Leon Cupra in Top Gears 10 worst cars for understeer

[TimBarratt]

Depends what they were using as a yardstick for a cars handling. As they have come a long way in the last couple of years, VAG's new breed of A3, Golf, Leon, Octavia are a real step forward.
Any ideas what the other 10 were?

I think the review was done about 2 years ago, before the new breed of VAG cars anyway. From memory the other cars were the horrible cheap shopping trolleys like the Matiz.

 

[cupralite]

Much better than the other way round. At least it does predictably crap things...

Simon.

Thats why I did it - better to go straight on into a hedge than backwards into a hedge....

 

[warren_cox]

I think the review was done about 2 years ago, before the new breed of VAG cars anyway. From memory the other cars were the horrible cheap shopping trolleys like the Matiz.

think there was a smart car (the little upright two seater) which was worst on test, then a vitara, a matiz, the LCR, another bigger jeep, and a few others. Rest escape me.

 

[magic77]

having had a focus and a astra before Leon I would say leon thus have the tendency to understeer but nothing close to as the astra. Which would also drive sideways when going on roundabouts. Scary especially in winter

The best has to be the focus, been in many cars in recent years and nothing beats the handling of a focus, though yet to push the new mk2 but as soon as I'm cleared to drive I'm booking the st test drive in farnborough

 

[rst_cupra_r]

i feel my cupra dont handle to good well not as good as the rs turbo did, that had koni adjustable and avo chassis dynamic springs wi front strut brace on, wat can i do to help my cupra r ie should i s3 strut brace front and rear up-rated roll bars and a dog bone bushes i have been told not the whole mount

 

[Ruddmeister]

wat can i do to help my cupra r ie should i s3 strut brace front and rear up-rated roll bars and a dog bone bushes i have been told not the whole mount

Front and Rear Anti-Roll Bars, Front strut brace......do NOT just do the rear strut brace.

Nice big front ARB will not have you car understeering (I have tried both Rear only and Front and Rear)

Later when you have the cash a nice set of H&R, Bilstein or KW coilovers.

Dog bone mount won't help handling that much (wheel tramp, makes car feel connected, reduces TCS/ESP input).

Anybody who says that a front ARB will make the Leon understeer hasn' tried it.....ask Yermother, CoxW, Feel, Jackal or xJib if my car understeers.....well xJib might but he wasn;t comparing it to a Leon

When I was doing my suspension much of it was trial and error, I did a bit of a report on my findings PM me if you want a copy.....circa 4Mb tho due to piccy's.

EDIT....report is on my laptop so may take few days

 

[mark sheerin]

The top ten understeer article was a load of bollox actually...
They picked ten cars they ASSUMED would understeer badly......

and the Leon wasn't as bad as they suspected when they did the test....

I have never found understeer a problem on any of my cars...if you think thats because I drive too slow think again..I do however know HOW to go into a corner at the right speed.....
The leons are a slow in fast out car wich suits their midrange pull out of the corners perfectly...
The Leon is a very safe handling car no matter what you throw at it...
and you can get them to balance round corners...
If you really push a leon..you can get it to four wheel drift...if you know how to ease off the throttle and brush the brake gently

 

[ljsanders]

A Westfield in the wet with salt and **** all over the road understeers badly
like I found out last weekend.

 

[andyb]

MG ZS 2.5 V6 handling was superb.

Have to agree, the last ZS were fantastic to drive through bends, Awesome, just a shame the rest of the car sucked, but it was a real eye opener when you considered how old the car was and its origin (2 generation old Civic).

 

[warren_cox]

Anybody who says that a front ARB will make the Leon understeer hasn' tried it.....ask Yermother, CoxW, Feel, Jackal or xJib if my car understeers.....well xJib might but he wasn;t comparing it to a Leon

I like to do a test on a car where you go barreling into a fairly tightish roundabout, then drive it round quicker and quicker till you find the balance point and see when it all starts to go fanny over tit.

Steve's car had a really nice feel on the Bilsteins, and none of that all grip / no grip sensation you can get from the Leon on OE kit. The front stayed towed in nicely, and it was balanced, neutral and most of all confidence inspiring. The limits were probably 15+mph further up speedo before you got any midly adverse effects meaning your carrying much more cornering speed with confidence. Got me thinking whether my upgrade path was back to front as I've gone the max power from K04 turbo route and with compromised effects at times.

The Prodrive track day has helped to inspire my confidence of the Leons ability greatly as Luke Hines showed the true limits and handling points of failure, but all in all its not a bad car. One thing Blencowe said he'd notice was a lot of the people on the test day who had spun out had gone into corners too fast, realised too late, then just lifted the power off inducing the back end to come round and spin off. He did say with the power we have running through OE kit, to get the most speed through corners required some very sensitive and thoughtful driving to stop excessive electronic intervention or front end wash out. One thing I learnt was to have a good car set up is one thing, but to maximise your speed you don't have to drive like your possessed. Smooth control, thoughful car positioning and accurate delivery of brakes and power are equally important. Off topic a bit, our Brembo's when warm were the most confidence inspiring thing of my day. You can hammer them and brake soooooo late that technically you'd be well advised to wear nappies on a white knuckle ride with one of them. I appreciate they're on a track in controlled circumstances, but by comparison I see why my front pads last 18k now, as in their world I don't really even tickle my brakes let alone use them properly! - back on topic......

 

[psq43]

Depends on how you drive! When they do road tests etc, they try to drive each car in a very similar style whether aggressive or not in order to get accurate comparison. However, in the real world, if you are competent in the least, and judging from the things half the LCR owners do on here, i would assume most of them are, then a good driver is able to adjust his style to suit the car. Any idiot that stomps the brakes on, flings the steering, then mashed the gas to the floor will get understeer, BAD understeer, but if they take the time to drive smoothly, and most test paps are little more than average-bull in china shop, then they will soon be able to iron this out. I dont get too much understeer in mine unless i do the "stomp brake, fling steering, mash gas" and am more than happy with it and find it very easy to get along with at even "suicide speeds". The steering is well set up and feels pretty pin-point, the brakes do fade, but not alarmingly, and the communication from car-driver (handling) is very very good in comparison to my next door neighbours 323 compact and the roadholding and grip (very different to handling) is well above average.

If some journo wants to write stuff about a car he maybe drove for a few hours ham-fistedly with shot tyres after twenty other journo's have had a lash in it over 6 months i suggest they do what real owners will do and live with them for a bit and you soon get a better picture.

 

[MattR]

What were the top 10 then? I've had a TT in the past and that understeered far more than my Leon.

The Leon does suffer from understeer, but I wouldnt say it was particularly bad.

 

[fishpie]

Don't know about the LCR, but the pre-big-bumper LC with 16" wheels came with P6000 tyres. These are not particularly good in the dry and become dangerous in the wet. To be honest, I'm suprised it even got around the corner

I saw an article several years ago where they reviewed tyres for a normal car (2.0 Mondeo) and a high performance car (BMW M3). With the best wet tyres, the Mondeo was lapping quicker then the M3 on poor wet tyres.

I think it spoke very well for the LC, that it was almost as quick as the CTR when on the factory P6000's

I have just got rid of the p6000 and I can't believe the difference in grip. I have now got Falken GRB FK 451 on the front and Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 on the back (don't ask). The Falkens give so much more grip its mad, i would say there is probably more in the wet that there was in the dry with the p6000. The Goddyears feel good as well on the back.

The other thing i have noticed is that the comfort of the tyres on the road is much much better. Also with the p6000 when the traction control kicked in when in first and the wheels were straight the car would shudder violently but that has gone also.

God knows whey these tyres were fitted. Most review sites I go to the p6000 don't do very well. http://www.tyretest.com/