running costs and reliability

[DaNgLe]

Am going to be buying a leon cupra r 225 soon.
I am still researching.
I would like to know in your experiances what the running costs are to own these cars?

what are they like for parts, what are most common things to go wrong and how much roughly to fix? Are they easy to work on yourself as I can do basic mechanical things changing oil and filter etc...

I hear that some people can get about 40mpg from them if they drive carefull?

Thanks in advance

 

[vwbassett]

40mpg is very unlikely unless everywhere you go is by motorway. if you need mpg like that get a diesel as you will more likely see 23-28 round town 30-34mpg on longer journeys. service items are all as easy as they are on a bogo leon, service parts are the same cost with exception of oil, suspension components and brakes. There is a quite a big list of common issues on this platform but the engines are about as reliable as the less powerful 1.8Ts. for more info can do a search or check out the info page off of the home page for common issues

 

[DaNgLe]

thanks, How much would a cam belt change cost? what suspension wise would be the most likely needing changed?

how much for new brakes and pads?

 

[godber225r]

looking at about 350 quid for cambelt change and you should always include the water pump change too. suspension is pretty good a bit stiff but i think standard on these cars is all you need.

as the R has brembo brakes NEVER buy cheap pads and discs for it.
Brembo pads are 155 quid from dealers and the discs are 300 approx i would stick to the brembo stuff personnaly, but i hear ferrodo do an excellent fast road pad that is recommended highly on here, again they will be over 100 quid for a set.

Never believe anyone that says EBC are good as there rubbish and not worth the money imo especially redstuff.

 

[vwbassett]

bushes seem quite a culprit across the mk4 golf platform cars and whereas new wishbones with pre fitted bushes are cheap for non lcr models you wont want to chuck the uprated LCR wishbones away so expect £180 in labour + parts. same for the front top mounts LCR's are more costly and you might want to replace the stock suspension after 60k as the dampers dont age too well and i found that the stock setup was a little soft so i uprated mine and left the stock arb for the time being. I also fitted plain EBC discs in the year at about £120 and find them no different from stock brembos other than the non friction surface isnt protect.

 

[andycupra]

you will NOT get 40mpg.

From what i have read, most people get around 26mpg. Careful drivers 30-32mpg.

If running costs are high on your list of wants, look as something more appropriate im afraid.

 

[GregLCR04]

you will NOT get 40mph.

He'll be hoping to get more than 40MPH!!!

Seriously though, you won't get 40mpg. I average around 32-33mpg, mixture of motorway(70-80mph) and fast A road driving. If you are looking for economy don't buy a LCR buy a DIESEL

I don't understand why people talk about purchasing a powerful petrol turbo then consider economy

 

[Faisal]

I don't understand why people talk about purchasing a powerful petrol turbo then consider economy

wanting 5 doors,big boot, fast car, best of both worlds.

 

[EmDee]

I get about 24 to the gallon and I don't drive like a complete nutter, I just use it around town.

Brake pads are expensive, tyres are expensive, cambelts are expensive, this forum is expensive and I wouldn't want it any other way

As above, if you want something affordable, buy a diesel, but don't get a hybrid whatever you do.

You might want to consider a Leon FR150?

 

[andycupra]

what gets me is that yes the cambelt change is pricey, - but in all honesty are there many cars out there were the cambelt change isnt?

 

[HallycupraR]

And how often do you change a cambelt id say more expense goes into tyers ect ect

 

[DaNgLe]

Thanks for your input peeps.

I was just enquiring to mpg to see if it was much different to my mr2 and tbh no its about the same.
You say I would need to think about replacing the suspension at about 60k. What cost of parts would this be off the top of your head?

to be honest the costs dont seem much different to my jap mr2. At least the big stuff doest have to be done often.