Shed Of The Week: Seat Leon Cupra

It won't do under eight minutes at the 'ring but it is £800 - worth a gamble?

For some owners, Shed very much included, the prospect of a car that doesn't allow passengers entry has a strong appeal. Shed has often considered fitting a General Lee style window-egress system on all his cars to stop the rather portly Mrs Shed gaining entry. The only fly in this particular ointment being that Shed's lumbago would also prevent him from getting in, defeating the object.

Door problem might be minor. Might not be...

Why are we talking about this? Well, this week's SOTW has a nasty case of 'access not many areas' syndrome. Two of the doors don't work. We don't know which doors, only that they are passenger doors, which if you count the driver as a passenger doesn't really rule out any of them. However, we are going to take a punt on it and assume that the all-important driver's door is not affected, and that it's the back doors he's on about.

This Leon door problem is far from unknown, and it can be an utter swine to sort. You might be lucky and be able to fix it using the special magic 'palming' move recommended on SEAT forums, which basically involves smacking the door handle to shock it back into action. If that doesn't work, you might be a little less lucky, but still a bit lucky, prising off the door card to find it's just the cable that's no longer attached.

Or you could be very unlucky and find it's none of the above. Helpful types have posted 'easy' DIY fixes for faulty Leon door lock mechanisms, but unless you've got the patience of Job and the digital dexterity of a double-jointed Thai lapdancer, the chances are you'll sod that for a game of soldiers and hand it over to your local specialist for a not so cheap repair. If it is the back doors that you've been unsuccessfully smashing in (copyright PistonHeads) in a vain attempt to get them to open, you could tell the man to sort out those leaky rear seals while he's in there - another model highlight.

At least everything else is looking good!

What a damn shame that what would otherwise be a brilliant car should be spoilt by such trifling ha'porths of tar such as 'er not being able to get in it or getting slightly wet inside when it rains. But should we let such fine details get in the way? Hell no. The 180 Cupra is too good a mix of power, flexibility, reasonable handling and practicality to be ignored. It's an excellent choice for the family man who wants some sneaky and largely risk-free fun on the side. Shed had one for a year or so, admittedly the later 210hp version, and he has nothing but fond memories of it. His one was in red with a stonking set of factory alloys. It was a fantastic do-it-all motor.

Our Shed is a nice looking example too, but in a much more sober colour scheme that's just the ticket for some low-profile progress-making. The seats are very good and the boot is usefully large. The climate control info panel has obviously been over-excited at some point and melted itself into oblivion, but most of us know when the cabin climate is too cold, too warm, or just right. We don't need a number for that.

The numbers we are interested in are the mileage, which is pleasantly low, and the price, which would be low too if it wasn't for the door thing. What else might go wrong? Coil packs are a bit notorious, playing havoc with your boost pressure (boost leaks are not uncommon), and the EML being on all the time is a pain, but this is nothing that a square of black gorilla tape won't cure. Mass air flow units and throttle bodies get dirty, but realigning the TBs (by code) and test-unplugging the MAF will reveal plenty.

There were a few rear-entrance and unplugging jokes at this point in the original story but we've deleted them for legal reasons. Here's the ad instead.

SEAT Leon Cupra 180bhp 2003/53. Only 88k miles, MOT due Sept 2015. Platinum silver grey with cloth interior and all the usual Cupra extras. Recent new tyres, has been serviced with stamped book up to 73k then after mostly at my brothers work by professional mechanics, cambelt was changed at 61k. Its basically a good looking car that has plenty of power and drives and handles very nicely. Now for the not so good bits. This has been my brothers car for the last 4 years and hadn't given him any problems until about 3 months ago when two of the passenger doors occasionally became difficult to open and now need fixing as they now do not open. The rear door seals let in water in very heavy rain. The usual engine management lights on the dash but no issues as the car goes very well indeed. The climate control panel display not clear but works ok. The bodywork is in good condition with usual age related marks. Basically this is a great little project for someone with the time and willingness to tinker and fix her up. The car will be sold as seen and inspected. Asking just a very fair £800 (not a penny less) for a quick hassle free sale. Please pm if interested. Located in Chichester, West Sussex. Genuine enquiries only no timewasters please. Thank you.