Great Story about a Leon ST Cupra 290 on a German Autobahn

[JoshJenkins]

Hi Guys,
It’s a long story but I hope you enjoy!
Back in December 2015 a very good friend of mine factory ordered a Leon ST Cupra 290 DSG with March delivery anticipated.
I was actually the sales guy at the dealer who took the order. We planned to take the car on the Snowbombing festival road trip on Saturday April 2nd, a 2 day road trip from Kent to Austria with about 100 cars. All in fancy dress!
The order was slightly delayed due to the options added and it looked as though the car wouldn’t arrive in time, very touch and go!
However, the car arrived on Friday April 1st in the morning, we had the pre delivery checks and valet completed that day and he picked it up that afternoon. We then spent the evening fitting a set of Thule aero roof bars and aero roof box only to find we had forgotten to order the correct fitting kit! We rung around every Halfords and local Thule rep and no one had the right kit. The local Halfords store recommended trying a kit for an Audi A4, we headed straight there and found they fitted perfectly! We’re ready to go.
We had 4 guys in the car, a weeks worth of luggage for us all, 2 sets of skis and 2 snowboards in the roof box.
On the first day we took easy, the car was brand new and my friend didn’t want to take any risks driving in the UK, France and Belgium. We stopped at a hotel in Germany with the rest of the road trip for the night.
On the second day, after a few hundred miles we found ourselves on an un-restricted, dead straight German Autobahn. My friend (the driver) who also happened to be a development engineer for Jaguar/Land Rover SVO decided to see what the Leon Cupra estate could do. We maxed out at 271KPH/169MPH WITH a roof box, 4 passengers and a boot rammed with luggage. The car was so stable, and calm we couldn’t believe it!
We arrived at our destination in Austria later that day, to find only an Audi RS6 had gone faster at around 180MPH.
It may sound reckless and irresponsible however it was legal, and we had a trained driver at the wheel. The Leon Cupra ST also handled it so well. I’ve attached a couple of photos. Hope you all appreciate the number plate too! CU16PRA. Which is currently on retention if any one is interested in buying .
What a car!

 

[Damo H]

Hi Guys,
It’s a long story but I hope you enjoy!
Back in December 2015 a very good friend of mine factory ordered a Leon ST Cupra 290 DSG with March delivery anticipated.
I was actually the sales guy at the dealer who took the order. We planned to take the car on the Snowbombing festival road trip on Saturday April 2nd, a 2 day road trip from Kent to Austria with about 100 cars. All in fancy dress!
The order was slightly delayed due to the options added and it looked as though the car wouldn’t arrive in time, very touch and go!
However, the car arrived on Friday April 1st in the morning, we had the pre delivery checks and valet completed that day and he picked it up that afternoon. We then spent the evening fitting a set of Thule aero roof bars and aero roof box only to find we had forgotten to order the correct fitting kit! We rung around every Halfords and local Thule rep and no one had the right kit. The local Halfords store recommended trying a kit for an Audi A4, we headed straight there and found they fitted perfectly! We’re ready to go.
We had 4 guys in the car, a weeks worth of luggage for us all, 2 sets of skis and 2 snowboards in the roof box.
On the first day we took easy, the car was brand new and my friend didn’t want to take any risks driving in the UK, France and Belgium. We stopped at a hotel in Germany with the rest of the road trip for the night.
On the second day, after a few hundred miles we found ourselves on an un-restricted, dead straight German Autobahn. My friend (the driver) who also happened to be a development engineer for Jaguar/Land Rover SVO decided to see what the Leon Cupra estate could do. We maxed out at 271KPH/169MPH WITH a roof box, 4 passengers and a boot rammed with luggage. The car was so stable, and calm we couldn’t believe it!
We arrived at our destination in Austria later that day, to find only an Audi RS6 had gone faster at around 180MPH.
It may sound reckless and irresponsible however it was legal, and we had a trained driver at the wheel. The Leon Cupra ST also handled it so well. I’ve attached a couple of photos. Hope you all appreciate the number plate too! CU16PRA. Which is currently on retention if any one is interested in buying .
What a car!

IMO 169mph on an autobahn in good conditions, a car in good condition and a driver who is accustomed to those speeds is not reckless at all.

I love my ST, but not sure I'd want to be in the back seat for that amount of time! Hope the 3 of you rotated shotgun...

 

[JoshJenkins]

IMO 169mph on an autobahn in good conditions, a car in good condition and a driver who is accustomed to those speeds is not reckless at all.

I love my ST, but not sure I'd want to be in the back seat for that amount of time! Hope the 3 of you rotated shotgun...

It really didn’t feel particularly dramatic or scary. Really impressive!
Luckily it was split over two days on the way there, so wasn’t too bad. On the way back though we did it in one hit! Made full use of the comfort mode. The year before we did it in a 2007 Fiesta ST, same setup, 4 guys, luggage and roof box. That was uncomfortable!!

 

[Syphon]

Moving to correct forum.

 

[KXL]

Might have been able to hit 170mph without the roof box. I thought Cupra's were 'restricted' to 155mph? Guess not! Or it never was...

 

[JoshJenkins]

Might have been able to hit 170mph without the roof box. I thought Cupra's were 'restricted' to 155mph? Guess not! Or it never was...

Possibly!
I’ve heard that VWG cars that have a top speed around that figure anyway aren’t limited as there’s not much point. Not sure how true that is!

I guess there also would have been at least a few miles an hour difference in the true speed compared to the speedometer but hard to say how much.

 

[motty225]

Might have been able to hit 170mph without the roof box. I thought Cupra's were 'restricted' to 155mph? Guess not! Or it never was...

They are, speedos are always out a little and the more you increase the speed the more they are out, up to about 10%, 155 limit plus the 10% is 170mph

 

[Mr Pig]

I've spent hours on the autobahn at 140-150 in a sporty Mercedes and once acclimatized it didn't feel fast. Even at that speed we were still overtaken by stuff going much faster!

I remember getting off the plane in Glasgow and be struck how terrible the driving on the M8 was by comparison. If they drove like that in Germany it would be carnage.

 

[KXL]

I remember in the mid 90s i was in Germany, dad at the time was maxing out our Opel Omega doing around 210kmh (130mph). We were overtaking most cars, some of the bigger German cars strolled past us perhaps going 220-230kmh. Then there was I believe a ferrari. First we saw two lights (it was evening) quite a bit back, then before you knew it, it was along side us, then it zoomed past us. Must have been doing in excess of 250kmh

 

[Zer0]

I don't usually go that

Might have been able to hit 170mph without the roof box. I thought Cupra's were 'restricted' to 155mph? Guess not! Or it never was...

They are definitely restricted like motty225 says, I've tested it myself (on an unrestricted road of course).

Anyway, at least my Cupra is incredibly stable at high speeds, much more so than my previous cars. 110 feels like doing 70 in most other cars.

 

[SuperV8]

They are, speedos are always out a little and the more you increase the speed the more they are out, up to about 10%, 155 limit plus the 10% is 170mph

My own Leon speedo is 7% optimistic - so 70 gps mph is 75 speedo mph - which would make 169 speedo mph about 157 mph - still going some with a roof box parachute!

 

[NotSoSimple]

I have done this too with a roof box in my 4Drive ST.

Though i stopped at 155mph, was worried about the roofbox!

 

[black_sheep]

My roofbox is a German made Kamei and it has stickers not to exceed 130 kph and the roof has safe load limit of 75 kg. Good to know that there is a significant factor of safety in the design ?

 

[Mr Pig]

My roofbox is a German made Kamei and it has stickers not to exceed 130 kph and the roof has safe load limit of 75 kg. Good to know that there is a significant factor of safety in the design ?

I wouldn't just be worried about it coming off. I'd be worried about the force pulling on the roof rails damaging the roof.

 

[NotSoSimple]

Yeah mine is one of the Swedish Thule 'ski team' ones. Very thin profile and aero shaped.

It had similar stickers i'm fairly sure!

 

[Tivver500]

I've spent hours on the autobahn at 140-150 in a sporty Mercedes and once acclimatized it didn't feel fast. Even at that speed we were still overtaken by stuff going much faster!

I remember getting off the plane in Glasgow and be struck how terrible the driving on the M8 was by comparison. If they drove like that in Germany it would be carnage.

Travelling along Autobahn at around 150+ (in the TVR) I was passed by an Audi S5 (with the Lambo W10 engine....). I estimate he was doing around 180!! At least the Germans actually use mirrors before pulling out.

 

[Mr Pig]

At least the Germans actually use mirrors before pulling out.

Lane discipline and general driver behavior is much better than in the UK?

 

[SuperV8]

Travelling along Autobahn at around 150+ (in the TVR) I was passed by an Audi S5 (with the Lambo W10 engine....). I estimate he was doing around 180!! At least the Germans actually use mirrors before pulling out.

What was the fuel consumption of the TVR at 150 my fuel consumption in the Leon takes a dive when above 80!
Would the TVR have gone faster? or was it gearing limited? My Dax Rush with supercharged TVR engine and gearbox I have calculated can theoretically do 150mph - but the aerodynamics of a brick means above 120 it starts getting 'interesting!'

It was the Audi S6 with the Lambo 5.0 V10 engine, or the RS6 with a twin turbo-ed Lambo V10? Those cars must surely be appreciating in value as those engines will never be seen again!

 

[NotSoSimple]

Lane discipline and general driver behavior is much better than in the UK?

Yes, alot better. The issue is the belgians and dutch on the autobahn are not using their mirrors.

Germans nail it and its a pleasure to cruise the autobahns

 

[Mr Pig]

Yes, alot better. The issue is the belgians and dutch on the autobahn....

My sister told me about 'ghost drivers', foreigners who manage to get onto the autobahn going the wrong way. So called because they don't live long.