Help please - cupra or fr??

[spidermonkey]

Mate I bought mine at the beginning of the year. Its an 05 and it was £7500 and under 2 years old, when I was looking the cupras were well over £10k and even more for a tdi. They were out of my price range. In 3 years time when they have done 120k theres going to be a lot of money lost in either car. I aggree the Cupra is more desirable as a second hand buy, thats reflected in the price. I am shocked if you can't see why I wasn't willing to pay 3k more for a Cupra. This is out my own pocket. I get paid per mile so its in my interest to have something reliable, good on fuel, fairly cheap to run and resellable.

So the FR was more suited to your personal circumstances so thats why you bought it. I think thats the whole point here.

Although there is defo not 3k between the FR and Cupra at the moment, like I said just check Autotrader there are a lot of Cupras, even at trade price, low 9k's or even less for a 05 Cupra. I got my 55 plate Cupra TDi 4 months ago for under 10k with 18k on the clock (which i thought was cheap!) so its not easy to generalise prices. The cheapest FR and most expensive Cupra may be 3k apart but on average its only a 1.5k difference for a 05 plate car at the moment.

And doing 120k miles in what would be a 5/6 year old car no matter what model it is will make it depreciate like a stone!

 

[Georgel]

Yes its does so why loose all that cash on a cupra when I can loose alot less on an FR. The car will be over 5 years old and have 120k on the clock. I wonder what the difference in price between an FR and Cupra of that mileage will be in 2 years time?

Buy the car thats best for your circumstances like you say. When I was looking there weren't many about at all and there cirtainly weren't any around for 9k. Car prices soon drop, I just didn't have the time to wait..

 

[spicey]

Sorry for opening one mega can of worms guys lol! I've decided to stick with the FR petrol. Now, without wanting to open another can of the wrigglies...can anyone suggest a colour? I've got a black car at the moment, but not sure if thats the best to show off the greyish alloys on the FR, plus not sure if the rear metallic grey lamp clusters will look too obvious against the black. Was thinking of either Luna Grey or Zenith Grey or.............. Candy White?? However, not sure about the Candy White - will i stand out like a sore thumb and have loads of probs come selling time? If anyone has any piccies of the above I'd be grateful. I've always loved black for cars, but just not sure whether it does the alloys/lampclusters justice on the fr??

Thanks and lets keep it all nicely civil guys eh??

 

[Race]

Same problem as the starter of this thread.
What I found out so far:
-Cupra has some miscelaneous useless crap (stitching,bumpers,badging etc.) different from the FR
-Cupra has a FMIC
-Cupra has better brakes
-Cupra has ESP as standard
-Cupra has a different suspension

A few questions now.
-How big are the intercoolers (both of them - anything would be usefull here:exterior dimensions,frontal area,internal flow area,pressure loss at a given pressure,efficency at a given airflow etc.)
-Are the brakes on the FR that bad ? I'm not talking about magazine-measured stopping distances,i'm talking about what owners experienced in high-speed braking and twisty roads driving.I can imagine that slightly larger discs and 4-piston calipers aren't going to be of much use on the street.
-What are the differences in suspension between the two (as in different spring rates,lowered center of gravity etc.) and how much of a difference do they make on a twisty road ?

For the price of a 210 HP Cupra (stock turbo) you can have a 250 HP K04 FR (both new cars).Are the brakes and suspension on the Cupra THAT good to overcome this advantage ?

 

[Georgel]

Sorry for opening one mega can of worms guys lol! I've decided to stick with the FR petrol. Now, without wanting to open another can of the wrigglies...can anyone suggest a colour? I've got a black car at the moment, but not sure if thats the best to show off the greyish alloys on the FR, plus not sure if the rear metallic grey lamp clusters will look too obvious against the black. Was thinking of either Luna Grey or Zenith Grey or.............. Candy White?? However, not sure about the Candy White - will i stand out like a sore thumb and have loads of probs come selling time? If anyone has any piccies of the above I'd be grateful. I've always loved black for cars, but just not sure whether it does the alloys/lampclusters justice on the fr??

Thanks and lets keep it all nicely civil guys eh??

I've got a black one, but the detailing and the grill don't stand out that well so I would probably go for a different colour.

 

[RCS2K4]

Go for yellow! You'll be forever cleaning the black one! The grey that is avaliable is very nice also.

Race, i've owned an FR and Cupra - And wish I had bought the Cupra first time round. The Cupra's brakes for a start are a massive improvement over the FR. Given my driving style, I found that the brakes on the FR were not able to stop the car from say 70-0 quick enough. Brake fade set's in way to early if your really giving it some stick. I've not changed driving style, and have never had the brake fade issue in the Cupra.

On the twisty's, Cupra suspension is noticably stiffer. If you're not in the mood, it can be pretty wearing But, if your feeling racy, it does turn in sharper and feel generally more stable at speed. It's no Fiesta ST in the handling department, but there's worse cars out there. The Cupra is more "track day" car like, and will probably annoy you if you don't like that set-up and feel in an every day car.

In my view, go for the Cupra if:
- You have a heavy right foot and enjoy driving hard and fast. It's better suited to it. It sounds better than an FR, and will bring you to a stop at speed safely.
- You can make use / put up with the stiff suspension, or an all black interior. Road noise is wearing if your not in the mood, as is the engine note.
- Cupra models are also lacing in kit. They can't have Exenons, heated/folding mirrors, rain and light sensors etc.

Go for the FR if:
- Don't want to attract boy racer attention.
- Want cheaper Tax, Insurance and lower purchase price.
- Want 2nd best.

 

[Gazb]

Road noise can be an issue in both the FR and Cupra but I've been told that can be sorted with a few sunday afternoons and dynamat.

 

[rashcupra]

uve gotta exspect road noise ect in cheap cars like these guys COMMON!

ive got a black 1 i didnt like the colur tbh but i got the car so cheap i had no choice i would of much prefered the grey cupra!!! but now ive had the black over a year i LOVE IT PAIN TO KEEP CLEAN THO!

black with cupra wheels VVVVVVVVV

 

[Gazb]

I'm gonna guess its just the angle of the picture but in that second pic rash your car looks as if its too low at the back and the side bump strip is angled up slightly towards the front.

 

[Ad Lav]

Its mega low at the back... he took the adjusters out!

 

[JPS3290]

- Cupra models are also lacing in kit. They can't have Exenons, heated/folding mirrors, rain and light sensors etc.

I have heated/folding wing mirrors on my 57 Cupra TDI along with Cruise control and curtain air bags. You just need to ask for them

 

[Gazb]

Its mega low at the back... he took the adjusters out!

Ah that explains it.

Surely altering the pitch of the car will have an adverse affect on the handling?

I have heated/folding wing mirrors on my 57 Cupra TDI along with Cruise control and curtain air bags. You just need to ask for them

Yeah I asked when ordering my Cupra and was told its £500 for that option. Heated mirrors are nice (didn't realise they fold too) in the winter and cruise control has it uses but I was already strecthing my budget enough without adding another £500 to it, so I decided against it.

 

[Ad Lav]

Not sure if rash likes pushing it hard on corners as the springs might pop out of the plates

 

[rashcupra]

theyre going back in when i can be arsed i love the look of it being that low but i want my handling and performance back so will done soon as

wouldnt say its DANGEROUS as the standard setup is setup this way with the springs sitting in the axle cup but i think the fact that the coilover springs are half the size doesnt help

 

[Gazb]

theyre going back in when i can be arsed i love the look of it being that low but i want my handling and performance back so will done soon as

wouldnt say its DANGEROUS as the standard setup is setup this way with the springs sitting in the axle cup but i think the fact that the coilover springs are half the size doesnt help

Hmm... that does sound abit on the ropey side.

Atleast that something for me to look forward to whenever pedro ever gets round to making my car, which reminds me I should get on to the dealers and see if they know when my cupra is gonna be made and delivered.

 

[rashcupra]

its not ropey otherwise i wouldnt do it im a mechanic/body repair technician and i wouldnt do it if it were major dangerous!

 

[Gazb]

its not ropey otherwise i wouldnt do it im a mechanic/body repair technician and i wouldnt do it if it were major dangerous!

So... not ropey just interesting at times?

 

[RCS2K4]

So... not ropey just interesting at times?

It's most likley to be a brown boxer moment!