially). I don't think the one I had was a bad one as the TDI 110 S I test drove seemed much the same.

To me, the Octavia Mk II I have now felt a bit better built than the Toledo both in terms of squeaks/rattles and quality of the parts, it's not free from them but didn't feel as bad as the Toledo. The Exeo I test drove felt better again than the Octavia which is appealing. However my concern is you're not the first person to say this, someone else said they thought the Exeo felt worse than their mk 1 or 2 Leon which I was also surprised.

It's a private purchase for me but one of the main reasons is it seems very cheap for what you get, the one I looked at was a 60 plate Sport Tech ST 170 for under £14,000 which seems cracking value for money even compared to the current Octavias. Much of the standard tech spec on the Exeo is an optional extra on the Octavia or not even an option on the Octavia despite the Skodas usually being quite good value for money. I've seen a six month old Sport Tech estate with the 170 engine for just £16K although that's with a less favourable wine red colour and another white one the same spec with sunroof for £17,500. Fords are always cited as a better alternative by reviews but the Mondeos don't seem to give you much for the money and the Focus ST is very expensive and again you don't get as much spec.

John

 

[cliveseat]

Yes, the Exeo has a lot of showroom appeal but the creakiness (at least on mine) of some of the fittings, exacerbated by the turbulent ride ( tyre choice seems key on the Sport), suggests SEAT haven't cracked the quality issue - and won't bother now they've stopped building it.