Black mk1 Seat Leon Cupra R
Discussion
Hi all, been meaning to take some photo's of my latest car for a while now and finally got round to doing it today after I gave it a clean.
First of all a brief history of my wide and varied selection of past cars
(3 hatchbacks).
First car was a mk1.5 Focus Zetec 1.8. Probably too good for a first car, but my late Dad helped me find it. Always kept it in top condition, and despite a few large bills, was always a lovely, solid drive.
Not long after my Dad passed away, I went away to University so gave the Focus to my Mum to use as a run about.
After a while, I was desperate to get back behind the wheel, and after being a passenger in a friend's 106 GTi, just had to have one. (ignore the Barry bits, I had plans to remove them). The car was great fun and handled like a go-kart, despite being a bit ruined by the silly low Bilstein suspension. After a half a year or so, I discovered the car to be teminally ill with structural rust. Luckily I managed to get rid of the thing 4 days before the MOT was due (the bloke was fully aware of the conditon). Still miss the 106 but I always felt a bit conscious driving round in a barry'd 106!
After a few more months of being car-less and having saved up a bit of money at Uni, I was surprised by the prices and insurance quotes of Mk1 Leon Cupras, which naturally led me on to wanting a Leon Cupra R... The car is currently on 94k, remapped from 225bhp to around 265 (though I've never had it on a dyno). Generally in good condition, although the 10 years old, 100k mile black paint often gets on my nerves. Never really sure how to restore the paint and I usually prefer concentrating on getting the mechanicals sorted first.
So far, I've had to do the coil packs myself and I've had a go at re-laquering the Brembos. Also had a boost leak and an oil leak amongst other things sorted by JKM in Portsmouth. Recently put a full set of Pagid discs and pads from ECP for a reasonable £220 which was a bargain compared to some quotes I got. Still got a few things to sort like the curbed alloys and poor paint in some areas. Overall the car is running well now and the performance really is a step above anything else I've driven. Handling isn't quite on par with the 106 but as an all rounder it's almost perfect for me. A bit of a hot hatch bargain IMO (and hopefully a future classic for residuals
)
(It's always surprising how much a set of new badges can change a car!)
And a couple of photo's of my quick Brembo restoration.. (not perfect by any means but as a convenient and low budget fix it worked a treat)
Before:
After:
Apologies for the long post and thanks for taking a look!
First of all a brief history of my wide and varied selection of past cars
(3 hatchbacks). First car was a mk1.5 Focus Zetec 1.8. Probably too good for a first car, but my late Dad helped me find it. Always kept it in top condition, and despite a few large bills, was always a lovely, solid drive.
Not long after my Dad passed away, I went away to University so gave the Focus to my Mum to use as a run about.
After a while, I was desperate to get back behind the wheel, and after being a passenger in a friend's 106 GTi, just had to have one. (ignore the Barry bits, I had plans to remove them). The car was great fun and handled like a go-kart, despite being a bit ruined by the silly low Bilstein suspension. After a half a year or so, I discovered the car to be teminally ill with structural rust. Luckily I managed to get rid of the thing 4 days before the MOT was due (the bloke was fully aware of the conditon). Still miss the 106 but I always felt a bit conscious driving round in a barry'd 106!
After a few more months of being car-less and having saved up a bit of money at Uni, I was surprised by the prices and insurance quotes of Mk1 Leon Cupras, which naturally led me on to wanting a Leon Cupra R... The car is currently on 94k, remapped from 225bhp to around 265 (though I've never had it on a dyno). Generally in good condition, although the 10 years old, 100k mile black paint often gets on my nerves. Never really sure how to restore the paint and I usually prefer concentrating on getting the mechanicals sorted first.
So far, I've had to do the coil packs myself and I've had a go at re-laquering the Brembos. Also had a boost leak and an oil leak amongst other things sorted by JKM in Portsmouth. Recently put a full set of Pagid discs and pads from ECP for a reasonable £220 which was a bargain compared to some quotes I got. Still got a few things to sort like the curbed alloys and poor paint in some areas. Overall the car is running well now and the performance really is a step above anything else I've driven. Handling isn't quite on par with the 106 but as an all rounder it's almost perfect for me. A bit of a hot hatch bargain IMO (and hopefully a future classic for residuals
)(It's always surprising how much a set of new badges can change a car!)
And a couple of photo's of my quick Brembo restoration.. (not perfect by any means but as a convenient and low budget fix it worked a treat)
Before:
After:
Apologies for the long post and thanks for taking a look!
Edited by LCR265 on Tuesday 11th September 20:45
You've had some nice cars! I like the 106 GTi and the Cupra R is a good bet. My mate had one of the same year, almost the same spec. Yellow, '53 plate, a few uprated parts and some tuning saw it running something between 260-270bhp, lovely Miltek exhaust. Stunning thing in a straight line, it seemed outrageously quick at the time. Mind you, his suffered from a number of minor electrical gremlins with the 1.8T engine and was never quite right, even when he part-exchanged it. Still, I loved that car, with it's fussy A/C controls and red lights.
Look after yours and enjoy it, they are the absolute cream of the crop of VAG hot hatches for me. So much cooler than a Golf!
Look after yours and enjoy it, they are the absolute cream of the crop of VAG hot hatches for me. So much cooler than a Golf!
greggy50 said:
Looks good I was very tempted to stretch to one of these instead of the 172 Clio I brought as are great value saw some decent looks car advertised for sub 4k but the fuel economy and insurance would be a bit too much for me at the moment...
Fuel economy is better than the Focus and 106! Can squeeze 40mpg out of it, but generally get around 35mpg with mixed driving.Jimmy No Hands said:
How do these cars handle 260-270 bhp? I imagine it becomes a very very nimble car indeed!
I had a 270bhp Cupra R 225, lowered on coilovers, ARB'd etc. It was very, very good at resisting wheel spin, despite a pretty old school "whoosh bang" map. It cornered very flat thanks to the mods, but it was not what you'd call "delicate", even by hot hatch standards. Very capable, loads of grip so high cornering speeds were a doddle but due to the platform they built the car on, it's never going to be the most lightfooted car. The EP3 I replaced it with feels like it weighs half what the Cupra does in the corners. It was much quicker in a straight line, but less raw and involving. On the other hand, it was more relaxing to drive at any speed - part of what made me sell it. I wanted raw, pulse-pounding enjoyment if I was to be paying hot hatch prices as a young man, and unless you had your foot welded to the carpet (which was sometimes soggy as the doors on these leak like sieves) it sometimes felt a bit too sensible, even with 270bhp.Another problem, while the straight line speeds were silly for a FWD car, it wasn't exactly a charismatic engine, even with the induction and exhaust mods I did it didn't sound amazing, so if you were prepared to lean on it you had to want to be somewhere in a hurry and nothing else, whereas the Type R I find myself giving it a bootful just to hear it rev. On the whole though, the Cupra R is a great car - cheap, comfortable and very capable, it's a great all rounder as far as hot hatches go.
LCR265 said:
Fuel economy is better than the Focus and 106! Can squeeze 40mpg out of it, but generally get around 35mpg with mixed driving.
Had one on test and I averaged about 28 you must have a light right foot similar driving in the Clio got me 38 and at 15k miles a year is quite a difference 
Powerrr said:
Very nice OP. 106 isnt too barried, looks nice actually!
Could you tell me how you went about doing the Brembo's? i badly need to do it to mine.
Follow this thread!Could you tell me how you went about doing the Brembo's? i badly need to do it to mine.
greggy50 said:
LCR265 said:
Fuel economy is better than the Focus and 106! Can squeeze 40mpg out of it, but generally get around 35mpg with mixed driving.
Had one on test and I averaged about 28 you must have a light right foot similar driving in the Clio got me 38 and at 15k miles a year is quite a difference Cool, looks very well kept. Brembo refurb looks very good too, must do that myself one of these days (I have a red 55-plate LCR).
Handling-wise, change the front ARB for a mk4 Golf R32 one, these come in 19 and 23mm sizes, get the 23mm one. Also put in a rear ARB (none as standard), I got a Whiteline 24mm adjustable one for about £170 from DPM Performance. These two things made a fair difference on mine, I'm still on standard springs/shocks, not lowered at all and I feel happier chucking it about.
Any more plans for it?
Handling-wise, change the front ARB for a mk4 Golf R32 one, these come in 19 and 23mm sizes, get the 23mm one. Also put in a rear ARB (none as standard), I got a Whiteline 24mm adjustable one for about £170 from DPM Performance. These two things made a fair difference on mine, I'm still on standard springs/shocks, not lowered at all and I feel happier chucking it about.
Any more plans for it?
8bit said:
Cool, looks very well kept. Brembo refurb looks very good too, must do that myself one of these days (I have a red 55-plate LCR).
Any more plans for it?
Thanks Any more plans for it?
No real upgrades planned yet. I'm a bit more of a perfectionist so I prefer to sort out the various little problems before trying to upgrade other bits.
I would like to get it dyno'd and possibly get the remap overwritten with a Revo one or something as I've never been totally confident in the remap that was done by the previous owner. It had a boost leak when I first bought it and the boost sometimes sort of feels intermittent as if a hose has split again.
Also plan to get the wheels refurbished and get some better rubber on them as it's currently on chinese ditch-finders that all seem to slowly leak air (previous owner, again).
LCR265 said:
Thanks
No real upgrades planned yet. I'm a bit more of a perfectionist so I prefer to sort out the various little problems before trying to upgrade other bits.
I would like to get it dyno'd and possibly get the remap overwritten with a Revo one or something as I've never been totally confident in the remap that was done by the previous owner. It had a boost leak when I first bought it and the boost sometimes sort of feels intermittent as if a hose has split again.
Also plan to get the wheels refurbished and get some better rubber on them as it's currently on chinese ditch-finders that all seem to slowly leak air (previous owner, again).
Speaking of perfectionism, those can't be the original R badges can they? Mine are a disgrace compared to your ones and my car is younger than yours. Tough paper round maybe No real upgrades planned yet. I'm a bit more of a perfectionist so I prefer to sort out the various little problems before trying to upgrade other bits.
I would like to get it dyno'd and possibly get the remap overwritten with a Revo one or something as I've never been totally confident in the remap that was done by the previous owner. It had a boost leak when I first bought it and the boost sometimes sort of feels intermittent as if a hose has split again.
Also plan to get the wheels refurbished and get some better rubber on them as it's currently on chinese ditch-finders that all seem to slowly leak air (previous owner, again).
I got Revo stage 1 with the linear throttle option, dyno'd at 285bhp twice now. Every car gets a different result and I've no other experience of a claimed 285bhp car to judge it on but it's certainly bloody quick, especially for what it is. I'm on the rollers again this Saturday as I've added a Forge front intercooler since last time and a Forge MAP sensor tube too. Revo give results tho, regardless of hardware.
Re. tyres, I'm on my second set of Vredestein Ultrac Sessantas now, which seem to be becoming popular. They're not a bad price compared to some of the known premium brands either.
You've got me inspired to do my brakes now tho, I only really noticed just how tatty they were looking when I changed my discs and pads recently
Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.
Check the comment underneath the photo of the badge!
And the callipers really are easy to do and costs you just the price of some lacquer, sand paper and a few hours of your time, totally transforms the look of the car IMO.
As a side note, does anybody else find the button on their handbrake rattles all the time? Find myself holding the button still while I drive!
And the callipers really are easy to do and costs you just the price of some lacquer, sand paper and a few hours of your time, totally transforms the look of the car IMO.
As a side note, does anybody else find the button on their handbrake rattles all the time? Find myself holding the button still while I drive!
LCR265 said:
Check the comment underneath the photo of the badge!
And the callipers really are easy to do and costs you just the price of some lacquer, sand paper and a few hours of your time, totally transforms the look of the car IMO.
As a side note, does anybody else find the button on their handbrake rattles all the time? Find myself holding the button still while I drive!
Aha, missed that And the callipers really are easy to do and costs you just the price of some lacquer, sand paper and a few hours of your time, totally transforms the look of the car IMO.
As a side note, does anybody else find the button on their handbrake rattles all the time? Find myself holding the button still while I drive!
Got some lacquer a while ago to do the new R badges and alloy center caps before putting them on (but not done either yet), no excuse now, just need some elbow grease.
Know what you mean about rattles, my handbrake button isn't the cause but the interior of my car sounds like a skeleton having a tug in a filing cabinet.
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