sjah555

Which one would you have and why ?..

Answers on a postcard.. or down here will do

Ta,
-Sal-

PS. Apologies if this has been done to death already.

Brendan Hughes

For what purposes, and do you own any other cars at the same time?

sjah555

As an everyday drive.. and it's the only car.

Looking for all-weather performance, decent shove in the back (whether that be VTEC, turbo etc) and practical.

Currently have a MY99 UKT with essential breathing mods .. so performance should be comparable if not any better.

-Sal-

Brendan Hughes

If LCR isn't 4x4 then I'd go for WRX. More easily tuneable than Honda, more power down than LCR. But it'll feel slower than your MY99.

(But what do I know?).

sjah555

Thanks for your 2p's worth.

LCR is FF but ECU remaps by Jabba, AMD, Revo take them to 250bhp+ quite easily.

Would be nice to have slightly reduced running costs on MY99 and with better cabin but don't want to have to sacrifice performance/handling..

-Sal-

mattvortex

if you want all-weather performance than surely the two front wheel drive cars are out of the question- nothing worse than seeing and hearing a powerful fast car spinning all that performance away on wet tarmac! maybe you could consider an audi s3 which is 4wd so wont have the traction problems of the seat and honda and can also be re-mapped like the seat as it has the same engine!

ScoobyJawa

A chipped LCR will eat a WRX for breakfast, and will also pull from a std STi.........

mattvortex

yes, until it rains! the guy does say he wants ALL-WEATHER PERFORMANCE

jonc

and one the WRX is chipped, will have the LCR for lunch, especially in wet weather.

I'd go with the CTR, cheaper running costs, practicallity, build quality, and a great engine/gearbox/brakes combo and handling. Prefer NA engines.

ianc

S3, best of all worlds?

(or save money on purchase and spend more on tuning, Audi A3 1.8T quattro \ Octavia 4x4turbo)

Brendan Hughes

Chippable and 4x4. But s/he said no sacrifice on performance/handling, and I read they are a dull drive.

sjah555

Ta for the comments.

LCR on GS-D3s much improves handling in wet apparently and like the fact that £500 gets you 250bhp+ without needing to upgrade internals/fuel pump etc.

MY03 WRX needs PPP (£1900 ! ) to notice improvement on MY99 UKT + mods but AWD helps with traffic-light launching in our temparamental climate.

I like the sweet gearbox, oddball bread-van looks of the CTR but don't know if it would it be a big downgrade in performance from a MY99 ?.. The wet weather handling of the CTR also puts me off it quite a bit but you can't ignore it for the price.

Decisions, decisions..

-Sal-

sjah555

PS. Brendan.. it's a he !

terryb

Sal

You don't need a PPP at £1900 to make the WRX better. A £600 remap by Bob Rawle (BR Developments) will offer the same if not more and will have a massive effect on performance.

Avalyn

Did the same thing 6 months ago .. had an MY00 wagon with some exhaust mods.

I liked the LCR (wife didn't) .. a bit bland overall, really good in gear response, good handling but thought I'd get bored quickly. Put the power down well but wouldn't imagine one with REVO on a wet day would be great

Bruv had a CTR in silver. From some angles it looked good, from other like a wee MPV .. liked the engine and VTEC but when it took me about 30 secs to wheelspin out of a slight incline junction I was put right off .. quick a jiggly ride on poor surfaced roads ... I have a wee one so 3 door wasn't quite so practical.

What did I buy .. errrm an MY05 wagon ... grip simply isn't an issue, handling is much better than MY00 and for a nice blat over some B-roads it just has the suppleness in the suspension and enough mid range ooomph to be a joy .. I'd certainly be working much harder in the CTR to keep up, with the LCR not far behind ..

OK you can REVO the LCR (can't do much to the CTR) but you can PPP the Scoob and keep the warranty. I know which one I'd want to be deploying 260-odd BHP with

Fuel consumption in the Scoob isn't bad (much better than MY00) and being old (33) my insurance isn't bad (£450 - Norwich Union - no mods but no tracker either).

Poorest points are stereo and wipers. 3 year free servicing at the mo so all you have is insurance and fuel costs

If I was to have the decision again with the same sort of outlay I'd still be having the WRX or maybe a 330D.

Avalyn.

ianc

4wd platform is same front end as Leon, only fully independant rear susp instead of torsion beam of LCR, far better handling...

4wd losses far less than scoob (blasphemy on here I know ), and S3 is only as "dull" as LCR, as apart from torque steer they are damn near identical setup.

sjah555

terryb - wanna keep the warranty, so aftermarket out of question really.

ianc - driven a 225 TTC (same 4WD as S3 ??) which didn't inspire me as decent a ride as it was.

Avalyn - nice one ! . Very much steering towards the WRX now, although sheer amount of kit in LCR + grunt with the remap does still tempt me

Looks like CTR is out of running now.. (having to cane nuts off it to get anywhere and tripe handling in wet..).

LCR or WRX ?..hmmm.

-Sal-

v8voodoo

Had the same dilemma (nice dilemma tho aint it?!) when I decided to move my Mini Cooper S on.

Honda looks like a stretched focus, 2wd, 2 door, funny gearshift place and you have to scream the nuts off it to make rapid progress.

S3 was too bland. Vague steering, not edgy enough to easily have fun in. Plus they're a bit long in the tooth now.

LCR As above, plus only 2wd, dated looks.

I went for my MY03 WRX and haven't looked back.

Do it.

Nige.

ianc

Fair enough, I've only driven the octy (a lot, mine ) and the TTV6, but they had a similar feel so I suspect all will.

If you want to keep the warranty that knocks the LCR out as you are talking about remaps, wrx it is then.

Just a shame the fuel bills and build qual are not up to VAG standards....

Hotpants

Just P/ex'd my Turbo 99UK Scoob with a few Mod's in for a Revo'd Leon Cupra R.
Having had the Scoob from new , it was fast approaching the big 90K service & I thought if I'm gonna change my car , I've got to do it now. Pick the Cupra up on Saturday & although I'm well looking forward to it , I'm gonna miss my Scoob big time , the next time I go through a tunnel , I'll have to remember I no longer have to pointlessly drop a gear or two & wind down the windows anymore. Road test will follow. Dry Road test that is!!!

sjah555

Hotpants - exactly my situation. MY99 UKT Scooby has done 73K miles and therefore also approaching 90K service (£600+ ! )

Need to find a decent Seat stealer in Berkshire area now for test drive ..

-Sal-

Scrappy2

HA HAA HA HA HA HAA...

Sorry, nearly fell off my chair reading that one!!!! Whatever you do avoid the muppets who live near the queen (Don't want to get into trouble on Scoobynet by naming names!)

Saying that, have heard nothing but good things about the dealer in Camberley. And the ones in Reading are OK(ish!) (Took em 3 days to replace a £20 dump valve on my LCR!!)

Hotpants

Just do it , beleive me I've had my Scoob for 6 years & I've loved every minute of running it & I have tested many possible replacements from Alfa GTA's to Mitsi V1's , all great cars , but this Cupra (with Revo) seemed to hit all the right notes , add value for money to that & I was sold. Hope it proves to be the right decision & I'm sure it will be (atleast in the Dry).Good luck with your dilemma.

Avalyn

Sal,

Seeing ianc's comments about build quality .. have a good look in an MY05 (new interior+climate etc compared to MY04) .. it's much improved and not far behind VW IMHO.

No question fuel consumption will be better in LCR than WRX, I do manage 27-ish normally (what's the point in screaming around in daily commute) so it's much better than bug-eye models seem to be

I was also really tempted to have the LCR. Cheap upgrade to good BHP/Torque, cheaper insurance I would hope and I felt it would be less of a target for getting nicked. It has better brakes and is just as practical as the 4 door WRX.

I couldn't however get past the 4WD security in poor conditions though. We get a fair amount of snow up here in Aberdeen and the scoob has great traction.

Our next door neighbout tried to save money last year by dumping his X-type and TT for 2 FWD cars. 6 months later after winter there's now an X-type and Freelander on his drive .. expensive mistake

Sure PPP is much more expensive than a REVO map. PPP is fully warrantied though, adds to resale value and in my opinion is a much better way to get 260 odd BHP down onto damp roads.

I don't suppose there would be much to choose between an LCR and Scoob even on wet roads with a decent driver but I'll always feel much more secure knowing there's AWD underneath me

So Revo = £500 and PPP = £1600 .... is the boxer sound worth £900 quid extra ... oh yeeeeeees

Avalyn.

sjah555

Cheers Scrappy2..

A work colleague took his Ibiza TDI to above mentioned muppets for scheduled service. Car came back serviced, but with snapped handbrake cable, cooked clutch and knackered gearbox. He was a little upset afterwards

Will give Camberley lot a try then..

-Sal-

A'K

You can have a LCR revo'd and keep the warranty...

I bought a LCR 2 months back and haven't looked back, even std its flipplin quick (even in the wet if you know how to drive)...

have a look at www.seatcupra.net for more info on the LCR...

Scrappy2

Your welcome - if you do go the Seat route - head on over to http://www.seatcupra.net/forums They're a friendly bunch!

Scrappy2

doh!! beat me too it!!

ianc

No, you can have the LCR revo'd and have a dealer that turns a blind eye, then when the service manager changes, or the dealer disappears, or the car dies at the opp end of country and gets taken to a different dealer, Seat will no doubt do all they can to get out of warranty work.

Trust me, I've been there with a different VAG product.

Emms

If you are having to cane the CTR to get anywhere, and yet wheel spin from a standstill all the time you need to learn to drive properly methinks. We have a 280 bhp CTR and very rarely suffer traction control problems. The throttle response is so linear you should rarely have any trouble. OK I would not even pretend it is as quick in the wet than my Ver7 STI (the CTR is the husbands). In the dry well it is a different matter .

Even in standerd form the CTR is hugely capable, but I do agree can be a bit manic at times....but only when you want it to be.

The LCR is a great car, lot of respect for those. More refined and definately an easier car to live with on longer, particularly motorway journeys. Cabin a bit dull for me. And prhaps not as much fun to drive as the CTR. TBH if i was even thinking of getting the LCR, I'd just stick with the WRX as surely it has the advantages of the Leon yet wih better all weather handeling?

At the end of the day you need to drive them all and see what you think. There is also the Renault Megan 225 trophy which, if you can live with those looks does seem a nice package.