Faults:

We bought the car secondhand. It's a 51 plate. We had only had it 3 weeks, and set off down the motorway for a weekend away, when all of a sudden the car made a funny noise, and all the power went. We called the AA, who said it was the timing belt.

We took it back to the garage where we bought it from. They had the car for over 5 weeks. They said they had replaced the timing belt, a number of valves and the tensioner. When I picked the car up, it had a warning light on the dashboard display. When I took the car back, they said it was some air getting into the engine, and they would seal it and it would take half an hour. When they had finished and I got into the car, the light was still lit, so the car has again been booked in to the garage. It's still under guarantee with the garage. I feel they are not doing the correct work. Will update again when car been back to the garage.

General Comments:

Before car broke down, it was a great car to drive. I was upset when I got it back to find the work undertaken was not of satisfactory standard. It is sluggish with little power, and doesn't always start properly.

Overall, not impressed.

Faults:

The diagnosis light has appeared on four occasions. SEAT dealer replaced the Lambda sensor on the second visit, although when the light appeared on the third occasion it was found that the wrong sensor had been replaced. The diagnosis light has appeared for a fourth time and the car is now booked in for what may be a wiring fault.

General Comments:

The cabin is well laid out and the leather seats are very supportive.

Handles well, although you need to upgrade the tyres for decent wet weather grip.

Acceleration is good for the money, but could do with a little more power.

The engine seems to run better with the specified 98Ron (super unleaded).

Faults:

Two coil packs needed replaced, car ran like a tractor while they were broken.

Door seals replaced to cure leaking problem, Seat paid for half the cost.

General Comments:

Excellent fun, and practical as well. It's got to be said though, the car is an excellent Q-car. To those who aren't in the know, it looks like some standard dumpy hatch. However, given that it has 180bhp and goes like stink, it's superb for giving other drivers a fright. Overtaking on A-roads is just too easy!

Suspension is a bit firm at low speed, but is well damped and handles well, though there's no disguising that the car weighs in on the lardy side. Front-end grip is lacking a bit, but that's probably due to the cruddy tyres fitted by the dealer. Acceleration is fantastic, loads of go in all six forward gears. Traction control is a bit over enthusiastic, but you realise what it's for if you turn it off in the wet!

The interior and all the switchgear clearly borrows from the Audi parts bin, complete with red lit instruments and A3-like stalks and steering wheel. BUT... the build quality is seriously suspect, with the gap around the doors variable, the bumper slightly skew-wiff, headlights badly adjusted and a slight rattle from the ashtray. And the car misting up continuously whenever it rained due to a fault with the door seals that should really have been a recall. And those VAG coil packs giving up - why couldn't VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat just admitted the problem and replaced the lot in one go instead of piecemeal?

Service from the dealer has been really good, which is pleasantly surprising considering their poor reputation. Service and running costs reasonable (my insurance is £300pa) but it would be nice to get better than 36mpg. Next car will be a turbo diesel, maybe the 150bhp Cupra. Or a Golf GT TDi.