Discussion
So, I said I'd post details of the replacement for my long suffering C4 VTS, and here it is, a shiny Seat Leon Cupra. First impressions have been very good - despite missing a lot of the toys that I had on the C4 such as Sat Nav, Automatic wipers etc the Cupra is clearly in a different league in terms of pace. Loving the turbo shove after 7 years of naturally aspirated motoring!
I looked at a couple of cars (including a Mazda 3 MPS which looked in excellent condition but had a dodgy service record) before i saw this advertised just 5 miles down the road. The car was very tidy with a fully stamped book, and the Cupra ticked all the boxes I was looking for (220+ bhp, around 3 years old with 5 doors for a bit of added practicality
).
Now just waiting for the roads to dry out so i can properly test the pace!
Here are a couple of pics of it on the driveway in the rain. I'll add some more when the sun comes out again.
I looked at a couple of cars (including a Mazda 3 MPS which looked in excellent condition but had a dodgy service record) before i saw this advertised just 5 miles down the road. The car was very tidy with a fully stamped book, and the Cupra ticked all the boxes I was looking for (220+ bhp, around 3 years old with 5 doors for a bit of added practicality
).Now just waiting for the roads to dry out so i can properly test the pace!
Here are a couple of pics of it on the driveway in the rain. I'll add some more when the sun comes out again.
Yeah, got to admit the dash is a bit off putting. It's not exactly Mercedes quality, is it? 
You would think someone would have produced an aftermarket trim or something to cover up all the ugly grey plastic. Carbon effect or glossy black would look a lot nicer than the standard Fischer-Price spec.
Still, the rest of the interior is spot on with great bucket seats, easy to read dash and nice chunky steering wheel. And the engine is fantastic, which helps. Overall very happy.
You would think someone would have produced an aftermarket trim or something to cover up all the ugly grey plastic. Carbon effect or glossy black would look a lot nicer than the standard Fischer-Price spec.
Still, the rest of the interior is spot on with great bucket seats, easy to read dash and nice chunky steering wheel. And the engine is fantastic, which helps. Overall very happy.
It looks a bit better with the satnav unit installed:
You can get it fitted here for £600:
http://www.oemretrofits.co.uk/satnav-seat.shtm
Not sure about the trim piece though.
You can get it fitted here for £600:
http://www.oemretrofits.co.uk/satnav-seat.shtm
Not sure about the trim piece though.
Beefmeister said:
It looks a bit better with the satnav unit installed:
You can get it fitted here for £600:
http://www.oemretrofits.co.uk/satnav-seat.shtm
Not sure about the trim piece though.
Nice idea. I really liked having an OEM sat nav in my old C4. I think the maps were circa 2003 and there was no touch screen or postcode search so it was pretty lame compared to a TomTom, but it was great having it always there at the flick of a button. It was also helpful just to put on an overhead map when you were in a new town even if the destination wasn't programmed in, because it made it easy to orient yourself and find shortcuts if you got stuck in traffic.You can get it fitted here for £600:
http://www.oemretrofits.co.uk/satnav-seat.shtm
Not sure about the trim piece though.
£600 is a hard sell though when you can get a stick on unit for £80 in Halfords, or pay £50 for maps on your smartphone....
£600 is a lot, but the VW touch screen unit above is a very good sat nav. It controls the whole stereo system too, and can play DVDs.
Plus i get v.bored of taking the Tomtom off the screen and wiping the circles off.
I'm looking at a 2007 Octavia vRS, and will probably get the same system fitted by those people, along with the VW iPod connection.
Plus i get v.bored of taking the Tomtom off the screen and wiping the circles off.
I'm looking at a 2007 Octavia vRS, and will probably get the same system fitted by those people, along with the VW iPod connection.
Ok, some more pictures of my Leon Cupra now the sun has come out again, this time in the car park at work. Hopefully didn't look too odd photographing my own car during my lunch break.
Oops, looks a bit mucky there - I'll have to break out the bucket and sponge at the weekend!
So how am I finding it two weeks, 280 miles and nearly one full tank of shell V-Power in? Firstly, despite the power it's not an intimidating car to drive at all. It's really well behaved and torque steer is pretty much non existant once out of the first two gears. 4th gear is great for overtaking, it just picks up an goes, not like my old C4 which always requied a drop to 3rd before overtaking on NSL A/B roads. If the turbo is spinning peak torque kicks in just past 2000rpm and there's really no need to rev much beyond 4k, but the engine is really strong all the way to 6.5 if you're feeling naughty. Only managed to serioulsy engage the traction control once so far, stamping on the throttle in 3rd going from a 30 to NSL on a very wet but straight piece of road.
The engine note is pretty bland, kind of sounds like a vacuum cleaner but with a meaty induction roar. Would be nice if it had a bit more character but it fits with the lack of drama that goes with the car. It's just a really quick car that doesn't shout about it or make a fuss - would make the ideal q-car in a dull colour.
OEM P Zero Rossos are a bit noisy. I've run Michelin Pilot Sport 3 before and absolutely loved them, so will probably switch when this set wear out. Would be interested to find out what tyres other Cupra owners are running nearer the time.
Oops, looks a bit mucky there - I'll have to break out the bucket and sponge at the weekend!
So how am I finding it two weeks, 280 miles and nearly one full tank of shell V-Power in? Firstly, despite the power it's not an intimidating car to drive at all. It's really well behaved and torque steer is pretty much non existant once out of the first two gears. 4th gear is great for overtaking, it just picks up an goes, not like my old C4 which always requied a drop to 3rd before overtaking on NSL A/B roads. If the turbo is spinning peak torque kicks in just past 2000rpm and there's really no need to rev much beyond 4k, but the engine is really strong all the way to 6.5 if you're feeling naughty. Only managed to serioulsy engage the traction control once so far, stamping on the throttle in 3rd going from a 30 to NSL on a very wet but straight piece of road.
The engine note is pretty bland, kind of sounds like a vacuum cleaner but with a meaty induction roar. Would be nice if it had a bit more character but it fits with the lack of drama that goes with the car. It's just a really quick car that doesn't shout about it or make a fuss - would make the ideal q-car in a dull colour.
OEM P Zero Rossos are a bit noisy. I've run Michelin Pilot Sport 3 before and absolutely loved them, so will probably switch when this set wear out. Would be interested to find out what tyres other Cupra owners are running nearer the time.
philmots said:
Nice car. I fancied one this time (in black) but they were out of budget, really.
I was surprised to find them in budget, honestly. I started off looking at the Mazda 3 MPS as it was the best value around the 07-09 plate Mark but a lot of great hatches seem to have dropped in value over the last 6 months, and when I saw this one I just thought go for it. Mastodon2 said:
Those Cupra seats look great, the chairs in my R are brilliant - so good I go and sit in them on my lunch break at work because they are like armchairs! Perhaps not the most PH-ish thing to lavish praise on, but Seat have always given the Cupras great seats!
Totally agree. They may not be branded Recaros or anything but they're proper sporty. Haven't been on a proper run yet though so can't comment on comfort yet.... But then if I was bothered about that I probably wouldn't have bought a Cupra 
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