Latest car available in my local area that has caught my interest:
1999 T reg SEAT CORDOBA 141,000 miles Manual Diesel Cordoba Vario (Estate), 1.9TDI, 141K miles FSH, clean well maintained, 2 owners from new, had since 2000.
Thoughts on fuel economy, reliability etc for the subject vehicle would be appreciated from owners or others that may have experience.
Many thanks in advance.
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Hi Murielson
I own the VW version - that's the Polo Classic Estate 1.9 TDI (90). Mine is on a 99T plate too. I bought it a little over 4 years ago (one owner ex motobility car) with just 23k miles on it. It's now up to 78k. As cars go I've been delighted with it - well built, solid and very, very reliable. It's never let me down one. Only had regular servicing every 10k by a mobile mechanic + 5k oil and filter changes from me plus last year on a holiday to Wales I had to have a new exhaust fitted - nothing unusual in that. I'm watching for the battery to peg it next. It uses no oil between changes and year on year has averaged 60mpg - a low of 53mpg (fast run from Loch Lomond back home to Suffolk) and a high of 73.5 mpg ( just to see how economical it can be). My journies are mostly commuting to work (80 miles round trip - fast dual and A road) and family holidays in this country. If we stay local we use our other car. There are a couple of things I would wish for as no car is perfect. I find the seats only comfortable for 2-3 hours at a time and it doesn't have air con. In fact its got no central locking or electric windows either - the two things that have played up on previous cars I've owned. I like my cars to have a good heater and boy is this one a good one!!
From what I have learned and read since I bought my Polo I expect it to sail past 141k miles with ease so if the price is right go give it a try out. It should pull well from just off tick over and (on a private road - pull strongly to 100 mph with more to come)
Back in around 99-2000 we had a couple of Cordoba Estate TDI's as pool casrs and I remember one was slightly faster than the other - but the y were both good cars and took a lot of stick.
Hope this helps you decide.
I say go for it.
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Many thanks gramar
So I could expect to get at least 50+ mpg from this for commuting purposes on fast A road and motorways?
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My Dad drives one - owned a R plate from new.
Mechanically sound, bit of body rot on the wheel arches. He gets 60+ mpg but he does drive like a snail.
I've driven it a few times, very agricultural, I got around 46 mpg on a tankful of mixed motoring.
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Only thing to watch is rear leg room. I used to have the SDI version and this was a great workhorse, but I had to get rid of it as I could not get a group 0 car seat to fit in the back and have leg room in the front :-(
Joe
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I had a look at one and it seemed nice, but interior a bit dated for an R-reg and appalling rust around the wheel arches. Out of curiousity, what colour is the dash with the lights on? Yellow needles are SOOO 1980's.
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HJ's CBCB says "Vario estate is not a true estate because it has a high load lip to give the body rigidity."
Could be a pain if you are using the rear load area often/for bulky/heavy items.
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Thanks for the info folks.
Not really getting this as a true estate; colour, styling etc doesn't really matter as I am looking for the economy and this is the best that has become available on the used market in my local area of late.
It will be replacing a Mondeo 1.8 petrol, 5 door hatch and as long as I get a similar or better ride with regards to comfort it will be okay. Will certainly get much improved mpg based on spec info and comments on this thread.
Haven't even got to see it yet as I am hoping for a call back today so that I can arrange to get to it. At least it has gioven me the opportunity to canvass views on this site for thoughts and known problems before i get to speak to the current owner.
Many thanks again
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I had a W plate saloon version of this. Only problems had over 50,000 miles and 4 years were air mass meter needed replacing and central locking switch packed up on fule filler cap (replaced under warranty). Car did feel quite agricultural when I dropped it off to new owner (and had been driving replacement Mondeo TDCi for a week).
If facelifted version the interior will have all red dashboard and lights, otherwise is just a lightly modified version of the Polo it was based on.
Wife and I both loved the car, and was bought of me at 65000 miles by a colleague of a friend who has still got the car and AFAIK has had no problems with it.
Hope this helps.
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I find that MiL's Polo, which is the same in the front half, is quite un-spacious. Nor much headroom for a 6' -er, and quite narrow inside also.
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Test drive last night and a nice motor for its age.
One question however - the gearbox 'gate' seemed quite loose and someone has suggested it may be a gearbox linkage issue? Selects gears no problem just not as precise as I feel it could be. Hope this explanation works as it is difficult to write here.
I have negotiated down to £900 (approx £1500 book price) assuming that this problem may cost up to £200 to fix if anything requires doing. Just wondered if anyone has any experience of this type of problem and likely causes.
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Isn't £900 is a bit much considering it's 10 years old and got 150k on the clock?
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Not according to book price and assuming I can keep it on the road for several more years with a bit of TLC (and regular servicing etc) there are significant savings to be made based on mpg.
www.wisebuyers.co.uk/index.jsp?guide=prices&page=u...4
www.wisebuyers.co.uk/motoring/car-reviews/Seat/Cor.../
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That's two big assumptions - and too many for me. This car is at the end of its planned life and you are planning to spend a grand + on it (allowing for you £200 reserve).
It's worth £600, and no more. Maybe less.
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Thanks for the opinion. Hopefully it will last me quite some time and turn out to be good value for money and I can come back on here in a year or so and post to that effect.
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