Month 1: Should it stay or should it go?
Tis’ the million dollar question when one ponders its asking price. Then there’s the MK3 to consider as well, sure the second hand market has reached the upper echelons of fiscal lunacy but a 70 plate MK3 can be had for around 26 - 27K. Not a great proposition on finance but for cash buyers deals can be had.
So, let’s start with the less than ideal and work our way up. Maybe I’m spoilt at this point because I’m used to jumping in a car and just driving never needing to deep dive into manuals or embark on research quests. With the Cupra I’d highly recommend once it’s delivered sitting down and setting up the car to your personal preference, some things can’t be permanently disabled like lane assist or stop / start but a majority of its outright illogical functions thankfully can. The air con woes can be circumvented to an extent by setting up the system and then it’s just a matter of using the slider at the bottom of the screen console, if you need to remove condensation there are buttons near the light cluster panel for quick access. There’s also plenty of nifty things to explore and once saved to memory it’s fine (for the most part).
However over the years I’ve become accustomed to using things like limiters, unfortunately setting it up on the go is distracting therefore potentially dangerous and this is the general theme for the control style infotainment system. I’m sure it will become second nature at some point but for now it only stands to show a weakness in design methodology, having the car setup beforehand does alleviate many problems but there’s always the odd option to consider. I'm not going to over inflate these issues though, it's disappointing but it's not like the car is un-drivable.
The system has suffered from a few gremlins, once every so often it does forget things and then proceeds to spring up illogical messages obscuring the dash, one should really know how fast they’re going in a 300HP car unless someone isn’t all that particular about having a license. Unfortunately Cupra’s response seems to be it’ll get fixed when it gets fixed, not something you really want to hear from a sports / premium brand. Personally I haven’t had any real issues so far with the safety features but I remain vigilant, I didn’t even notice lane assist was active until a badly painted road caused the system to try and stamp its authority. The defining word is “try” here as a quick shuffle of opposite lock rectified the situation but the system seems oh so unnecessary, a simple audible alert would be sufficient and an option to disable it permanently is even better.
Now let’s turn our focus to the car itself (no pun intended), the fitted Hankook tyre’s are noisy but appear to provide ample grip. The fact that models in some locations don’t receive Brembo’s and a few extra’s are missing like the drive profile select on the steering wheel is disappointing but individual / custom mode is my preference anyway and the brakes whilst slightly spongey still have ample stopping power. The car is still bedding in so I’ve not had the opportunity to see what it can do holistically. The interior is a bit on the cheap side and even the MK3 appeared to have a more solid disposition, although it is spacious, the seats are comfortable, visibility is great and the driving position for myself at least is just about right. Also a small fun fact you can raise the arm rest and lock it into position therefore your left arm has somewhere to lean. The VZ3’s alloy’s are somewhat polarising but personally I believe they’re interesting even if the trim is a standard alloy with plastic bits attached to it, worth it for the electric seats though.
In terms of handling I can’t fault it, this whippet of a vehicle will go in any direction you choose with next to no effort. The limited slip differential nails any torque issues and compared to another 250 HP “hot hatch” I owned years back there’s no wheel skip and thump throughout the cabin. Plus a hot hatch for me needs to have that je ne sais quoi, theatrical moments, a bit of character and the Cupra has that in spades. Also it has a perfect middle ground between competent yet dull and over the top, fatiguing, back braking ruthlessness, if the latter is your bag you can always switch to Cupra mode anyway.
The biggest hurdle to jump over with the Cupra in my respective opinion is once again the price, I’ve had hot hatches with more core design issues than this one but they retailed for far less. When a car costs 38K even in today’s madness I’d expect more attention to detail, a premium feel and a more proactive level of customer support*. Although, of course some may not encounter any issues and some might be willing to accept its shortfalls because underneath these simple qualms beats the heart of a thoroughly entertaining hot hatch.. Let's see how things go..
Figures:
MPG 30.2 (average / real world)
HP: 295
Torque (NM): 400
Weight (KG’s): 1415
Insurance Group: 33
Score so far: 6 / 10
*Edit: Updated with current status.
Tis’ the million dollar question when one ponders its asking price. Then there’s the MK3 to consider as well, sure the second hand market has reached the upper echelons of fiscal lunacy but a 70 plate MK3 can be had for around 26 - 27K. Not a great proposition on finance but for cash buyers deals can be had.
So, let’s start with the less than ideal and work our way up. Maybe I’m spoilt at this point because I’m used to jumping in a car and just driving never needing to deep dive into manuals or embark on research quests. With the Cupra I’d highly recommend once it’s delivered sitting down and setting up the car to your personal preference, some things can’t be permanently disabled like lane assist or stop / start but a majority of its outright illogical functions thankfully can. The air con woes can be circumvented to an extent by setting up the system and then it’s just a matter of using the slider at the bottom of the screen console, if you need to remove condensation there are buttons near the light cluster panel for quick access. There’s also plenty of nifty things to explore and once saved to memory it’s fine (for the most part).
However over the years I’ve become accustomed to using things like limiters, unfortunately setting it up on the go is distracting therefore potentially dangerous and this is the general theme for the control style infotainment system. I’m sure it will become second nature at some point but for now it only stands to show a weakness in design methodology, having the car setup beforehand does alleviate many problems but there’s always the odd option to consider. I'm not going to over inflate these issues though, it's disappointing but it's not like the car is un-drivable.
The system has suffered from a few gremlins, once every so often it does forget things and then proceeds to spring up illogical messages obscuring the dash, one should really know how fast they’re going in a 300HP car unless someone isn’t all that particular about having a license. Unfortunately Cupra’s response seems to be it’ll get fixed when it gets fixed, not something you really want to hear from a sports / premium brand. Personally I haven’t had any real issues so far with the safety features but I remain vigilant, I didn’t even notice lane assist was active until a badly painted road caused the system to try and stamp its authority. The defining word is “try” here as a quick shuffle of opposite lock rectified the situation but the system seems oh so unnecessary, a simple audible alert would be sufficient and an option to disable it permanently is even better.
Now let’s turn our focus to the car itself (no pun intended), the fitted Hankook tyre’s are noisy but appear to provide ample grip. The fact that models in some locations don’t receive Brembo’s and a few extra’s are missing like the drive profile select on the steering wheel is disappointing but individual / custom mode is my preference anyway and the brakes whilst slightly spongey still have ample stopping power. The car is still bedding in so I’ve not had the opportunity to see what it can do holistically. The interior is a bit on the cheap side and even the MK3 appeared to have a more solid disposition, although it is spacious, the seats are comfortable, visibility is great and the driving position for myself at least is just about right. Also a small fun fact you can raise the arm rest and lock it into position therefore your left arm has somewhere to lean. The VZ3’s alloy’s are somewhat polarising but personally I believe they’re interesting even if the trim is a standard alloy with plastic bits attached to it, worth it for the electric seats though.
In terms of handling I can’t fault it, this whippet of a vehicle will go in any direction you choose with next to no effort. The limited slip differential nails any torque issues and compared to another 250 HP “hot hatch” I owned years back there’s no wheel skip and thump throughout the cabin. Plus a hot hatch for me needs to have that je ne sais quoi, theatrical moments, a bit of character and the Cupra has that in spades. Also it has a perfect middle ground between competent yet dull and over the top, fatiguing, back braking ruthlessness, if the latter is your bag you can always switch to Cupra mode anyway.
The biggest hurdle to jump over with the Cupra in my respective opinion is once again the price, I’ve had hot hatches with more core design issues than this one but they retailed for far less. When a car costs 38K even in today’s madness I’d expect more attention to detail, a premium feel and a more proactive level of customer support*. Although, of course some may not encounter any issues and some might be willing to accept its shortfalls because underneath these simple qualms beats the heart of a thoroughly entertaining hot hatch.. Let's see how things go..
Figures:
MPG 30.2 (average / real world)
HP: 295
Torque (NM): 400
Weight (KG’s): 1415
Insurance Group: 33
Score so far: 6 / 10
*Edit: Updated with current status.
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