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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 12:16 PM
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Default VW Lupo GTI

Thinking about downgrading my current motor to something less expensive and have seen one of these in the carpark recently and TBH I think it looks quite smart.

Having owned a Scirocco in the dim and distant past I do have a bit of a soft spot for them and am willing to go back to VW.

I've done a search of google and the BBS but can't see any specific information that might help me.

Does anyone own one of these that would be able to give me any more information? I'd quite like to get it modified as in it's current state it's not that quick off the mark. I've looked on Jabbasports website but they aren't currently listed, that's not to say that they might not do it. With the short range gearbox they ought to be quite nippy.

In addition does anyone have any links for the Lupo?

Thanks in advance
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 02:39 PM
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As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.

I would totally recomend the Lupo TDI Sport as a warm hatch down grade. Has the similar sloppy suspension, but costs less to buy, looks as pretty and gets 60+ mpg. A trip to revo and a nice panel filter will result in 90-100 bhp and 200 lb/ft, which in real terms is no douby quicker than a PPP from 20-40mph - lol

Other than that, get a golf, Fabia RS, Audi A2 (dodgy ride ?!?) etc......

The best £ / smiles hatch is a 172 CUP out the box. Cheap and cheerful, will out handle an M power, out drag a standard STI and cost pennies to own (apart from resicuals)

Hope it helps (sort of )

Andy
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 02:42 PM
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My missus has a Polo and had a Lupo courtesy car for a weekend. Had a go in it and was quite impressed. Not sure about sporty, but quite fun
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 02:57 PM
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Originally Posted by Andy M3
As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.

I would totally recomend the Lupo TDI Sport as a warm hatch down grade. Has the similar sloppy suspension, but costs less to buy, looks as pretty and gets 60+ mpg. A trip to revo and a nice panel filter will result in 90-100 bhp and 200 lb/ft, which in real terms is no douby quicker than a PPP from 20-40mph - lol

Other than that, get a golf, Fabia RS, Audi A2 (dodgy ride ?!?) etc......

The best £ / smiles hatch is a 172 CUP out the box. Cheap and cheerful, will out handle an M power, out drag a standard STI and cost pennies to own (apart from resicuals)

Hope it helps (sort of )

Andy
Sorry, but what you have just written is a load of tosh. Except the last bit "get a 172 Cup."

Or better still a 182. Brand new for £11,500

Last edited by slim_boy_fat; Sep 30, 2004 at 02:59 PM.
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 02:59 PM
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Ok - the forum is all about opinions - so that is fair enough -
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 03:07 PM
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We are all entitled to opinions and for what is is worthI have an Impreza and a Lupo GTi.

I have a modified Subaru Impreza WRX that is used for hillclimbs & sprint and a VW Lupo GTi that is my everyday car.

Performance wise they are not in the same league but I recently broke the local 1/4 mile sprint record in my Lupo GTi by 0.6 secs - 16.5 as against sub 14 in the Impreza.

There are not many under 1600cc cars (other than turbocharged/supercharged) that will break 7 seconds to 60mph and touch 130 mph and return 35 mpg.

They are good fun, nippy cars and I would certainly recommend one and they are tuneable if you want to. They are expensive but depreciation is far better than a Subaru.

I went to the Le Mans 24 hours the year before last with a Porsche 911, Lotus Elise, Westfield and a Cobra and kept up with them even on a 120mph cruise on the dual carriageway betwen Rennes and Le Mans.
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 05:11 PM
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Originally Posted by LeMans
There are not many under 1600cc cars (other than turbocharged/supercharged) that will break 7 seconds to 60mph and touch 130 mph and return 35 mpg.
Im pretty sure the Lupo doesnt do 0-60 in under 7 secs.

Mark
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 09:00 PM
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Originally Posted by Andy M3
As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.

Wrong.
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 09:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Andy M3
As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.Andy
Hmmmm, there`s so much wrong about what you wrote I don`t know where to start!
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Old Sep 30, 2004 | 10:15 PM
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Sounds like I'll have to try the GTi one day. I think I drove a 1.0l model. Still good though
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Old Oct 1, 2004 | 09:55 AM
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From what I have read, I thought the Lupo was a cracking little car if expensive. Andy's comments threw me a little but glad people here disagree with him too. It has some aluminium body panels for weight reduction, a 6 speed box and sports a cool centre exhaust. 128Bhp/ton. No slouch if a wee bit expensive. Trying to convince the GF to get one
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Old Oct 1, 2004 | 09:59 AM
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Sorry my post should have read crack 8 secs and not 7 secs - 7.7 seconds.

I would be interested to know what else was wrong !.
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Old Oct 1, 2004 | 11:11 AM
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Bugger, thought it would be faster than that
My current motor does sub 7 seconds and I don't really want to lose any more oomph. Will have to go back to the drawing board then...

Cheers 4 the replies!
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Old Oct 1, 2004 | 02:52 PM
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It might *feel* as fast - which is more important I reckon. Why not book a test drive
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Old Oct 2, 2004 | 01:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Andy M3
As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.

Andy
obviously really know your cars..............Not

probably the only VW at the moment that doesn't need suspension upgrades
aprt from the R32
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Old Oct 2, 2004 | 11:38 AM
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Some in gear times to look at:

---------------Lupo GTi 5speed------6Speed--------- Lupo16v
0-60----------------7.7------------------7.9------------------8.8
30-50 (3rd)--------4.9------------------4.5----------------- 5.1
30-50 (4th)--------6.9------------------5.6----------------- 7.2
50-70 (3rd)--------5.3------------------4.6----------------- 5.6
50-70 (4th)--------7.0------------------5.8----------------- 7.3
50-70 (5th)--------9.9------------------7.0----------------- 10.6

Wo bought this Lupo Gti just over a month ago and just like the advert for that 'other' well known make of car, we fight over who drives it! Makes us smile everday. (My other car is a Skyline R32) Handles well, nice turn in, stearing is a 'leedle' bit heavy for me but you get good feedback and can be confident in knowing when it's about to let go. Build quality is fantastic.
Has a lovely engine note as you climb up the revs. I think the 0-60 time for the Lupo Gti is conservative. For sure feels quicker. But anyway 0-60 times are sooooo one dimensional.
On a practicle level the boot is tiny. But me and the missus still get all the shopping inside and if we need anything bigger I've got my business van.
Turning radius is really really good. Very handy in a car park, narrow road, etc etc.
Really glad we bought this car. So effortless around town, draws a lot of looks, I guess for it's rarity. It's made me think about selling the Skyline and getting something a little smaller...
Anyway here's a pic

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Old Oct 2, 2004 | 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by the_boy
Bugger, thought it would be faster than that
My current motor does sub 7 seconds and I don't really want to lose any more oomph. Will have to go back to the drawing board then...

Cheers 4 the replies!
It probably is vw quote conservative 0-60 figures

Banzai magazine in a shootout between the Focus RS CTR and Golf ANNI recorded 6.6 seconds to 60 compared to over 7 for the official Figures
the RS and the CTR recorded in line with their Manufacturers Figures
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Old Oct 3, 2004 | 12:13 PM
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Originally Posted by PaulMc
From what I have read, I thought the Lupo was a cracking little car if expensive. Andy's comments threw me a little but glad people here disagree with him too. It has some aluminium body panels for weight reduction, a 6 speed box and sports a cool centre exhaust. 128Bhp/ton. No slouch if a wee bit expensive. Trying to convince the GF to get one
I owned one for about 7 months and 13k miles (downgrading from a P1 - what was I thinking of )

Its pretty impractical with the boot size. Its certainly not a P1 from a handling point of view - but it was fun on the roundabouts. Gearbox was lovely as was overall build quality (despite the fact I rejected the first car after 400 miles because of a terminal oil leak from a cracked cylinder block ).

I still love the looks - but the one thing which was annoying was the tranmission shunt - essentially nudge after each gearchange a bit like releasing the clutch late. It was so annoying ! ..and I don't know if that ever got remedied.

The car never felt that fast to me - certainly not sub 7 ! - the engine characteristics are odd - it dumps all the torque by about 3500rpm which initially feels spritely but beyond that it starts to fall away and you never feel rewarded revving it the redline. Forget modifying it - its expensive for very little gain - the car is best out of the box IMHO.

Overall the car felt it would last a 100k miles - something a Renault certainly doesnt !

Gastro

Last edited by Gastro; Oct 3, 2004 at 12:17 PM.
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Old Oct 3, 2004 | 12:32 PM
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It probably is vw quote conservative 0-60 figures
Could be that they quote 0-62 (0-100km/h), which in some cases can make the difference between a gearchange or not - 3 to 5 tenths.
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Old Oct 3, 2004 | 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Andy M3
As a standard car, they are slow, sloppy and expensive. As a modified car, there is no point.
Andy
That statement is just plain wrong these car’s have massive grin factor. A mate of mine has one and have to say it’s an unbelievable little car, it’s like a rocket powered roller-skate. Fare enough its not I’d call a “fast” car but it’s bloody quick and I’d say it would be on the heals of my old Clio 172 until about 70ish.
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Old Oct 3, 2004 | 08:49 PM
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Tim ask him to show you the headlight washers - They are hilareous
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Old Oct 3, 2004 | 08:57 PM
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Originally Posted by andrewdelvard
Tim ask him to show you the headlight washers - They are hilareous
Yeah I’ve seen them, they pop out of the bumper. Their quality
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