RE: SEAT Leon Cupra 300: Review
Discussion
SuperchargedVR6 said:
Personal tastes on the styling aside, the SEAT interior is clearly much lower rent than VW's. And ditto Audi vs VW.
And it doesn't stop there. Put a Golf and an A3 side by side, the A3 has tighter panel gaps (that actually align properly) and a meatier thunk to the doors.
The people who keep saying "A Skoda is a VW underneath" actually need to compare the 2 cars in the flesh, properly, before trotting out the same old nonsense. Underneath....yes.....the floor. Everything else....totally different.
Depends who you listen to. I keep hearing the opposite, how much better the interior and quality is and all that. It better be some real difference, where I live the equivalent-ish S3 commands an approx £14k premium...And it doesn't stop there. Put a Golf and an A3 side by side, the A3 has tighter panel gaps (that actually align properly) and a meatier thunk to the doors.
The people who keep saying "A Skoda is a VW underneath" actually need to compare the 2 cars in the flesh, properly, before trotting out the same old nonsense. Underneath....yes.....the floor. Everything else....totally different.
To recap, I just don't get what most of the fuss is about, and in fact the interior gets just as much compliments as the exterior 'nice car' so not completely imagining things. But then again I did buy a Seat with my own money, and others seem happy to, mostly, lease said Audi or VW. Something for all kinds of customers, the VW group motto basically. Over and out.
@Dan: thanks for the review -- nice to see these getting good coverage here. And IMO the critical reviewing is a delight. So much shallow 'rewrite the press release stuff' pretty much every else...
Regarding price and availability, just had a look at the German configurator and a broker site. You can still get a manual FWD ST and discounts are already back at > 25% despite the facelift just being out (base car starts at ~ 26.5 sans options). So if you *do* get the itch
...
FWIW, think the pre-facelift looks a bit better though. Not convinced they now stick fog lights into the fake air intakes which makes them look even bigger. And they come with privacy glass per default now and I'm just allergic to that (yeah I know, vain
).
Dale Lomas said:
The Golf Clubsport also has a lot of power, with a FWD VAQ setup, and has no such issue. Was it an NVH issue with
the Cupra on the same mounts? Or a Teutonic two-finger salute to the Spanish hillbilly cousins?
Only an opinion, but I think there's a mix of reasons. Brand differentiation for one, SEAT not allowed to be better everywhere out of the box to leave some room for the VWs. Plus the street price has consistently been much lower for the Leon (at least in LHD markets) . But mainly IMVHO it is down to what they see as target audience. You must be one of a handful at best to drive one *really* hard. Most owners in .de are happy they got excellent price / performance -- main thing it that it goes very well on the Autobahn then it's mission accomplished.the Cupra on the same mounts? Or a Teutonic two-finger salute to the Spanish hillbilly cousins?
Regarding price and availability, just had a look at the German configurator and a broker site. You can still get a manual FWD ST and discounts are already back at > 25% despite the facelift just being out (base car starts at ~ 26.5 sans options). So if you *do* get the itch
... FWIW, think the pre-facelift looks a bit better though. Not convinced they now stick fog lights into the fake air intakes which makes them look even bigger. And they come with privacy glass per default now and I'm just allergic to that (yeah I know, vain
).SuperchargedVR6 said:
Personal tastes on the styling aside, the SEAT interior is clearly much lower rent than VW's. And ditto Audi vs VW.
And it doesn't stop there. Put a Golf and an A3 side by side, the A3 has tighter panel gaps (that actually align properly) and a meatier thunk to the doors.
The people who keep saying "A Skoda is a VW underneath" actually need to compare the 2 cars in the flesh, properly, before trotting out the same old nonsense. Underneath....yes.....the floor. Everything else....totally different.
I think they will share all mechanical / functional items across the platform - steering column, Heater etc. And it doesn't stop there. Put a Golf and an A3 side by side, the A3 has tighter panel gaps (that actually align properly) and a meatier thunk to the doors.
The people who keep saying "A Skoda is a VW underneath" actually need to compare the 2 cars in the flesh, properly, before trotting out the same old nonsense. Underneath....yes.....the floor. Everything else....totally different.
The cosmetic parts will be different, I'm sure they apply the same methods of location and managing tolerances. Equally sure that they spend a little extra on accuracy, control and finish of the cosmetic parts as you move up through the brands.
It's the whole point of platform sharing. If you measure quality as robustness and reliability, I think it fair to say they are the same. But you will get some nicer touches as you move up through the brands.
Hungrymc said:
It's the whole point of platform sharing. If you measure quality as robustness and reliability, I think it fair to say they are the same. But you will get some nicer touches as you move up through the brands.
Yup, agreed. And sometimes the progress the posher label brings actually isn't really, well progress. Look at those TFT instrument clusters eg. In 5 years time the first gen of these will look soo outdated and second car buyers will wish more people would have bought the conventional dials. Same for the high end ICE / control unit in the Golf -- stupid thing comes with real ergonomic progress such as the lack of a volume knob. Every basic car will have a screen as it's cheaper to stick a display in there compared to solid state electro mechanical dials and switches. Then the trend will reverse (see expensive analog watches).
Kolbenkopp said:
You must be one of a handful at best to drive one *really* hard.
Funny thing is also that GTI PP owners in the states go their way to switch off the anti tramp software as they think it interferes when hard launching the car. So from their perspective, the Cupra would be 'better'. Simultaneously, the lower engine mount (dogbone) insert is one of the very first mods they do anyway. Yes Dan, thanks for the review, it is much more comprehensive than most and the criticism is correct, as is the conclusion. On LHD markets the gap with the Golf versions on the street is bigger and then it's an easy choice for the driver oriented who aren't brand loyal.
I don't get why these modern hot hatches with this kind of power are so slow to 60 and the 1/4 aren't that impressive, I mean you had earlier evo's and impreza's with 280bhp doing high 4's to 60 and low to mid 13's for a 1/4 mile even MR2 Turbo's with 250bhp would still give these modern overpowered hatches a real sprint, 125kg shouldnt make a whole lot of difference unless they are telling us porkies on the bhp.
dufunk said:
I don't get why these modern hot hatches with this kind of power are so slow to 60 and the 1/4 aren't that impressive, I mean you had earlier evo's and impreza's with 280bhp doing high 4's to 60 and low to mid 13's for a 1/4 mile even MR2 Turbo's with 250bhp would still give these modern overpowered hatches a real sprint, 125kg should make a whole lot of difference unless they are telling us porkies on the bhp.
Thing is with the cars you mentioned, after 300 yards, you'd need to fire up gumtree and look for somebody selling one as spares and repairs to replace all the components that just blew up.dufunk said:
I don't get why these modern hot hatches with this kind of power are so slow to 60 and the 1/4 aren't that impressive, I mean you had earlier evo's and impreza's with 280bhp doing high 4's to 60 and low to mid 13's for a 1/4 mile even MR2 Turbo's with 250bhp would still give these modern overpowered hatches a real sprint, 125kg should make a whole lot of difference unless they are telling us porkies on the bhp.
It's traction limited, the 4wd estate version of the same car does 0-60 in 4.9 seconds despite being heavier, which is about what you'd expect for its power and weight. Jonno02 said:
Thing is with the cars you mentioned, after 300 yards, you'd need to fire up gumtree and look for somebody selling one as spares and repairs to replace all the components that just blew up.
I think your getting confused with European cars of the 90's era! Japanese set the way for 2L 4cyl Turbo engines and they were very reliable still to this day. Give these modern hot hatches 20 odd years and see if there not on the scrap heap.Edited by dufunk on Thursday 16th February 10:07
dufunk said:
I think your getting confused with European cars of the 90's era! Japanese set the way for 2L 4cyl Turbo engines and they were very reliable still to this day. Give these modern hot hatches 20 odd years and see if there not on the scrap heap.
That was the case until they fell into the hands of the fast and furious modification crew. Edited by dufunk on Thursday 16th February 10:07
tonyb1968 said:
Considering that the depreciation on these is pretty bad, what was the deposit for the 275 per month and is that private or business contract?
I missed out on the first batch of good deals but a broker offered me a 2yr PCP. £275 down and £275 a month inc VAT. Its a personal contract culpz said:
I'm not trying to compare new to used here but the real bargains to be had are the prices of the first Cupra 280's on the used market IMO.
You're not really getting much less than the 290 and the 300 models and saving yourself an hell of alot of cash in the process.
MMM I'm not so sure. I was looking at a used 280 and at 2 years, they were all hovering around the 19/20k mark. A brand new 290 was around 22.5k from the best broker at the time.You're not really getting much less than the 290 and the 300 models and saving yourself an hell of alot of cash in the process.
Jonno02 said:
MMM I'm not so sure. I was looking at a used 280 and at 2 years, they were all hovering around the 19/20k mark. A brand new 290 was around 22.5k from the best broker at the time.
I saw some good ones at around 15/16k on AT. Maybe they still need a few years but i reckon that's good value. Think they were around 3 years old.StarmistBlue400 said:
tonyb1968 said:
Considering that the depreciation on these is pretty bad, what was the deposit for the 275 per month and is that private or business contract?
I missed out on the first batch of good deals but a broker offered me a 2yr PCP. £275 down and £275 a month inc VAT. Its a personal contract Good deal.
dufunk said:
I think your getting confused with European cars of the 90's era! Japanese set the way for 2L 4cyl Turbo engines and they were very reliable still to this day. Give these modern hot hatches 20 odd years and see if there not on the scrap heap.
In fairness, didn't the Evo need servicing every 6k? 12k for the Impreza I think.Edited by dufunk on Thursday 16th February 10:07
These new engines are less laggy and more efficient. Not to say they're more fun, but a lot of progress has been made in this time.
duckson said:
Mine is £249 a month, 1+23 and 10k pa (manual Black 290). I also have a M135i (purchase), i'd take the M135i over the Cupra due to it sounding much better (the Cupra sounds like a diesel in comparison!) and the RWD is more entertaining to drive IMO. Its early days in the Cupra lease so it may grow on me given time, we'll see.
I'm looking for exactly this type of deal, do you mind telling me who it's with?Cheers
Stuart
I have owned my 290 black edition for 6 months and absolutely love it!!
Yeah there's not much point opening the taps to hard until the girl is rolling but once it's rolling I haven't found any car that can get away from it.
Why waste your money on BMW 140m, Golf R or S3's. I can safely say the little Seat will stick to there bumpers.
Yeah there's not much point opening the taps to hard until the girl is rolling but once it's rolling I haven't found any car that can get away from it.
Why waste your money on BMW 140m, Golf R or S3's. I can safely say the little Seat will stick to there bumpers.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff