Should I make the change? Has any one got any reviews about a leon cupra r on about on 05 plate? Thinking about hanging but not too sure

Don't hang yourself, things are never as bad as you think. :no:   If you feel like a change from a diesel DSG to a manual petrol then do so.  Whole new level of performance but significantly lower mpg.  Only you can decide what are your priorities in a car.

As above, your call.

How old is your Octy? Do you not need the room any more? Do you just need (want!) more pace! Do you want to hear the sweet sound of a petrol revving?

Tell us more, then we might be better placed to help!

Should I make the change? Has any one got any reviews about a leon cupra r on about on 05 plate? Thinking about hanging but not too sure

Presume it is a mk1 cupra r then? I had a 2004 model and loved it. Bought it a year old with 12k miles on it and sold it with 87kmiles two and half years later. Had stage 2 remap, milltek, forge intercooler, green dynatwist air filter and hr coilovers. Did various track days including 40 laps of the nurburgring and never let me down. Reckon it's the best car I've owned. Felt more involving than my current 2010 mk2 fl vrs tsi. There's an article on pisonheads this week saying how good they are and a great bargain just now. Possibly even a future classic. You'll find it so much more fun than your octavia. If you drive it really gently you might manage to get over 400miles from a tank. Realistically more like 330-350miles. Same size of tank as the octavia. Also drove one with jabbasport ihi conversion to 380bhp - that was interesting! Think they still look fantastic. I've actually been looking at them tempted to buy one again as a daily runabout to replace my vrs and buy a b7 rs4 as a toy as that's always been a dream car of mine but couldn't afford to run the rs4 daily!

75k in 2.5 years? Holy crap that's a good effort

75k in 2.5 years? Holy crap that's a good effort

Yeah I did enjoy using it! Did a lot of mountain biking at the time and went to Peebles 4-5times a week in the summer which was about 400miles a week on top of the 240miles commuting per week that I was doing. Drove to the nurburgring and back in a day and half. 1800miles including 12laps....car maxed out at just over 160mph on the autobahn and no issues. Never even used any oil between services. I do enjoy driving.....did 29k miles in 10months in an audi a4 avant that I used to have as well!

I like everything about the octavia. Especially the room and easy driving with the dsg box, but the idea off 225bhp in a smart looking car is tempting. The fuel consumption isn't too much of a drama as I don't use my car during 5 days of the week. Just not sure of the room in the boot with having 2 kids and needing to put a pushchair in the boot. I've had a look at the specs of the cupra r but does anyone know if isofix is standard on all the cupra r. I take it it is but would like the reassurance. Thanks for any help

Our old 1.6 Leon had isofix and it had plenty of room for pushchair and things for 2 kids

That's the main point for me really having isofix and room for a pushchair. Means I can have a car that's quick with lots of power when I'm on my own and still be functional as a family car. Is there any tips I should know about when looking at a used cupra r if I did make the change?

Just the usual check service history and ensure the timing belt has been changed at 60k. Best to change the water pump at the same time as the plastic impellor is famous for breaking causing the car to overheat. Check passenger footwell for dampness as they can get water leaks if the pollen filter hasn't been replaced properly (its in the bulkhead at the passenger side). Coil packs are famous for going but probably been replaced on most cars by now. The 1.8t is a good, tough engine. Good sized boot whilst not as big as the octavia will still accommodate a pushchair. If you know anyone with vagcom get them to scan it for fault codes. From memory I think it does have isofix.

Edited 25 August, 201411 yr by neil_f

Thanks for the advice. A lot of cars I've seen have got a lot of service history with stacks of receipts to go with it, a lot of them seem to be members on other forums. The more I hear about the cupra r the more it seems like a good change to make, especially with all the power and still being practical

I had an '03 plate LCR some years ago and loved it. It's a superb amount of performance for the money with a decent amount of practicality to offer too. It's very tuneable; standard turbo tops out before 300bhp, but cheap as chips to get to the high 200's (remap to 260 and small increments with IC, filters, exhaust, sports cat etc from there). There are also some very simple mods that make an every-day difference, such as the dogbone mount that stops tramping if you're clever with the throttle.

 

Brakes are awesome for a car of this calibre, I still miss those :(

 

Handling is OK, it's a VAG car so don't expect Caterham cornering, but it's decent in stock form and you'd have to spend a fair wedge on the Octavia to compare with it. The usual VAG mod's of ARB's, braces and coilovers can improve things if you want to take that route.

 

In practical terms, it's a MK4 Golf / Audi A3 frankencar so practicality matches those. Good sized boot, smaller than the Octavia by far, but a decent size for a medium-sized hatch back, easily big enough for a pram and some shopping IMO. Will seat four adults comfortably, five for a short journey. Front seats are nice, cabin is A3 from the same era so you can imagine what it's like. Climate control as standard is a nice touch.

 

The downsides... fuel economy is quite poor, around 26mpg in my experience, but that's not necessarily an issue for you. Brake discs and pads at the front can be pricey (hello, Brembo). The ride is very hard, you'll notice that compared to the Octavia for sure, especially since it hates potholes and will punish your spine for finding one. I lived with it just fine, but it is hard riding.

 

Otherwise it's really hard to fault. It'll have the same problems as most VAG cars of that era (coilpacks, MAF etc) but the common faults are all small things.

 

Go drive one

 

(edit) Pay our friends at Seatcupra.net a visit too, they're a good bunch and there is a huge amount of knowledge hanging around.

Wow thanks for the in depth reply, I've test drove the standard cupra 180bhp but weren't too impressed with its power but I liked the interior with the red detailing on black seats and a pretty simple layout on the dash. The fuel economy would unfortunately be half of what I'm getting from my skoda but my mileage is pretty low and petrol is cheaper which will soften it a bit. The hard suspension wouldn't cause a drama as I've lowered my octavia and got used to dodging every pothole and crawling over bumps. I've had a quick look on the seat forum and there seems to be a lot of helpful people just like on here

What's the dog bone mount and tramping?

The dogbone mount is a lower engine mount. Changing it for an uprated version helps put the power down... 'tramping' is otherwise known as axel tramp or wheel hop, basically it's that bouncing / skipping you suffer in a FWD car when it's struggling to put it's power down, but isn't spinning its wheels, it's bouncing them down the room. A replacement dogbone mount really helps prevent this. It does mean you get slightly more engine vibration into the cabin, but not much and it's well worth it.

 

(P.S. the name dogbone comes from it's shape, it's like a typical bone you'd give a dog to chew!)

My brother in law had a fairly early Cupra 180 1.8 VT a while ago that was v tidy for its age and paid peanuts for it. Was excellent; hes had other cheap VAG metal since but none a patch on this car. Not been in an LCR of that gen but can only imagine it being v good indeed.

Fair to say however the Leon of that generation being Mk4 Golf based will not feel as modern, also nothing like as solid as a Mk2 Octavia (something I will have to level at Seats of that generation having owned an 03 Ibiza 1.9 130 PD Sport for a while is that they wernt v well built despite the VAG hardware) but get a tidy well kept example for not alot of money and its alot of fast car. The 1.8T engine is so tunable with a big turbo and other hardware/software changes they can become proper sports car eaters....but you'll end up spending more than the cars probably worth to do so.

Problem nowadays is finding an honest car thats not been chavved up or abused for sensible money as people seem to market clean examples now for silly money as they are an ever rarer commodity.

Edited 27 August, 201411 yr by pipsyp

I've been looking at the mk1 about 04 plate, ideally I want an untouched car which hasn't been lowered or remapped so that if I decide I want these mods I can do them myself and it hopefully means the car hasn't been ragged. It is hard to find a standard model with the right price but there are some out there just means driving a few hours to get to them, but I don't want to drive too far and find that the car isn't as advertised and I don't want it. The simplicity of the cupra compared to my octavia is what I like as well, hopefully means less to go wrong with it