RE: Shed Of The Week: Seat Leon Cupra 20VT

[aka_kerrly]

g7jhp said:

I'd go for a Golf GTI 1.8T Mk4. Same engine and you can remap the 150bhp to 210bhp for £250.

You may want to refresh the suspension, ARBS, add strut braces and uprate the brakes.

That's hardly specific to the Seat Leon is it, you could warrant those jobs on any car over several years old and why would you want a 150hp Golf when you can remap a 180 Leon to 230hp if that's your thing.

To be fair all the talk of door seals perishing and a bit of moisture getting in is hardly the worst thing that can happen on a modern car. I was under the impression that the average PH member buying a car for £1k doesn't mind spending a Sunday morning and £10 to get replace the door membranes.

Surely when a car gets to £1k its things like £600 clutch an flywheels, £1k electric components and labour intensive jobs that are the worry.

Also, having looked at the AutoCar test on the first page which ranks the Seat 9th has anyone else looked at the categories the car were being assessed on ?? The MINI gets top marks for "street cred" and the the Civic Type R only scores 6 on "B road giggles" were these testers a bunch of girls???

[chrislloyd81]

I doubt a 150 golf 1.8t would have a 6 speed box either

[John-Boy]

Cupras can be great value. My Mk1 was excellent, only 85k but I struggled to get £1,100 last year. Always thought it was a great design, very neatly detailed and well made. One of my doors started to leak a little - replaced all four internal seals (between the doors' inner metal linings and the outer skins) in an afternoon using butyl tape and DubSteve’s excellent repair guide.

[carinaman]

What's the going rate for the 'fiddly' cambelt service then?

Great thread, some really useful responses.

[aka_kerrly]

carinaman said:

What's the going rate for the 'fiddly' cambelt service then?

Great thread, some really useful responses.

Hardly any more fiddly than most other cars I've worked on. You can buy a cambelt kit from GSF which includes the belt, the tensioner, the water pump, a roller and bolt for £80.

I fairly certain Seat dealers even offer fixed price cambelt changes at £329

[chrislloyd81]

Timing belt kit £78 water pump £33 tensioner £48 fitting it cost me £118

[LocoBlade]

Overall they're brilliant little cars, handled and went better than the Mk4 Golf GTi and better equipped. I bought one brand new in 2002 which I unfortunately had to sell within a year due to a massive increase in commuting distance, but had another as a fairly cheap runaround 5 years later. However, as well as the mentioned areas of potential woe, if you're considering a yellow one pay close attention to the lacquer. This was my runaround at ~6 years / 100k miles old with peeling/lifting lacquer that was so bad I ended up being able to strip it all off with a hosepipe which was the better alternative to it looking like it had athlete's foot!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3U9Ss35atQ

[MissChief]

Decent cars, sadly mine has just been declared uneconomical to repair at MOT time. Went well, didn't leak at all, no coil pack issues on mine either but did crack both its front springs at one point but other than general servicing and a new battery it was decent transport. Also needed a new battery but I think that's it. Some parts can be expensive though, cat-back exhaust, only from Seat, £430+VAT. That and some other bits eventually added up to more than the car is worth.

[SteRB5138]

Looks a good solid shed to me, I agree the post 2003 do look better, those alloys look tiny now.
I would get these and a Remap and have fun.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEAT-LEON-CUPRA-SPEEDLIN...

[the_hood]

I had an '02 plate Cupra a few years ago. A good looking car, much better than the equivalent Golf, more powerful and better equipped. I prefer the model from '03 onwards wit bigger wheels and a body kit.
Even though the car I bought had a fsh, with loads of receipts, I had to spend big to fix/replace numerous parts. I never got round to fixing the water leak or find out what was causing the EML to come on (in the end it was on for about a year, but didn't affect how it drove ).
That era of VAG cars wasn't the best for build quality. I've now gone back to boringly reliable Japanes build quality!

[macky17]

10b0b said:

The Crack Fox said:

A question for the marketeers here; what is the point of Seat? There's Audi, VW and Skoda for the same product with different price points. Where does Seat fit?

Its the one you buy if you have a bit more money and don't want the stigma of saying you own a Skoda, but can't afford a VW and aspire to own an Audi.

Its the VAG sliding scale of Status Anxiety Syndrome.

This is such BS. We are petrolheads (I assume) so we buy the car we want, not the one the neighbours approve of. The golf looks too ordinary and the A3 is numb and boring to drive. This would be my shout, although I once had an Octavia vrs and that was very good.

[greenarrow]

Great shed! Very under-rated car and due to the six speed box quicker than the Octavia VRS by a little bit. Looking at those lap times posted by Autocar, it was only 1.7 secs slower around Castle Combe than the EP3 CTR, despite being 150KG heavier and around 3 secs slower from 0-100 MPH, so it obviously doesn't handle badly. The gaping chasm around Castle Combe in times between the Leon Cupra and the Golf mk4 TDI 150, which would be similar in lap time to a 1.8T golf 150 I suspect, tells you all you need to know about the respective abilities of those two cars!!!

The Leon has always been under-rated IMHO. Yes the interior isn't as plush as a Golf, but it shares same running gear and engines and for some reason Seat seems to finish higher up the reliability tables than VWs own cars....

[anonymous-user]

chrislloyd81 said:

I doubt a 150 golf 1.8t would have a 6 speed box either

No the auq engined 180 bhp has 6 speed, all others had 5 speeds.

[meehaja]

Miss my cupra R, but it just wasnt baby friendly. Annoyingly the toddlers would fit fine!

TT strut brace makes a big difference for £20 off ebay, watch for lock mechanisms failing and rust on the sills under the body kit!

[Welshbeef]

Christ we bought one of these 6 years ago for £1,100 and ran it for 3 years.

We had the lake issue at the end so thick ice on he inside of the car windscreen. Rather than stripping it I pulled a bit of the carpet away and drilled through a few holes which helped but certainly didn't fix the problem.

A good car, weak brakes, also lost traction very easily due to the P6000's factory spec tyres

[MissChief]

Handling was vastly improved by Good Year Eagle F1's all round for me.

[chrislloyd81]

Here is mine...
REVO stage 1, Forge 007p, smoothed airbox with custom 3" feed. SAI/n249/n112 deleted. Silicone hoses. OCC fitted. Bilstein gas shocks, H&R lowering springs, Cupra R front lower strut brace, Polybush top mounts, 312mm front discs, MY03 bumpers skirts and spoiler. Cupra R rear bumper.

[AlexMG]

Here's mine.


Thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I bought it in December and paid 1600 for it a 84,000. Part service history and was in good nick overall with loads of niggly things.

I did a full service and changed the coil packs. The only mechanical issue I had was the recent clutch pedal issue and its going to tick over 100,000 next week.

Its a great car for the money but fixing all the little issues with this car can add up to the cost of the car its self.

But if you can put up with these then its in a segment of its own at this price range.

6 speed so mway crusing is great, unlike a CTR 182 or fiesta ST as you have lower revs and mpg.

Insurance is also half the cost against some rivals and the later cupra rs.

Interior is big enough for me to fit my 29er in with the wheel off which I value more than chucking a roof rack on.

Old school single din so swap in a Bluetooth unit and the speaker system is pretty decent too.

If you're like me and can't decide on your next car and need to just have a reliable, fairly economical and fun car I'd recommend it.

I have been thinking about getting rid of it when the MOT is due in December but any alternative will result in a drop in economy, reliability and space.

On the water issue.. It took me an afternoon and some butol to fix. Super easy and didn't effect me too much.

Although I did remove the passenger side seat and the airbag light has come on and despite my own odb sensors ability to clear fault codes it can't clear this. Any help would be appreciated!

[MadDog1962]

30 years ago we all sort of expected our £300 to £500 and 14 year old shed cars to leak a bit.

This Leon Cupra seems like a great bit of kit for its age. But if its not leaking now it inevitably will. I wonder how much it would cost to renew the seals that are most likely to fail?

[Welshbeef]

AlexMG said:

Here's mine.


Thread here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

I bought it in December and paid 1600 for it a 84,000. Part service history and was in good nick overall with loads of niggly things.

I did a full service and changed the coil packs. The only mechanical issue I had was the recent clutch pedal issue and its going to tick over 100,000 next week.

Its a great car for the money but fixing all the little issues with this car can add up to the cost of the car its self.

But if you can put up with these then its in a segment of its own at this price range.

6 speed so mway crusing is great, unlike a CTR 182 or fiesta ST as you have lower revs and mpg.

Insurance is also half the cost against some rivals and the later cupra rs.

Interior is big enough for me to fit my 29er in with the wheel off which I value more than chucking a roof rack on.

Old school single din so swap in a Bluetooth unit and the speaker system is pretty decent too.

If you're like me and can't decide on your next car and need to just have a reliable, fairly economical and fun car I'd recommend it.

I have been thinking about getting rid of it when the MOT is due in December but any alternative will result in a drop in economy, reliability and space.

On the water issue.. It took me an afternoon and some butol to fix. Super easy and didn't effect me too much.

Although I did remove the passenger side seat and the airbag light has come on and despite my own odb sensors ability to clear fault codes it can't clear this. Any help would be appreciated!

If that lift is still on for he MOT it will fail/in theory having it on now does make it a MOT failure.