Paul_J

Active Member
Sep 7, 2025
6
6
Hello to you all,
Paul from the UK, recently bought a 2025 Cupra Leon.

Had been a Ford Focus driver for many years, until one day when curiosity took me to a Cupra dealer.

Sat inside one and it was the quickest decision to buy a car I think I've ever made.
 
Welcome Paul, and congrats! You made the right choice! :D

Scott
Thank you.

As this is my first None Ford.. I'm not sure if this is normal or not.
But when I first get into the car the ambient light on the dash is in 2 colours, orange and yellow.. yellow being in the middle.
Attached a photo, edited it so it makes it a little clearer to see what I mean.

Also the mirrors are meant to angle down when reversing, can't see them doing it.. am I missing something?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20250908_070907_hdr.jpg
    IMG_20250908_070907_hdr.jpg
    423.9 KB · Views: 65
No worries. Yes the bar does a different colour when you get in, mine does it. I think it's meant to be a kind of welcome thing. Yes they will do but you probably have to turn on the setting on the infotainment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Paul_J
No worries. Yes the bar does a different colour when you get in, mine does it. I think it's meant to be a kind of welcome thing. Yes they will do but you probably have to turn on the setting on the infotainment.
It was turned on, but I also need to have the mirror selector set to the left mirror for it to work.
Thank to this forum for that.. glad I found this place ?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Richiepoos
You'll find this forum so useful - I've yet to find a question or problem that someone on here hasn't got the answer to or solution for! Welcome - you'll not be going back to Ford. I moved from a Focus to an Octavia in 2018 and a Cupra Leon in 2023 and I'm not going back. Welcome!
 
You'll find this forum so useful - I've yet to find a question or problem that someone on here hasn't got the answer to or solution for! Welcome - you'll not be going back to Ford. I moved from a Focus to an Octavia in 2018 and a Cupra Leon in 2023 and I'm not going back. Welcome!
That's good to hear, I'm of the old school generation of forums, when people would talk and help... Not just post "mine works".

No more Ford's, well not in the UK that's for sure.. it's been killed off in place of some good awful vehicles.

Will miss having a heated windscreen though
 
...and a lot of my other friends are car blind - driving around in French crap and Nissan Notes! 🤣

My piece of French crap is better in almost every respect than the VAG car (a VW) I owned before it……….just sayin’ 🤔.

@Paul_J; welcome to the forum.
 
Last edited:
My piece of French crap is better in almost every respect than the VAG car (a VW) I owned before it……….just sayin’ 🤔.

@Paul_J; welcome to the forum.
Lucky you. Peugeot E3008 of a friend has spent more time in the garage broken than it has on the road and is being handed back. The only thing that caused me trouble in my Volvo S40 was the Peugeot engine. Another friends brand new Clio was rejected - she's now in a Fiesta. Co-workers Peugeot 308 has had more things go wrong than I've had hot dinners. Bro in laws previous cars - Citroen's were absolute dogs and cost him a fortune to keep on the road. I love the look of most new Peugeots and their interiors are really nice places to sit BUT in my experience they are unreliable and therefore pieces of crap.
 
@Richiepoos - I think with most car brands there’ll be examples where there are issues, as modern cars are complex pieces of kit, and I wholeheartedly agree we can only speak from our own experience - and what we read from sources such as forums and motoring websites.

I’ve no experience of owning Leons or Cupras, although I’d owned VW’s for 22 years so have quite a history of owning VAG products. During that period, I’d seen a noticeable downturn in VW‘s so-called ‘legendary‘ German build quality, and customer service from VW dealerships. The build quality of my last VW was ‘very disappointing‘ to put it mildly - uneven panel gaps, poor fitting bumpers and the car was delivered to me with a dent in the rear offside quarter panel. The fuel filler flap was very flimsy and ill-fitting and I was told it couldn’t be adjusted. The driver’s seat was one of the most uncomfortable I can remember in any car I‘ve owned; I couldn’t find what I’d call a really comfortable seating position in 4 years of ownership. Under normal circumstances I would have rejected the car but I took delivery during Covid and lockdown and getting a replacement would’ve been very difficult, plus I’d waited many months for it to be built.

My current car has tight, uniform panel gaps, paint finish is excellent and the paint seems much more durable and resistant to stone chips than the paint on the VW’s I owned. It’s extremely comfortable, ride and handling is very good, no unwanted interior creaks or rattles, everything works as it should and nothing’s broken, failed or dropped off. It also has physical controls for many functions that can safely be operated by touch alone while driving, rather than everything having to be accessed through the touchscreen. I was able to permanently switch off the nannying driver aids (e.g. lane assist) too. Oh, and the fuel filler flap fits perfectly and feels very sturdy. Dealership experience (an important part of the overall ownership experience IMHO) has been excellent - both sales and servicing - with a real focus on delivering excellent customer service (it’s a small dealership that’s won dealer of the year multiple times).

No software issues with my current car either - contrast that with VW’s current Golf; one of the VW Golf forums I visit has a nearly 400 page discussion topic on mk8 Golf software gremlins and a similar discussion topic on the mk8.5 that‘s currently over 70 pages long and growing………

Maybe I’ve been lucky with my current car? I’ve owned it 12 months which is a relatively short period of time, but no complaints or issues to date.

Apologies to the OP for going off topic……. 😳
 
  • Love
Reactions: Richiepoos
Which car do you have @SRGTD ? might have to put it on my list for a look when I'm due a new one. I love the 308 SW - looks amazing inside and out, might have to give it a drive...
 
Nothing from the Stellantis group - I’ve got a Renault, and as I prefer smaller cars and don’t actually need anything larger than a B segment car these days I’ve got a Clio full hybrid - in top spec Esprit Alpine trim. It‘s a self charging hybrid, so I just fill up with petrol and go as you would in a ‘normal’ petrol or diesel car. It does actually switch to EV mode for quite a lot of the time and my long term average mpg is currently 62.8 - better than any diesel I’ve ever owned.

I‘ve had quite a few hot hatches but think my days of hot hatch ownership are over. Most of my driving is on congested A and B roads just sitting in a stream of slow-ish moving traffic, with little or no opportunity to use the performance potential of a hot hatch, so a 145 bhp hybrid does all I need it to these days 🙂.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Richiepoos