Help: Do you know anything about this car?

[kylel39]

Hello guys,

Apologies if there's a thread for this all ready (I couldn't find one). But could any of you help me with trying to find out a little more info about the a car I've just bought;

I've just bought a Red Seat Leon FR Tdi 2005 from ebay (slightly naively). I've currently got a yellow Leon Cupra 1.8T 20v

Think I'm going to pick it up on Friday if everything is as stated and according to the advert. The guy has stated in the ad that it has been remapped to 210bhp (which seems a hell of an increase). But he doesn't have any details of this unfortunately. He's lacking service history also, all though he's had a full service including cambelt, alternator and a new clutch (assumed to handle the increase in power?) which he has receipts for. Everything seems genuine enough and I feel I got it at a good price.

The REG NO. is FE55 GCV.

Just hoping someone could tell me a little more about the car? If they've ever owned it and in particular if they knew anything regarding the remap etc. I've done a check on it and it's never been subject to accident damage/stolen etc. I'll be looking to tell my insurance provider about the remap (I think) but can't see it being such a power increase and without rolling roading it, I assume there's no way of me knowing!?

Thanks.

 

[oldskool]

that seems a big hike in power , usually i would expect them to make 190 ish. Unless you can find out the company that did it, i would treat that with a pinch of salt. Being a cupra owner , you will know what things to look out for when you get it, door seals etc. If you dont mind me asking, how much did you pick it up for? I cant help you any further but hope its a good un.

 

[kylel39]

that seems a big hike in power , usually i would expect them to make 190 ish. Unless you can find out the company that did it, i would treat that with a pinch of salt. Being a cupra owner , you will know what things to look out for when you get it, door seals etc. If you dont mind me asking, how much did you pick it up for? I cant help you any further but hope its a good un.

Yeah that's exactly what I thought, I would expect to be looking around 180(ish) from figures which have been touted by others. If it was around the 210bhp then I wouldn't be able to get insured through my insurance company for this but 180ish is fine. Pretty sure it won't be 210 but I suppose I can't really prove it either way at the moment so what do you think I should do!? Unless of course someone on here knows a little more. Yeah here's hoping mate, going from a lovely Leon Cupra (which is now for sale) to this so hoping it's a good one. Will check for leaky door cills and signs of damp etc. Read somewhere about putting the foot down about 30mph in 6th gear to see if the clutch slips!? Oh and I'll PM you mate

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[oldskool]

dont want to scare you but the thing that is critical on these is good oil changes, the camshafts are not the best, however this only affected the early 150s , is it purely for fuel costs that youre swapping , i have thought about gettin one but theyre a bit out of my price range, especially as my cupra is worth not much at all, makes sense to keep it rather than swap and put up extra money. Good luck With it anyway pal.

 

[kylel39]

dont want to scare you but the thing that is critical on these is good oil changes, the camshafts are not the best, however this only affected the early 150s , is it purely for fuel costs that youre swapping , i have thought about gettin one but theyre a bit out of my price range, especially as my cupra is worth not much at all, makes sense to keep it rather than swap and put up extra money. Good luck With it anyway pal.

Yeah that's what I was half worried about, but he's had it fully serviced in his time of ownership (cambelt etc as I said previously) which I suppose is the main thing (service wise). Comes with a brand new MOT also (doesn't mean it's bulletproof but helps). Would be nice if someone on here knew something about it mind you or a little more about it.

Yeah mainly for fuel costs and I think I got a good price as I said, so will hopefully have a much more valuable car for a slightly extra cost. Yeah I hear you mate, mines is currently for sale on pistonheads. And not too much interest in the sale just people wanting p/x. What you think price wise!? £3050 ono, 78K, 2003, Ovni Yellow, full main dealer service history, cam belt done, 8 months MOT, 10 months tax etc.

Thanks again, oh and I will PM regarding price once I can (need a few more posts )

 

[akchappers]

Iv just put LPG onto my cupra!
As said above unless the guy can prove it's got 210bhp I wouldn't believe it!
Ask where it was done and call them. They will tell you . Plus if it hasn't got that much power you could reject it if you wanted to under eBay rules as it's not as the advert said!
Ak

 

[LEE69]

This one?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-SEAT...mobiles_UK&hash=item3f0d97a2ae#ht_1154wt_1069

 

[akchappers]

For a car like that that is such a short description!
I would tell them everything about the car!
Ak

 

[Empi5]

Looks ok to me, with the LCR body kit, from memory doesnt that make it an FR+ ? albeit 17" alloys

 

[Nick-21]

Yeah that's what I was half worried about, but he's had it fully serviced in his time of ownership (cambelt etc as I said previously) which I suppose is the main thing (service wise). Comes with a brand new MOT also (doesn't mean it's bulletproof but helps). Would be nice if someone on here knew something about it mind you or a little more about it.

None of the above helps if the car has never been serviced before or serviced using the wrong oil, the pd engines need 505.01 oil or they are more than likely to eat their camshafts.

Even with proper servicing on the correct oil they can still eat the camshaft. Mine ate it at 96k and cost me £590 to get replaced, some have had them go at 60k and can cost up to 1k to get fixed depending on where you can get it done.

I bought my car with part service history and put 15k on to it before i had any problems but i guess its a gamble!

 

[akchappers]

Yea it does like an fr+!
look mate if it's a good car dint listen to us! Looks a nice car. Just make sure it is everything it says it is! Check every detail! Believe me there are some chancers out there!
Ak

 

[Nick-21]

Yeah i would say that is a good buy if every stacks up to what he says.

Last year I paid 5k for my car and anything else around was nearer 6k, the fr+ were nearer 7 - 7.5k. It's nuts how much prices have dropped! Really really wish i was buying right now instead of trying to sell, some LCR's are going for silly cheap. But seen as i am off to New Zealand i am only looking to sell just now...bet when i come to buy again prices will be back up!

 

[akchappers]

I only paid £1100 for my cupra and £950 for the yellow Leon tdi!
Prices are indeed cheap!
Ak

 

[kylel39]

Yeah that's the one, would be great if anyone knew anymore about it.

Didn't know anything about the FR+, I suppose that's a good thing then. From what I can make out the guy seems genuine as he says he's just bought a new car, which I believe is the Audi in the picture behind it. I only had an hour to place a bid as it was last minute but thought it was an excellent price and took a chance. Here's hoping it pays off, thanks for all the news regarding the services etc I guess I can only hope on that front, that one it's been looked after and that I in future look after it.

On that is there anything else I should look out for specific to such a car?

Thanks again.

 

[S3 AKR]

My old Leon PD150 reached 202bhp with just a Revo map, air filter and turbo back exhaust. On the right day, on the right rolling road it could reach 210 but as others say, its typically around the 190 mark +/- 5bhp or so. A well sealed intake system makes a difference, the removal of the pancake restriction in the drivers wheel arch, exhaust and filter could all add up to the 210bhp.

The clutch needs to be an uprated one to handle the torque. At that bhp you should see around 310lbft or so and a good, high rated clutch is a must. OEM will slip - if not now, within a few thousand miles. The receipt should be upwards of £500 for the clutch kit if its and uprated one. Find out the make and where he got it so you can check up front. This is what mine had:- click here

Other than that, mine was properly serviced, mostly at Seat and then AMD and it covered 93k miles remapped with no issues other than the OEM clutch. (see the thread on the 'Leon' clicky in my sig)

 

[kylel39]

Thanks for all the info guys.

Now for a slightly contentious issue;

As I've bought the car being apparently remapped to 210bhp (which I highly doubt), how do I go about dealing with insurance?! I don't actually know if it's been remapped without evidence such as a rolling road and I definitely don't know what accurate BHP it is!?

 

[MrBen2k7]

They'll never know, just tell them its 180. Likihood its only that anyway. He'd need to of gone stage 2 and do all the supporting mods to make 210.

 

[akchappers]

I wouldn't tell them anything!they won't know will they unless they plug it in?
Ak

 

[kylel39]

Decisions...decisions, my main gripe is for example; angel tuning suggest that since you've installed a new map into the ecu there's nothing to compare it against i.e the original as it can only store one map at anytime. So therefore it would prove to be a very difficult task to evidence that it's different to stock as technically every car is different. All though 30bhp would be a rather large variant!?

w(w)w.angeltuning.co.uk/ai_faq.asp#11

I mean, I myself wouldn't actually know that its been rempaped other than it being suggested by the seller. I also won't know what bhp it has, so if I insure it under a 10-25% increase category at an extra cost of £250 say and it's actually a 30% increase then I'm driving illegally anyway making my insurance void if I (god forbid) had an accident and the ecu was checked.

Should it be my responsibility as a used car buyer to get the car rolling-roaded to prove it's BHP etc!?

 

[MrBen2k7]

They wouldn't ever check that anyway. Only if you had a massive accident and they suspected that was an issue. Then they would have to RR it anyway, and even then they probs won't be able to if its smashed up..