Seat Alhambra 1.9 TDi SE Review

We bought our Alhambra 1.9 TDi Automatic at about 80,000 miles and three months later the automatic gearbox started to go. That was £1300 - massive problem. Lots of other repairs in the next year, and each time it seems to be £450 or so - the parts are so expensive. I think we spent £3000 on maintenance in 18 months. THen it was quite good for a couple of years and now the gear box is up the creek again (about 40,000 miles after the last reconditioned one. Found a place in London that can do it for only £700 this time, through ebay - yet to find out if they're reliable. Hope so.

The good thing is they're fuel efficient - about 35 mpg (it's diesel) which isn't bad for a big car like that.

I will never buy and automatic again and I'll probably never buy a SEAT / VW again. People all say they're reliable, but they're not. Give me a ford / vauxhall any day - at least when they break tehy're cheap and easy to fix. We had an astra for 5 years with hardly any repairs.