Spec Me/New Car: Ibiza FR or Cupra experiences?

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Stringy

Stringy

Stringy

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Good day,

My other half is making a career change and as such will be losing her company car. We've decided that one course of action to take for her to get a car would be to 'buy' my Golf (in effect just shuffling car and money around the household) and for me to buy a new car as I'm getting a promotion before the end of the year and will have some spare disposable income kicking about.

The Ibiza FR and Cupra have both caught my eye for their generous spec and seemingly generous offers that they have on at the moment.

The main question I've come here for is this: Has anyone got experience of driving either the Ibiza FR or Cupra with the DSG box, and what were they like? If you've driven both, is there enough of a difference between the FR 150 and the Cupra 180 to justify paying the extra.

I'm not really here for the debate of new vs second hand, although feel free to wax lyrical on it if you like and recommend alternatives on this basis:

I want something fun
I like toys (of the automobile variety)
Not extortionate to insure
Not extortionate to run
The hassle free experience of a new/nearly new car with regards to warranty/reliability
A deposit of £3500ish/£3500 of my own money towards 2nd hand
Max monthly outgoing for purchasing the car of £200, preferably less, lending itself to either PCP or getting something second hand with a loan
No real amount of doors requirement or practicality requirement, although it'd be far far more convenient if it wasn't a 2 seater convertible
 
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I don't know much about the car in particular but did notice this deal a few days back. I'm not sure if anyone has had any luck actually obtaining one of these cars at that price yet.

The only negatives I've heard are regarding the twin chargers, but the degree to which this is a problem I really don't know.
 
Hi, we road tested a Ibiza FR DSG when looking for new cars for my partner and, to be frank, we were unimpressed in comparison to a Fiesta. The car had to be loaded up with extras to get anywhere near the same level of equipment, but still lacked DAB, Bluetooth and voice activation. The interior was full of cheap black plastic mouldings especially in the rear and the DSG box was slow to kick down and felt like a old auto box. To be honest if you want the best supermini then get a new fiesta as it is streets ahead of the Ibiza which does look better I'll admit but isn't a particularly good drive at all in comparison.
 
Just got back from test driving the Cupra:

The DSG box seems quite good, although I'm not completely sure how much the auto box will seem like a hindrance when driving hard. I don't mind not having control of the gears for straight line hooliganism, but if I change down to be in the right gear for corner exit I don't want to find the car changing up mid-corner because it decides I'm in too low a gear. Any performance-ish car DSG owners care to comment on this?
chriscatt said:
the DSG box was slow to kick down and felt like a old auto box.
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Really? I found that the gear changes were pretty rapid, even when I got it to change down to 4th from 7th on dual carriageway, and that was with the box in normal/'D'. I suspect that if you were to treat it like a manual and blip down yourself in Sport/'S' that it would be even better.

Handled well enough, was always going to seem less barge-like than the GT Mk6 Golf, but not as poised as my old 197. Seemed to be a good happy medium.

The Cupra is really well specced - Bluetooth, Sat Nav, Climate, Cruise, Auto lights/wipers, Xenons, Hill-hold and Tyre pressure monitor - all standard. The FR is less so, however Bluetooth/Nav are now standard on FRs with the Seat Portable Media System which clips into the dash and also displays Trip computer information as well as handle media/nav (same as Cupra). The FR came in at ~£1500 less than the Cupra when specced with the same size wheels, Cruise/auto wipe+lights and hill hold/tyre pressure monitor.

The question is whether the Cupra is worth the extra money. The performance is marginally better, but running costs marginally worse. The styling is marginally nicer all round, and much nicer rear with the aggressive rear diffuser and centre exhaust.
The thing is though, sat in the drivers seat of the FR with mostly the same spec (no climate, no xenons, things I'm not convinced I'd notice or miss) and slightly different exterior styling, which would I notice most: the bonus that the FR is £1500 cheaper, or would I miss the slight extra performance of the Cupra...

Someone give me some credible/sensible second hand ideas!
 
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Stringy said:
Just got back from test driving the Cupra:

The DSG box seems quite good, although I'm not completely sure how much the auto box will seem like a hindrance when driving hard. I don't mind not having control of the gears for straight line hooliganism, but if I change down to be in the right gear for corner exit I don't want to find the car changing up mid-corner because it decides I'm in too low a gear. Any performance-ish car DSG owners care to comment on this?

Really? I found that the gear changes were pretty rapid, even when I got it to change down to 4th from 7th on dual carriageway, and that was with the box in normal/'D'. I suspect that if you were to treat it like a manual and blip down yourself in Sport/'S' that it would be even better.

Handled well enough, was always going to seem less barge-like than the GT Mk6 Golf, but not as poised as my old 197. Seemed to be a good happy medium.

The Cupra is really well specced - Bluetooth, Sat Nav, Climate, Cruise, Auto lights/wipers, Xenons, Hill-hold and Tyre pressure monitor - all standard. The FR is less so, however Bluetooth/Nav are now standard on FRs with the Seat Portable Media System which clips into the dash and also displays Trip computer information as well as handle media/nav (same as Cupra). The FR came in at ~£1500 less than the Cupra when specced with the same size wheels, Cruise/auto wipe+lights and hill hold/tyre pressure monitor.

The question is whether the Cupra is worth the extra money. The performance is marginally better, but running costs marginally worse. The styling is marginally nicer all round, and much nicer rear with the aggressive rear diffuser and centre exhaust.
The thing is though, sat in the drivers seat of the FR with mostly the same spec (no climate, no xenons, things I'm not convinced I'd notice or miss) and slightly different exterior styling, which would I notice most: the bonus that the FR is £1500 cheaper, or would I miss the slight extra performance of the Cupra...

Someone give me some credible/sensible second hand ideas!
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Hi, I my answer was about the FR not the Cupra, as that car would be totally unsuitable for my partner, but 18k new is a lot of money for a supermini when you can get a Fiesta ST for £16995. As I said the interior on the FR looked cheap and not a large enough increase in quality over the Mazda 2 Sport it would have replaced. I don't know if the DSG box is different in the Cupra but I can only speak from my own experience and again it maybe down to the 1.2TSI I was driving. I was told a lot of rave things about the DGS gearbox in the FR, however I put my foot down whilst driving and it took 3-4 secs before it kicked down which I could not put up with. Personally, my partner and I, could not sit in the FR and put up with the dash and plastic door trims and the lack of equipment when spending more money than a M2 would cost, again I cannot speak for the Cupra. The deal we got with a 1.0 ecoboost Titanium X Fiesta was as good as what we were offered for the Ibiza, but, obviously, loads more equipment and interior quality, better road holding and more refinement. I am not the first to say this as the majority of road tests I have read put the Ibiza well down the list of good supermini's. http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/seat/ibiza-hatchback/summary/25832-5 http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/seat/ibiza-hatchback/1-4-tsi-180-cupra-3dr/summary/66821
 
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chriscatt said:
*snip*
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Having just specced both the Fiesta Zetec S 125 and the Ibiza FR 150 like-for-like for equipment on Brokers4Cars they come in near-as-dammit identically priced but with a gulf in performance in favour of the FR. I suppose I'd need to drive one to see.

Specced a Fiesta ST and a Cupra like-for-like (Nav/Bluetooth, Metallic) and the Fiesta comes out £1300 more expensive (£15157 vs 16448) with similar performance.
 
Stringy said:
Having just specced both the Fiesta Zetec S 125 and the Ibiza FR 150 like-for-like for equipment on Brokers4Cars they come in near-as-dammit identically priced but with a gulf in performance in favour of the FR. I suppose I'd need to drive one to see.

Specced a Fiesta ST and a Cupra like-for-like (Nav/Bluetooth, Metallic) and the Fiesta comes out £1300 more expensive (£15157 vs 16448) with similar performance.
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Hi, but the ST is a hugely better car to drive and, according to what I've read, a worthwhile future investment. However if you compare the FR to what we paid then it isn't in the same league when you take equipment, quality, handling and refinement into account. The FR is based upon the Polo, with a great deal of cost cutting to make it cheaper, but even the Polo isn't as good as the Fiesta..
 
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