Considered the Octavia vRS?

Chip it and you'll have a 225 BHP motor for a couple of grand less than the Cupra, only better built, bigger and with half-leather interior as standard.

[Edited by Witchfinder - 7/2/2003 11:31:17 AM]

Sadly, thinking of getting rid of beloved STI Ver 1 and looking at this as possible replacement. Any comments / experience of these ? Also considering Civic Type R, again any thoughts or experiences

Cheers

PS : May be looking for sensible offers for a v v vearly STi (MY93 ?????)

Cue Toonman...... ;)

check out SeatCupra.net

All the info you'll ever need if not more.

Cheers

Dan

recently driven the following cars

scooby wrx
golf r32
seat leon cupra r
corolla t sport
civic type r

and a few others

I hated the seat, over hard suspension could not handle the bad roads in my area plus it had typical audi type feedback ie none, it feals like the steering wheel and the pedals are not attached to the car in any shape or form.

The toyotas a good long distance cruiser but not a sports car (The yaris t sport is 1000 times more fun to drive)

I would pick the Honda everytime over the seat, if the money was available i would go with the R32 thou :D or even better anouther STi.

Best thing you can do is go and drive one.

IMO the Leon R is an awesome car and pound for pound your can't go much better on a brand new car. Not as common as some of the others either ;)

www.SEATenthusiasts.co.uk

Dont forget to tell them Tony that with a simple chip upgrade you will have 265Bhp :)

"Cue Toonman......"

Aaaw, how nice. :)

I tried a CTR before I bought my Seat Leon Cupra back in Oct '01, and wasn't too taken with it I'm afraid. It's got plenty of room, nice seats etc etc, but I found it noisy and I hated the powerband; I know some love it, but it's just not for me. The worst bit was the "sticky" steering, where it seemed to be tight and then loose, tight and loose - most strange.

Recently, my Wife wanted a new car and she fancied the CTR, so haivng heard they'd made mods to the rack, we had another drive. Exactly the same as before, along with the same kind of smug superiority from the Honda dealer. Wake up - it's a bloody Honda, not a Lambo or an Aston Martin!

She bought a Scoob.

As for the Seat? A nice guy called James let me drive his Leon Cupra R some time ago. It's an okay car - decent brakes, pulled okay, and it had better handling than my "bouncy bouncy" Leon Cupra, but then what doesn't? I'm afraid it just didn't excite me however (or impress).

My experience of dreadful Seat build quality and reliability, are in a recent Thread in here (and elsewhere on the Net). As an ex Moderator in a Seat Forum, I'm also well aware that a number of the problems I had weren't unique to my car. Never again.

Of the two, previous comments notwithstanding, I'd go CTR. It should be reliable, and of the many cars I've come across over the years, one made me work hard to stay with it recently, and even harder to pass it. Whilst not for me, there's no denying it's a very, very, fast car. Respect!

Cheers

I'd agree that SEAT do have some build quality issues that they need to sort asap. However I think I would have a Leon R over a CTR for sure.

If I had the cash of course !

WRX Wannabe - Give us a clue and I'll guess who you are :)

Well i aint no wannbe anymore :)

Hello Andy ;)

:)

I haven't driven an LCR but have a fair amount of experience in one as a passanger. I've not driven a plain CTR (only a 220bhp CTRs) but I would say I'm far more impressed with the LCR, yes ther are some build quality issues but this is more of a hit an miss issue than consistently bad IMO.

For those who've not been impressed/excited with the LCR's performance I have to ask if you've been in a chipped one. My friend had his "demoed" up to ~260bhp and it transformed the car from something quick into something quuuiiiiccckk!

I changed from a UK MY99 to a Cupra R a few months ago. No regrets - I probably get more fun out of the Cupra coz it's so responsive and more practical for the volumes of traffic on the roads.

Stu

I test drove one and really liked it, chuckable, quick meaty steering, strong brakes and a nearly instant flexible powerband.
As for build quality I would have thought it would feel a lot more solid than a 1993 Impreza.

I wouldn't bother buying one unless I was going to get it chipped, as (in the dry at least) it feels like it can handle a fair bit more than the standard 210bhp. Must be ballistic with 260+bhp.
Just a shame there aren't any savings to be made by importing one, UK cars can apparently be sourced for a little over 16 grand though.

My brother has recently had 2 CTR's and now has a Leon Cupra R and he loves it, he much prefers it to the CTR.
I have driven both and IMHO they are 2 very different cars. The CTR felt like it handled better, the Leon with it's 18's felt heavy but the brakes were very good (4 pots). Power delivery is totally different between the two. I prefer having a bit of torque, love turbo's and like driving a car that I'm not going to see coming the other way every 5 minutes so would take the Leon IF I had to choose between the two. Saying that the Leon will be for sale soon to make way for a convertible...

There is a new Cupra Type R coming out within a few months, and will be quicker than the current version.

i would go the octavia rs root myself, excellent car, tuning potential too.

The Leon will soon get the 225bhp engine from the TT, S3 etc.

Think its going up a grand in price though, and will get a couple of minor trim changes.
The upper power limit when its chipped won't go up, as at 210bhp its artificially pegged back anyway (same as the S3 used to be).

Both great cars...

LCR is more sedate, CTR is RAW and insane!

Depends which type of car you prefer.

Both have very similar performance, good looks and nice interiors...

CTR will out handle the LCR but the LCR will be more of a comfortable ride.

Difficult to get more power out of CTR, easy with LCR.

Reliability on Honda should be superb, LCR hmm...

Both have good power feelings... CTR similar to Turbo when you hit VTECH and LCR obviously has a turbo!

Go drive them both for an hour + and make your choice...

I went for the CTR, but as stated earlier both great cars and I would own both.


HTH's

P.

Theres a black LCR on www.SEATenthusiasts.co.uk £15k

I would be cautious about Seat build although there are loads of LCR's around near me! So things must have changed as I have heard some stories 3 or 4 years ago now.
Friend has a Skoda vRS and he loves it, chipped it to 225bhp and it looks fantastic black (no really), really worth a look. :)