Pure SX

[Chester]

Seems to me that the Cordoba is a pretty rare machine in the UK, yet from what I've heard, across the water in Spain they're more popular than the Ibiza. In my opinion you've just gotta luvit!

The 2.0 SX 16V is even more rare, and since I've picked mine up, I've only ever spotted about 3 others (in over 14 months now)! One of those was bright green from Stamford (Lincs) where my girlfriend lives, and the other was down in Kent somewhere.

When the car was on the ramp for an MOT late last year, the tester remarked on how much it looks like a VW Golf underneath. Taking a look at some similar year Golfs, it looks like lots of the cosmetics have been 'nicked' from the VW (hardly surprising Seat being part of VAG). But what about under the bonnet? I'm just wondering how many Golf after market products we can bolt onto our Cordies. Has anyone checked this out?

Also, we've got a local mob who go by the name of Jabbasport (Crowland nr Peterborough). They specialise in VW modding, especially G40s and G60s. Anyone dealt with them before?

I'm looking to get some serious horsepower in the near future, and was slightly afraid of the prospect of loosing my sleek silver beast to do this (afraid because there isn't much I don't like about the Cordoba). Lots of people think the standard suspension is problematic, but I'm finding great handling and traction from the standard kit compared to my Spax equipped 1994 Uno Turbo pocket-rocket sold last year. (I'm now using Michelin Pilot Exaltos in each corner). I can't get the tyres to brake free unless it's wet. The ABS works a treat and has saved my life a couple of times (shite road conditions and a lot of weight in the boot, coupled with crap, nutter gone-in-the-head drivers equals "You better believe in your driving skills boy" skid-marked pants experiences)! Playing bass guitar requires much dedication!

For anyone who is interested in seeing some pics of the car, standby. I'm going to be getting a new MD head unit for the car soon, give it another spit and polish and I'll exercise mi new digi camera to whet your appetites.

btw, has anyone done any experiments with brake pads? Looking to change the long life disk scrubbers for things that make the car stop, not that it's tooooo bad now.

Well thanking you for your help in advance guys. Check ya later.

Mark.

[cordobabrendy]

'ows it going matie,
well what can i possibly say that hasnt been said before about the cordoba??
i have eibach springs fitted to my cordy along with the f2 bumper http://homepage.ntlworld.com/brendan.nelson/latest2.htm , the top pic had standard springs fitted. I used to have Pi springs fitted but dropped the car too much after 6 months and as i was getting the bumper fitted, i went back to standard then got the eibachs as I knew they wouldnt drop any more than 40mm, even after a while. The ride quality is actually better than the standard setup, some may not believe me, but driving on the same stretches of country roads weekly I noticed that the car didnt wallow about, it clung onto the corners better, took bumps with ease (except for the big ones, but then any car would feel them) and also acceleration seems more controlled, it doesnt seem to wheel spin as much now, esp in the wet, strange!!
Brakes wise, i swapped the standard discs and pads for an ebc setup, greenstuff pads and ebc drilled and grooved discs, i found the pads to be good, but need to be warmed up a tad to get the best out of them, the track days had their moments with fade after the long straight at brunty, but always got round ok. Discs were another story, they warped within 3k miles and took forever to bed in, when braking they didnt seem to be as good as teh standard discs, so before brunty i swapped them back for the standard discs and worked fairly well.
Engine wise, its pretty standard apart from the induction kit and stainless steel induction pipe that a mate srted out for me, sounds pretty nice now!! I also have a strut brace fitted which seems to have made a small difference, its hard to say what it does, but the car seems to be more composed in cornering, i think the standard setup is ok for a standard car, but once you start driving the car as intended the car begins to show the weakness in the springs, the eibachs transform handling, as did the Pi springs but not as much.
Exhaust wise, i have a sportstek backbox which i picked up of mark phelps back in november, i am still waiting on a powerflow system to be fitted once finances permitting. the sportstek is a nice deep exhaust, not overly loud though, esp after 3k revs and has a nice twin pipe out of the box, totally stainlss steel but i think im after a single 3 1/2 or 4 inch tailpipe design.
I think the next engine mod i have done will be intake mod or have it flowed and then eventually chipped.
All money isnt it!!!!
BTW had the computer regurlarly updating and showing anywhere from 34-40.4 mpg on the way home from the circuit of ireland yesterday !!! usually dont get more than 33 tops!!big smiles all round as i had only fumes !!!!! haha
Anyway, hope you have been enjoying your 16v as much as i have, and i think your right, ive seen two other 16v over here, one was in my local dealership getting its 8k service and the other was in enniskillen on friday for the rallying, same as mine!! as far as i know there were only ever around 6-8 cordies sold in northern ireland and one was wrote off and has parts for sale in ballynahinch car dismantlers!
think i might take a nosey up there some day!

[ScottyP]

Hi, welcome to the select Cordy club!

I've found that although the engine block is VW the bits and pieces bolted to it are usualy not quite the same - induction kits and stuff nearly fit, but not quite! which is a bit of a pain.

I'd be interested to know what the Cordy borrows its suspension from, as i'm looking to change mine soon and a bit more variety of choice would be nice.

I recently changed my pads and discs to pagid ones for the trackday (grooved) and I'm well glad I did. They don't have the initial bite of taroxes, but the stopping power is on par - plus they're cheaper! (got mine from Autotechnic, Bill will give you the no.!). Also there's been a post about taroxes cracking, so beware!

I was slagging off the falkens and how crap they were, until I realised the front two were bald! oops! But they don't seem to wear well.

Scott

[Ovv]

Scotty,

I need to get new discs and pads at the end of the year, probally summertime the way I brake, - how much were yours ?

Ovv

[ScottyP]

A round 200 quid for the fast road pads and 18(?) groove discs.