New to the Cupra TDI club

Hi guys,

I used to have a 2005 plate Leon TDI 110 that was unfortunately written off when someone crashed into me a week or so ago. So I was left with a bit of a quandary about what to get.. I had a few requirements:
1) Look fairly nice
2) Be a diesel (I have a 50 mile round trip to work so fuel economy was important)
3) Be fast enough to be fun (the previous Leon replaced a Corsa VXR which I had to replace due to fuel costs and used to bore the hell out of me)
4) Must be able to fit a mountain bike in the back

So I decided on this.. a 2004 plate Leon 150 TDI Cupra. Got 70k ish miles on the clock and seems to be pretty solid.

***I will insert some pics in here when I have 15 posts!****

First impressions are its very good! Its a good compromise between motorway commuter and fairly fast hatch.

Not planning on doing any major modifications to it other than a Stage 1 remap (already booked in at AMD in Woking to have this done) although who knows that might all change after a few months of driving it If I do I would guess it would just be handling mods, suspension, roll bars etc.

Ok... here are some pics...

I am still on the first tank of fuel, but I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. I was expecting that going from a 110 to a 150 I would see a bit of a reduction in mpg (espectially considering I have been enjoying the additional power a bit) but its currently pretty much bang on what my old car was doing (if not slightly better). Happy days!

The one thing I have noticed is that the steering feels really light (as in doesnt take any effort at all to steer) and doesnt have a huge amount of feel to it. Taking a bit of getting used to, I keep expecting it to just go straight on when I turn it into a corner! Hopefully I will get a dry day sometime soon so I can see what it handles like in the dry.

Haha... I wouldnt be offended

I am glad that you came back with that answer actually, because I had my suspicions that might be a likely cause. I believe that they are all "non big branded" tyres but that they all have a good amount of tread. I will check and report back next time I go out to the car.

A change of tyres is on my list of things I need to do, however after paying out for the car cant actually afford to do that right now. What are the default "go to tyre" for the Cupra, is there one or is that a big can of worms? (On my old Corsa I used to run Conti Sport Contact 3's and they seemed to be pretty good.)

Muttley said:

Steering shouldn't be light, but that is most likely down to the tyres. What do you have on there and how worn are they? We won't judge you too hard, as it's whatever the previous owner put on (I assume).

Click to expand...

Ok, so on closer inspection I have discovered a right assortment of tyres!

We have got Primwell PZ900 (2 of), a BCT S800 and an Autoguard (I think!) SA802...

Given that I have never heard of any of these brands that doesn't seem to be a good starting point! I presume they are cheapo tyres. Think I am going to attempt to live with them for a bit but will be replacing them when they are worn down with something different. Doesnt seem much point changing them yet as they have loads of tread on them and I very much doubt I will be able to sell them for anything much.

So I have had the car a few weeks now and on the whole I have to say I love it.

I have discovered a few issues though that I was hoping people might be able to help with.

1) The first is that a couple of days ago when I started up the car in the morning the warning light popped up next to the coolant temp gauge and started flashing. Checked the manual that said this meant either the level was too low, or that it was too cold. The level was fine and it appeared to be still liquid (!) so plugged in my blue tooth ocdb reader and the liquid was at about 30 degrees rising slowly. Waited for it to hit 60, turned engine off and back on again and the light cleared. Anything to worry about or that I should check?

2) I have noticed that sometimes when I press the air con button it flips back off again instantly and refuses to come on. Then today I had the temp set to 19 degrees and yet it was kicking out loads of hot air and the inside temp was just getting hotter and hotter. Wierdly the temperature readout on the trip meter was showing -45 degrees!! I am assuming that the air con only comes on if the outside temp is hotter than the temp its trying to get to, so as the outside temperature was colder it was switching it off. Is it easy to swap out the temp sensor that controls this value as it looks like a likely culprit?

3) finally, and I suspect this might be the biggest issue, when I am in 5th gear their is a whining noise that appears to be coming from the gearbox. However that is only there when I lift off the throttle and coast, under load there is no whine. It also only seems to be in 5th and no other gear. Any idea what this could be? I am assuming something like a worn bearing in the gearbox might be the culprit but I am no expert. Any suggestions about how I can identify the cause of this before taking it to the garage to look at?

Any help will be much appreciated

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Bit of an update since the last post..

Its had a full set of disks and pads all round and a full set of Michelin Pilot Sport 3's put on it. It now actually stops and corners which is nice!