I had one from 2000 to 2002. Water leaks were fixed and did not recur. No other problems at all and dealer was excellent.
Have recommended one to a close friend who bought one and has never regretted it.
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Er, carl a, it is the Parkers site Owners Comments among others that I am referring to.
Having read so much negative comment I am concerned that water leaks are the least of my worries.
All real life experiences very welcome though.
Woody
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How do I know you have been to parkers or not ? Just trying to inform you of sources of information.
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I've had my Leon TDi 110 since December 2001 and have covered 40k miles in it since then. Regulars will know I rate it quite highly, for several reasons. The performance is very good without losing out on low-mid fifties fuel economy. The level of equipment is just about everything I would want on a car, all as standard apart from the CD-changer (at the time - I think this is standard kit now as well). The handling is very good - not the best I've driven, but not far from it. Ergonomically it is excellent, there is plenty of room in every direction with adjustment for almost all sizes. It looks the part too, especially in red (like mine) or black.
It hasn't been perfect, but what issues I've encountered have been minor, and easily sorted under warranty. These include a creaky dash, which has been sorted for about a year now thanks to some silicon spray, an ECU fault that was immediately rectified, and a slightly fuzzy door speaker. I know that the dealers have a reputation for being hit and miss, but my local is a good 'un. I've heard of the leaky rear screenwash pipe issue, but it hasn't affected me. Overall, it is a very good car to live with.
Put it this way - I bought the car originally intending to sell it after a year, as I had made an excellent saving by importing at the right time and I was very confident of getting at least what I'd paid, if not more. The car has changed my mind - I'm unlikely to consider selling it for at least another two years from now, possibly longer. Even so, it holds its value well enough for me to still have a reasonable trade-in on whatever eventually takes its place.
I think that as with any car, it probably helps to be aware of the potential issues (e.g. MAF), so you can take steps to avoid them or at least recognise the early signs and know what the quickest and easiest solutions are. I say go for it, but see if you can get a TDi 110 rather than a 1.6 petrol.
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andymc
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Woody, sounds like the good thing about this Leon is that you know the current owner and can therefore get a good story about the car - assuming you trust what the owner tells you.
If it's been trouble-free and/or has had any common problems sorted, it sounds like a good 'un. Y plate: time, then, for gremlins to ahve made themselves known.
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Any problems you might experience with a modern Seat pale into insignificance in comparison with those that owners of the Spanish marque used to experience before VW brought its expertise to bear.
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Put 30k miles on a 51 plate Leon 1.6 before having to hand it back when I left my last job.
Really enjoyed the driving dynamics of the car which suited my style of driving down to the ground. Engine's performance was in adequate to have fun with although there was always a hint of a slight misfire at around 5k. Never too happy with the mpg which stuck around the 28mpg-32mpg range no matter what type of driving I was doing. Garage looked at this but couldn't find any issue.
Only major problem I had was one of the coils failed after 5k miles but other than that it was fine. Wouldn't hesitate to buy another one in the future.
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I have run a 20VT cupra for a year now. No problems except a window winder failed and left me with the window stuck down. AA came out and got it up again and told me to get it to Seat for a new winder mechanism. Interesting to note a few comments here regarding the dealers being either pretty good or awful. With my winder problem one dealer told me he could not do anything for 10 weeks, tried another and he had it in the next day, even picked it up from my work place and returned to me. My advice, if you find a good dealer, stick with them.
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Your slight misfire and a coil failing appear to be related (5k)...
It was normally the 1.8 VW engines which had coil failure due to thousands of faulty ones from a supplier - VW honoured replacement of the coils as it was a known problem and also took action against the supplier, but a lot of VW's so called unreliability record can be laid at the feet of this comparatively insignificant component failure.
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Colleague had a 1.6s which had a coil failure, but other than that no warranty issues.
Agree with comment above that TDI110 is a much better drive, 1.6 is adequate but does need revs before anything happens.
Nothing wrong with the handling though - very good.
Quite why anyone buys a Golf I've no idea, if you want sporty buy a Leon, if you want comfort buy an Octavia.
(If you want to spend more money for precious little extra buy a Golf!?)
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A Golf is far more comfortable than an Octavia - the seats are superior and it has a higher standard of interior trim. The Bora is on a higher plane again than either the Golf or the Octavia.
But the Skoda and Seat are still great buys...:-)
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You're talking rubbish. Golfs are brilliant. But not as good as Boras. In fact, all Volkswagens are brilliant. They're all just great. If anything has gone wrong with yours, it was probably your own fault. Volkswagens. They're just brilliant. And Boras are the brilliantest.
Oh, and my dad's better than your dad as well.
Guess who?
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Who rattled your cage...:-)
As my Dad passed away 15 years ago yours is bound to be better these days...:-(
The Golf/Leon/A3 and Octavia all serve different types of buyers and are priced accordingly - the taxi drivers in my area hold the Octavia in very high esteem and, usually, buy them at special rates 200 miles away in Glasgow.
As for the Bora, it was intended as a BMW 3-Series rival (VW can live in hope and expectation) and its interior reflects that line of thinking.
As someone who has driven virtually every make and model of cars in the last 20 years, I've gained a shrewd idea of what marque to buy with my own money.
So far, over the last 12 years and three VWs, it's proved a sensible decision.
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I'm not trying to infer above, though it perhaps reads otherwise, that the Octavia is only for taxi drivers - here they like it for its room (especially the estate), reliability and style.
It's a cracking car and the new one is apparently even better - the Toledo, built in Belgium and based on the Leon, is another value for money offering.
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that line of thinking.As someone who has driven virtually every make and model of cars in the last 20 years, I've gained a shrewd idea of what marque to buy with my own money.
I could say the same (only its 30 years). We used to buy and sell lots of VW's and Audis and had a high regard for the cars. I don't think much of latest offerings though. I have a couple of 'regulars' who own Passats. Neither have yet reached 100k and I've done numerous jobs on both (inc. front lower arm, CV boots, failed alternator, failed central locking, failed cooling fan motor, failed drivers door lock mechanism). Oh, and the dashboards creak on both. And that reminds me, had the dash out of an A4 to fix the squeaks (had to replace key reader loop on that one too). The cars are overrated. Lots of component supply has been outsourced to Eastern Europe and Italy and this has lead to quality problems.
Someone's bringing me a late-model Polo for cambelt replacement on Saturday. I got all the parts (stupid price from the dealer) and then checked the job on Autodata. I couldn't believe how ridiculously complicated the job is. Whoever designed the thing should be shot, no wonder the dealers occassionally get it wrong a wreck an engine.
You want a well engineered car that's reliable? Buy Japanese.
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I drove said Leon today (1.6 16 valve) and was mightily impressed. It was peppy, quality feel, perfect driving position, superb ride and a bit of a looker in silver.
There was also a torrential downpour and close inspection revealed no water leakage or accumulation in the doors etc (fault was resolved under warranty). I know the owner and trust him 100%.
So I bought it. 2001 on a Y plate, one owner, 13,000 miles (not scool run, mostly 25 mile round trips). Has a couple of scratches that need attention, but interior and rest of exterior, alloys etc, mint. Paid £5,500.
p.s. Carl a, no offense intended.
Woody.
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You've done well..:-)
Belting car, cracking price in view of the model year and low mileage.
You'll love it - more involving and enjoyable to drive than a Golf.
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Yep, £5500 for that car aged three with those sort of miles is a great price. I think you've done well. Enjoy it!
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andymc
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Aprilia
What model of Polo is it you've got to do a cambelt on? I was thinking of buying a newer Polo as a second car and in the past have done my own cambelts. I seem to remember doing a Polo years ago and it was just a matter of slackeneing the water pump and the belt was off.
What makes the new models so much harder?
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Its the 1.4 engine (code AUB) fitted 2002-on.
A very long and drawn out job, involving removing an engine mount and lowering the engine somewhat - plus about half a dozen special tools. I'm doing it tomorrow.
Note also that on this engine the 'main' timing belt drives only the inlet cam - there is a second 'slave' timing belt which drives the exhaust cam. Lousy design with lots of scope for problems.
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"You want a well engineered car that's reliable? Buy Japanese."
er, that's be like my 3 year old Corolla where the bearings shot through the gearbox resulting in £1100 worth of work, where the water pump has now also failed...
and where our 3 year old Beetle 1.6 has, a, er, faulty pop-up bin thing .....
The Passat's DO seem to have there share of issues, but the Golf platform seems pretty good...
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"You want a well engineered car that's reliable? Buy Japanese." er, that's be like my 3 year old Corolla where the bearings shot through the gearbox resulting in £1100 worth of work, where the water pump has now also failed...
Didn't say they never go wrong; they are machines with 1000's of moving parts, but they generally are well-engineered. You can bet that every European motor manufacturer has a shed full of Nissans, Hondas, Mazdas and Toyotas they are crawling over right now.
I remember going to Jaguar's R&D centre in Coventry (quite a long time ago, so safe to talk about it). I had to go to the 'Vehicle Analysis Dept.' The engineers there were marvelling at the quality of machining on some gearbox components. I thought maybe it would be off an MB or BMW, but no, it was off a humble Honda Accord. Speak to anyone in the auto business and the respect for Japanese engineering is tremendous.
As to your Toyota, I think it had done 100K+ miles when the bearing went noisy? OK, its not great news but you could hardly call it a scandal either.
Most common reason for Jap waterpumps to fail is to use non-OEM antifreeze (or not change it often enough). Jap waterpump components are not compatible with high-silicate, low-phosphate European antifreezes.
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