Tell me about the LeonCupra R

Sam

Sam

Sam

Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2003
Posts
14,488
Location
Surrey
Hey

Looking to buy one of these in the next few weeks after selling my Clio today. I know a few people have owned them on here so was wondering if you have any decent buying advice etc. Ill be looking to buy one with around 60 - 70k and the maximum i want to spend is £7000. I'm going to look at buying one which has had a few mods inc the remap as i don't really want to spend much money tinkering.

Look forward to hearing some responses

Cheers

Sam
 
Did you ever go out in Paradigm's?

Good cars, ridiculously overspecced brakes, reasonable inside.

The engines have a tendency to nuke themselves if you corner too hard with a less-than-full stock sump though.
 
DRZ said:
Did you ever go out in Paradigm's?

Good cars, ridiculously overspecced brakes, reasonable inside.

The engines have a tendency to nuke themselves if you corner too hard with a less-than-full stock sump though.
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Yep but that was a very long time ago, i remember the speedo climbing very quickly but it not feeling "that quick" They have the same interior as an old A3 dont they ?

I will want to do a few trackdays, is it a good idea to invest in a baffled sump then :p
 
DRZ said:
The engines have a tendency to nuke themselves if you corner too hard with a less-than-full stock sump though.
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Do they? I don't think I've ever heard of a 1.8T suffering from oil starvation. That said, a baffled sump and a keen eye on the oil level is always a good idea for regular track work.
 
Well unless you want to fork out for a new engine, then yep!

I'm definitely no expert on these cars but I've picked up a few bits and bobs over the years - they don't handle dump valves very well, so avoid any cars that have had one fitted. There is an uprated recirc valve IIRC, can't quite remember what it particularly helped with.

El's was remapped to ~260bhp and never developed any issues as a result afaik.

EDIT:

MikeHiow said:
Do they? I don't think I've ever heard of a 1.8T suffering from oil starvation.
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Happened to Paradigm on track, I believe it is fairly common due to the design of the sump - the pickup design doesn't allow for full oil pressure to be maintained during long high speed corners.
 
So it happened to one person? That could have been down to oil level, the oil used or any number of things. A local chap took his LCR on a locally run trackday at Combe recently with no issues - surely there is more to it than just a bad design, otherwise I'm sure you'd hear a lot more about the issue.
 
I presume we're talking about Mk1 Leons here?

Can't comment on what's under the bonnet, but regarding the rest of the car, there's not really anything serious in particular to look out for.
If it's raining, check for water on the door sills, they're prone to leaking and fixing it means dismantling the doors, etc..

Check out the forums over on SeatCupra.net
Very, very useful, even if a lot of the owners tend to barry them up :(


There's also a 'secret menu' in the CC, which takes readings straight from the ECU. Quite useful!

http://www.wak-tt.com/tt/climatecontcodes.htm
 
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My Mate just got a Mk3 Leon Cupra 2 weeks ago. Few mods and a remap and its putting out ~230BHP. VERY fast little car, Defenatly underestimated little things.
 
MikeHiow said:
So it happened to one person? That could have been down to oil level, the oil used or any number of things. A local chap took his LCR on a locally run trackday at Combe recently with no issues - surely there is more to it than just a bad design, otherwise I'm sure you'd hear a lot more about the issue.
Click to expand...

I can assure you it never had anything other than the recommended oil, and I even slightly overfilled for the trackday.
 
Obviously check for oil changes, should be done atleast every 10k. The pick up gets blocked up quite easily especially if its had long life services!
 
Ah I recall that day well!

Before...
1002652.jpg


Infact just noticed Adam is in the car on this one, so possibly taken seconds before the failure!


After :(
1002673y.jpg



At that time it was all smiles until the extent of the damage was known!
 
Sooo can anyone give me any buying tips, you know things to look out for when giving it the once over. What are the issues with the car running a BOV, surley if its a high quality bov its not going to cause massive issues.

Sam
 
Go to SeatCupra.net and all the info you will need will be found there.
FAQs and posts, reposts, threads, and re-threads.
 
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