Are there any known problems with the SEAT Altea's turbocharger?

My husband is looking at buying a SEAT Altea TDI. I've read a few comments on the internet about the turbo blowing and costing a fortune to repair. Is this a common fault? We had a Ford C-Max TDCI a year ago and we had no end of problems with the turbo. Any help would be much appreciated.

Asked on 23 November 2013 by DM, Edgbaston

Answered by Honest John
This is SEAT’s version of the Golf Plus. See the SEAT Altea entries in www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar. The 1.9TDI is the most reliable of the diesel engines fitted. Diesel turbos usually fail because they have been switched off too often when the turbo and its oil feed were extremely hot. This leads to carbonisation of the oil in the turbo bearing and the oil feed pipe, restricting oil flow to the turbo bearing.
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