Recently bought a newish car to replace my old Polo

[vw rule 19]

Had a MK3 Polo S for 5 years bought it back in 2014 for £1400 it had only done 35000 miles, was quite a nice car for a cheap runaround, but it was starting to get tired, so have been looking at other options for a newer car to replace my old Polo.

 

These are the cars I've been looking at.

 

VW Golf GTI 2012 to 2015,

VW Polo 2012 to 2016,

BMW 3 series and 1 series M-Sport 2012 to 2016,

Honda civic 2011 to 2015,

Ford Focus 2013 to 2016,

Vauxhall Astra SRI 2015 to 2017,

Seat Ibiza 2014 to 2017

 

In the end I decided to go for,

a Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSI i-tech 2015 5 door with 15000 miles with FSH got it for £7500 not a bad car really.

 

It's got half leather, built-in sat nav, reversing parking sensors, and it's only £30 road tax for the year, plus has a proper spare wheel in the boot, which is rare to see these days.

It's got roughly 110 BHP so has a bit of poke when you need it, the sports seats really support you, whereas in some cars I've looked at they're either to harsh or don't quite feel comfortable enough,

or maybe that's just me :lol:

 

From what I can tell this is similar to the VW Polo but £1500 to £2000 cheaper.

There's a bit more road noise from the Seat compared to the Polos I test drove,

but apart from that they drive very similar.

 

Si

[Simeon 0]

Sounds cheap and a perfect runabout. I'd agree that all the Seats I've been in seem to lack a bit of interior quality compared to the VW equivalents

[Keyo 47]

Golf GTI with the plaid interior, PP pack with some optional 19 alloys SOLD

 

BMW 1 series sounds fun but seriously crap space inside and the golf is a better place to be in IMO.

 

Not a fan of modern Vauxhall's and also never been a fan of the Civic .

 

Ford Focus will be a good car but easy pickings for car thief's.

 

Seat good cars by why by a Seat if if can have a VW?

 

Had a MK3 Polo S for 5 years bought it back in 2014 for £1400 it had only done 35000 miles, was quite a nice car for a cheap runaround, but it was starting to get tired, so have been looking at other options for a newer car to replace my old Polo.

 

These are the cars I've been looking at.

 

VW Golf GTI 2012 to 2015,

VW Polo 2012 to 2016,

BMW 3 series and 1 series M-Sport 2012 to 2016,

Honda civic 2011 to 2015,

Ford Focus 2013 to 2016,

Vauxhall Astra SRI 2015 to 2017,

Seat Ibiza 2014 to 2017

 

In the end I decided to go for,

a Seat Ibiza 1.2 TSI i-tech 2015 5 door with 15000 miles with FSH got it for £7500 not a bad car really.

 

It's got half leather, built-in sat nav, reversing parking sensors, and it's only £30 road tax for the year, plus has a proper spare wheel in the boot, which is rare to see these days.

It's got roughly 110 BHP so has a bit of poke when you need it, the sports seats really support you, whereas in some cars I've looked at they're either to harsh or don't quite feel comfortable enough,

or maybe that's just me :lol:

 

From what I can tell this is similar to the VW Polo but £1500 to £2000 cheaper.

There's a bit more road noise from the Seat compared to the Polos I test drove,

but apart from that they drive very similar.

 

Si

[vw rule 19]

Yeah like you say you can definitely see and hear the overall differences in quality, between VW and Seat when driving them.

I almost went for another VW Polo but then this Seat came along plus the price dropped down even more when I was at the Dealer, so couldn't resist saving almost £2000 compared to that of the Polo I was looking at, plus fancied something different.

I've had the car for just over a month with no problems so far, so will probably keep it for 4 years, that's about the average for me time wise for keeping a car, a part from the Corrado of course.

Also bought a new dash cam for it,

I went for the Viofo A129 dual front & rear cameras.

 

Si

Edited June 3, 2019 by vw rule

[seanl82 23]

Did you consider the Skoda Fabia? I think Skoda build quality & interior refinement are either on par or exceed VW. Exterior styling is pretty good, and depreciation is though not quite as good as VW, but seems to be better than Seat.

[Simeon 0]

Did you consider the Skoda Fabia? I think Skoda build quality & interior refinement are either on par or exceed VW. Exterior styling is pretty good, and depreciation is though not quite as good as VW, but seems to be better than Seat.

 

I don't think he's looking for suggestions now he's bought the Ibiza :tongue: £7.5k for a 15,000 mile 4year old car is flipping good value in my book, plus the Ibizas look much better than the Fabias

[vw rule 19]

Golf GTI with the plaid interior, PP pack with some optional 19 alloys SOLD

 

BMW 1 series sounds fun but seriously crap space inside and the golf is a better place to be in IMO.

 

Not a fan of modern Vauxhall's and also never been a fan of the Civic .

 

Ford Focus will be a good car but easy pickings for car thief's.

 

Seat good cars by why by a Seat if if can have a VW?

 

GTI Golf's are really nice and the Golf R are just insanely fast :shocked!:

But at the moment I'm poring money into my Corrado which is why I went for something cheapish, I must admit it was tempting to go for a GTI Golf or Polo, maybe next time :lol:

 

That's what I thought about the 1 series BMW 116, a little cramped inside plus the ride is a bit firm partly due to those run flat tyres.

I was looking at the 1.6 petrol turbo with roughly 135bBHP, goes quite well.

 

And the 3 series BMW is a lovely car,

but just a bit on the big side for what I need.

Apparently the 1 series are going to be front wheel drive, I wonder if the 3 series will go the same way ?

 

The Honda Civic seems ok but I just couldn't get on with the exterior styling, cool dash though.

 

What scared me off the Ford Focus is the petrol Eco Boost engines, they seem to be having problems, my mate who's got his own garage business told me that the cylinder heads are prone to cracking on those engines, even if it's done 25000 miles it can go,

basically he said it's a crap design,

where they've moulded the exhaust manifold into the cylinder head, which creates far to much heat and can cost £££

 

The Vauxhall Astra I test drove the previous later model, think it was the VVT Limited Edition with 19" wheels, drove alright and has some power with the 1.4 16v Turbo engine,

the dash is really congested all the switches are crammed in the center area, or is that just me. Also the road tax is £155 which is the same as my old MK3 Polo which seams expensive for a small engined recent car.

 

Also looked at the new model of the Astra,

definitely has better build quality compared to the previous model, and in my opinion looks much better now, but I don't know just didn't gel with me on the test drive, the Elite model you do get a lot of equipment in the car,

but you're looking at close to £12000

which in my opinion if I was going to spend that much I'd be better off getting the Golf GTI.

 

Anyway I decided my budget was going to be £8000 max and go for something similar size to my old MK3 Polo, hence looking at the newish Polo and the Seat last month.

 

Si

[vw rule 19]

Did you consider the Skoda Fabia? I think Skoda build quality & interior refinement are either on par or exceed VW. Exterior styling is pretty good, and depreciation is though not quite as good as VW, but seems to be better than Seat.

 

I did see only the one that was a PX at one of the Ford dealers, looked ok and very similar to the Seat and VW Polo, but had red interior which isn't my cup of tea, so sadly no I didn't really look into great detail at the Skodas to be honest.

 

Si

[vw rule 19]

I know this isn't Corrado related but thought I'd share this.

 

Two weeks ago my interior fan stopped working on speeds 1 to 3 but still worked on speed 4, unfortunately the 3 month warranty I got with my Seat when I purchased it had just expired.

 

So decided to remove the glovebox and investigate for myself, found the fan motor and tested for power, confirmed only works on speed 4, so found and removed the fan speed resistor which had the green insolation cracking and peeling away, also smelt burnt.

Anyway ordered a new resistor and refitted everything and the interior fan is working again on all 4 speeds.

 

Just in case anyone needs to do the same to their MK4 Seat Ibiza or any similar VAG, the part number is 6Q0 959 263A

Cost £45 from Seat Main Dealer.

I know they're cheaper on eBay but I wanted a genuine part.

 

It's pants really that it failed on a 4 year old car, but I suppose it must be a common fault as they had the part in stock.

 

Si

[Keyo 47]

I know this isn't Corrado related but thought I'd share this.

 

Two weeks ago my interior fan stopped working on speeds 1 to 3 but still worked on speed 4, unfortunately the 3 month warranty I got with my Seat when I purchased it had just expired.

 

So decided to remove the glovebox and investigate for myself, found the fan motor and tested for power, confirmed only works on speed 4, so found and removed the fan speed resistor which had the green insolation cracking and peeling away, also smelt burnt.

Anyway ordered a new resistor and refitted everything and the interior fan is working again on all 4 speeds.

 

Just in case anyone needs to do the same to their MK4 Seat Ibiza or any similar VAG, the part number is 6Q0 959 263A

Cost £45 from Seat Main Dealer.

I know they're cheaper on eBay but I wanted a genuine part.

 

It's pants really that it failed on a 4 year old car, but I suppose it must be a common fault as they had the part in stock.

 

Si

 

that does sound premature failure , only working on speed four seems to always be the resistor, I take it there was no signs of water ingress?

[vw rule 19]

that does sound premature failure , only working on speed four seems to always be the resistor, I take it there was no signs of water ingress?

 

All totally dry from what I could see,

plus pulled out the pollen filter when I was under the dash, and that was dry too no signs of water / damp / anti freeze,

so I presume it's just a weak part that this car unfortunately has :shrug:

 

Si

[_Matt_ 26]

Probably a weak part rather than anything more sinister than that. I had a o2 sensor go on my other car (also a Seat but an Exeo) when it was 4 years old and circa 50k on the odo where as the one on my Corrado was original at 150k @ 24 years old!

[vw rule 19]

Probably a weak part rather than anything more sinister than that. I had a o2 sensor go on my other car (also a Seat but an Exeo) when it was 4 years old and circa 50k on the odo where as the one on my Corrado was original at 150k @ 24 years old!

 

That's my thoughts it's just a weak item unfortunately.

So you've been there as well then with your 02 sensor, that's mental that your Corrado has done 150k on the original 02 sensor, compared to your Seat at 50k

I suppose some items aren't made like they used to be ?

 

Also I purchased the newly released Haynes manual for my Seat Ibiza off Amazon,

which arrived late last week, it's not bad but nowhere near as good as the comprehensive Bentley manual for the Corrado which is so detailed and 3 times the thickness.

 

Si

[vw rule 19]

Gave my SEAT a full service today,

my mate allowed me to use his workshop which was a big help.

Looks like all 4 wheels have never been removed since new, they were a real pig to remove off hubs, the first 3 services were done at Snows SEAT Main Dealer, don't these Main Dealers remove wheels any more ?

 

Plus I followed the procedure in my owners

manual to reset the service light/indicator but it didn't work, also tried it from what my Haynes manual said and again no joy.

 

This is what they say.

With ignition switched off depress & hold the right button under dash dial's, now switch ignition on & release right button and press left button within 20 seconds.

Service light should go out.

 

Turns out the above procedure works on SEAT Ibiza's with red LED dash from 2008 to roughly 2012 or 2014

 

 

Ibiza's with white LED dash you have to do the following procedure.

 

With the ignition switched off,

turn Hazard's on wait 3 seconds, now depress & hold the right button under dash dail's, now switch ignition on and release right button and quickly press left button, the service light should reset.

Now turn off Hazard's.

 

This worked on mine with the white LED dash 2015 to 2017

 

 

Hope this helps out others

 

Si

[Keyo 47]

When I got to the dealers the mechanics have a combined age of 50 and just look at there mobile phones and pick their noses.

[vw rule 19]

When I got to the dealers the mechanics have a combined age of 50 and just look at there mobile phones and pick their noses.

 

Sounds about right :lol:

 

I can't say to much as I used to work for a Peugeot Main Dealer many moons ago,

all we did was services / MOT / PDI = pr-delivery inspection of new cars.

Hardly did any clutches or head gaskets, mainly all the easy bread & butter jobs were done there.

I always try to remove all wheels on a full service.

 

Si