My MK1 Cupra R Leon from Ireland

[Integraleevo2]

Hi All,

Just a brief intro to myself and my new Leon Cupra R

Ive been a long term fan of the Seat Brand, having grown up with my family being one of the first Seat Main Dealers in Ireland.

Growing up I always lusted after the Cupra models, but could never afford / insure any at the time. The closest I got was my mk2 Leon fr170 TDI at 22 which I adored at the time. Having since sampled various offerings from BMW, Alfa Romeo, Subaru, Vauxhall,Porsche and Maserati it was time to go back to Seat, A family mamber bought a brand new 2005 Leon Cupra R in emotion red as the company car at the time which he still has (And currently sits at 24k miles) and of late I have really fallen back in love with the shape, performance and overall usability of the LCR or hot hatches in general.

Now in my mid 30's and having sold quite a few of my other weekend cars to fund a house purchase, I realised it was time to revisit my teenage dream of LCR ownership and have a usable, appreciating classic that I can take to shows, and use regularly for b road blasts, The search commenced.

The LCR wasnt readily sold through the dealer network here in Ireland at the time, with only a handful of 210hp versions being registered here from new via special order from Seat head office. A decent number had since been imported here from mainland uk throughout the 00's, but many had since been crashed, broken for parts etc.

My initial search yielded the grand total of 2 cars available for sale in the whole country. Neither of which were to my liking. One needed considerable rust repairs and had virtually no service history, and the second was a very high mileage car which had been poorly resprayed and again had little to no history.

In pre Brexit times, I wouldnt have even bothered to look for one here and went straight to the UK,but this is no longer an option due to the astronomical costs involved with importing a car into Ireland from outsIde the EU. Luckily, Northern Irish cars, registered in Northern Ireland, pre Brexit, avoided many of the associated costs and would have seen a far greater number of LCR's on the roads than in the Republic where I am based so my search mainly focused on this area, and I waitied in hope.

A couple of weeks of waiting and trawling every single known site, my car popped up on Facebook Marketplace and looked decent. The owner of the car had owned it for 3 years, and bought it from his son in law who had owned it for 8 years previous. It had been in storage since 2020, and had recently been fitted with various new parts to pass the MOT.

Mileage is 82,000 backed up by a fairly decent service record, and assorted reciepts and the 2 pictures on the advertisment looked relatively good. Plans were immediately made to travel the 3 hrs to view it, and deal was struck with the seller who was an absolute gentleman who had a big collection of older Bmw's and Mg's which was very cool to see.

There are some rust spots that will need addressing, mainly at the bottoms of the wings, and both bumpers will need painting due to age related scuffs and marks which will be done asap and a full buff and detail to restore the aged paint. The front splitter is also missing and is proving very hard to find a genuine replacement. I managed to buy 5 new old stock genuine R badges which I am waiting on currently to arrive.

Aside from this, I hope to do a full service, Cambelt and Water Pump, and enjoy it for a couple of months before starting to do some slight modofications;

1. Suspension (Coilovers or Shock & Spring Kit
2. ARB
3. Spacers
4. Air Intake
5. TIP
6. Exhaust
   
   
   

 

[Nathan penney]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.
Great to read your introduction and glad you found your Cupra R.
Platinum grey is a fantastic colour. I have one the same that I have had for nearly 7 years and recently picked up a yellow one too.
Great car’s, you will not be disappointed!
The red one in your family is a rare thing with that sort of mileage, look after it.
Yours being grey it should polish up well.
They don’t suffer the same laquer peel as the solid paint cars.
looks in decent condition on the photos.
Unfortunately the front splitters were discontinued last year.
I managed to find a genuine one in Latvia last year that I got shipped over. Cost more for shipping than the splitter.
Be sure to keep us updated with your progress.

 

[Integraleevo2]

Hello and welcome to the Forum.
Great to read your introduction and glad you found your Cupra R.
Platinum grey is a fantastic colour. I have one the same that I have had for nearly 7 years and recently picked up a yellow one too.
Great car’s, you will not be disappointed!
The red one in your family is a rare thing with that sort of mileage, look after it.
Yours being grey it should polish up well.
They don’t suffer the same laquer peel as the solid paint cars.
looks in decent condition on the photos.
Unfortunately the front splitters were discontinued last year.
I managed to find a genuine one in Latvia last year that I got shipped over. Cost more for shipping than the splitter.
Be sure to keep us updated with your progress.

Thanks for the welcome mate.

Ive always liked the platinum grey personaly and remember it from the dealership catalogues of the time alongside the standard yellow ones. Hopefully with a good detail it comes up nicely.

The red one is a lovely thing. I tried to persuade my uncle to sell it but he wont part with it. I must get some pics of it up here soon also. Its kept inside most of the time so thankfully it hasnt suffered any of the dreaded lacquer peel yet.

Ive tried bloody everywhere for a genuine splitter and even called a few places abroad but no joy. If you ever come across another one keep me in mind. I did buty one of the universale replica ones but the quality and finish on it is terrible. Cant see anything on ebay at the moment either unfortunately.

The car is currently awaiting registration in Ireland tomorrow fingers crossed so progress on body / paint can commence after that

Thanks again

 

[Nathan penney]

There’s a few second time rounders getting hold of Cupra R’s now. And there’s a few I know still got theirs from new or nearly new.
I started with mk1 Leon’s when I was 21.
New 1.6s, 1.6sx, Cupra Diesel and Cupra R in the space of 4 years.
When it came to first service I just bought a new one instead.
The easy days when I still lived at home with mum and dad and should have probably bought a house but hey ho.
Then sold the LCR for a new race blue Octavia VRS when they first came out and kept that for 13 years.
Funny how that tied in with the year me and the missus bought the house and got married.
As much as I loved the VRS I really wanted a Leon back so with the go ahead (from the now wife) I found my platinum grey one. That had about 75k on when I bought it 7 years ago.
Had to use it daily for a bit cause I already had the VRS tucked away so the miles crept up. I improved a few bits and bobs over time but kept it stock.
Then a new daily car came along so the Leon could be used for pleasure only then.
Fast forward to a few months ago, the Leon being the only hobby car left and fast approaching 100k I thought about getting another.
Long story short the yellow one turned up needing a bit of tlc to make perfect ( or at least improve it ) so there’s currently two On the drive.
I have literally just got it to the point where I am happy with it for now.
Will be posting more photos of it soon on the mk1 section of the forum.
There are some really knowledgeable folk on here too if you need any pointers.
I’m not one of them, basics okay, anything more it goes to the specilists and I still get it serviced by them every year too.
Hope all goes to plan getting yours registered and enjoy polishing.
All the best.