Altea? or Altea XL? the two look very different from the rear.
Not its prettiest feature on either it has to be said.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
"Altea? or Altea XL? "
Altea. Not sure I've seen an XL yet. Reminded me of this (but only from the rear - I'm not really trying to be rude!)
uk.geocities.com/vanguard49au/
|
Mmm struggling to see the similarity with the Vantage!
The Altea only has lights on the rear quarter whereas the Altea XL has lights on the boot as well.
My kids think the rear of my Altea XL look like a big sad frown!!
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
|
|
|
|
>>Excellent review ... with a lot more useful info that one normally gets from glossy mags. "
I agree. Great review.
>>If you like driving with one arm resting, ... the drivers door doesn?t have a good ?edge? to rest on,
An important point for some of us, and one that is, indeed, usually missing from most reviews. (Mind you, I've just about gotten used to the fact that my Ka's door doesn't have a good edge.)
|
|
I had one in Spain last summer for 3 weeks and thought it was all pretty good other than the climate really struggled to keep the car cool.
|
I would agree with the review, I had the "normal" Altea for a few months when my golf was recalled, didn't want the golf back to be honest, I had the sport (140) and found it a joy to drive, would have one again if i could, i dont remember the engine being noisy, but last week i had a leon diesel for the day from dealer and it was so noisy compared to all other diesels i've drove, makes you wonder if they did used to put the sound deadening on the Altea?
Jon
|
Well just completed first leg of journey from Glasgow area down to my brothers in Bishops Stortford. Observations on yesterday's drive
Wipers
I love the automatic wipers, they are so much better than the Scenic. The fact that they hide in the pillar and there is a plastic lip at the bonnet side means that you don't have the "creep" of water up the windscreen that you get when wipers are parked at the bottom.
Lights
Again better than the Scenic in that the auto lights come on when heavy rain. This is due to the lights being linked up to the wipers "speed".
TomTom
Had a hold up on M6, think between 16 and 17, dialled up the TomTom traffic and it took me a detour to avoid the accident. Very impressed!
Cruise Control
This is the first time I have had a car with cruise control and really liked it. However I now know why sometimes I see cars blipping their brake lights for no apparent reason - just deactivating the cruise. I also found that this could make me lazy in that I was prepared to overtake another car at 1mph difference slowly, rather than I would normally accelerate past it and complete the manoeuvre quicker.
Fuel consumption on a tank of BP Ultimate was 40.7mpg, with the cruise set at a GPS speed of 76mph.
Kids don't like back seats, so low down compared to Scenic. In fact even though they are taller than the legal guidelines, we might go and buy them booster seats today.
Road noise probably noisier than the Scenic but when you have the music turned up then you don't really notice.
All in, enjoyed my lengthy drive yesterday and although I was expecting my back to be sore it was actually fine so quite pleased with that.
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
|
Cruise on a VW is quite good (when it works - mine isnt at the moment and I cant be bothered to get if fixed AGAIN - FOR THE THIRD TIME)
Brake cuts it out, but unlike some, gas pedal doesent. So what you do is leave the cruise on, gas past for an overtake, foot off and when speed drops to cruise setting she carries on. You can also adjust the speed you are doing in 1mph steps using the cruise buttons, very accurate.
at 70 I approach a 50 or 60 mph limit, push the down cruise button till speedo drops to speed i want and then let it go, and cruise through your speed limit at your chosen speed. I have learned to kick the cruise off with my left foot on the brake without throwing everyone through the windscreen.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Yeah I discovered that as well, quite interesting accelerating using the stalk controls! Don't know if its a good thing or not but as wel as a foot rest at the clutch, there is a foot rest at the accelerator! Makes for very relaxed driving but not strange not having your foot hovering over the pedals!
As an aside, I normally would be doing up to 90-95 driving down to here, being very vigilant for police, scameras etc. Some stretches of the M74 especially you can see for miles.
However yesterday I just set the cruise for 76 and went for it. Much more relaxed I think, plan overtakes much more advanced so that can maintain speed without having to hit any pedals or stalk controls!
Saw quite a few cameras, police on bridges but just kept going whilst everyone else braked. GPS was 76, speedo about 81/82.
Incidentally came off onto the A14, SPECS cameras all along route but also saw a scamera van parked in a layby and further ahead traffic police had pulled someone over as well. Take it they don't like speeding on that road!!!
(And annoyingly TomTom alerts you to every single SPEC camera)
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
|
TVM,
IIRC the VAG cars with cruise have a cancel/resume button that avoids unecessary showing of the brake lights altea-ernatively (geddit!) the clutch pedal also cancels the cruise.
|
> the clutch pedal also cancels the cruise
na it dont, depress the clutch and the revs rise to the point where the cruise gets all flustered and goes into error reset mode and you loose your last set speed.
I prefer the brake, the cancel button is awkwardly placed on top of the cruise stalk, where by a quck brake dab (so light the brakes dont actually do anything) kicks it off and you still have your last resume speed.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
>placed on top
doh - UNDER the the lever. The on off switch is on top, another poorly designed (ergonomically) switch.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
The problems you encounter with ergonomics of the switch are exactly what I encountered. I only drove the Touran for three days out of 7 on holiday and thought if I owned one I'd get used to it. Your long term experience shows this may not be the case.
|
> the clutch pedal also cancels the cruise na it dont depress the clutch and the revs rise to the point ...>>
Strange, does on a Ford.
|
Strange does on a Ford.
Indeed, and most other cars, I was suprised it didnt on the Ran.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
Indeed and most other cars I was suprised it didnt on the Ran.
I had a Bora V5 for a short while in around late 2000, IIRC that worked in the same way, i.e. the clutch cancelled the cruise.
Nothing worse than the cruise on a 607 2.2 I drove about 4 years ago, so jerky, awful!
|
TVM, just finished reading the manual, according to it, the cruise control is cancelled by dipping the clutch! Will give it a try tomorrow on the way to Dover!
Incidentally looked under the bonnet and it looks like it will be very easy and straight forward to change the headlight bulbs. Thats a big bonus in my book compared to the Scenic's knuckle scraping efforts!
--
2007 Seat Altea XL 2.0 TDI (140) Stylance
2005 Skoda Fabia vrS
|
TVM just finished reading the manual according to it the cruise control is cancelled by dipping the clutch! >>
As per Ford et al and as I thought.
If TVM's does not do this it may be a contributory factor in the recurring cruise fault.
|
Hold on Hold on, back in your Rind cheesy.
1stly he has an Altea, I have a touran.
2ndly "in the manual" does not mean "in practise"
However, I have to admit that the likleyhood of the fault on the touran is pretty high.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
|
|
|
Little Tip reqgarding the VW Cruise Control. Instead of blipping the Brake pedal, I found that pushing the on/off switch lightly disengages the cruise control, then the resume remembers your last speed.
Handy. You can drive without using either pedal once set!
-------------------
VW Bora (51) 2.0 SE
VW Touran (54) 1.9 TDI
|
|
Having recently driven a Touran with cruise controls incorporated into the indicator stalk I prefer the Audi system of a seperate stalk below the indicator. Pull towards you activate, push away to cancel.
|
I prefer the Volvo system of buttons on the steering wheel to anything on a stalk. A master on-off switch, up and down buttons to set or alter the speed, Suspend and Resume buttons to, erm, suspend or resume. All within view, easily worked with the left thumb, and certainly no reason to touch the brake pedal.
I read somewhere that the Vectra has a stalk-operated CC that, once activated, can be suspended but not switched off. So you're only ever a nudge of Resume away from unintended acceleration under control of the car, not the driver.
|
|
I prefer resting my foot on the accelerator peddle and I find subtle movements up or down change my cruising speed very accurately.
|
|
Our octy mk II and leon mk II cruise controls are as in the altea, and although used to them now, I much preferred the old style control on the indicator in my mk I toledo. I always use the 'temporary' cancel to deactivate, and on the old stalk the switch for this was on the face of the stalk, whereas it is now on the upper edge, which seems much less ergonomic, and it is much easier to accidentally switch it all the way to off, necessitating a reset of the set speed. I detest using the brake to cancel the cruise, as however careful I am I always feel a slight jerk, I suppose that's because the car is on the throttle as you apply the brake, something you would never normally do. And of course the irritation of the brake lights flashing on to other drivers.
|
|
|
|
|
