Cupra to Cupra R

I finally made the jump, traded in the cupra for a R and if you like me, was vasilating whether you should or not, here are my impression on the car so far.

My cupra had been remapped so the power delivery was an on off switch, no boost - lots of boost, good fun, but can become difficult to drive smoothly. The R delivery is not a wack of power at 2000RPM which makes it easier to drive.

The R as standard is as quick as the cupra (probably a little quicker), but smoother, just does not feel as quick because of the power delivery. The ride on the R is more connected to the road, the quicker steering makes quite a difference. Grip seems better, 2 nd gear grip out of corners is better than the cupra, and less "floaty" in high speed bends. Probably more related to the tyre choice than anything else. The ride is fimer than the cupra but positively so.

I do miss the leather seats in the cupra, but the wife doesn't. The cloth seats prevent her from moving around the seat and grabbing the dashboard eveytime I go around a corner.

The looks of the R is more in your face, which I am enjoying at the moment. It is a good looking car. My Cupra was a pre facelift model so was very understated, but the R does get noticed more. Whether that is a good thing I am not sure. But it certainly has road presence.

The one bonus is that I do not have to re learn all the radio and control settings. I looked at some 2005 models but not having the cd changer which I thought was a bit tight from SEAT.

The interior is very black... but probably easier to keep clean than the lighter colours in the cupra. Well I hope so anyway.

The lights on both cars are pretty poor, not full beam but driving lights. In the Cupra I fitted uprated bulbs, so probably do the same in the R. Always thought the cars should have come with xenons, so might consider that.

Consumption is similar. Going on the computer I am getting much the same consumption as the Cupra, maybe 1 mpg worse but in the same ballpark.

All in all, I am happy with the R, so if you are thinking of getting a mk1 R from a cupra. Go for it, the change is not huge but makes driving that much more fun.

I am enjoying it, trying to rack up the miles on it with "trips to the shops" taking an hour and 80 miles.

One other thing is the key remote. The range is much shorter than the cupra, even with a new battery, I have to be pretty close to the car for it to work. I previously had the key remote and now got the two button flick remote.

The double click to open all the doors feature sounds like a good idea, but it is becoming a bit of a pain. Will need to get it turned off.

Was running Revo, not so much of a on off but it came in with a bang at 2000 Rpm, so it was fine if you had the foot flat, but part throttle was more of a problem, with a jerk on lift off. Perfomance was fine, would stay with a type R Honda up to large numbers, but gentle driving was the problem. The R is much smoother on the standard map, with similar performance.