italiastar

Having been through a few Vectra's (thankfully none of them mine) I can certainly think of a few names to call them - Vicky is certainly not one of them. Mind you after reading some of the horror stories on this forum I'm wondering if the Vectras were really that bad? For the record, mine is "The Alhambra" and hers is "The Golf"

Oops :unsure: - have I made a mistake? I first saw them before Christmas and was tempted. I therefore e-mailed someone who'd bought one and he said it was good and been recommended it by a friend. He also put me onto the supplier's website as they are actually made by a company called Atera - http://www.roofbox.co.uk/aterabox.html I'm expecting mine on Monday, so I'll let you know when I've had a chance to play with them. My box is no bigger than yours - it's one of the large Halfords ones. It's much heavier than the previous one which was the small one, the weight not being helped by re-enforcing bars on the underside - if you can lift it on by yourself, your a better man than me :( , particularly when I'm scared of damaging my pride and joy :rolleyes: . I leave my box errantly attached to the bars (Ah! more weight!) to avoid having to clamber into it, whilst it's on the car, to tighten the bolts.

Last summer I got an overall 30mpg from my TDi (note the small i as it's a Seat) coming back from Brittany at about 80 - 85 mph. The car had a roof box on and was fully loaded with air-cond going full blast. On the way there I got high 30's, but my speed never wet above 60mph as I was still running it in (Yes, I know they say it's not necessary, but I've always done it and always will - I've never had a car that uses oil between services so it must be doing some good). My guess is that it might have increased fuel consumption by 10%, but what's the alternative? A trailer is more expensive as well as increasing your crossing costs if you go abroad. I store my roofbox in the garage - hang it from the roof of the garage by fixing eyebolts with rope which fixes to the bars, if you've got enough space. On holiday I take it off and store it in the garden of where we stay, although most GB's leave them on - you spot them everywhere! Putting it on / taking it off the car is a bit more difficult - a two person job for us - luckily I'm 6ft and my wife 5ft 10 - if you're shorter you will have a problem. I'm not sure about using ladders - if you slip it could be expensive. I've now bought a larger roofbox which is much heavier - too heavy for my wife to manage so I'll have to be nice to my neighbour - fortunately he also has a Alhambra. My personal preference is Thule roof bars - they're not the cheapest, but also not as expensive as the manufacturers ones. They are flexible - for example the bars I had on my Spacewagon were too short for the Alhambra - I just needed to replace the bars for

Sorry to praise the Seat again, but it comes with two diffrent remote keys - one standard key and one fold away (VW / Merc) type - replacements are apparently

In my view the cars are basically all the same especially the diesels 'cos they've all got the same engine. originally I preferred the look of the Ford, but wanted the VW - SEAT wasn't even in the running. The Ford salesmen and one woman in five different dealerships were all very sharp and not interested in my requirements. Not one offered a test drive and when they eventually gave me a price it was alway too high and followed by what do you think. When I tried to negotiate they always had to discuss it with the mysterious manager (do they actually exit) and came back with more room to negotiate. The three VW dealerships were just not interested in negotiating, the price was in the book and they seemed to be doing me a fovour by charging me

Thanks for alerting us to this - a potentially very dangerous problem. I did have my suspicions that the disc hand brake was sometimes not as effective and you've now confirmed it - if you think about it the reason is obvious. At least you had a lucky escape!

Ivor, I couldn't agree more. I started looking in May 2003. As soon as I mentioned TDI they tried to talk me out of it "do you do high mileage" "they are more expensive" they are more difficult to find" etc etc which losely translated to "we haven't got one, but we've got loads of petrol ones to sell you" I agree that I don't do the mileage, but I'd sooner see 40mpg than 20 mpg everytime I drive the car and it should be much easier to sell - in any case it's the one I wanted. All dealers (Ford/VW/SEAT) were the same including the independants. Thats's why I eventually gave up and bought new - the Seat dealers were the only ones who took me seriously - in the end I had 4 cracking deals on the table and I chose the most helpful / closest dealer. Anyone after after a petrol should shop around - theres loads of them - also why not try a good ex-fleet one from an auction - I've never done it, but would be tempted. Good diesels are very hard to find. In particular I think good TDI Seats are very hard to find as most of them are in private hands like mine, and were hardly going to part with them very soon.

Can I recommend the Alhambra - you get much more value for your money. The SE even has things that the Ghia doesn't have. It's fully loaded with all the extras as standard at a cheaper price and I found the dealers much easier to deal with and willing to negotiate. In the end they are ALL the same car from the same production line - I bet the SEAT (and possibly the Ford) badge has VW stamped on the rear. Give one a try and lets us know what you think.

I have read on the net that these engines do require top ups, but my 130BHP has just covered 5000miles and the level has not moved (it was meticulously run in between 15 and 2000 miles though). German and Swedish sell an approved oil under the "Quantum" brand, which happens to be VWs aftermarket brand, for around