RE: SEAT Leon Cupra R vs. Honda Civic Type R

[DBRacingGod]

Nic Cackett’s reviews leave me feeling like I’ve been slotted hard between the eyes by a thesaurus.

[Kenny Powers]

I can well understand why some people dislike the Civic, but I think it looks great.

[Mike1990]

greenarrow said:

Is it me, or has the Seat Leon Cupra taken a few steps back with this generation. The LT report in EVO by John Barker suggested as much.... he was saying that he wouldn't take the latest 300BHP model out for a drive just for the sake of it, like he would the sub8 version.

I think the Civic is one of the ugliest cars out there, but at least Honda have a made a real effort to ensure it stands out (ahem) and is a bit special....

Yeah i read that aswell. The Sub8 really is a step above the ‘normal’ Cupra. But this Cupra R has pretty much all the trick bits the Sub8 has, but it’s limited and has 5drs.

[the_hood]

I'm sure the Cupra is a fine car, but it looks dull. Type R for me!

[pardonmyenglish]

I dislike the look of most modern cars but the civic si coupe looks so much better:

[ZX10R NIN]

That does look smart do they do that in Type R form in the US?

[macky17]

renmure said:

Cupra Black said:

OK, I am biased because I have a Cupra but no matter how great the Civic is just look at it....not for me thanks

Total opposite view from me. I am biased because I bought a Civic and the main reason for doing that is for the looks. Vive la différence.

Looks good in red I think (and I drive a “boring looking” Golf R). Sometimes you wear a suit, sometimes you dress casual. There’s no right answer but what you personally prefer.

[MartinVert]

The Cupra is the new king, until the Megane comes out at least. Well done Seat. Then I gather the next RS will be 2020.

[ocrx8]

Jonesy23 said:

But is it really, or is it just the usual journo groupthink and invention?

Come back in 6 months and all you'll hear from the same crowd are how it's flawed and was never really that good.

No - that’s just the latest Focus RS.

[Onehp]

From the review, sounds like either car would improve on the road with a size smaller (and therefore lighter) rims. My Cupra definitely went up a whole level when changing the nineteen performance rims to light eighteen inch Ultralleggeras.

If I wasn't invested in the family Cupra eSTate, I would definitely considered the CTR properly.

[macky17]

MartinVert said:

The Cupra is the new king, until the Megane comes out at least. Well done Seat. Then I gather the next RS will be 2020.

Were you reading sonething else?

[MrBarry123]

macky17 said:

MartinVert said:

The Cupra is the new king, until the Megane comes out at least. Well done Seat. Then I gather the next RS will be 2020.

Were you reading sonething else?

[F1GTRUeno]

The Civic is offensive.

I own a Seat (albeit a lowly little Ibiza) so I'm biased but I really like their current styling.

Both cars are clearly very good to drive and supremely quick too so it would go off preference of looks and I'd be so happy having never seen the Civic in my life.

[Apacheindian]

Shame the civic fk8 has a major gearbox fault

[Jonno02]

macky17 said:

Were you reading sonething else?

I wish we could do a blind taste test, a la supermarket style.

I bet the rankings would be somewhat different than what journo's spew out.

[howardhughes]

Sorry, but I think the Honda looks like it's about to turn into Optimus Prime.
Too 'Transformer' for me.

[Black S2K]

ZX10R NIN said:

That does look smart do they do that in Type R form in the US?

No - the FK8's engine comes in from the US, but Type-Rs only come from Swindon and are therefore hatchbacks.

[macdeb]

E65Ross said:

Integroo said:

I think the Civic looks brilliant.

Seriously?



Each to their own!!

looks shyte, as if drawn by a 12 year old on acid. Oh, and the Seat's interior looks like it was drawn by his dad.

[TWPC]

All I read about the Civic suggest it's absolutely fantastic but I'd struggle to love with the looks. I like the look and size of the interior, the dynamics sound like all you want and hopefully the reliability would be what you'd expect from a Type R.

If only they would do a version with a toned down exterior, a 'Touring' version I suppose...

[samoht]

Jonesy23 said:

But is it really, or is it just the usual journo groupthink and invention?

Come back in 6 months and all you'll hear from the same crowd are how it's flawed and was never really that good.

As for the looks - the Type R doesn't look better in real life, if anything it just looks worse and more plasticy. The styling really hurts it.

The good journos called out the limitations of the FK2 CTR, if that's what you mean - evo had it up to Scotland and talked about how the lack of compliance in the suspension made it exciting, but couldn't flow with a really challenging road.

The new car is at the least made from substantially better raw material for a performance car, given it has proper multilink rear suspension and is meaningfully lower, longer and wider. So it would be surprising if it wasn't markedly more capable.