Hi there Iv been looking at these and quite fancy one has anyone had one if so what we're they like to live with performqnce handling economy reliability etc??a mate of mine has one and have driven it a couple of times and quite enjoyed it.you can't argue with bang for buck.

Cheers

 

There a great car,

Basically a 2wd s3

The engine is reliable, easy to tune

I looked at them again before i bought my wrx

 

This was mine;



Fuel economy was pretty poor around town but ok on a run.

Made a nice daily but I wouldn't want one as my 'special' car.

 

Go for a late 2003 onwards they have the 225BAM engine. I had a 2005 one for a while and was a great car. Pretty reliable. Only real 'known' faults are leaks from door seals (easy DIY fix) and you can get whiney gearbox on them also..

 

Had a 2003 cupra then a 2005 cupra r, did 40k in the cupra and about 60k in the cupra r, both faultless apart from the well known door seal issue. The water would seep into the rear footwells but it was always the front door seals that went. Easy to Re glue, any Seat or vw specialist should know what to do. Pretty easy to remap the R to 265bhp...we partex'd ours for the hatch sti 330s, sad to let it go!

 

Sadder to get the hatch, I'd have thought.

 

I had a 2005 (54plate) last year on done 50k miles. Had a nightmare with it. Coilpacks,brake light switch, coolant temp sensor,cankshaft sensor, door seals leaked. Central locking worked when it wanted. I had a stage 1 map put on it and when was working it was quick. If you buy one check its had oil pick up pipe in sump changed recently if not they easy to do.