Just lifted off some other forums to bring in here...
It's now been somewhere around a year since my last VAG left me. My b5.5 Passat. It was a great daily beater.
It was changed out for a 330i, which was nice enough. Which then was changed out for a Range Rover which was an absolute dog. Well, that is unfair. But it's currently fubard.
So now, I have decided that the will to live has somewhat left me, and I have gone for an MPV. Having 2 kids was the motivation. Not wanting to slit my wrists kept me away from Zafiras.
So I bought a 2.0 TDI Seat Alhambra...
Looked tidy enough when I went to see it, so made an offer, and bought it. Driving it home and it was obvious something was amiss. Overheating. f*ck.
So booked it into Baz for a look. Looks like it turned out to be the head gasket. So with that done, along with fluids, and timing belt all done, I got it back yesterday, and all seems well so far. Not a cheap thing to be needing done as soon as it was bought. But the timing belt was only 5k away, so that money was needing spent regardless.
Plans are not much. Might look for some cheap alloys, and clad the steels with some winters. Would like a new head unit with bluetooth, DAB and usb, and retrofitting cruise control. But that's pretty much all gonna have to wait since the HG blew my spare funds for all that fun stuff.
On the plus side, I have already done a couple hundred miles in it, and I'm liking it more than I had previously anticipated. Plus it should be a relatively practical beast. Win win.
Not everyones cup of tea, for sure. But it may allow me to get something monstrous as a replacement for the other motor. But that'll be next year.
Winter wheels and a wash today. Nothing much.
Need to learn to take a photo though.
Also, fitted a new stereo. Now have bluetooth and USB in my car. Woo Hoo. Bit of a pain having to run a line for the switched live, but apart from that, easy done.
Next up is getting cruise retrofitted. Then she will be finished. No point in going OTT with a 7 seater MPV... Although it was remapped last week.
I am really surprised how much I'm actually enjoying it to be honest. It ticks soooo many boxes, most importantly the kids loving it. As well as having the space and economy I need. I am surprised at how little use the 5 series is getting all of a sudden, lol.
Today I fitted wind deflectors, and took a slightly better picture or two...
Sure, it could do with being a huge bit lower. Not sure the wife would be happy though. If it ever needs shocks / springs during my ownership, I'll do it then.
Not really done much to this. Needed some better speakers in there, so put a pair of Focal 165's in the front. The wheels weren't desperate for a refurb, but I fancied a change of colour anyway, so did that.
So, since buying it, around 12 months ago, I have done around 12k. In that time I have done the head gasket, timing belt and clutch / DMF. So only really the injectors to go then and that'll be the big ones done, lol. I suspect if the injectors go it may be just about time to scrap it mind, that is a £2k+ fix apparently.
Next on the to do list is pretty simple really. Retrofit Cruise Control, and stick on a leather steering wheel at the same time. I'm half tempted to upgrade to a mk6 MFSW in the ED30, and stick the ED30 one in the Alhambra, but that might be a bit of overkill right there.
Apart from that, it's a reasonably nice motor. Goes well enough after the remap, and while the fuel economy isn't great (around 40 mpg average), it's fine in reality. It's a great tool for moving the kids about in, they love it. And it is pretty handy for moving bigger stuff too. I've had a double sofa bed in the back at one point, and a full size sheet of MDF from B&Q. That was a squeeze though, I had to sit as far forward as possible, and still bungee chord the tailgate as it was about 4" from closing.
