1.9 TDI Reference Sport 5dr Hatchback

Comfortable, economical, good on long motorway journeys but lumpy, unreliable and poor visibility.

I bought this car as a more stylish alternative to a C-MAX or Meriva. I traded up from a Fabia VRS (which was a fantastic car) because I needed more room for two kids and the paraphernalia that goes with them. We got a stonking deal on it, almost as cheap as a second hand model.

The steering is light which is good for the lady of the house and the engine, although lumpy, pulls well enough low down. It seems to constantly deliver mid 50's mpg. The handling is okay, nothing to write home about, but not bad for what it is. The 'sports' suspension can mean a slightly crashy ride and although it isn't bone crunching it can be a bit uncomfortable now and again. The cabin isn't as quiet as it could be and could do with more sound-proofing. One of the most annoying features is that the wipers sweep in from the A pillars but have been set up for a LHD car. So when you use the wipers there is an arc of water left in front of the drivers view. The brakes are fine around town but the ABS is way too eager to cut in and the initial bite does not continue so they feel a bit digital - 'on or off'.

The luggage space is excellent. It can swallow a double buggy and a weekly shop. The rear seats fold down easily and can move forward and backward when upright to increase boot space. The car still looks good on the driveway too. You have to be carefull when parking at the supermartket though as there are no rubbing strips and the curvaceous body exacerbates 'dings'.

Equipment is not overly generous, basic air con, an average stereo. The interior has so far been child proof and still cleans up like new. The sporty seats are very comfortable. The switchgear feels robust enough but 'clicks' rather than 'clunks'. The rear visibilty, partly due to the C pillars size, is shocking. This has resulted in two small bumps to the rear of the car. The rear parcel shelf has worked it's mountings loose due to being taken out and put back in on a regular basis but it does not rattle and isn't a great problem.

The big problem with this car has been the flywheel (dual mass). I am about to extend the Seat warranty as the car has had a replacement flywheel after about 18 months and another one has just lunched the clutch and transmission with 1 month left of warranty. This resulted in new clutch, Flywheel, clutch master cylinder and some work on the transmission itself. Although this has rectified the jerky clutch action the car has always had it worries me that it would go again. The breakdown cover through Seat was for two years and the warranty is for three so make sure you have breakdown cover...I didn't.

I have used two dealers one is very good (although they fitted the first DMF which failed) and the other is terrible - I think that is down to the fanchise rather than Seat. A quick search on dealer ratings seems to tally with my experiences.

It may be that this car had a fault from new that was never picked up on until the DMF failed but that alone would make me think twice before buying one again.

Report as offensive