Cupra 300 vs Fiesta ST ?

silles

Active Member
May 4, 2017
517
88
Going against the grain...if I needed a small second car that was fun to drive the Fiesta would be top of my list.

Have zero issues with Fords and they are meant to be great little cars. So much so that when the wife passes her driving test am thinking of 'giving' her the Leon and getting a Fiesta ST myself.

i have to agree with you. Around 20k++ this is the best hot hatch u can buy
- great engine
- exhaust has valve and sounds great, pops and bangs if u wanted to
- looks good to me
- can be speced with a LSD
- MANUAL gearbox
- Even Chris Harris likes it .

what's not to like? :)
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
wow so much negativity against the Fiesta ST. I yet to see a review which is as bad as the feedback here.

Reviewers don't buy cars. They don't have to deal with warrantee issues or repairs and have no idea how the car holds up after a few years. If they do deal with Ford they won't get the same level of service Joe Blogs gets.

If the driving experience is all that matters, buy one. Nearly did myself. If avoiding fanatical pain and aggravation count for anything, you might want to Google 'Ford Ecoboost issues'. Prepare for a lot of reading. At the other end of the spectrum, pay attention to the number of Fords you see with their door seals hanging out.
 

silles

Active Member
May 4, 2017
517
88
Reviewers don't buy cars. They don't have to deal with warrantee issues or repairs and have no idea how the car holds up after a few years. If they do deal with Ford they won't get the same level of service Joe Blogs gets.

If the driving experience is all that matters, buy one. Nearly did myself. If avoiding fanatical pain and aggravation count for anything, you might want to Google 'Ford Ecoboost issues'. Prepare for a lot of reading. At the other end of the spectrum, pay attention to the number of Fords you see with their door seals hanging out.

Before bought my Seat i googled:
Dsg issues, clutch problems with cupra etc
Loads of issues, u mostly find negative issues on the net cause people with no problems do not complain...
 
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Speedbird

Active Member
Aug 10, 2018
268
135
In my experience, Ford make decent vehicles and I have never had a problem with the company.

I had a Ford Kuga prior to the Leon. Had the 4wd version due to lots of camping and mountain biking trips. Owned for nearly 4 years and never had any issues. Was well put together and was a nice all round car. Great in the snow in winter and in the greasy back end of nowhere when mountain biking. Also great for road trips to Cologne, Normandy, Scotland etc. I have owned my Leon for less than 2 years, and have had more issues with that.

I got my Kuga serviced by Ford, who were reasonable with servicing pricing, and their servicing included 12 months breakdown cover.

I had a Focus 2.5 ST before the Kuga. That was also a great car, handled nice, was just thirsty. So I can imagine the newer Focus or Fiesta ST models are great fun to drive.

All of this is only in my experience and opinion of course.
 

motty225

Polestar 2
Sep 11, 2008
953
219
Ashby De-La Zouch
Problem is you're asking a seat forum about another brand car and alot of people have blinkers on because they own a certain car, yes eco boost engine had issues in some models, the cupra had turbo issues for quite a while, the Manual clutch is weak, and I'd hardly say the build quality is great, always people on here asking about rattles and door cards etc, fiesta st is a great car for the price, its obvious by the amount you see and the reviews it gets
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
Before bought my Seat i googled:
Dsg issues, clutch problems with cupra etc
Loads of issues, u mostly find negative issues on the net cause people with no problems do not complain...
Yeah exactly

my Leon has had more pieces fall off it in the last year than any car i have EVER owned (its only a 68 plate as well) The build quality is shocking with VAG

if you want quality then look to the Japanese (what about a grmn yaris - bet they are fun)
 

KXL

KXL
Dec 15, 2016
1,581
197
London, UK
Mini Cooper / Cooper S. I mean my dad had the previous gen 2009 model. Even after 10 years till it was scraped in Singapore, not a rattle to be heard and everything worked... Only issues it had was the rubber 'where the outside boot release' was perished, it was constantly parked outdoors 30 degrees tropical weather. Just the usual tyre change, servicing and it had to change the battery twice in 10 years.
 

silles

Active Member
May 4, 2017
517
88
Yeah exactly

my Leon has had more pieces fall off it in the last year than any car i have EVER owned (its only a 68 plate as well) The build quality is shocking with VAG

if you want quality then look to the Japanese (what about a grmn yaris - bet they are fun)

grnm is a great mini, but way to expensive 26k and also limited edition.
26k is Leon Cupra money
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,388
1,278
Problem is you're asking a seat forum about another brand car and alot of people have blinkers on because they own a certain car

Yes, this is so true. On a certain VW forum (VW R owners club), there even seems to be intense dislike of other ‘in-house’ VW Performance Golfs (GTI, GTI Clubsport and Clubsport S, GTI TCR ). The attitude of many forum members on VWROC seems to be ‘if it’s not an AWD Golf wearing an ‘R’ badge isn’t worth having’.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
Yes, this is so true. On a certain VW forum (VW R owners club), there even seems to be intense dislike of other ‘in-house’ VW Performance Golfs (GTI, GTI Clubsport and Clubsport S, GTI TCR ). The attitude of many forum members on VWROC seems to be ‘if it’s not an AWD Golf wearing an ‘R’ badge isn’t worth having’.
Well i have news for them, i’d rather have the clubsport / tcr over the R as it looks miles and miles better.

R’s are boring
 
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Kirky

Copper Cupra Advocate
Apr 10, 2019
1,042
497
Well i have news for them, i’d rather have the clubsport / tcr over the R as it looks miles and miles better.

R’s are boring
I agree, Clubsport is awesome looking.

There is even tribalism between the various Leon Cupra models despite being pretty much the same car. I find there's a lot of hate towards the owners of a different variant of Cupra to their own model and a lot of misinformation to back up their claims their variant of Cupra is the better one.
 
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BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
I agree, Clubsport is awesome looking.

There is even tribalism between the various Leon Cupra models despite being pretty much the same car. I find there's a lot of hate towards the owners of a different variant of Cupra to their own model and a lot of misinformation to back up their claims their variant of Cupra is the better one.
It’s a case of my penis is bigger than your penis.

i wouldn’t worry about the narrow minded view of some of these people. What you will find out is many of them will have little or no friends and were probably bullied at school. You know your nerd type’s
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
Problem is you're asking a seat forum about another brand car and alot of people have blinkers on because they own a certain car..

I'm not one of them. We now have four Seats I the family but if someone asks me who builds the most reliable cars, it's the Japanese. It just is. Best cars I've had but right now there is nothing Japanese that fits our needs, wants and budgets.

I simply want the best I can get for the money. I don't care who builds it. I'd still like a Ford as I've never owned one so I might yet buy one but, I'd like to be a bit more confident than I am now about how well it's going to last and how solidly Ford will stand behind it.
 

MH0

Active Member
Aug 7, 2019
45
6
Ford's are not bad cars what so ever. People having issues with their engine blowing up is due to them driving it like a moron. I had a stage 3 fiesta ecoboost mk 7.5 and drove it for a good 20k mileage with 0 issues what so ever. My brother also had the same car and he had no issues after owning it for 2 years. My mum owned a ford fiesta 2010 model when we were younger and that was perfect. It all depends on the way you drive your car and the way you look after it. Also, the mk7.5 was a very comfortable car to drive, up until i put it on coil overs. biggest mistake but was worth it as it drove round bends perfectly. Till this day, The best car I have driven handling wise has to be my mk 7.5 fiesta after all the mods. Honestly, I can't hate on ford as they have been nothing but good for me
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
People having issues with their engine blowing up is due to them driving it like a moron.

That statement shows that you know absolutely nothing about the problem. So for the sake of clarity I'll explain it.

The Ecoboost engine was designed to be light, powerful for its displacement and economical. It is all of these things but in achieving these goals Ford compromised on strength and reliability, big time.

The engine was born with a few features which in and of themselves were not necessarily bad but put together made a recipe for disaster. Firstly, it has an alloy cylinder head. Secondly, in order for the coolant to get up to operating temperature quickly and aid efficiency, the cooling system employs a relatively low volume of water and last, there was no water level sensor in the coolant reservoir.

What set the barn alight for Ford was the last piece of the puzzle. They used a plastic connector pipe in the coolant system which was...a bit crap and was prone to crack. If it did, you lost your coolant and the first and only warning of this event you had was when the engine temperature went up. By this time you're past cause and into effect. Assuming you are Johnny on the spot and pick up on this immediately you have literally a couple of seconds to shut off the engine before the cylinder head warps and your engine is scrap!

Ford have already replaced upwards of twenty thousand engines because of this failure mode. Driving style has nothing to do with it. The work cost about £4500 and, even when under warranty, as of earlier this year, Ford had only covered the cost of about half of the replacements. If they could get away with it, they didn't cover it. I say 'as of' because I think they might be paying out now as there has been a lot of bad press about this. Not sure, you'd have to check.

Terrible, right? No, brilliant! As long as long as you were not one of the poor sods who had to deal with a bent engine because it's very insightful.

Imagine if Ford had not fitted that weak plastic pipe? Which they are now replacing with a stronger item. The cars would have been more reliable but the inherent vulnerability of this architecture might not be understood. Water leaks in cooling systems can happen in any car, especially as they get older. Clips rust, pipes rot, but typically, your engine will overheat, steam flies out but you let it cool down, fix the leak and normal service has been resumed. Not with an Ecoboost it isn't.

The damned thing is just as vulnerable to coolant loss as it always was, it's just less likely to happen now. But it still can. And if your car dumps its water for any reason, your engine is probably going to get trashed. And do you think Ford are going to take the hit once the car is out of warranty? No, I don't either.

So yeah, loads of Ecoboost cars running around and most of them will never have an issue. But.. You are driving a car that could destroy its engine should a relatively common, simple and usually minor fault occur. You want to drive a car like that? Knock yourself out.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
/\

what about my pd130 that shat its turbo through the engine (weak kkk unit)

or my pd150 that suffered camshaft wear and sticking vnt turbo

or my 2.0l a3 170bhp which shat the turbo and eventually had piston ring failure.

lots of cars have lots of faults, the new 1.5tsi i have in my leon already seems to be a pudding with countless information about it on the interweb. Sometimes car makers get it wrong, the bmw n47, the original golf 1.4 twin charger was a pudding as well
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
Lots of cars have lots of faults..

I agree. But surely it is remiss of us to knowingly buy them?

I think it's my duty to gather as much information as I can about a prospective purchase and avoid faulty products. As far as it is possible. Had Ford not used a crappy pipe we might not know about the Ecoboost vulnerability and I might be driving a Fiesta right now. We can all get caught out and buy a car that is problematic but we can reduce the chances of that by doing our homework. For example, certain VW engines have had issues and others have been fine so I've avoided buying the dodgy ones. As far as I can. Jury is out on recent Direct Injection engines but I'm watching it.

Which raises another point, the consequences. It's not just about the risk of a fault but what that fault might cost you. The Direct Injection engine powering my car might suffer from fouling of the valves, I'm assuming it will. It's possible that severe engine damage can result but more likely, if you spot the symptoms early, is that you'll need the intake and valves cleaned. From what I have gleaned that cost about three to four hundred pounds, which is within the bounds of acceptable maintenance in my opinion.

The Ecoboost failure, as well as some of the diesel and petrol BMW engine faults in other cars I looked at, could cost you thousands! A fault which destroys the engine is not acceptable to me. Granted, you could buy a car without knowing about a design flaw, or your car could suffer an expensive failure for some other reason. But if you know about a car killing issue and still buy the car? No sympathy.
 

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
255
29
I was looking at the polo GTIs, focus (st line) and the Leon, ended up with the Leon. I did come from an Ibiza though. I was talking to a few people who work for different car companies and I narrowed it down to the st line or Leon fr and they said they get a lot of customer returns in regards to fords with having heating issues in the engine ect... and I did prefer the drive of the Leon so ended up with that.

the polo drove great but that checkered pattern is flipping disgusting, I couldn’t get used to it

what about an a class AMG ??? Never got a chance to test drive one.
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
2,388
1,278
the polo drove great but that checkered pattern is flipping disgusting, I couldn’t get used to it.

I love the tartan seats in my VW GTI . But then we all have different likes and dislikes and that’s a good thing, otherwise life would be boring.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
2,614
906
I was talking to a few people who work for different car companies and I narrowed it down to the st line or Leon fr and they said they get a lot of customer returns in regards to fords with having heating issues in the engine ect...

Like I said, I have a friend who worked in a Ford dealership for thirty years and she advised against buying one. How many people would say that, don't buy anything from the company I work for! She and her husband have a Ford but only because they got deals on them.