SEAT Leon Cupra R: Catch It While You Can
For the price of SEAT's new Sub-8 upgrade you could have a whole Leon Cupra R. Is it a classic in waiting?
Even the price (£2,025) looks tempting. But hang on. For little more than the cost of the Sub-8 package, you could have an entire SEAT Leon Cupra.
The original Cupra is on its way to becoming a minor classic. Born at a time when VW really wanted SEAT to be its sporty brand, if I say that the Leon Cupra is basically a Golf GTI Mk4, I'd be doing it a disservice. It's far better than that: more power, a better spec, sharper manners and a subtler road presence. I well remember doing a group test of hot hatchbacks back in 2003 and SEAT's Leon Cupra R emerging as the comfortable winner.
Let the Golf GTI be the 'one to have' with all the pumped-up pricing that go with it. No, the Leon will never be as desirable as a Golf, but that makes it sufficiently under the radar that the 'lion' is not so much roaring as mewing quietly in a corner.
Which, of course, is great news for buyers. Prices in the classifieds for early 180hp Cupras now start at Shed money. I did raise my eyebrows at the £1,100 price tag of a 20V T Leon Cupra of 2002 vintage with 79,000 miles, 10 months MOT and a smidge of tax.
But the 20V T is not 'the one' - that's the Cupra R of course. As launched in 2002, the engine came straight from the Audi S3, with 210hp in initial form. The 225hp version that superseded it in 2003 is even better, and its 0-62mph time of 6.5 seconds is still respectable.
With the entry ticket for 225hp R ownership starting at just £2,750, the only way is up. That buys you an unmolested 2004 model with 118,000 miles. Sure, it's got a few scratches and not much tread left on the PZeros, but a straight R for under £3K has got bargain written all over it.
Thing is, the Cupra's 1.8 turbo engine is tough, long-lasting and eminently tuneable. Many owners get tempted into remaps and (usually noisy) free-flow exhausts, which often means upgrades in other areas to cope.
There's plenty of choice of upgraded metal out there. The owner of this remapped, decatted 260hp R is "open to sensible offers", so it could likely be yours for under £3K. Another R with a 265hp Stage 1 Revo remap is up for £3,400.
As ever, my mantra with older performance cars is: keep it original. Sure enough, unmolested Cupras are becoming scarcer. Find a well looked-after original-spec Cupra R 225, pay £3-4K for it and you'll be on to a winner, I reckon. And one final word in favour of the Leon: being pre-2006, you'll even avoid the crushing top-rate VED.
My cousin had a fairly well sorted one,
- Forge FMIC
- Forge Dump Valve
- Jabbasport Airbox/Filter
- Mapped and RR'd at 270BHP by REVO
- KW V1 Coilover's with full Geo setup
- Neuspeed (IIRC) Front and Rear ARB's
- DS2500 Brake Pad's Front and Rear
- Uniroyal Rainsport 2 Tire's all round.
Few pictures of it with my VXR,
Untitled by michael.smith199042, on Flickr
by michael.smith199042, on Flickr
by michael.smith199042, on Flickr
We would have kept it but for my wifes daily drive it was a) perhaps a little too quick for someone who'd only been driving 1.5 years and b) it did some woeful mpg, even lower than the 330i touring auto it replaced - barely made 28mpg on a steady run!
Still, in yellow it looked great and handled pretty well but I prefer the slightly slower mk1 octavia vrs estate I've got now, far more spacious and much more economical as a daily leaving more fuel money for my weekend drive :P
Then started the water leaks, and the last straw were the crap electrics. Once I had it sorted, it was chopped in for a Kia Cee'd... that's how much I hated it in the end.
shame as I still think they look good.
Got odd looks when sourcing a replacement as would measure the clearance with ruler, so annoying.
That's my car linked to in the article
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/s...
I sold it on tuesday night and it's being picked up at the weekend.
Epic car, they go and stop incredibly well indeed and it'll be sadly missed. I will admit that the steering lacks a certain amount of feel but they have incredible grip and can be thrown through corners at alarming speeds. With a re-map they are rapid as well.
I've replaced it with a 2005 Citroen C5 2.0HDI that I inherited of my dad for peanuts...needs must and all that
Oh and
Not to be sniffed at... That was a 22mile round trip to work and back.
And compared like-for-like, LCRs seem to have curiously inconsistent MPG
for me, coming from the 150bhp mk4 golf gti, the steering is much nicer, although not as good as my mx5. the mid range kick is great, but it does suffer with passengers. the recaro seats are also pretty good (tho i haven't tried the non-recaro's).
So far, only things that have gone wrong is a coil pack failed. It does have a tendency to warp front brake discs too for some reason.
And compared like-for-like, LCRs seem to have curiously inconsistent MPG
Looking at the Seat forum there isn't really an alarming number of failed gearbox threads?
Mine is on 106k miles, it purrs like a kitten and the gearbox/clutch are faultless.
My overall average MPG for everyday knocking about it around 32mpg. The 40 odd I posted above is a one off hypermiling exercise. That same trip done with a bit more vigour still sees 35mpg though. I was getting 350-375 miles to a tank on mine. For the performance available that is bloody good if you ask me.
The same as my golf, but with 110 more BHP.
They are one of those engines that reward careful driving but when you thrash it, they like a drink.
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