Discussion
I've driven a couple but like the previous poster found them a little ordinary. Not necessarily in a bad way, as they feel solidly-built and overall seem to be good quality.
Infotainment is pretty smooth and hi res. In terms of driving, I found all the control weights to be well balanced and I didn't experience the kangaroo-ing I've read about with the 1.5 petrol, which was smooth and punchy enough not to be an issue. A lot of owners say they are quite thirsty though, even with cylinder deactivation.
I also tried the 2.0tdi (150) and although I took it about 15 miles on mostly dual carriageway, I couldn't get it above about 36mpg. Perhaps a longer run would prove differently.
I eventually went for a 5008 1.2 puretech, as the load capacity with the extra seats folded away is a couple of hundred litres bigger, with a flatter and lower floor space in the boot. Plus it has a ton of kit, is a little less anonymous and the petrol engine happily returns high 40s on a run (it's rarely below about 36)
That boot was the biggest gripe with the Tarraco. The entry is quite high for our dog, and then there are lips, bumps and gaps between and to the side of all the folding elements. It sort of feels half-designed. You can get a flexible boot mat to manage this a little, but then you're losing more vertical space and it would unlikely be sturdy enough to counteract the various gaps. It might sound minor, but it felt like one of those things that would get my goat over time.
All the experience above is quite recent, and I still have a lot of the Tarracos that I shortlisted in my auto trader app. Clearly, they struggle to sell them (perhaps they're a bit anonymous and the Ateca meets most people's needs?) and prices are softening significantly. In particular, the gap between SE Technology / Xcellencce / Lux models is narrowing. The 20" wheels on the latter are supposed to hurt the rude quality, but I don't find any of the wheel designs particularly nice.
I'm not really getting on with the 5008 due to the horrible clutch (John Howells wrote about this in the equivalent Citroën) and a few reliability issues, and if I could switch across to a Tarraco without much of a loss I'd be quite tempted. I'd probably get an earlier 'Technology First Edition' model as it gains BeatsAudio, adaptive cruise and wireless charging.
Hope this helps.
Infotainment is pretty smooth and hi res. In terms of driving, I found all the control weights to be well balanced and I didn't experience the kangaroo-ing I've read about with the 1.5 petrol, which was smooth and punchy enough not to be an issue. A lot of owners say they are quite thirsty though, even with cylinder deactivation.
I also tried the 2.0tdi (150) and although I took it about 15 miles on mostly dual carriageway, I couldn't get it above about 36mpg. Perhaps a longer run would prove differently.
I eventually went for a 5008 1.2 puretech, as the load capacity with the extra seats folded away is a couple of hundred litres bigger, with a flatter and lower floor space in the boot. Plus it has a ton of kit, is a little less anonymous and the petrol engine happily returns high 40s on a run (it's rarely below about 36)
That boot was the biggest gripe with the Tarraco. The entry is quite high for our dog, and then there are lips, bumps and gaps between and to the side of all the folding elements. It sort of feels half-designed. You can get a flexible boot mat to manage this a little, but then you're losing more vertical space and it would unlikely be sturdy enough to counteract the various gaps. It might sound minor, but it felt like one of those things that would get my goat over time.
All the experience above is quite recent, and I still have a lot of the Tarracos that I shortlisted in my auto trader app. Clearly, they struggle to sell them (perhaps they're a bit anonymous and the Ateca meets most people's needs?) and prices are softening significantly. In particular, the gap between SE Technology / Xcellencce / Lux models is narrowing. The 20" wheels on the latter are supposed to hurt the rude quality, but I don't find any of the wheel designs particularly nice.
I'm not really getting on with the 5008 due to the horrible clutch (John Howells wrote about this in the equivalent Citroën) and a few reliability issues, and if I could switch across to a Tarraco without much of a loss I'd be quite tempted. I'd probably get an earlier 'Technology First Edition' model as it gains BeatsAudio, adaptive cruise and wireless charging.
Hope this helps.
Wow thanks for the comprehensive reply! What do you exactly mean by an ‘anonymous’ car? The things that turn me on to the Tarraco is the VAG reliability and the value for money in terms of it’s basically a TIGUAN all space with a seat badge on. They all come with digital cockpit as standard, the excellence Lux trim can be had for sub £30k on a car a few years old and includes heated electric memory seats, adaptive cruise , 360 degree parking camera to name a few.
Can’t think of any other family cars that offer all those at this price point. I guess I’m trying to figure out what’s the catch!
Can’t think of any other family cars that offer all those at this price point. I guess I’m trying to figure out what’s the catch!
You're welcome.
By anonymous I just meant the styling inside and out is pretty generic and boxy, but I appreciate that it's very subjective. It can easily pass for an Ateca, Tiguan, Kodiak etc al without a second glance. There's nothing particularly interesting or stylish about it to my eyes.
It might be worth googling the kangaroo issue if you're thinking of going petrol. That aside I didn't uncover any scare stories in my research into them, probably because they're based upon solid VAG components as you said yourself.
If anything, I preferred the Tarraco interior to that of the Tiguan allspace because of the digital dash, seat back tables etc.
By anonymous I just meant the styling inside and out is pretty generic and boxy, but I appreciate that it's very subjective. It can easily pass for an Ateca, Tiguan, Kodiak etc al without a second glance. There's nothing particularly interesting or stylish about it to my eyes.
It might be worth googling the kangaroo issue if you're thinking of going petrol. That aside I didn't uncover any scare stories in my research into them, probably because they're based upon solid VAG components as you said yourself.
If anything, I preferred the Tarraco interior to that of the Tiguan allspace because of the digital dash, seat back tables etc.
My neighbour I talk to a fair bit, mostly about cars, was looking at these and their Skoda twin. After poking around quite a few cars he really fancied a Kia but couldn't find one that was the spec he wanted so wen for an MG. He found the VAG cars to be pretty bland, average at everything but not great ant anything.
DriveClive said:
Wow thanks for the comprehensive reply! What do you exactly mean by an ‘anonymous’ car? The things that turn me on to the Tarraco is the VAG reliability…..
Can’t think of any other family cars that offer all those at this price point. I guess I’m trying to figure out what’s the catch!
The catch is vw reliability Can’t think of any other family cars that offer all those at this price point. I guess I’m trying to figure out what’s the catch!
https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/volkswagen/tiguan/relia...
missing the VR6 said:
I'm not familiar with SEAT's but I'd always suggest the Skoda alternative (Kodiaq) will probably be cheaper and certainly be more reliable.
Well, given that Tarraco is built in VW's Wolfburg plant, I don't know why they should be.Oddly VWs own version is built in Mexico.
However the problem with SEAT is the dealers seem to be univerally useless. We've tried two, and they're quite thin on the ground in some places so you may not have much choice. It's a common theme on SEAT forums.
The current dealer, looking after daughter's Ateca (built at Skoda's plant in Kvasiny) is a multi-franchise place and only has two SEAT technicians so getting the car in for the various issues it's had has been difficult. It's amplified by them having a 4-6 week wait for a courtesy car and never seeming to able to fix anything same day so there's all the hassle of having to do repeat visits.
Even when it actually broke down and was recovered there, with SEAT Assist providing a hire car, they still took a week to fix it - and told daughter it wasn't covered by warranty. Annoyingly (for daughter) the service manager backed down immediately when I spoke to him. They basically just tried to rob her.
Sheepshanks said:
Well, given that Tarraco is built in VW's Wolfburg plant, I don't know why they should be.
Oddly VWs own version is built in Mexico.
However the problem with SEAT is the dealers seem to be univerally useless. We've tried two, and they're quite thin on the ground in some places so you may not have much choice. It's a common theme on SEAT forums.
The current dealer, looking after daughter's Ateca (built at Skoda's plant in Kvasiny) is a multi-franchise place and only has two SEAT technicians so getting the car in for the various issues it's had has been difficult. It's amplified by them having a 4-6 week wait for a courtesy car and never seeming to able to fix anything same day so there's all the hassle of having to do repeat visits.
Even when it actually broke down and was recovered there, with SEAT Assist providing a hire car, they still took a week to fix it - and told daughter it wasn't covered by warranty. Annoyingly (for daughter) the service manager backed down immediately when I spoke to him. They basically just tried to rob her.
I don't know why but Skoda are always the top brand VW make for reliability if you look at the JD Power surveys etc.Oddly VWs own version is built in Mexico.
However the problem with SEAT is the dealers seem to be univerally useless. We've tried two, and they're quite thin on the ground in some places so you may not have much choice. It's a common theme on SEAT forums.
The current dealer, looking after daughter's Ateca (built at Skoda's plant in Kvasiny) is a multi-franchise place and only has two SEAT technicians so getting the car in for the various issues it's had has been difficult. It's amplified by them having a 4-6 week wait for a courtesy car and never seeming to able to fix anything same day so there's all the hassle of having to do repeat visits.
Even when it actually broke down and was recovered there, with SEAT Assist providing a hire car, they still took a week to fix it - and told daughter it wasn't covered by warranty. Annoyingly (for daughter) the service manager backed down immediately when I spoke to him. They basically just tried to rob her.
missing the VR6 said:
I don't know why but Skoda are always the top brand VW make for reliability if you look at the JD Power surveys etc.
I would suggest it's historical due to Skoda owners being fiercely defensive of the brand and the old Skoda dealers being well regarded. I'd imagine both those things will be gradually changing. All the VW group cars use the same bits so there's no fundamental difference.
Sheepshanks said:
I would suggest it's historical due to Skoda owners being fiercely defensive of the brand and the old Skoda dealers being well regarded.
I'd imagine both those things will be gradually changing. All the VW group cars use the same bits so there's no fundamental difference.
Onwers are also typically less likely to complain compared to the equivalent VW as they paid less for it. I'd imagine both those things will be gradually changing. All the VW group cars use the same bits so there's no fundamental difference.
There are generally less shiny options to go wrong on the Skodas too.
Sheepshanks said:
I would suggest it's historical due to Skoda owners being fiercely defensive of the brand and the old Skoda dealers being well regarded.
I'd imagine both those things will be gradually changing. All the VW group cars use the same bits so there's no fundamental difference.
Possibly, but having spent similar time selling both VW and Skoda, Skoda's certainly come back to the workshop less frequently. I'd imagine both those things will be gradually changing. All the VW group cars use the same bits so there's no fundamental difference.
Component sharing at VAG is nothing new though. I always suspected the Skoda customer got a better resolved car, as the Audi and VW drivers had experienced all the bugs and issues as they get the technology first.
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