Poverty
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Went to the local SCN meet last night and Dan kindly checked over my car using VAGCOM. Anyhow he took it for a quick spin to log some data I presume and in return for him having a go in mine he let me have a quick play with his 
For those that arent fimiliar with dans car it has a BT setup with over 400bhp.
Just sitting in the car and slowly pulling off straight away you notice how different the leons feel. Dans uprated clutch makes mine feel light, and there was also a slight difference in steering weight. Looking at dans mfd screen I saw that he was getting 45.6mpg! Very impressive I thought, as for me to get that figure I have to be on a long run on the motorway. Otherwise the average mpg is about 34mpg.
Anyway on to the important bits, how the car actually drives and compares to my standard cupra.
Pulling off I notice that even a slight prod on the peddle and dans car is eager to go. I take it slowly at first and then as I get some clear road I put my foot down anxiously, never having driven such a powerful car before and not knowing what to expect. I think I was in 3rd gear sitting at about 2500rpm and the car didnt respond as I expected. Basically I was met with a bit of lag, which brings me to the first major difference between the cupra and dans car. The cupra picks up pretty quickly throughout the rev range, and the turbo comes on boost pretty early in the rev range ready to go, whilst dans car does not. I wonder if that is a one of the reasons why dans car gets such good mpg? Sadly the standard cupras turbo is on boil at 70mph in 6th, and at 85mph its just terrible imo when wanting to cruise. Obviously not clio sport bad, but enough to get annoying on long runs to want to actually stick to the 70mph speed limit religiously.
Now I hit over 3000rpm and the turbo comes alive, my head gets shoved into the back of the headrest and the car has picked up speed at a ridicoulous pace. This car is a rocket. I didnt have my foot down on the loud pedal too long due traffic and respect of dans car, but I was hooked so turned down a quite empty stretch and in 2nd floored it. Next thing I know it was time to change gear in what felt like no more than a second or two and I go up into third and the car just pulls HARD. At this point I slow it down again out of repect to dans car and the fact that hes not a good passenger at speed lol.
Driving back to the car park calmy I start to reflect on how different his car is to mine and how it behaved. And what has struck me the most is how civilised the car put down the power. I was expecting the steering wheel to try and yank my arms out of their sockets but it was nothing like that. I was expecting the esp light to be flashing at me like a voyeur in the local dogging spot but that didnt happen either, and it amazed me because the road was damp. I swear the car put the power down better than my standard cupra, and I dont know if its because maybe dan has better standard tires, coilies, his diff or a combination of the 3 but whatever it is it really impressed me how composed the car was.
Back at the car park, time was getting on and the missus had spent enough time on her own so we headed off pretty much straight after, and so I got to drive the car back to back. Climbing back into the K1 the first thing I notice is how light the clutch feels. Now driving I decide to give it some beans, and it just felt pants in comparison. Dan had made my K1 feel slow, thanks mate lol
The k1 is more responsive, always ready to go in a way, but it just didnt have that shove and grunt that dans car has and it felt like a linear accelerating NA lump instead of a turboed machine compared to dans.
I need stage 2+ plus a.s.a.p, and I im intrigued to see how one drives compared to dans car.
Im sure dan will give his own views on how the cars compare, and see what his opinion is on the two. In a way it was hard trying to write about his car as I spent such a short time in it, so it will be nice to read what he says as he obviously knows his car well.
Oh and thanks for sorting those bits out for me dan
For those that arent fimiliar with dans car it has a BT setup with over 400bhp.
Just sitting in the car and slowly pulling off straight away you notice how different the leons feel. Dans uprated clutch makes mine feel light, and there was also a slight difference in steering weight. Looking at dans mfd screen I saw that he was getting 45.6mpg! Very impressive I thought, as for me to get that figure I have to be on a long run on the motorway. Otherwise the average mpg is about 34mpg.
Anyway on to the important bits, how the car actually drives and compares to my standard cupra.
Pulling off I notice that even a slight prod on the peddle and dans car is eager to go. I take it slowly at first and then as I get some clear road I put my foot down anxiously, never having driven such a powerful car before and not knowing what to expect. I think I was in 3rd gear sitting at about 2500rpm and the car didnt respond as I expected. Basically I was met with a bit of lag, which brings me to the first major difference between the cupra and dans car. The cupra picks up pretty quickly throughout the rev range, and the turbo comes on boost pretty early in the rev range ready to go, whilst dans car does not. I wonder if that is a one of the reasons why dans car gets such good mpg? Sadly the standard cupras turbo is on boil at 70mph in 6th, and at 85mph its just terrible imo when wanting to cruise. Obviously not clio sport bad, but enough to get annoying on long runs to want to actually stick to the 70mph speed limit religiously.
Now I hit over 3000rpm and the turbo comes alive, my head gets shoved into the back of the headrest and the car has picked up speed at a ridicoulous pace. This car is a rocket. I didnt have my foot down on the loud pedal too long due traffic and respect of dans car, but I was hooked so turned down a quite empty stretch and in 2nd floored it. Next thing I know it was time to change gear in what felt like no more than a second or two and I go up into third and the car just pulls HARD. At this point I slow it down again out of repect to dans car and the fact that hes not a good passenger at speed lol.
Driving back to the car park calmy I start to reflect on how different his car is to mine and how it behaved. And what has struck me the most is how civilised the car put down the power. I was expecting the steering wheel to try and yank my arms out of their sockets but it was nothing like that. I was expecting the esp light to be flashing at me like a voyeur in the local dogging spot but that didnt happen either, and it amazed me because the road was damp. I swear the car put the power down better than my standard cupra, and I dont know if its because maybe dan has better standard tires, coilies, his diff or a combination of the 3 but whatever it is it really impressed me how composed the car was.
Back at the car park, time was getting on and the missus had spent enough time on her own so we headed off pretty much straight after, and so I got to drive the car back to back. Climbing back into the K1 the first thing I notice is how light the clutch feels. Now driving I decide to give it some beans, and it just felt pants in comparison. Dan had made my K1 feel slow, thanks mate lol
The k1 is more responsive, always ready to go in a way, but it just didnt have that shove and grunt that dans car has and it felt like a linear accelerating NA lump instead of a turboed machine compared to dans.
I need stage 2+ plus a.s.a.p, and I im intrigued to see how one drives compared to dans car.
Im sure dan will give his own views on how the cars compare, and see what his opinion is on the two. In a way it was hard trying to write about his car as I spent such a short time in it, so it will be nice to read what he says as he obviously knows his car well.
Oh and thanks for sorting those bits out for me dan
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