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)
From Nathan B, West Calder, Scotland. May 2006
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?
From: Jeanette Hocking
November 2003
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
From: Andrew Jackson
October 2003
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
August 13, 2003
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.
From "Mnemonix"
April 2003
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.
From: Mark Whitworth
Tue, 14 Jan 2003
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
From Steve Evans, November 2002.
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
From Denis Kanelakis, August 2002.
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
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