Both my current and previous cars had specific +tive and -tive charging/jump start terminals under the bonnet; but then they both had the battery hidden away in the depths of the boot.
Syphon's 2024/25 CUPRA Leon 2.0 TSI 300PS VZ3 Taiga Grey
- Thread starter Syphon
- Start date
I hear moans about non serviceable battery access from a classic car owner... they were flabbergasted that they could not change the battery themselves on a Mercedes.
That earth point on yours will be the text book one to use where it goes onto the chassis. Years gone by I'd just put them on the battery terminals. Positive first, then negative.. whatever the manual says. But with the level of electronics in cars now I tend to think best to avoid where possible.
I've got stop start neutralised so all the restarts don't tax the battery. You can't neutralise the stop start on recent models via coding. Having the memory to turn it manually off is tricky and can be quite dangerous on an automatic when the engine is off and you expect it to be on, on roundabout get aways. People do steering wheel tricks to keep the engine running. All a bit bizarre.
The hybrid people have to ensure that they have the petrol engine running enough to keep the 12v battery charged....
On my 3 Series Touring you need to have Action Man sized hands to squeeze in to undo the hold down plate and abs like Vin Diesel to wrestle the battery from it's hidey-hole behind the boot side trim and below floor level.
Thats great info. If you have a CTEK Charger you can get an adapter that allows you to charge the battery via the 12v 'cigarette' lighter socket. This is what I use on my Boxster as its near impossible to get to the battery. Hope you get the issue resolved.
It's mad money, particularly when you add the regular £195 to the £425! The threshold of £40k really does need to be raised to £50k or even £60k as too many "regular" family cars are now attracting the luxury tax.
Mind you, we can make ourselves feel better about that when you look at the cost of taxing a vehicle in Ireland.
I personally can’t see HM Gov raising the £40k threshold any time soon; it’s an easy way to generate additional tax revenue as inflation and car manufacturer list price increases push the price of more new cars above the £40k threshold.
Interestingly, any reference to ‘luxury tax’ disappeared from HM Gov website some years ago, so IMHO that’s probably an acknowledgement by the government that £40k doesn’t buy a new luxury car these days. From www.gov.uk website;
‘Vehicles with a list price of more than £40,000
You have to pay an extra £425 a year if you have a car or motorhome with a list price of more than £40,000.’
Vehicle tax rates
Tables showing the rates for vehicle tax for different types of vehicle.
Still haven’t see a single one of these in the wild, only the Tavscan :/
Problem with Seat making Cupra the select rare brand. In other news the Skoda Elrog is now Autocar car of the year or something. Elrog being the electric Karog / Ateca equivalent. I'm hoping the Seat stuff of end of the brand is nonsense and they will badge up these as Seat the same as the Karoqs came out of the Ateca... otherwise there will be a lot of Seat garages with nothing to sell at the end of ICE.
Excellent review Scott, thanks for producing it. My Graphine Grey VZ3 is ready and awaiting collection, however I'm still waiting for the new V5 from DVLA for my part exchange - quite frustrating! It's been a week now, usually it's within three days.
I think I'll do as you have with regards to KESSY, for the reasons you mention and I'm quite happy to press a button on the fob in the old skool manner.
Yeah, it's a bit like that!
Funny how an opinion can change over the course of just a few weeks. When I first saw the wheel style on the FL VZ3 I wasn't keen at all, however when I saw them for real last week on the car I bought, it was a different case altogether. Now I think they're the best style on any CUPRA.
Is that the Ateca going or keeping it.V5 just dropped through the letter box.
All 'go' for Saturday then...
All this still boils down to me that Cupra should have stayed as the top spec Seat. This VZ3 deserves to be a halo Cupra model
But a 1.5 plugin? Seriously come on. Has as much right to wear the Cupra badge as my oil burner!
But a 1.5 plugin? Seriously come on. Has as much right to wear the Cupra badge as my oil burner!
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