Seat cars - reliable?

Tazni

I'm looking to buy a new car soon, as my Fiat Punto drinks fuel and engine oil like it's going out of fashion... not to mention it drives like a pile of.....



I reallllly want a Seat Ibiza as they have good offers on them... But I wanted to see if anyone had experience with Seat and whether their cars were reliable or not?

Thanks

forgotmyname

Depends how you look after it. And pot luck on not getting a friday afternoon car.

Out of the Skoda, VW, Seat group the Skoda's are generally more reliable.

Will you treat manufacturers service schedules as a minimum or try and get as close to the time/mileage as possible?

My Mondeo is every 12,000 miles, But the previous owner did an oil change every 8000 miles.

skivenov

Generally, yes.

Tazni

I've looked after my Punto very well with a full service history and regular check ups, but the piece of doodoo is still so unreliable after failing it's first MOT on emissions... It costs me an arm and a leg to maintain it, guzzling through a full top up of engine oil in 4000 miles... I don't want to buy a new car that will be even worse....

jase1

Seat = VW.

VW = fundamentally fine. Good engines, not so good electrics. Not the most reliable cars around but by no means the worst either.

I wouldn't pay a premium for one (and I think the prices old VW Golfs go for are mad) but they're fine.

CKhalvashi

I'd personally go for a Skoda, as they've been perfect for us, however VW group is exactly the same car underneath.

We even have an Octavia with a Bentley keyring, so it shows how similar they are.

CK

111KAB

Daughter has 08 Seat Ibiza 1.4 diesel (old model) - had it from new, great car and has been 100% reliable over past 4.5 years. Diesel engine a bit noisy but returning c 52 mpg. They are listed as a small car however IMO they offer more room than say a Citroen C3/Peugeot 207. Have driven the new model quite a few times (hired in Spain) however I don't think this has quite the same solid feel as the older model particularly in terms of internal finish.

andygb

This would be a great alternative to a Seat Ibiza, and should be good for around 60MPG

http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201229479243038/sort/default/usedcars/fuel-type/diesel/body-type/hatchback/price-to/4000/price-from/3000/model/fabia/make/skoda/onesearchad/used/onesearchad/nearlynew/onesearchad/new/page/1/postcode/me21dp/radius/1501?logcode=p

reeac

Tazni wrote: »

I'm looking to buy a new car soon, as my Fiat Punto drinks fuel and engine oil like it's going out of fashion... not to mention it drives like a pile of.....



I reallllly want a Seat Ibiza as they have good offers on them... But I wanted to see if anyone had experience with Seat and whether their cars were reliable or not?

Thanks

What Car? reliability reviews consistently show around 40% chance of a repair being needed in first 3 [I think] years for VW, Seat, BMW, MB. Compare with Honda at 10% and Toyota at 17%. Being written by petrolheads, What Car? don't give much weight to reliability when assessing cars but I do and I would expect MSE readers to do the same.

whatmichaelsays

I've got an Ibiza 1.2TSI and is hasn't missed a beat - and it's a great little car.

And I'd recommend the TSI engines - I test drove the 1.4 and it was too sluggish for my tastes.

My local Seat dealer is very good too.

Tilt

Tazni wrote: »

I've looked after my Punto very well with a full service history and regular check ups, but the piece of doodoo is still so unreliable after failing it's first MOT on emissions... It costs me an arm and a leg to maintain it, guzzling through a full top up of engine oil in 4000 miles... I don't want to buy a new car that will be even worse....

I'm on my 14th Fiat which is a Punto HGT mk2. Owned it from new in March 2000. It's done 62k currently. It's sailed through all of it's MOTs, still runs like new, loves motorways and everything still works on it. Apart from tyres, the odd light bulb, a new battery, brake pads and discs and a cam belt change, it has cost me very little in repairs. The only thing that did go wrong was the wipers which is a common fault admittedly.

As for oil/fuel consumption, well anyone who knows anything about Fiats (and Alfas) will tell you that the engines are in fact designed to burn oil due to their high rev capabilities so it is important that the oil level is checked perhaps more regularly than other makes. On a run I get around 40mpg which isn't bad for a 1.8.

Certainly no complaints from me about Fiats. My next car will deffo be another one.