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Bocanegra Test Drive

bickers70

Active Member
Feb 18, 2009
36
0
Hi,

My Cupra has been on order since June so as soon as I found out that my dealer had a Boc, I asked for a test drive because I was concerned over the DSG gearbox.

I went for the drive yesterday and was disappointed. We drove around some backstreets so I couldn't put my foot down and the guy who took me out wasn't completely 'au fait' with the gearbox either, so that made 2 of us! The acceleration was very smooth but didn't 'blow me away'. The interior is a bit basic, my girlfriend has the 1.4sc and there isn't much difference but I guess you could say that the money has been spent on the engine and the gearbox rather than the inside. It sounded good, a nice growl but not too boy racer like. When we got back to the showroom I felt really let down. When I first drove my Leon FR 3 years ago, I was completely blown away, I loved it and knew straight away that I wanted that car. I didn't get this with the Boc. I also felt, all along, that the dealer hadn't been trying to 'sell' me the car as it was always me chasing them, me asking whats going on and it was only through this site that I found out that they'd got a Boc in.

I felt pretty dispondent and after sleeping on it, decided to shop around a bit today. I hadn't even considered going to another brand before as my last 2 cars have been Seats and I've been very happy with both.

I tried Vauxhall, Ford and VW but didn't have much joy so then I tried Renault. I would never have thought about Renault in a million years but most of the magazines compare the Cupra to the Clio 200 Cup so I thought it was worth a look. To my surprise they offered me an amazing deal.

My deal with Seat is £9700 part-ex for my Leon with the new Cupra (in candy white) on a 12,000 mile per year PCP scheme over 42 months for £250 per month, which is pretty good. I also wanted the service plan which is around £28 per month. This is based on a price of £15,995.

Renault have offered me £9400 part-ex for a Renaultsport 200 with a Cup chassis (basically a 200 Cup with all the extras) on a PCP scheme over 36 months at £255 per month. This includes the chassis upgrade, 5 year paint protection package, metallic paint, gap insurance, mats and road tax. This is based on a price of £17,515 so the cost of the finance is substantially cheaper. Their service plan is £17 pounds per month. The downsides are more expensive road tax, higher insurance, less mpg (about 10) and also the depreciation will be higher. The upsides are slightly better performance and a car that most magazines consider to be the best hot hatch in this category. I have a test drive booked in for this week.

I felt I had to give Seat a chance though so I just went back there and went out again in the Boc with a different guy. He took the time to explain the DSG and all the different settings and then we went through them and tried them all out. We went out onto the motorway and I was really able to get a feel for the car. What a world of difference to the drive yesterday!! It put a smile on my face. Smooth but rapid acceleration, very deceptive because there isn't the 'neck breaking' turbo kick in but a glance at the speedo makes you realise how quick it is. The Sport and Drive settings are very different and enable you to adjust according to where you are driving. The car handles really well, very stable but very obiviously sports suspension and again the noise it makes but at the top end is fantastic.

I'm still going ahead with the Renault test drive and will see how it pans out but at the moment I'm really in 2 minds. Has anyone driven both or have any comments? I'd really appreciate any feedback.
 
i have a candy white boc on order am pickin it up in a couple of weeks, i have driven the 200 clio, dont get me wrong it is an amazing car and will beat the boc flat out and on acceleration however the seat is a better car all around, you can use it everyday and then give it some **** on the way home and will out perform alot of stuff on the road today. the clio however makes u thrash it everywhere, it is impossible to drive it normally, putting that with its shoddy plastic interior the seat wins over all trust me, u will see when u test drive it that its more like a track car rather than an everyday hot hatch
 
Ive just come out of an 07 197 which I had from brand new. The build quality of the clio is miles better than reno's of old. Ive just bought an 07 Leon, and after the test drive of the Leon my reno that I thought was built well now felt like a bag of spanners. The 197 is a slow car, im sorry but it is. Cornering capabilities are out of this world, but you will be chasing a 150 bhp diesel astra on the straights and catch it on the bends, but you will soon become very tired of changing cogs and doing a change from 6th to 3rd on a bypass to make any kind of progress. The looks you get and the 'stationary' feel good factor as always there as it is a rare ish 'fat' car. The climate control is majorly flawed, the aircon function doesnt always work and makes a whirring noise from the engine when it is on, the recaro seatbases rust, there is an awful 'kangaroo' on cold start which the ecu upgrade from renault doesnt cure as the ecu re writes itself (its also suspected it re writes over remaps) The engines on the dyno are only making 180-185. On a forum i used to use a clio with full exhaust and decat, remap, and uprated cams only made 203bhp. They weigh in at about 1280kg not the quoted 1240kg.....and dont get me started on the dealer network. I thought it was the bees knees until I got into this seat. I havent looked back. For reference, pre stage 1 tuned my FR destroyed my very own 197 which had cat back and remap. Yeah it went round a bend 5mph faster, but to sum up the clio, its all noise and no go, with thin paint, rattly seats and dash, with no better than 27mpg, but boy can it handle. Hope this helps from an ex renaultsport fan (Williams/172/197)
 
I can't see how you can't like the curpa, We only got a FR on as demo but its lovely. I had it from new for just just 2 nights before it went back in the showroom but I did 470 miles in it and loved every min of it. Put the window down and just hear the noise and then let off haha Lovely car to drive and be in
 
Interesting views on the Clio and the Boc. I'm hopefully out in an FR tonight to try the gear box. I'll report back on my thoughs.

Also thinking about a VXR corsa.

Oh and I bet a remapped Boc (when they come out) would easily see off a Clio 200!
 
i test drove a bocanegra the other day and was quite impressed with it as for basic inside it is far from it one thing i will say about this car is it looks a hell of a lot better in the flesh than on the pictures stunning car
 
Indeed in the flesh its a real head turner.

I tend to only notice the odd person looking at my current cupra. I think in the Boc i'll get a lot more attention :D
 
Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated.

Just to clarify, I only said that I didn't like the Boc on the first test drive, this was due to the roads and the lack of knowledge of the DSG from the salesman. His words were "when you get the car, you have a good play in it". My point is, you have a good play in it first because that's what helps you (or me anyway) decide if you want the car or not. As I said though, that second test drive put a smile on my face and it seemed like a different car.

With regards to the interior, it's just that my other half has the 1.4 SC and the Boc is meant to be the flagship model and yet the plastics and the dash are the same, the only difference being the climate control and a couple of black carbon surrounds. My 3 year old Leon FR has a better, higher quality looking interior. Maybe I expect too much!!

I'm still going to drive the Renault but given the comments on here, I'm almost certainly going to have the Seat.

Once again thanks all, it's made my choice a bit easier..
 
My wife had a diesel Ibiza the other week as a hire car and the plastics on the dashboard, particularly things like the glove box lid left a lot to be desired.

However, it's the same story at Audi. The dash in the A3 1.2TSi is pretty much the same as what you get in the S3 bar the flat bottomed steering wheel (in base level trim for both). Everything is an extra.

However, I'm going to leave the Boc aside for now as I haven't seen one in the flesh, I'd ask you to consider this.

When you come from an older car (5 yrs+) to a brand new car there is always a tendency to be in awe of the new dashboard and shiny knobs etc... With you this is not the case. You've had a fairly new car in your Leon, so all you are seeing is the Ibiza's value engineering when comparing it to the Leon.

In 2004 I was doing big mileage and chopped in an 18 month old LCR for a brand new Ibiza FR TDi. Once the novelty of the drive home had worn off I decided I didn't like it. After 7 (long) months there was another brand new LCR back on the drive as I finally admitted to myself motoring isn't all about cost and frugality, its about enjoying the experience. For people who do nothing more than an A-B journey they will probably disagree, but if you engage in the process of driving you'll know what I mean. It depends on the key drivers for your decision to change car as to whether this is something you will have to learn to accommodate.

Personally I like both the Clio and the Boc. However, I think for day to day driving the Boc/Cupra Ibiza will make for the more 'liveable' solution as your not stirring cogs all day.

I feel for you as it's awful when you've ordered a car, and in the back of your mind you're not sure if you've done the wrong thing. It eats you up a bit. Best of luck getting to a decision.
 
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I Just got a Cup200 And some of the above is true of the 197 but the new 200 has 20% more torque lower down than the 197 has so you can drive it without having to thrash it,When i collected it i drove it 300 miles home and did nor feel tired or uncomfortable as They have duel effect dampers so the ride is not too harsh and the Recaro seats are also very good.

It will destroy Most things around corners and under braking you could say it is like a road going competition machine as it is only made in small numbers it feels special to drive not like a Normal Renault at all .
As for mpg 37 on a run and 28 around town is not bad for 200ps

Build quality is good it feels solid .I only owned 2 VW products a MK5 Golf and a Leon and the Golf had to have a new Flywheel and the doors did not fit and the seat had all the dash taken out because it was built with some left hand drive parts so the Aircon did not work .

VW have this perceived quality that is just not there,If you want good engineering/build quality you will have to get something Like Honda,Toyota etc But for sheer driving enjoyment i am very pleased with The Cup200.
 
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The remap isn't something i'd personally do during the first 3 years. But.. people have gone over the torque limit on the golf DSG box with no problems.

I dont know enough about the subject to comment properly though. Maybe someone on here does?

What you have to remember about the DSG box is its bloody rapid. It can change gear so much quicker than a human. Between gears 1-5 in a strait line this will make a difference I would think.
 
ibiza fr

Hi had a test drive in the new Ibiza FR today seems a very quick car only 0.4 of a second slower 0 to 62 than the cupra I believe. Dissapointed the car diden't look any better than my red 2009 19TDI sport Ibiza, I have a twin tail pipe exhaust and chrome mirrow caps a new grill and 17" alloys. As for the inside apart from the stitchig on the seats it is same shape, the dash is the same more black than alloy, and the dsg gear knob looks awfull nothing like the alloy one you can get for the manual gear box (accessorie).
Saying that I would still buy one If I had the money, and hope all you lucky people who buys the FR and CUPRA enjoy it, my local dealer in Norwich has a blue one for sale at £15.590 on the road but would need to come up with £6,000 to change not worth it just to gain 3 seconds 0 to 60 and 15 mph faster, lovery in white, red looks nice to, am new to this forum, and I must say it is nice just reading all about other peoples seats and things
 
mardon said:
people have gone over the torque limit on the golf DSG box with no problems.
Click to expand...

6 Speed DSG is 'wet' whereas the 7 Speed is dry clutch - so the same logic shouldn't be applied :( shame really, it would be a lot more fun if it could take another 40bhp & 60lbft
 
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WRT the price of a Clio 200 Cup Arnold Clarke in Chester were knocking them out for a little over £13K just after release earlier this year. If you pay anywhere near list price you're a mug I'm afraid....

I went from an Ibiza Mk 4 Cupra TDI to a Megane 225 Cup in April & the ride is MUCH better in the 225 Cup - not at all crashy over the bumps (Cupra was a nightmare) and wonderful handling when pressing on a bit.
 
Trumpetman21 said:
WRT the price of a Clio 200 Cup Arnold Clarke in Chester were knocking them out for a little over £13K just after release earlier this year. If you pay anywhere near list price you're a mug I'm afraid....

I went from an Ibiza Mk 4 Cupra TDI to a Megane 225 Cup in April & the ride is MUCH better in the 225 Cup - not at all crashy over the bumps (Cupra was a nightmare) and wonderful handling when pressing on a bit.
Click to expand...

^^^^^^Cupra was a nightmare^^^^^^ Mainly the rear ride IMO. Exactly why I didn't buy an Ibiza Cupra, I test drove one and lost 3 fillings. The FR that I did buy was better but still poop compared to a proper independent rear setup on the likes of a Leon.
 
Well I've just come back from my test drive in the Renault.

It's comfortable, solid and doesn't look or feel cheap inside. In terms of performance, its quick and smooth and feels more like a performance car. It handles well and feels like an overall better quality package.

I'm sorry to say but having now driven both, I'm on the verge of losing my £250 deposit to Seat and swapping my loyalties to Renault. The only thing putting me off is the more expensive running costs and the lower residuals.

I'll probably change my mind again in the next 10 minutes.....!
 
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