Does anyone have a Freetrack?

[Markyar]

Hi Major,

according to the handbook it's got "coming home headlight function"...but my wife doesn't let me out after dark - so I haven't tried it yet.
But take a look at the review on the Bury 9060 and see what you think and how it compares with the "plumbed-in" Seat version. (cant send link as not enough posts under my belt!)

Markyar

 

[Markyar]

Had the car 2 weeks now...have only done about 60 M'way miles and about 200 miles stop-start journeys from south to east London..... today the DPF light came on!
The supplying dealers had serviced the car before I collected it....would the service have included cleaning of the DPF?
Markyar

 

[canonman]

no read the manual to see how to get the light to go off

rtfm lol

 

[BlackMagic_FR]

Thinking of getting a freetrack to replace the family car. I currently drive an 06 Leon FR Tdi and love the engine so it seems like a good choice.

I was thinking of getting a towbar fitted as well, not for towing but for a tow-bar fitted bike rack.. Anyone else tried this? The car is already fairly tall - can just see me dropping bikes on the roof if I go for roofbars.

Any advice appreciated..

Cheers

P

 

[Black Phantom]

"Thinking of getting a freetrack to replace the family car. I currently drive an 06 Leon FR Tdi and love the engine so it seems like a good choice.

I was thinking of getting a towbar fitted as well, not for towing but for a tow-bar fitted bike rack.. Anyone else tried this? The car is already fairly tall - can just see me dropping bikes on the roof if I go for roofbars.

Any advice appreciated.."


Hello BlackMagic!
Had my freetrack just over a year,it's a black 2.0tdi on a 57 plate....
I have a removable towbar also but this was already fitted when i bought it.These are very powerful cars considering the size/weight ratio,same engine as the Leon FR i think.The Freetrack has 4 wheel drive also on a haldex mechanism which works really well as i found out last winter
If your lookin for a rare car(i've only seen one),fast,good lookin and well built then this is the one,far more exclusive than a leon too...
Bike racks n whatnot,never had one on....used to have a Mazda Bongo so everything used to go in the back anyway lol!
These Freetrack's are built on a MK5 Golf floorpan with VW/Audi running gear.They handle superbly and the braking is superb.The steering is electrically assisted and works dead weight i think,i find it really hard to fault the car.
These have a good rigid monocoque shell with an excellent 5 star ncap crash rating.Some ppl bang on about the A pillars being too thick for visibility but i've compensated for that.Rather have good chunky ABC pillars than a flimsy shell

PS Get one with the internal bluetooth fitted and i'd get either black/grey colours.Whatever you do your goin to enjoy it!

 

[Markyar]

Good review Black Phantom...only had mine for two weeks now - but totally agree with your comments... for the money I'm not aware of any other car on the market which offers the performance, economy, reliability, build quality std.equipment and four wheel drive as the Freetrack hass!
Thought that I may have had a problem with the DPF warning light coming on...but a quick raz for 4 miles in third gear seems to have cured it.
Markyar

 

[Black Phantom]

Cheers Markyar!
Just a few things i've found out.I run mine on shell vpower,the difference is amazing and it quietens the engine down one hell of a lot....tried bp ultimate once when up north and i swear it was even better again!,hardly any garages round here though...
Just put two pzero rosso 98Y extra load rated tyres on the front,the standard ones are 94W i think?
Really quiet good turn in tyres if you can get em for the right price...
Somebody in the know once told me to take it to 2.5k revs once a day and it'll be ok with the dpf touch wood.Never had a light on yet,sometimes wonder whether good fuel might help in this instance too.

Cheers

 

[Markyar]

Black Phantom...I've just bought 5 litres of Millers as it seems to get really good reviews on the forum.
The problem I have with the DPF is that if the light comes on when I'm near home - I've got a 10 mile drive before I can find a road where I can build-up a bit of speed. The light came on when I was near home on Friday...so I got up at 5am on Saturday so I could give it a bit of wellie on empty roads!!!
The joys of modern technology!
Markyar

 

[Black Phantom]

Black Phantom...I've just bought 5 litres of Millers as it seems to get really good reviews on the forum.
The problem I have with the DPF is that if the light comes on when I'm near home - I've got a 10 mile drive before I can find a road where I can build-up a bit of speed. The light came on when I was near home on Friday...so I got up at 5am on Saturday so I could give it a bit of wellie on empty roads!!!
The joys of modern technology!
Markyar

Hello mate...
Been trawling the web finding out about different fuel and millers etc,from what i can gather vpower is the best you can do.Never tried adding a splash of millers but you could give it a go added to the vpower?
Also i've noticed that a lot of ppl who keep getting the regeneration light have taken them in to the dealers and a faulty exhaust sensor has been the culprit.Might be worth a look and get it checked on diagnostics?
From what i've seen in the forums if you keep getting the regeneration thing and your driving ok (sry for speeding officer,i gotta hammer it because of the dpf,hope you understand) then i'd get the sensors checked...

cheers

 

[Black Phantom]

"Been trawling the web finding out about different fuel and millers etc,from what i can gather vpower is the best you can do"

Sounds a bit double dutch i know because in a previous post i said i thought bp ultimate was probably better, but the nearest garage is about 35 miles away so i use vpower....
Anyway most people are sayin vpower but any of the two i'd say...

cheers

 

[Black Phantom]

Aha....my 15th post
You know when you get that deja vu sort of feelin.....well i've just got bk from Penzance where i was stuck in traffic 25 mins nose to tail all the way from the bus station to Longrock.....anyway i get it back and i could feel a slight hesitancy from the throttle(slow road)....stop outside the house and it's tickin over at 1krpm and feels a bit rough on idle,a bit like it's firing on three but nowhere as extreme if you know what i mean.It did this for a few minutes while at idle on the drive then it settled at 850rpm
Keepin my eye on it because if i start gettin aload of sh@t with it regenerating all the time i'm goin to sell it.If premium diesel right from the off from ownership from 5k miles and an advanced driver isn't good enough then it's goin.One year left on warranty so it's on probation as from now

 

[MajorPickles]

My experiences with the Freetrack.

Mine kept regerating even though I was only driving A.B and M roads but I never got the DPF light (got the emissions light though).

Took it to the dealers and they changed an exhaust pressure sensor and I haven't felt it regen since (rough running at 1k and feels like it's missing plus hesitant).

Would suggest never driving at less that 2k as this is the rev range the DPF keeps clean at.

Basically if you do a lot of town/slow driving you will probably have problems.

Have done 10k now and car has 30k on the clock so my plan seems to be working.

P Zeros seem to be the best for money/handling and last 15k on the front paid £130 each all in.

BP ultimate is expensive but makes a big difference

 

[Black Phantom]

Hi all

Been going out in it quite regularly since and had no repeat of said problem....like Major Pickles says there does seem to be a strong connection with dpf problems and the way you drive and what fuel you use.My brother has a mk4 golf 1.9 tdi,it's been chipped and he's using vpower and millers religiously,reckons it is better for it.I'm goin to give that a go and i'll let you know how i get on...
The only thing that concerns me really are these lambda/exhaust sensors that seem to fail quite often from what i've noticed in the posts.From what i can gather the sensors are covered by the warranty but the actual dpf filter is'nt?
I'd love to know how much it would cost to get the sensors sorted outside of the warranty period as i think the dpf is about £1500

cheers

 

[MajorPickles]

If I get any problems with the DPF that needs it to be replaced then I will get the bypass pipe and remap done (to prevent auto regen and engine damage) and that will give me about 235 BHP for about £1500

The car will also pass the MOT without the DPF.

The sensors if I remember from a Leon thread about £30 each and can be replaced yourself if someone has VAG Com to pin point which one.

Check out the remap forum section on the DPF as it's a good read.

Cheers

 

[morepower]

Not had a problem with ours and now have done almost 3000miles since we bought it a couple of months ago. OK I use supermarket fuel and it does get taken above 2500 or 3000 rpm when I am using it.. I do rev it a bit harder than I possibly need at times but know the DPF needs to be hot to clear and just short periods of higher RPM while accelerating does seem to help(not always full throttle but I do let the RPM go higher than 2500RPM and upto just over 3000rpm to try and help). I know I could just change gear at 2000rpm all the time but it does labour the motor and that is not going to help keep the DPF clear and may make it worse.

Sorry if it is not a clear explanation,, I know I have never had a problem and it does get revved higher than needed at times even if it is just holding a gear a bit longer than I would usually.. It is not using much more fuel this way but it is getting the DPF hot and seems to be keeping it clear.

 

[Black Phantom]

Hi Morepower
You really want to put premium fuel in it,makes one hell of a difference with this engine as it quietens it down substantially and livens it up too.Besides it will keep that brand new lump nice n clean right from the off as i understand that you've owned the car from new?

 

[Black Phantom]

"If I get any problems with the DPF that needs it to be replaced then I will get the bypass pipe and remap done (to prevent auto regen and engine damage) and that will give me about 235 BHP for about £1500"

Major Pickles.....thanks for that bit of info,i've read the article about it before and it seems a brilliant solution but then again with a 60+ bhp increase your lookin at a heavy duty clutch too sooner rather than later....
Your right though,these cars are expensive and they (like all new cars) depreciate heavily from new and start balancing out price wise after 3 yrs, so we need to protect our investment.
I'm goin down that route after the warranty expires and hopefully by that time this job will have come down in price.The dpf situation is the only thing that really concerns me about this car...

Cheers

 

[syrup1971]

Sorry for the delay.

Not too sure how they are fixed on. Seem well attached though.

Quick question - anyone fitted roofbars & cycle carriers?

Also, I just stumped up for 2 new P zero Rossos, at £250. Was wondering of I should have gone for run flats, to reclaim some boot space - anyone done this?

Syrup,
nice pix...the chrome mirror covers look good, are they just 'stick-ons' ....if so do they fit seemlessly?
Markyar

 

[Black Phantom]

Sorry for the delay.

Not too sure how they are fixed on. Seem well attached though.

Quick question - anyone fitted roofbars & cycle carriers?

Also, I just stumped up for 2 new P zero Rossos, at £250. Was wondering of I should have gone for run flats, to reclaim some boot space - anyone done this?


Hiya Syrup
If you just replaced two tyres with the same p zero's you'd have to change all of them to run flats because if one of the two standard ones left on the car punctured you'd still need a spare,unless you meant changin all four LOL...i've got the chrome mirror covers and they are very securely fixed on....reckon they might be glued because i bought some off ebay for a Mazda Bongo and they glued on too very securely after i applied some araldite as well as the adhesive on the back of them.They really look the business though...

 

[syrup1971]

Thanks.

I know, that I wll need to replace all 4.

I was considering it, before I had to make an emergency replacement of the front 2, after hitting a kerb, whilst swerving to avoid an idiot on his mobile phone, veering across the road in the oncoming traffic.

I was just wandering, on the basis of considering it for next tyre change.

Also, a friend told me that for a 4 wheel drive car, all tyres should be changed at the same time. Not sure if this holds for a part time 4wd, though I can imagine that the difference in front and back treads could put some wear on the haldex clutch, due to the difference in rotational speeds. Hmm thinking about it, perhaps I should have put the new tyres on the back.

Presumably, more wear=smaller tyre=faster rotation. If the front wheels are going faster than the rear, presumably no wear on the clutch.