1998 Seat Alhambra Reviews

Very little so far - the Air Con does not seem very effective and by sounds of other comments this is a known (and to be expected) problem.

The alarm easily triggered if rear windows left slightly ajar - and the kids do seem to knock the handle to open them this much!

Love the MPV thing, 7, 6, 5, 4, or 2 seats and all that space. Great for carrying adults in comfort (or kids), all proper seats and proper belts and not climbing over each other to get in/out.

The VW diesel is excellent although slightly under powered (but my previous car was 150hp petrol)!

Absolutely no problems with plastic trim, do not understand the other comments about trim, we have 2 kids, previous owner had older kids - 120,000 miles and nothing broken.

The cruise and remote radio controls very nice.

When I replace it, hope to get a new shape 115HP Tiptronic, no other car or MPV for me! Recommend the SE for the extras (front heated screen, darkened windows, lumber support, cruise, etc).

Air-con problems started just after one year. According to the dealer, ALL Sharan's, Alhambra's, and Galaxy's suffer from a faulty air-con evaporator. Replacing it means removing the complete dashboard. Both the dealer and importer refused to fix it at their charge. Owning an Alhambra means not IF but WHEN you will have to replace the aircon evaporator! My dealer showed me over 20 broken air-con evaporators in his scrap yard.

Now after 3 years, my servo-steering unit leaks and needs to be replaced.

Many small electrical problems (a.o. engine temperature gauge).

Poor interior materials (mirror covers broke 4 times, speaker grille breaks when entering through the back doors,..).

Positive comments: spacious, low fuel consumption, good engine performance.

Very poor reliability and most components are well below standards.

The importer is not cooperative at all and refuses to compensate for the poor reliability.

Air conditioning problem from new, after four attempts in first year the problem seem fixed, after two years and three months the problem returned. I have been back to the dealer with it, but they failed to fix it. Cannot be bothered now with the running back and forth to the dealers to get it fixed, changing my car at the end of the finance agreement and it will not be a SEAT.

Passenger front door damaged at one month old by a careless reversing neighbor, it took the dealer 12 months and four repairs to effect an acceptable repair. I fear rust will appear on the repaired door before the rest of the car develops any rust.

Not bad to drive, fairly economical, good performance for its size, very practical.

Let down by my local dealer and SEATs slow response to resolve my problems with the dealer.

Three weeks after delivery we noticed that the vehicle was pulling away slowly from standing, and the gears did not change quickly enough. This got increasingly worse but was ignored by the main dealer in Colchester who said 'it was the way I drove it' and in November 1998 it was taken in for the first time for inspection. Since then it has been back to the dealer 23 times for 'resetting a switch', installing a new 'throttle switch' and a new gearbox (August 1999) because they admitted it was not moving through the gears properly. In November 1999 it started again.

I can't drive it on a motorway as there is no power to get out of situations and roundabouts are a nightmare as there has to be a large enough 'gap' to pull out safely. I get hooted and have had the window punched. Seat 'customer services' are in fact 'dealer services' as they have also ignored my case, many letters and phone calls, and Chartered Trust, the finance company have refused three times to accept my rejection of the vehicle. Each time I have been asked to give the company the chance to repair... which only works for a few weeks. Now nearly two years down the line I have a solicitor working for me and now want the vehicle taken back, but even in law I have to give them the chance to repair!!

The vehicle was with the dealer for nearly 2 weeks recently (we deliberately had it taken to another dealer for an unconnected repair, but the dealer in Colchester took it away without our knowledge or permission) and when the Seat technical officer came to look at the problem - it wasn't there, surprise! Se have not used it since, as we know the problem will start all over again. The vehicle is still with the dealer in Colchester.

Anyone reading this please note. In law you have about 7 days to reject a vehicle (not the length of the finance agreement as we were told) if you allow them to repair it you have in effect accepted the vehicle. The law is not on the buyers side. Sadly if you get an unscrupulous dealer and a finance company who care more about the manufacturer's business than the customer then the troubles are threefold.

I would not buy a Seat again as so far they have offered no 'customer service'. We had a Toyota before and will save up to get the deposit to buy a Toyota again.

Nothing. First car I ever bought (new) that didn't have a list of things to have the dealer fix. No problems with paint and body fit. All options work perfectly.

Good ride, peppy engine (with manual transmission). The 'Value Pack' option kit was a good choice, many individual options I would not have purchased, but some very useful ones. The diesel is quiet and provides good acceleration, and we get around 34 MPG average.