Coming from a
Cupra will obviously be a noticeable drop in performance, but the 1.8 is still pretty nippy. It comfortably has the legs on a 1.4 tsi/1.5 tsi. My wife has a 1.5 tsi, so I've spend time in both. Not driven the 1.4 since before I bought my 1.8, but my memory is that the 1.8 is significantly more rapid. I get 40mpg as my long term average and my car's gone from 40k miles to just over 70k without any issues. Runs nice a sweet. Manual gearbox. If remapping is important, the consensus here seems to be that the manual gearbox can take more torque than the 7 speed DSG.
Also worth considering over the 1.4 is the independent rear suspension, bigger brakes and E-diff. It's quite a different car, not only the extra engine capacity.
I really like mine and want to keep it for years to come but haven't owned a
Cupra so I don't miss the power of the full-fat version!