Jamesemt

Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the Beezer as the wife has a Fabia vRS.

The engine feels vastly different to the 130, due to the different turbo and intercooler - it feels almost petrolley. With 300 miles on it I can still get around to 4krpm very easily. The torque delivery is very smooth - none of this on and off stuff like the Fabia (which is a bad thing, I'm going to get it remapped to around 200bhp&300lb/ft very soon). The turbo doesn't cut in until 1900rpm.

Handling is in a different league to the Fabia, as are the AP brakes - they feel almost as strong as STI Brembos...

Mpg is a dismal 41mpg at the moment as its still very tight - should get around 50 once its got a few more miles under its belt.

Don't regret getting rid of the Scoob for a minute. Only time I need to be aware is damp back roads, just need to take it a bit steadier.

All in all very happy, more so when the engine loosens up

staffs Mike

its a nice looking car i'd certainly have one over the fabia

enjoy

Andy M3

Pics please Need brake pics too

dpb

could get one locally for bout 11.5 few years old but is it really likley to be a better proposition over a clio trophy

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

Did you consider BMW 120d which has same power/torque but is RWD?

C2forWRX

AP brakes! wat!

Jamesemt

lol there always one...if you know of anywhere thats doing the BM for £13.5k then I'll take one...but not too sure about the looks.

Jamesemt

errrr ??? is that supposed to be 'what'?? Anyways, they come with excellent brakes.

Gutmann pug

Surely they cant be that bad?

Duck_Pond

Is that version available as a 5 door? The insurance put me off one - the vRS is only 12. They do look good though

Jamesemt

No, Cupra is a 3 door only. Ibiza FR (130PD) is available as a 5 door.

I thought Fabia insurance was lower than that?? Thought ours was group 9?? Anyways insurance is silly - group 15. I knew that before I bought it, but wanted the top diesel Current company wanted £13 more than my 03 WRX with mods !!!!

Got 600 miles on it now and its not quite as laggy - still getting it remapped in a couple of days

Jamesemt

Duck_Pond

Might be 9 actually... makes the Cupra seem even worse...

Are the 0-60 times for it (quoted at 7.4) conservative, like the vRS's 9.5 sec timings? The vRS has been clocked at 8.1.

Jamesemt

What do you think

There is more to driving than 0-60 (I got hung up on times, and bought the Impreza...). 40-80 times are what you need for overtaking

Jamesemt

Depends what you want. I have no doubt that the clio will handle a lot better.

You need to take a good look at your driving abilities. Although I like to think I am a brilliant driver, I arent. I'm quite observant, but that's about it (due to my advanced driving stuff). To me, the Cupra doesn't understeer and feels very chuckable (and doesn't feel nose heavy). It's perfect for me, which is all that matters. Oh, and I'm addicted to torque

I've considered pretty much every hot hatch out there (been looking to get rid of the Scoob for over two years). Bought the wife a vRS when they came out to do a kind of long term test, and decided it had to be a TDI PD engine and small. Test drove all the usual suspects - CTR, Clio 172/182 etc. They all seemed gutless compared to a modern diesel. Although I like to blast around on back roads, I never go over 80 and don't race anyone...so don't need a petrol. Sometimes you can have more fun with a car which doesn't handle perfectly by thrashing the beast into submission (I had a MKIV golf 130PD with tuning box and standard non-sport suspension...which made me grin)

Boost II

iTrader: (1)

I was being serious - I was considering a small diesel with some decent power and wondered if you'd ruled out the BMW for any good reason.

OK - not new if that is important - but the first ad I pull out of Autotrader is asking £13,850 for an my05 with 15 k miles.......

Considering residuals etc it wouldn't work out much more than the Seat. Some ad's mentioning free servicing for 60,000 miles too.

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...00630244415823

Duck_Pond

I suspect that the Scooby is significantly quicker between 40 and 80 than my vRS is though... but the vRS is no slouch, and unlike the Rover diesel I had before, it doesn't need a gap in the oncoming traffic of over a mile for the overtaking!

Still not going to mod the vRS - maybe add that ARB that Jabba do, but no engine ones, as I'm planning to keep the car for a while.

Jamesemt

Needed to be new

Jamesemt

Yeah before anyone starts comparing the Ibiza to the Scoob, the Scoob is obviously miles quicker. BUT the Ibiza is more fun for me

Mod it mate, you know you want to

Duck_Pond

Nah, I have the Scooby for those mindless jaunts along country lanes, or as it was at the weekend, the trip to pick up some trellis - the Skoda is rather impractical for such large, bulky loads. The Scooby really is a tardis at times.

But you're right - they're incomparable really. I took the Scooby to w*rk for a few days recently, and missed the Skoda loads. In the traffic you can't stretch the legs of the Scooby. It's hot and noisy. And not the best place to be when on a motorway, especially when you look at the fuel gauge!

Horses for courses and all that.

What colour did you get the Cupra in?

Jamesemt

Yellow!!! I think its the only colour which suits the facelifted Ibiza. Other colours make it look a complete munter from the front.

There were only four Ibiza Cupra diesels for sale throughout the entire Seat UK dealer network last week...

C2forWRX

haha yep. i didn't know they came with AP brakes. awesome

MBK

Ahh yes the Cupra 160TDi - that's also our 'other' car - deceptively quick on the move, loads of overtaking grunt and about 47mpg after 10K miles! Very easy to hang around (annoyingly) in the rear mirror of many scoobs and other quick stuff.

Here is a short vid of ours in action at the ultimate control course!

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/8...c8904bde3d.htm

If you are going for a remap I would recommend a custom one with a before/after graph on a rolling road - the generic out of the box/laptop only stuff can imo be hit and miss.

A much better car to drive with the ESP firmly off (though it never fully disengages) as the system really does impede progress. Front tyre wear can be an issue (the Mrs gets about 9K from the front p-zero nero's), the AP brakes are awesome. Its a car that makes most sense when you are really on it, it can feel quite harsh when gently moving around town/over speed humps etc.

Out of interest we have run ours back to back with the outlaws 120d (as you say costing 7k more -ouch!), absolutely matched performance wise (we swapped drivers for fair comparison), the BMW is clearly more refined but uses a lot more fuel and really has to be revved (double vanos??) to get the performance. The Ibiza is more raw, noiser and more fun. You can break later into corners etc with the AP's but the 120d makes that up with more stable cornering so they really are very similar performance diesels - just with delivery in a very different way.

Good choice, if I wanted to drive a diesel everyday this would be it - have fun!!

mg driver

thats odd ,the cupra is 225 kg's lighter than the beemer with the same power so it should be a bit quicker ,and it is according to ltb website that quotes that the cupra does the standing 1/4 in 16.0 seconds with a 88 mph terminal ,the beemer is quoted at taking over 17 seconds and only reaching a lowly 80 mph.
i see the 320 d is even slower ,that explains the mullering i just dished out

MBK

We weren't at a strip so can't comment on the outright off the line pace - you may be right!

I think this may be a case of the real world, and just how little difference there actually is between reasonably quick cars in it, than the outright, clutch destroying/theoretical stats might suggest!

mg driver

fair enough but an extra 8 mph over only 1/4 mile is a big difference and should see the cupra pull away ,not miles but a few car lengths .
Try it again on a d.c from about 30 to a ton

a private d.c that is.

mn_angrybeats

You have my comiserations

Reffro

The Cupra is a lot faster than 16.0 over a 1/4mile. Standard I've seen them run 15.9 with a dreadful launch, I've even run 16.03 @ 84mph in a standard Fabia vRS, so with a good driver, the Cupra should do an easy 15.6-15.7 secs. And I don't believe the figures quoted for the BMW either.