Seat Alhambra

[Nigel_5096152]

My wife who is a childminder has had her 06 2.0lt 140bhp Alhambra for just over a year and have had to replace the front tryes all ready at 9700 miles.The old one she had done nearly 20,000 miles before changing.She was told at the trye garage that Seat,Ford and VW are keeping them very busy .When i contacted Seat to see if there was a problem with the car they said no,surprise surprise!and suggested that my wife should slow down when taking corners!So has anyone got any realistic ideas on how we could make the tyres last longer or if there a fault with the car

Thanks Nigel

 

[Robert_374242026]

Have same engine and having new set of 4 Bridgestone Turanza tomorrow costing

 

[giovanni_5060838]

nigel.

were the tyres that did 20,000 miles the exact same type as those that only lasted 9000.?

because obviously different tires are made from different compounds so some last alot longer than others..

 

[WMRussell]

Nigel

I have had four Galaxy's and the first three worn through front tyres in about 10,000 miles. The last one I brought had traction controal fitted and I had covered 17000 miles when I sold it. I believe there was still about 10000 miles of tread left on them. So to answer yor question, there is not a lot you can do with the present car, suggest getting traction control on your next one.

Russell.

 

[Icemaker]

the first set of tyres on the alhambra we had where pirelli and they only lasted around 10,000 miles, the tyre company advised me that the tyres where not really suitable for the car as pirelli tend to make very soft compounds.

I cant for the life of me remember what make i replaced them with but i do remember auto express had given them top marks for durability and grip in the wet and when i sold the car the tyres had covered 7,000 miles and had about 3 quarters of the tread left so i would have expected at least another 10,000 miles from them.

And as a point of note, no its not just the alhambra, i bought my new Smax as an ex demonstrater with 7,000 miles on the clock and the michelins on the front are allmost half worn all ready.

 

[Garfield]

That sounds about right, we replaced the front tyres on our S-max at 14k, the continentals appear to be wearing well

 

[brenda_374246826]

Icemaker, how are you finding the Smax?

Our alhambra seems to be ok for now, spent some time in the garage thankfully still under warranty, not really sure what they did but its going well.....

 

[Icemaker]

I cant really give too much feedback on the S max yet brenda as ive only had it for 5 weeks and not yet towed with it, allthough that will change this friday when i take the van out for the first time this year to the burrs club site at bury.

As a solo car though i can say that i am pleasently surprised, the car is very nice to drive and has more than enough power from the 2.0 tdci engine, the brakes are absolutely fantastic and give loads of confidence and the handling is as good if not better than some sports cars i have owned.

you really can throw the car about if you wish and it just holds the road fantastic, another big plus point is the turning circle which is very small for such a big car.

Interior wise it is very nice, everything is to hand everything works with a reasuring feel and the seats are as comfortable as you could wish, one thing i am really pleased with is the heating, my alhambra took ages to get warm the S max is warm within about a mile and the climate control works very well indeed.

looks wise ? what can i say, i think its one of the best looking mpv's ever made, its sporty and very sleek to look at and the finish seems to be perfect.

The only negatives i can give the car up to now are , the engine has a tendency to "kangaroo" a bit if you drive with a light foot which is awfull for me as i try to drive very efficiently, it does not matter where the revs are it just jumps up and down if running under little load, ive asked other who have the tdci engine and it appears to be a trait of the engine rather than an S max fault, my friends transit with the 2.2 tdci does the same. allso the car has a tendency to stall easily especially when cold.

Overall a very good car up to now and i cant wait to try it out with the van on friday, the car has its work cut out as my coachman vip 530/4 is a 94 % match but im sure it will be fine if its not my wife will kill me as she wanted a new galaxy but i wanted to downsize to the Smax.

 

[Garfield]

Brenda,

We've had our S-max for a year now towing a Lunar lexon 640 twin axle 1266/1600kg unladen/laden, solo I would agree with everything Icemaker has said, the way the car handles puts a silly grin on my face like no mpv should! the problem with "kangarooing" I think is due to a poor response curve on the accelerator pedal ie depressing the pedal 10% gives about 90% of the available power and it's difficult to balance it between stalling and wheelspinning in 1st gear, it gets better once you get used to it, my 03reg transit tdci 125hp is much better. With 20 k on the clock we are getting low - mid 40's mpg solo and 26 - 28 with the lexon on the tail, on a week touring Norfolk we managed 52mpg over 300 miles.

Towing it is easily the most stable towcar we have had, better than the Transit or our old Sharan, the most surprising thing is that I expected problems with crosswinds with such a large van on the back but moderate crosswinds and hgvs cause barely a flinch.

Hopefully the reliability will be better than the Old Galaxy and its sisters, by 115miles our Sharan had blown a head gasket, air con,wiper motor, wiring, suspension joints etc had failed, my father in laws galaxy had a new auto box at~35k amongst many other faults, he's now looking at an S-max.