Tuesday 22nd July 2003

2004 Cupra R

Cupra R now boasts 220bhp, a Tracker and a price tag of £18K

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SEAT has released a new version of its Leon Cupra R. The outgoing model has proved a hit amongst car enthusiasts seeking practicality and power. The new model should prove even more popular with power up from around 205bhp to 220bhp. Torque is up to a healthy 206 lb-ft.

The uprated Leon Cupra R costs £18000 - £1000 more than the old model - on the road and comes with TRACKER Retrieve included in the package.

The heart of the Leon Cupra R is its 1.8 litre 20-valve turbo-charged engine and a close ratio six-speed gearbox. Power goes to the front wheels. Performance is obviously improved over the old model with the top speed up to 150mph and the dash to sixty now taking less than 7 seconds.

The chassis remains the same. Wheels are 18" alloys and red Brembo four pot callipers take care of retardation.  Traction control comes as standard.

Externally the only change to distinguish it from the lower-powered model is the use of a red "Cupra" badge.

Links: seat Links, Cupra R Reviews

[nevpugh308]

Interesting that they're including Tracker fitted to the car as standard. Is this heralding a new bit of standard kit for car manufacturers ? (and about time)

But it begs the question .... is it fitted at the factory, or aftermarket ? If the former, surely isn't one advantage of Tracker the fact that the scrotes dont know where it's fitted and thus can't disable it ?

[rich-uk]

I'm sure the car's fantastic (i.e. an Audi S3 without the 4x4)

What are Seat dealers like???

[nevpugh308]

Not bad. Nothing outstanding, but nothing wrong with them either.

[FastShow]

..and goes up to ~270BHP/280lb/ft with a nice little ECU flash. £700 smackers well spent, allegedly.

[phil1]

Have got the 180bhp version. Very nice car. I'd be interested to try one of the higher power versions and see if the torque steer is worse...

Dealers seemed great until the front disks warped... which they replaced foc (nearly 2 years old), which promptly warped again, which they replaced, which promptly warped again.

It's back in again tomorrow. Hopefully this time they'll take the issue seriously and sort the actual problem.
I've lost faith in them since they started struggling to fix a problem with a rather important key safety item!!

[pdV6]

phil1 said:

Dealers seemed great until the front disks warped... which they replaced foc (nearly 2 years old), which promptly warped again, which they replaced, which promptly warped again.

This might help you (and them):

www.stoptech.com/whitepapers/warped_rotors_myth.htm

[The_Gza]

Is the extra power and addition of a Tracker the only upgrades gained for the £1k price hike?

I personally think it's getting losing out in the value for money/performance stakes now...still, it's a purposeful looking beastie and I've only ever seen a couple on the road. From reading the Seat forums they seem to depreciate quite badly though...

[rhumber]

I was also going to say about the mistake that it should be 225bhp also.

I have the standard 180bhp Cupra also and I can't really see that the extra stuff justifies the £1k price hike.

btw all the Leon Cupras don't deapreciate badly at all, in fact they are close to the Golf GTI 1.8T for deapreciation (i.e. reatined value after 3 years is ~52%).

The Cupra R's are in limited supply and hence this is why you won't see much of a discount from any Seat dealers.

Like all Official dealers there are some good ones and bad ones, I've found MK Seat a good one.

More info on www.seatcupra.net !!!

[PetrolTed]

Not true actually guys. Power is up to 225PS which equates to 220bhp.

[PetrolTed]

Audi quote BHP in their stats, SEAT quote PS (as do Honda with their 200PS VTEC engines etc).

From the latest press release:

seat said:

The new SEAT Leon Cupra R with power output increased to 225 PS is now available to order from SEAT dealerships for delivery from October...

seat said:

The heart of the Leon Cupra R is its 1.8 litre 20-valve turbo-charged engine which now develops 225 PS and 280 Nm of torque...

seat said:

Make and model OTR Price PS £ per PS PS per £ SEAT Leon Cupra R £17000 210 £80.95 0.01235 SEAT Leon Cupra R £18000 225 £80.00 0.01250

[FastShow]

PetrolTed said:

Audi quote BHP in their stats, SEAT quote PS (as do Honda with their 200PS VTEC engines etc).

Strange though, 'cos it's exactly the same engine block, turbo and intercoolers as the S3 and the TT.

[Fatboy]

FastShow said:

PetrolTed said: Audi quote BHP in their stats, SEAT quote PS (as do Honda with their 200PS VTEC engines etc). Strange though, 'cos it's exactly the same engine block, turbo and intercoolers as the S3 and the TT.

Slightly different exhaust probably - and ecu held down below the flagship S3/TT probably...

[Gren]

Audi actually quote PS when it comes from Germany. Audi UK 'mistakenly' use BHP in their data without doing any conversion. The engines are the same - the exhaust systems are all different but will only be 1 or 2 BHP either way.

They're all 225PS which is about 222BHP. But to be honest how many come out of the factory with exactly that under the hood?