Crikey, what an entertaining day!
My mates had his Black GTI for about 2 months, and a mate of his has a year old Type-R. With nobody doing anything today we decided on a blast out up through Kielder and some of Northumberlands finest roads.
First off, it was incredibly difficult to keep near the GTI.... i was sandwiched in the middle, and could not keep with the GTI in either outright pace or through the twisty bits - i have to say, its not massively quicker, just a bit, but the cars change of direction and composure through corners is absolutely astounding.
The big suprise was how tricky it must be in the Type-R to follow someone, especially a torquey car, because i dropped him on numerous occasions, and even he admitted that. I've always maintained the CTR is a great track/dual carraigeway car, but not a great B-Road one, mainly cos it takes one hell of a driver to keep it on the boil!
Once in front, and able to concentrate tho, again, it was a tough ask to keep with the Civic. Again, not massively quicker, but really does stick like glue.
What i found is that i was fine on the quick stuff, the long sweeping corners, but was absolutely mullered on the tighter nippier stuff, where the car just wallowed and dipped all over the place, and the steering needs far too much input and just isn't 'pointy' enough. Still okay, just a tad irritating, although i guess i am comparing it to the two best hatches out there!
Great fun tho, and the new GTI bodes incredibly well for the new hot Leons... great engine that 2.0T as well.
After all that tho, i head home and end up on the roads i use 99% of the time, through town, along dual-carriageways etc.... and the Leon is great, and murders most on the road, so i guess i cant complain that it doesnt stand up too well on the bi-monthly cross country jaunts!
So to sum up, two cars with pluses and minuses (Cupra and Civic) whilst one seems to be an absolute blinding all rounder (GTI).
My mates had his Black GTI for about 2 months, and a mate of his has a year old Type-R. With nobody doing anything today we decided on a blast out up through Kielder and some of Northumberlands finest roads.
First off, it was incredibly difficult to keep near the GTI.... i was sandwiched in the middle, and could not keep with the GTI in either outright pace or through the twisty bits - i have to say, its not massively quicker, just a bit, but the cars change of direction and composure through corners is absolutely astounding.
The big suprise was how tricky it must be in the Type-R to follow someone, especially a torquey car, because i dropped him on numerous occasions, and even he admitted that. I've always maintained the CTR is a great track/dual carraigeway car, but not a great B-Road one, mainly cos it takes one hell of a driver to keep it on the boil!
Once in front, and able to concentrate tho, again, it was a tough ask to keep with the Civic. Again, not massively quicker, but really does stick like glue.
What i found is that i was fine on the quick stuff, the long sweeping corners, but was absolutely mullered on the tighter nippier stuff, where the car just wallowed and dipped all over the place, and the steering needs far too much input and just isn't 'pointy' enough. Still okay, just a tad irritating, although i guess i am comparing it to the two best hatches out there!
Great fun tho, and the new GTI bodes incredibly well for the new hot Leons... great engine that 2.0T as well.
After all that tho, i head home and end up on the roads i use 99% of the time, through town, along dual-carriageways etc.... and the Leon is great, and murders most on the road, so i guess i cant complain that it doesnt stand up too well on the bi-monthly cross country jaunts!
So to sum up, two cars with pluses and minuses (Cupra and Civic) whilst one seems to be an absolute blinding all rounder (GTI).
