My first six weeks with the Seat Tarraco FR Sport, coming from a Skoda Kodiaq
Having not seen the new Seat colour in person until pick up, my first impressions of the exterior look was, ‘now that looks a lovely motor’.
The colour coded doors and bumpers along with the best alloy wheels I’ve seen on a car, really stood out.
The interior feels nice and typically VAG, the heated leather seats, front and rears are extremely comfortable. The driver’s seat is electronically controlled, and easy to find the right position. Everything is close to hand and although I was a bit concerned about the slider controls for the heater/AC, but I’ve found them easy to use and no worse the old dials on the Kodiaq. I would say the interior is slightly more hard plastic further down, than the Skoda. The boot space is good at 230lt all seats up, 700lt with 3rd row down, and 1775 with all seats down. The front passage seat also folds completely down which is especially useful for long loads. Electric boot comes with virtual peddle, which has already proved its worth.
TECH
This is where the FR Sport outshines the Kodiaq SE L. Digital cockpit, 9.2” infotainment, full led self-adjusting headlights, scrolling indicators, coast to coast rear lighting, paddle gear changers, front and rear sensors, plus every safety gadget know to VAG, some I could do without!!
My only gripe with the MIB3 infotainment system is VAG have removed the SD card slots, meaning you can’t upload music on to the system, so you have to leave a USB stick plugged in if you want your own music. It also means you cannot upload radio logo’s, which for some unexplainable reason I find blank radio logo’s really annoying! Certainly, a step back in my opinion.
There is 12-volt sockets, front, rear seats, and boot. C-USB sockets, 2 in the front and one in the back.
Top view and reversing camera, ACC, KESSY and parking assist. And not forgetting the, ‘Hola’ puddle lights!!
THE DRIVE
I knew from the test drive that the road noise was louder than the Kodiaq, coming from 19” to 20” tyres. But I wasn’t ready for just how loud it was on the 80-mile journey back from the dealers. Having checked the pressures, I found all 4 were set at 42 PSI, so I reset them to 33 PSI which is comfort load, and thankfully the noise has reduced considerably. Seat are well known for their sport set up and the suspension on the Tarraco is harder, but the ride is comfortable and takes corners better with less body roll than the Kodiaq, although I think the leather bucket type seats help to a certain extent.
The 7 speed DSG handles the Tarraco more evenly than the old 6 speed DSG, which tended to rev more from 2nd to 3rd gear, so the extra gear is an improvement. The 1.5TSi suits this SUV, and the mileage I do, it’s got a surprising turn of pace and although lacking the torque of a diesel, it handles a heavy load without loss of power. After all, it’s a breeze block on wheels, I don’t expect 0-60 in 6 seconds, or 50 MPG.
MY SUMMERY AFTER A MONTH AND NOT MANY MILES.
At the start I thought I’d made the mistake of going for style over substance, and letting the inner boy racer loose, but gradually this Tarraco FR Sport is slowly winning me round. Road noise is still noticeable and remembering to turn off the bloody lane assist every time is a pain. The car has only done a couple of hundred miles so needs to settle in more, and the engine to run in, and I’m sure one or two long journeys will help with that process.
I fitted a Racechip XLR pedal box to the Kodiaq to eliminate the throttle lag it had, but that has not been needed with the Tarraco, it pulls away with no lag whatsoever.
Tarraco FR Sport 1.5TSi, 7 speed DSG in Merlot Red
Advance payment, £3999 – £300 discount =£3699
Included full tank of fuel and a full 6 set of fabric mats.
Dealership- Euro Seat & Skoda, Crawley.
My add on- I don’t like different coloured wing mirrors, it’s a personal thing, so I got the 2 covers off Ebay, the paint code from Seat customer service, got the paints made up by a company in Brighton, and sprayed them myself!!
Sorry, not a thorough review as I’ve only done a couple of hundred miles, but thought I’d post my initial view on the Tarraco.