Shed of the Week: SEAT Leon Cupra
A standard, swift and stylish SEAT rows Sheds gears
There is a lot of boring stuff there though. Case in point being the odd lingo used to describe upcoming problems, or advisories as they are more popularly known. After poring over possibly thousands of these histories, one phrase has become a sort of earworm for Shed, or eyeworm if you're being pedantic, and it is this: 'constant velocity joint gaiter deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt'. Shed would be willing to bet most of next year's pension on this being the most frequently bashed-in code on the typical MOT tester's oil-caked keyboard.
Right, back to the Leon. As any fuel kno, this model of Leon was basically a Mk4 Golf with a different coat on. It was launched in 1997 and, following the arrival of no objections, went on sale in 1998.
The 210hp Leon Cupra R is a great car. It finished 7th in Autocar's 2010 'best hot hatch of all time' reader poll. Unfortunately, Rs don't pop up in SOTW's sub-£1,500 bracket, but the 180hp 20V does a pretty decent impersonation. Tipping the scales at 1300kg or so, it's a practical 140mph front-drive five-seater with a nice big boot, 40mpg on a cruise, and very acceptable handling. Only the braking is on the edge of not good enough if you're planning on giving it the berries everywhere.
On your way to lifting up the mats, you'll need to open the back doors. Sounds easy, but might not be, as malfunctioning doors are another notorious Leon foible. Sometimes it's a loose cable behind the door card: sometimes you can get in by giving the handle a sharp community-approved whack with a rolled-up newspaper, furled umbrella or good old-fashioned flat of the hand.
If the turbo seems a bit down on pressure, it could well be that the coil packs are on the way out. Many of the packs fitted as original equipment on Leons and Golfs of this era wouldn't have passed muster on a pedal car, let alone one powered by an engine.
Clutches tend to wilt after 80k miles or so, and the one on this car has lived up to that billing almost perfectly by expiring (and being replaced) at 84k. The four-year/60k replacement cycle cambelt is a motor-busting trap lying in wait for the unwary, so again it's good to see that our Shed received a new one just 10,000 miles ago, especially as this can be a slightly longer/more expensive job on the 1.8 20-valvers.
In a joyous SpaceX kinda mood, what with Cupra about to separate itself from the main SEAT launch vehicle and shoot off into orbit as its own brand, maybe the values of old Cupras will go up. Well, maybe not. But you can always hope. In the meantime, just park your elbow on the Leon's door ledge and hum a bit of Bowie.
Family friendly hot-hatch.
Golf GTi Mk 4's better looking Spanish cousin.
Better performance, handling, boot space and looks than GTi.
FSH, 104k miles, in regular use, Mot to Aug, no advisories, full cambelt and water pump replaced @ 94k, Full clutch @ 84k, No mods.
Drives well and looks great. Interior clean, floor mats, tailored boot protector mat.
Alpine head unit, amplifier and sub-woofer in boot. Upgraded speakers.
A/C climate control, remote central locking.
Minor age-related marks, no rust.
Good Dunlop Sport Maxx tyres all-round.
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These just scream council to me ... tinted lights, dented bodies, crappy ‘zorst
Not a fan I have to admit
I do like these and loved ours years ago but would pass on this one. We never saw anywhere near 40mpg on a run in ours but that's because it just wanted to you to drive it like you had stole it everywhere.
Just happened to be looking at AT for the next model Cupra last night. 237BHP....
Never needed a clutch, coil pack, maf or exhaust.
Did need two front wheel bearings and a door lock solenoid though. Good engine imho. Also had a tdi 150 Cupra new in 2004 and even on that I can vouch for the rear door seals.....................
I like the fact it's unmodified apart from the stereo, and the service history on the major items is comforting. I bet it'll be sold quickly.
The badging always confused me, as you can also get these in FR trim but they look exactly the same with the exact same offering of engines, in both facelift and pre-facelift guise. Bit odd really. Also, aren't they known to leak quite badly too, due to crap seals? The engines seem a bit hit and miss aswell and apparently go through coil packs regularly.
For the money they can be had at, they are good value.
Also regarding advisories. When I bought my Corolla 2 years ago I looked at it's history. For 10 years it had an oil leak on the gearbox as an advisory.
10 years.
And it turned out to be a driveshaft seal, not the inner engine oil seal. Brilliant, so I replaced it and put the gearbox back. I come back to it a week later (having not driven it as it's in the middle of "restoration") I notice some black oil now on the gearbox.
The engine drive seal needs replacing now. So off with the gearbox I go again...
As a 19 year old I loved the speed but the car itself was a dog. Always needed something doing before eventually the gearbox what itself (fortunately done under warranty).
My mate had a golf GTi at the same time, it had loads more miles on the clock but wore them much better.
I personally wouldn't buy another one, if you must have this engine I'd look seriously at the golf or Octavia.
Dont think at TT has ever been SOTW, must be due and quite happy to write the article as well !
The badging always confused me, as you can also get these in FR trim but they look exactly the same with the exact same offering of engines, in both facelift and pre-facelift guise. Bit odd really. Also, aren't they known to leak quite badly too, due to crap seals? The engines seem a bit hit and miss aswell and apparently go through coil packs regularly.
For the money they can be had at, they are good value.
Dont think at TT has ever been SOTW, must be due and quite happy to write the article as well !
The badging always confused me, as you can also get these in FR trim but they look exactly the same with the exact same offering of engines, in both facelift and pre-facelift guise. Bit odd really. Also, aren't they known to leak quite badly too, due to crap seals? The engines seem a bit hit and miss aswell and apparently go through coil packs regularly.
For the money they can be had at, they are good value.
It's a bit like tyres. Budget ones are generally s
te but there are some much better branded ones out there.It's all subjective, but i can see you're very much an OEM type of version, given your first comment about the aftermarket stereo.
This one has clearly been "updated" to pass it off as the later model....
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