Faults:

Can't lock it. Still need to get it fixed.

General Comments:

I love this car. Was really disappointed to say bye bye to my Alfa Romeo, cos it was real fun to drive, but we fell out cos she wouldn't start in the morning if it was raining. In Ireland like!!!

The Seat is a bit like the girl next door you never took much notice of, and then when you're kinda thrown together, you realise it's love.

She's superb to take off, and wow, when I need her to go on, she answers.. YES! oh YES!. The Alfa could have a headache at the moment you really needed her.

The only problem I have with her is because I can't lock the door, anybody might get into her. But for now until I fix her "knobs" I'll trust her to stay outside my front door, and no one'll take a blind bit of notice of her but me.

Faults:

The clutch cable needed replacing.

The rear shocks had to be replaced.

The electric window winder on the passenger side has broken.

General Comments:

The car is extremely comfortable, and surprisingly quiet at all times. This car benefits from having the mulit-point injected engine, which is an extremely flexible engine.

The car is very good on petrol, and will happily cruise on the motorway at 75mph while still being a joy to drive in traffic, with brilliant acceleration.

The car has excellent handling, and the brakes are adequate.

The boot is massive, and the opening is well designed for loading awkward loads.

The seats are really comfortable, with headrests all around, and the drivers seat has nearly infinite adjustment.

This car really is a sports saloon!

Faults:

Poor brakes, multiple repairs necessary to fix.

Injection valve blocked up which caused many minor engine troubles - not detected by three different dealers. After simple cleaning most problems solved.

Damaged rear shock-absorbers replaced by 20000, improved stability and no problem since this replace.

Exhaust system replaced by 50000.

Handbrake wire replaced in 75000, rather expensive.

Power steerling hose damaged.

Minor electrical problem in fuse-box which sometimes prevents engine to start.

General Comments:

Driving performance (mainly stability) is rather poor, I would expect more from wants-be-a-sport-car. Gets worse if fully loaded (five adults). Perhaps ill-effects of a crash in its early days.

The boot is quite big for this class, its shape is not very practical.

Front seats not very comfortable.

Faults:

Passenger door window lifter replaced costing £108.

Petrol Flag central locking failed in the shut position, traced to the passenger door lock being defective costing £90.

The car is a great motorway car and the ride is great. Care must be taken when driving on bumpy country roads as the hard ride and wide tyres tend to make it twitchy. As the others say 'great stereo'.

General Comments:

Hard motorway driving produces 35.6 mpg.

Normal motorway driving produces 40+ mpg.

If you are a Frugal Dougal you could get 51.6 mpg on a run. I have!

Faults:

Nothing much yet (apart from being crashed into, and it holds up well!). Speaker system not good enough for a higher powered deck, but no info available on how to remove speaker grills without causing damage, and what size speakers to replace the old ones with.

General Comments:

Paint finish could be thicker without a doubt. Information for the car must be made available (no Haynes manuals to date). I want to service this myself, but require a VAG1551 for diagnosis and counter resets (expensive stuff).

Faults:

Loose bolt on part of the drivers seat when new. Broken front panel of Radio (not sure if it was our fault or bad design).

General Comments:

Incredible performance considering the size engine/car (1.4 VW engine in sml/med saloon). Loads and loads of boot space.

Cheap to buy (esp. 2nd hand). Fuel economy about 45mpg on long journey. Base model lacks certain refinements (central locking should have been included, but was only available on the 1.6 model when the car was bought).