Older Cupra or younger FR?

[Danny.]

Hey guys

I am hopefully looking to get a Mk4 Ibiza in 3-6months time - this has been after many months of wanting one of the 2.0 TDi 'big brothers' (Leon / Golf / A3). Price wise the Ibiza is atleast a couple of grand cheaper so as a student it makes more sense to get bang for buck.

I am wondering what you all think in the age old debate of getting a Cupra TDi or the FR TDi? The reason I ask is that obviously the FR makes more financial sense, but I would like the power of the Cupra. I prefer the styling of the Cupra too (slightly more aggresive).

I can get a high mileage 04 - 05 plate Cupra for around the same price as an average mileage 06-56 plate FR. What sort of problems do cars at 100,000 miles accumulate? And apart from the multi-function steering wheel, what other benefits are available from the '56 facelift? can the MFSW be retrofitted to an '04 Cupra?

If I did go down the FR route, the costs involved for the Cupra front, brakes upgrade, bushes and any other thing thats need upgraded would cost a small fortune. And I know the FR can be remapped to be more powerful than a standard Cupra, but I believe after declaring the remap and any other mods I think insurance would be far greater than a Cupra (this is an assumption as I have no experience with remappingand the associated costs).

A bit of a troublesome first post, but thanks for any help

 

[Mattwood]

To be honest mate - with the word 'student' on your insurance neither are gonna be cheap to insure (a cupra tdi would have been £1500 fully comp and my FR was £600 with 2 years NCB) it all depends on whether you can afford to insure the cupra, and how much extra it is - even then with my remap and 3 years NCB my FR is only £580 FC to insure.

The cupra is a better base to mod from though as you'd already have the front mount intercooler and the bigger turbo and the 312mm brakes - to add that to an FR would cost a fair bit - though, for me at least, the difference in insurance pretty much pays for it.

Hope that helps in some way

 

[CJRamze]

Student? Go FR buddy
Cheaper on the Insurance. Better on economy and like you said with a Stage 1 map your already faster than a standard Cupra.

When your finished being a 25p Noodle eating student you'll have some spare cash for the additional mods. 312mm brakes are relativly cheap, their almost (If not as good) as the Cupra brakes except you can fit some Snazzy wheels over them.

I prefer the Look of the newer FR wheels over the Cupra wheels also.

And when you buy a New FMIC you can get it from Sere motors on here and its pretty cheap and then you can get the forge pipework which is more reliable!

I'd go FR!

 

[Danny.]

Thanks for the input!

I had done a mock insurance comparison, I was getting £1050 on the cupra and £630 on the FR for next years quote. So the £400~ difference wasnt enough of a deterent as a remap would be in the same ball park, before declaring it.

On top of that, there is around £2,000 difference on a 04 Cupra (approx 100,000 miles) to a 56 FR (approx 50k - 60k) so that surely eliminates some costs.

Can anyone tell me the changes that were brought in with the facelift?

 

[CJRamze]

Minor interior changes in the facelift Cupra as far as I'm aware.
To be honest Fella 100,000 or 50,000... I know which I'd go for.
Plus if you had a remap with Will at P-Torque (Best Derv Map I ever had) I think its somewhere in the region of £260 to £300

Oh and I'm one for declaring mods everythings declared. But remaps wont be looked for... or so I'm told

 

[Danny.]

Oh and I'm one for declaring mods everythings declared. But remaps wont be looked for... or so I'm told

Now that puts everything in a different light, but I feel like with my run of luck I'd be the only person in the world that would be caught if undeclared

I've read a few things about how some places remap without a trace, but isnt there a counter that counts how many times the ECU has been flashed?

I suppose I could just get a standard FR TDi, facelift version so I don't really need the Cupra bumper (although it is minorly better) a set of skirts and a full vinyl wrap. I think I'd be happy with that until I'm atleast qualified and earning a good engineering income

Reading this forum though would probably push me to remap within 6 months of having it! Haha!

 

[Mattwood]

You should probably note that if you got n FR TDI and then wanted the Cupra bumper you WILL NEED (just to stress that you will need) an FMIC otherwise you'll suffer from insufficient air getting to the SMIC.

As above, I've declared my map - just to be safe - and Will at P-Torque remapped it and put in a pipercross filter for £295 all in - which was a bargain! I'd definitely recommend it!

 

[Aimez]

I chose FR cos of the insurance, plus if you buy older higher mileage car gonna need more things doing to it on service so gonna cost you more anyway in the long run.

 

[thePHILosipher]

for cost reasons i went FR facelift. I could have got a cupra but for the budget i set, the facelifted FR was bar far the best option as it was low mileage, good toys and very cheap to run (insurance, tax, mpg)

facelifted FR's look very similar to the cupra externally just with a smarter interior than the pre 2007 spec cars

 

[Danny.]

I thought I'd have been talked into getting a Cupra on these forums! The FR does seem like the right choice.

I've found the perfect FR for me, 2006 facelift model, less than 60,000 miles done and get this - it even has a private plate with my initials! Its cheaper than the other FR's i've browsed. The downside? It's the 1.8T Petrol, not the 1.9 TDi that I want...

The personal plate seems like a sign though, I'm almost crazy enough to go for it

As for the P-Torque recommendations... I'm afraid I'd have to give them a miss as I'm all the way up in Scotland, Wolverhampton is quite a journey for a remap!

 

[knackerdecobre]

If you get the Derv and a FMIC, talk to Spitfire Performance, they make a hard pipe kit to replace all the rubbish OEM boost pipes