Dear Stumpy...
Letters that visitors have sent in after reading about Stumpy. 

First, some letters from Stumpy's new owner, then lower down the page all the other letters that Stumpy and I received.

First, a series of letters from Stumpy's new owner!

From: glen swift 
April/May 2004 
Subject: i just bought your car!

hello 
I just found your website when I was looking for info on a seat arosa and it appears that I just bought your car! the blue arosa 1.4 16v reg number duo2 hbk (from premier seat stoke).

anyway what advice would you give regarding the E PC light as it did come on the test drive but they said nothing to worry about and would sort it before I pick the car up on Sunday (2 may 2004).

apart form this the car is really nice and I will look after it so don't worry!

hope to hear from you soon.

glen swift

....

Peter

thanks for the reply just picked him up and everything is ok, is a great
looking car!

nice to drive, quite quick as well and comfortable, ideal for me (am not a
boy racer!)

got him for £5600 with a cd player fitted, so was a good deal for age,
mileage etc I think

Also I paid with cash, which was 50% bank loan and 50% cash so no finance
through them as I know they would have fleeced me!

take care

Glen

...................

hi peter

I have had the car for 3 days now and it has done the limp home mode already
(when I was behind a diesel van). the emissions light stayed on so I have
took it to my nearest SEAT dealer which is in Sheffield and told them the
history of repairs etc.

it took a lot of persuading at premier SEAT in stoke to get them to admit to
previous repairs(why?) so if you have receipts hopefully we could meet if I
ever need them for evidence if I have to reject the car.

they have contacted SEAT UK and are going to do a proper fix as the service
advisor at Sheffield said it wasn't fixed properly the first time (by
PREMIER SEAT)

any way will give SEAT at Sheffield a chance to fix the problem if not
sorted within two weeks I will reject the car to SEAT premier in stoke.

...........................

thanks peter,

anyway Sheffield SEAT are going to put in a whole new ECU, because just
replacing sensors will not cure the problem (after consulting with SEAT UK)
after I told them about what had been done previously I.a the new sensors
etc.

I must mention Bruce at SEAT Sheffield as he has been excellent and very
professional throughout.(he is the one who contacted SEAT UK)

I am disappointed with SEAT premier of stoke because not one of them has
rung me to see if it is ok (including Kelly who sold me the car)

the good side is that it should cure the problem once and for all hopefully
and that we can let other arosa sport owners know so that it can become a
recall issue?(if anyone else has these problems)

if I didn't like the car so much I think I would have rejected it straight
away! but I will give them this chance and see from there.

I do hope I can sort this out because he is a great little car despite the
problem!

will let you know what happens,

thanks again for your help.

............

16 May 2004:

peter

have had revised ecu fixed and so far everything seems fine so am happy now!

on reflection and speaking to other new car owners it seems it is now par
for the cars for at least one thing to go wrong (all the electrics and
safety equipment etc)

its just that the people who sell you the car don't seem to care once they
have your money which is a shame.

but they didn't bargain for the power of the internet!

once again I am enjoying owning the arosa and feel it was very good value
for money even with the problem they tried to brush under the carpet. (it
definitely has personality which is rare in modern cars).

anyone else who reads this should be reminded of how dodgy car dealers are
in general and they don't have a conscience!

so just get the best deal and warranty or WALK AWAY!

glen

........................
.
(October 2004)

hi peter

just to let you know, the arosa is fine and has been since the new ecu just after i bought it

so the problem has gone and i would recommend buying an arosa to anyone.

by the way my wife has just got a new fiesta ghia and that has been back 3 times in as many months,
so as cars get more complicated i reckon you can expect teething problems.

I am very happy with car and am looking after it!

GLEN SWIFT

Now all the other letters that Stumpy and I received (most recent at top)

I have been reading over your pages on several occassions now your stories about "Stumpy" and find them very entertaining being an Arosa owner and can really relate to some of the issues.

I'm writing to you to ask if you would be able to help with an issue my Arosa seems to have.

Arosa 1.0 MPI
1998 - S Reg

The engine warning light comes on indicating that it is overheating, yet the temperature gauge never goes above the regular mid way mark. I have checked the coolant levels and all is fine as it sits right in between the Min and Max markings. I think that a sensor may be broken and need replaced but wouldn't know what ones to look at.

Any help or pointers to another website would be greatly appreciated.

Many many thanks :-)

PGK's reply:
Hi Nathan,
Your problem sounds familiar. I am not mechanically very smart so I had to rely on what the dealer told me when I had that sort of problem, and the story I got was that the "sender" that communicated between the engine and the computer warning system kept being faulty or was possibly just oversensitive. I was told it is a common fault. Like it says on my page, I just had to pay to get bits fixed and eventually it went away... though I bet if I'd kept the car the problem would have come back. So, I'm afraid I'm not really much help. There is a SEAT discussion group on the web where there may be people with more technical info that could help you. Try http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/ and you will find model-specific problem discussions etc.
Good luck. Let me know how you get on!

PS - see the letters from Stumpy's new owner, above.

Nathan's follow-up mail:

Hi there, just an update with the Arosa and the red water (Overheating warning lamp)

Took it to a local garage who said that the anti-freeze mixture was too strong and slightly over filled. They watered it down and drained some liquied from the cooling system and the light hasn't been on since.

Hopefully that'll be it sorted now :-)
 

From Kelly Holland, January 2006

Hi Peter,

Its good to see that so many people love their Arosa as much as me. Can we launch a compaign to bring them back, I want a new one!!!!

Kelly Holland
Owner of Tessa, platimum Grey 1.0s

From Kirk Shepherd
October 2005

Hi Peter
I have a Seat Arosa 1.0 mpi s it's called dumbo by my mates as it has big ears (doors).
I've had him since 2003 and he is great. Still the E PC light was a problem but now OK. I hope I can find a 1.416v or a 1.6 16v Lupo as the chassis is amazing.

PGK's reply: you're right, the chassis can certainly take the extra from the 16v.

From Keith Alford
April 2004

Found your Stumpy page, quite funny to read about other Arosa lovers. 
I've got the really bad orange coloured Arosa, we all call it the Peach. I had a mark two Golf and V reg Polo before buying the Peach and wouldn't go back to a bigger car now. I've got the older 1.7 SDI, bit jolty and sluggish on some of our pot holed roads, but pretty nippy for a diesel,  great on the motorway. Bought it second hand from a Seat dealer. Probably paid a bit too much, especially considering the colour,  which I hated, Peach, what ever possesed them? (I got them to knock of £300 but that was all) I paid about £4500.
Being just like the VW Polo inside makes you forget it's such a small car. Test drove a fiat Sceicento which was bloody terrible in comparison. The Arosa feels really solid and safe. The seat controls allow for perfect driving position and parking is now one of my favourite things. The power steering is the lightest I've ever experienced. Can't count the number of times a passenger has said of a parking space, 'you'll never get it in there..' and then had to shut up.
No major problems with the Peach apart from a hard to track down problem with the fuel supply, down to electrics in the end, and a broken inside door handle. this is way after 50,000 miles though so not bad going. The parts seemed to take weeks to get sorted though. 
Overall a great car which can be loaded up with three people and two weeks worth of camping stuff and driven down to Spain and back quite comfortably. I'd love Seat to sponsor me to do a world tour, maybe in a new fancy Arosa. I'm very fond of the Peach and chose a diesel to last, but I wouldn't mind a new super speedy one. Perhaps you can modify a 1.7 diesel to be turbo charged? Hmmm, that'd be fun, and maybe a respray too. 
Would also quite like some back speakers but as room is at a premium back there I'm a bit stuck with how to do it. Any one else got them fitted? Can you still get in the micro boot OK?

Hi, 
             After recently buying a seat arosa 1.4s in silver only last saturday I have experienced a few problems.  My Tardis as it's called as it's big on the inside and tiny from the outside has condensation in all four lights, the drivers rear being really bad. the drivers side window doesn't seem to want to open fully. But apart from that it's a wonderful car.  I have recently got rid of bad rubbish, my old car being a 1.1 W reg Saxo (utter rubbish). Would never touch citroen again as the car didn't stand up to much at all.
        I must say the garage I bought the new Arosa from has been great so far (lookers Manchester) starting off  by knocking off the extra £225 for the metallic paint job and getting the car ready for me to collect within 3  weeks of purchase. I telephoned them today about the problems and low and behold they can get it all sorted on Friday.
        Are all the brochures lying about the speed this little time machine does? It certainly handles those corners  great.
        Thanks for the information provided on your site, it has been useful. 
        Hope everything ok with yours.

        Jeanette 

Hiya Pete,
        Firstly, I'd like to say yours is easily the best Arosa site on the web, full of interesting stuff many of us can  relate to.
                I own a W-reg Seat Arosa 1.0S in red. Before that I shared a green 1998 Seat Arosa 1.0 with my ex-girlfriend that was on Irish Republic plates. I was so impressed with the Arosa, that after we split, I bought one of my own. 
        My Arosa, Anya (a girl, by the way) has been with me for nearly 3 months now. I bought her from a Ford  dealership on north Merseyside. My interest was perked by the fact Anya was featured in an advertisement  for the Ford place in the local paper for ages, priced at £3995. I decided to take a look. She'd done   27,000 miles, had a full service history, was immaculate inside and out. I took her for a test drive, she was  great! I put down a £50 deposit there and then. When my bank loan cleared I paid £3500 cash for her. I  figured I'd gotten a bargain.
        I'm in the process of gradually modifying Anya to look more sporty in appearence. I bought a roof spoiler   from my local Seat dealer, fitted 14" Fox Evo alloy wheels, a twin headlight conversion and added some  window graphics. Next mod is side window tints. I don't plan on doing anything to the engine to get  more bhp out of it, but it can be frustrating. The 1.0 sometimes feels very underpowered on the road, yet there's plenty of gusto in the revs when stationary.
        That minor gripe aside, I'm more than happy with my "baby" Seat. Sexy to look at, roomy inside, cheap to  insure, economical with the petrol, back by solid VW build and engineering. What more can a driver ask for? 
        I'm always suprised at the lack of Arosas on our roads, and feel quite sorry for owners of our twin Lupo,  because they've missed out of the VW group's best kept secret.

Andrew Jackson,
Liverpool

From: Robert Marsh
June 25, 2003.

hope stumpy is doin ok, ive owned an Arosa 1.0 in Silver (on 02 reg) for the past 12months, bought brand new from Richard Cort Seat/Rover/Chrysler dealership. I have to say i used to own a Punto 55s and compared to my Arosa ( 'Mellow' ), it handled like a boat. The Arosa seems sharp, fun to drive and is very forgiving. The car has a few battle scars (namely a dent in the front wing, thanks mum...) and the odd scratch on the body coloured bumpers but with a good wash and some Autoglym it still comes up a treat. However there are a few things to mention, i agree with Mark Whitworth that the brakes on 1litre's seem to go completely downhill after the first 13000-14000 miles. As a remedy, i suggest (if your handy with mechanicals) to swap the hubs from a Arosa/Polo/Lupo 1.4 or bigger. These discs are a vented set-up, and generally work a lot better than standard. I think my car is probably the hardest driven 1.0 Arosa in the world (allthough Mnemonix might not agree) and there is definitely a difference between 95 and 98octane fuels. I run the car on Optimax and it accelerates far quicker than any normal 1.0. In fact, quicker than a Escort Zetec 1.6 to 45mph....
The only other thing is that in 12months (13000 miles) i have gone through 4tyres, 1down to a puncture, 3 others to do with wear. Although i do drive hard, has anyone else with high profile tyres experienced excessive tyre wear?The tracking has been checked and checked but to no avail. If your going to drive your Arosa hard you need low profiles, because of the way the car's suspension camber angles are set. Normal tyres simply lean onto their shoulders and wear quickly.
Anyway, hope your all still enjoying your Arosas, theyre great little cars.
Lupo?...R.I.P!!!

Rob

hi peter my names david have just traded my T REG 1.4 e vw lupo for a arosa 1.4 16v sport Y REG i am the second owner and cant believe how different they are it goes like a rocket i think the arosa looks a lot better than the lupo the back lights look smart and the front looks alot better as well seats are a lot more nicer how are you getting on with your arosa have you had any more problems with it hope to hear from you soon.
also do u know where i can get a set of headrests for the back as the ones were missing and seat say they cost 130 pounds a pair

all the best
from david palmer
norfolk

Evening Peter,
I have been reading your pages about the Arosa with great interest as I'm looking to change my ole 'M' reg Fiesta 1.1 to something a little sporter !
Made a visit to the Woverhampton Seat dealership 'Barlow' and they are currently trying to find a 1.4 sport for me. These 1.4 sport seem to be very hard to find and I was surprise when I was told that Air-con wasn't an option with the Arosa UK model ! Had a quote from the car insurnance company and was surprise that it will only cost me another £30 a year extra to insure !
Had a look at the VW lupo sport 1.4 which is basically the same car but a few does come with air con (at a price of course).
Test drove a Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 SRI which comes with air-con, cd play, 16" alloys but no ABS. It's nice to drive and the 1.4 SRI isn't that common but there are many Corsas on the road. They all look the same to me.
Spoken to somebody at All Electric garage in Halesowen who is also looking for a Arosa for me and was told that they have stop making the Arosa and Ibiza 1.4 sport models, do you know if that right ? If so, why did they drop the 1.4 100bhp engine ?
I read a car mag the other day about the Lupo replacement for late 2004 which will be a bigger car than the current model using the new petrol FSI engine which is better on fuel but a little slower.
I haven't seen a single Arosa sport on the road yet and I can't wait to test drive one, that if somebody can find me a good one to part ex with my Fiesta with.
Regards
Dezamania

2003

It's great to see a site dedicated to the Arosa (a pretty sound car all round!). I currently own a '98 1.0s in red. I haven't modified it much, just a set of 15in 5-spoke alloys which increased the grip immensely without any difference to acceleration. Although the car is fine around the twisty country roads where I live, getting out onto busy round-a-bouts in the middle of rush hour is no fun with the revy but underpowered 1-litre unit. I really don't want to change the car as I'm so happy with every other aspect of it! Is there any way of increasing the power output of the engine without damaging any of the mechanics as a result? I heard the ECU chip can be changed?

Geoff Hill
Derbyshire.
2003

From: Erik van Swinderen
17th March 2003

Hi Peter,

I have read your stories about the Seat Arosa sport with great interest. It was one of the reasons we choose the Arosa. We picked up our Arosa sport (ovni yellow) at the dealer last friday, three days ago. From the first kilometer we are very enthousiast about it. We bought it as a second car, my wife will (sadly for me) merely drive it. During the last weekend we drove it quite a lot at the highway and on small roads, almost 800 km now. My car is a Audi A4 Avant 1.8 T (150 bhp), but I think the Arosa is just as much fun, or even more, fun to drive. It really feels like driving a much bigger car. We have so far no problems with the Arosa. But I have discovered two minor imperfections:
- the spray for the windscreen it set too low
- one failure on the paint job ( +/- 2 mm; it seems like they have hit something during the assembly) on an upper edge of right front body panel
I will mention these at the the 1500 km service.

Furthermore I have a few questions for you. First, I read in your weblog about the fuel. The dealer advised us to use Euro 95, but I read in the manual that Super 98 is advised but that other fuels also could be used. In Holland there is a premium fuel from Shell called Pura, but that is also 95. I have used that so far. Does it really makes a difference to use Super 98? The second question is about the radio. the manual says the cover is removable, you should push the red button with SEAT and the cover will come loose, But I can't manage to get it off. Can you give me a hint?

Kind regards,

Erik van Swinderen
The Netherlands

PS
Good luck for Stumpy!

PGK replies: the red button seems to be a master on/off switch for the radio/casette, not a fascia-removal device, as far as I can tell... The Shell Optimax really did SEEM to make a difference to performance, but I've been back on "normal" lately... I'll try it again when next I see an "Optimax" petrol station.

Hi,
great to see an arosa page out there ;) I own the 1.0 version of the arosa, silver. Even though it's a 1.0 litre it seems a lot faster off the mark, honest :P
Anyway, I haven't had any engine problems with the car. The only problem that I found is that when I put a new head unit in (Pioneer DEH-P8400), both doors tended to vibrate. I know that no car is designed with car audio as first perspective, but it became very irritating. 
  So... after a quick unscrew... 
  I noticed the waterproofing was resonating like mad, cut that. No improvement (no leaks 3000 miles later either, thank god).
 Then noticed the problem was actually the lower plastic door frame vibrating against the door (removing paint :@). A bit of clear silicon applied, and foam  added to the boot end of the panel and the problem was gone. Only now, my accute hearing picks up the locking mechanism vibrating a bit... but not too much, and im content with the sound now :) cough*saving for subwoofie*cough
Just one more problem, the aerial supplied with the 1.0L does not pick up the longer bandwidths (medium -> long wave), and it's anti-theft design had me screwing for ages. But FM is perfect, picks it all up - radio text etc.
 O, and one more thing... it's been crashed 5 times now. Not all by me lol. But the car just seems like it does not want to fall apart, only sustaining a little scratch after completely knocking a mondeos rear off ... the car is like a wall.
 Anyway, death to the lupo... long live the arosa.

mnemonix.

Hi Pete,
It's good to see that someone else has got their hands on Seats ace little secret.  I have a 51 reg 1.0S, which is different to the ones they sold before and after mine, because mine came with alloy wheels and other bits and pieces as standard.  I can't agree more with what you have said on your site regarding dealers, I have been waiting for a new dashboard for a year now (mine warped when I asked the dealer to fix a rattle behind it!) nad they have made repeated attempts at fixing my sticking passenger window (again, new part on order).  Overall though I am impressed and I hope to get some 16V 15" wheels (mine are identical to the 16V's but 1" smaller) a rear valance and centre exit exhaust.  I also intend to paint the black lower valances body colour, Canica blue in my case. 
Watch out for the brakes though I have heard that on the 1.0 it is known for the pads to becowe shot at 16000, I have done 12000 and there is definately a noticable amount of travel in the pedal now.

Thanks for Listening

Mark

From Richard Walker, December 2002

Hi Pete,
                I've been reading your diary with great interest and have found that  it's not  just me suffering a few teething problems with my Arosa 16v sport.  The car (FN02 LDV) was delivered on 15.3.2002 in platinum grey and to say that we had bought the car without seeing the colour, looked  fantastic.
                 We had ordered the car (in yellow) for March 1st, but had rejected it on delivery, due to a large paint defect on the boot lid (missed by everybody in the P.D.I.department). The dealer (CO-OP Motor group, Sutton  in Ashfield) offered to spray the boot, but I refused and rejected the  car. This led to some very unpleasant scenes, but after speaking to the  head office sales director we recovered the full amount including deposit (beware anyone offered a yellow 16v in the Derbyshire area !)
                 A change of dealer (Willoughby Garages, Beeston, Nottingham) led us to  FN02 LDV, which was delivered 2 weeks later.  After 9000 miles of mixed driving the car seems to be getting faster, the engine has a real 'split personality', smooth and quiet below 3500   RPM and absolutely crazy above 4000 RPM, heading for the redline in low gears  nearly as quick as you can change gear. It makes a fantastic noise as the  revs climb, but rarely becomes intrusive.
                 The chassis is fairly rewarding, turn-in is sharp enough and feedback is good, pherhaps not as good as a VTR, but the quality of the Seat's build means it should out-live any French car. There are not many small hatches  with brakes as powerful and stable as the Arosa's either.
                      So far the car has had several minor problems:-
        1. After only 50 miles the rear ABS sensor wire became unclipped and  started to catch on the inside of the rear n.s. wheel. I managed to refit cable at the roadside and duly reported it to the dealer next day.
         2. At 1000 miles a loud rattle started behind the dash, somewhere near  the passenger airbag. This is not yet fixed as I am a little  reluctant to   have the dash disassembled for fear of even more rattles.
         3. At 6000 miles the horn fails and the car cuts-out whilst manouevering. Willoughby Garages promptly booked the car in and read the codes,  no fault was logged and the problem has not returned. The horn was   replaced on the same day.
                      Overall the Arosa is great fun to drive, economical to run (40ish MPG  combined), rare (I don't think I've seen another Sport in 9 months) and a great looking little car. I would recommend it to anyone as a Saxo VTR or Yaris T sport alternative.

 From Nick Brice, December 2002

Hi Peter,
                      Thanks for doing a website dedicated to owning a seat Arosa,I used to have a  Cordoba 2.0 16v sx coupe, i loved the speed and spec levels but when the warranty expired i started having some niggles with the car also the insurance i thought was a little high at group 16.I wanted to buy a better   house so the car would need to go,i went to SIDLOWS SEAT in East   Grinstead in febuary and test drove a little silver Arosa Sport i was quite  impressed   with it,the car was 7months old and was being used by one of the  staff,the   price was £7995 which i thought was a bargain as it was £10160 new list    price, it only had 4k on the clock .So i agreed a trade in i got £500  less  than i hoped for but i just could not sell the car privatly. I took delivery of the car it was immaculate and i drove it home via  M23 its about a 40mile drive i was so pleased with the car it felt very sure footed   for its size,i like the fact that you dont see many about also it looks  aggressive. I was so impressed with my insurance i used to pay £600 a year for my Cordoba now i pay £240 which is pretty good as i am only 27.  I have to agree with one of your letters regarding OPTIMAX petrol I  normally run car on super unleaded i know it dear but the car does such good mpg  + i  only do about 9k a year in it so i am not bothered about the price, I work near a shell garage so i tried some about 2months ago as they did not do super unleaded and the difference was almost immediate the car accelerates  much quicker in 2nd & 3rd gear so i will keep buying optimax from now  on.My car has now done 12k and is now run in i think it takes about 10k to get it running at its best.Problems to date are faulty CD Player which Seat  replaced, Leaking drivers door took 3 visits to sought it it out,back  lights condensated so bad that water collected in them this a common fault  with  seat Arosa back light so i am told,the dash board has got a rather annoying  rattle now. ABS packed up nothing replaced as fault rectified itself and so far it has not recurred.I do still like my car a lot and people still  comment on how it looks.Would i buy another i don't know if seat did an Arosa based on Lupo GTI spec but at seat money i would certainly give it  consideration. Happy Xmas

Hi There
I bought myself a 2001 X Reg VW Lupo brand new, and so far, I have had NO problems at all with it. My friend bought a 2002 52 Reg Arosa in September there, and after driving them both, I find the Seat to offer a more smooth ride (Not that I don't like the ride on my Lupo).

Anyway... After much thinking, I went to Ingrams in Glasgow, and traded in my Lupo for a brand new Arosa. That was the BEST decision I have made yet!

Keep up the good work on the site, and I will be checking back on a regular basis!

Cheers
Steve

From Matt Davies, July 2002.

Hi Pete, 
I read with interest your web diary for your Arosa. I too own a 1.4 16v Sport, Black on a Y plate which I have have hade now since June 2001.

I traded in my VTR Saxo after driving past a 1.0 litre Arosa and then checking out Seat's web page and seeing the Sport.  Luckly the dealer had just taken delivery of a demonstator so after a test drive I brought it there and then and was able to pick the car up after only 4 days.

I have experience a few problems with the car, like being locked in the car 20 minutes after picking it up from the dealers and two ECU sensors failing (engine and ABS) but touch wood the last 9 months have been fault free.

One thing I like about the car is its rarety. I have seen the odd S model but in a whole 12 months of driving I have yet to see another Sport on the road, with the Saxo I couldn't drive to the shops without passing about 5 other VTR's.

Have you tried Shell Optimax petrol,  I found that the car pulls away a lot more freely in first and look out when you reach about 4000 RPM in any gear it may be phsycological but I really think this petrol does make a difference (well that what I tell my wife when I am warranting paying the extra 5p a litre).

I have booked marked your page and will be checking back on regular basis to read Stumpy's progress.

Matt Davies 
 

From Ian Walling, August 2002

Hi Peter,
I have been reading your page about your Arosa with great interest after
finding it on Google, not long after you took delivery of your car. At
this time I too was looking at buying a Seat Arosa, and sure enough from
what I can make out, I took delivery of my Seat Arosa 1.4 16v Sport what
seems to be only a few weeks after you. I too am very happy with my car,
it looks good both inside and out, performs well and dispite the
complete lack of boot space is pretty practical.

However upon delivery I noticed a paint defect below the rear high-vis
brake light and along with a broken piece of plastic under the drivers
seat, a poor job at fitting the cd player in the boot and a rattle
coming from behind the dashboard. I contacted my dealer (Barlows of
Wolverhampton), and after a month of nagging they finally booked the car
in, and I was given a loan new ibiza for which I was told I would have
for 5 days. After 2 days I had a call informing me that my car would be
ready by the close of the following day! They had done an exceptional
job, and I hoped this would be the end of any issues.

I should be so lucky. By 2500 miles my car developed a faulty stereo, I
noticed a defect in the front drivers side light cluster, and
condensation was collecting in a side indicator. I found a closer seat
dealer (All Electric in Halesowen) who I must say are very efficient.
They never hastle about booking in a car (it's usually done either on
the same day or the next), and they have now fixed everything except the
stereo, which I may add should be sorted tomorrow. Barlows on the other
hand never informed the DVLA of change of owner, and it took me 2 1/2
months to get my car registered in my own name. Seat themselves seem
very good, and I am thoughroughly impressed with my car, (GK02 UPH), but
their dealers (ex. All Electric - wich is a brand new Seat dealership
affiliated with an MG Rover dealer) seem to lack essential
organisational skills!

I hope you've enjoyed hearing about another owners problems with the
same car!

Regards,
Ian Walling

I came across your site by chance. I am the owner of a 1.4 16v 101hp 2000 
Seat Ibiza. I was a satisfied customer for two years until recently the EP C 
warning light popped up. It had popped up when i first purchased the car but 
it shut off on its own, and the dealer told me that it was nothing to worry 
about. About a month ago the light popped up again for good! The result, a 
burnt out chip on the cars computer that cost a little over 200 euro to 
replace. I assumed it was fixed until a week later the light came up again. 
During the lighting of the ep c light the engine runs very rough until it 
reaches 3000rpms. The mechanic was dumbfounded. He contacted the main 
dealership and is still awaiting an answer. In the meantime every 2-3 days I 
have to take the car in so that he can reset the computer and the light can 
go off. I am writing to you because on your site you mentioned that your car 
was visited by the EP C light. Be precautious, it might be a warning of what 
is to come in the future.

     yours truly,
    Denis Kanelakis

PS 
I'll be checking back often for other feedback, maybe someone has 
encountered the same problem. I do not wish to discourage anyone from 
purchasing a Seat. They are great cars for the money.

From Chris Pym, May 2002.

Hi,
I have been reading your page on the Arosa, I am thinking about buying one and was a little concerned by the after sales problems that you had...did you get these issues resolved?  Also what is it like once you have got run it in, it looks a little slow on paper but all the reviews seem to describe it as a kart with a roof (which sounds like fun to me!).
Any info would be great; your site has already given me more information than all the others I have seen combined!
Thanks,
Chris