Cupra MK4 owners - thoughts and observations after living with the car for a while

[Sarah]

It's been a while since I posted here mainly because I rarely use the car these days and it's more my wife's vehicle to take her to work and social commitments.

With spring approaching and desires to do the North Coast 500 this summer I started to contemplate other cars in addition to the Cupra and to that end I've put a deposit on an A45 AMG which I should be collecting on Saturday!

Nice choice

 

[deveh]

idk, A45 is weird to me - you get FWD 2.0 I4 for the price of RWD 3.0 I6/V6 car.

 

[Deleted member 123864]

idk, A45 is weird to me - you get FWD 2.0 I4 for the price of RWD 3.0 I6/V6 car.

The A45 is AWD?

 

[BigJase88]

The A45 is AWD?

Yeah all wheel drive

 

[Deleted member 123864]

Yeah all wheel drive

Yep, I was questioning @deveh who seemed to think it was FWD.

 

[.Griff.]

We're now a two-car family with the Cupra Leon and the A45 AMG on the driveway.

We made a weekend of it and stopped in the Cotswolds overnight on Saturday night on the way back up.

 

[deveh]

Here's a question to all "A class is AWD" people - if it drives like FWD car and it feels like FWD car, is it not a FWD car?

There's no comparison between good AWD C+ class MB or 3+ class BMW or IS+ Lexus or Porsches have, and this cheap FWD crap that Cupra's and A class MB get. I understand the crappy AWD system in Cupra price range, but on A45 - holy hell, at the very minimum at least overspeed the rear like Focus RS or Toyota GR Yaris does, but nah - here's your FWD system and on/off open diff to connect the rear - quality /s And a 4 banger on top as the ultimate "get ****** losers". You can buy m340i for that price - 6 cylinders and an actual RWD based car.

I just don't understand who buys A45 AMG. Like, you're not that rich to not care about what you buy, because it's still an A class, and you do look presentable enough to get a test drive with BMW and, like, instantly feel how A45 is FWD and how m340i xDrive is RWD.

After doing 2000 kms in my Cupra Leon Sportstourer and previously have owned Lexus IS350 XE20 AWD - I just can't call A45 or Cupra or Golf R an "AWD" car with a straight face (absolutely no respect, it's a complete joke) - yea, bla bla, technically akshually it is AWD, but it's so close to FWD that it's more correct to call it FWD cars. My two cents. Not entirely correct, but putting A45 and m340i as both having AWD is way more a lie, because they are fundamentally different systems - FWD based vs RWD based. And it's a huge difference, otherwise no one would buy a Miata and I just found new respect for good RWD cars like Miata after "enjoying" joke AWD-FWD.

 

[BigJase88]

Here's a question to all "A class is AWD" people - if it drives like FWD car and it feels like FWD car, is it not a FWD car?

There's no comparison between good AWD C+ class MB or 3+ class BMW or IS+ Lexus or Porsches have, and this cheap FWD crap that Cupra's and A class MB get. I understand the crappy AWD system in Cupra price range, but on A45 - holy hell, at the very minimum at least overspeed the rear like Focus RS or Toyota GR Yaris does, but nah - here's your FWD system and on/off open diff to connect the rear - quality /s And a 4 banger on top as the ultimate "get ****** losers". You can buy m340i for that price - 6 cylinders and an actual RWD based car.

I just don't understand who buys A45 AMG. Like, you're not that rich to not care about what you buy, because it's still an A class, and you do look presentable enough to get a test drive with BMW and, like, instantly feel how A45 is FWD and how m340i xDrive is RWD.

After doing 2000 kms in my Cupra Leon Sportstourer and previously have owned Lexus IS350 XE20 AWD - I just can't call A45 or Cupra or Golf R an "AWD" car with a straight face (absolutely no respect, it's a complete joke) - yea, bla bla, technically akshually it is AWD, but it's so close to FWD that it's more correct to call it FWD cars. My two cents. Not entirely correct, but putting A45 and m340i as both having AWD is way more a lie, because they are fundamentally different systems - FWD based vs RWD based. And it's a huge difference, otherwise no one would buy a Miata and I just found new respect for good RWD cars like Miata after "enjoying" joke AWD-FWD.

Why do you care what car someone else drives?

I drive a Mercedes FWD CLA because i want to

I will be the 1st to admit RWD is not for me as I do not have the required skill level to have fun in one and I will openly admit that

I also like being able to get somewhere in winter which is not always possible with RWD. I had a RWD BMW that could not even move off my drive.

 

[Damo H]

Here's a question to all "A class is AWD" people - if it drives like FWD car and it feels like FWD car, is it not a FWD car?

There's no comparison between good AWD C+ class MB or 3+ class BMW or IS+ Lexus or Porsches have, and this cheap FWD crap that Cupra's and A class MB get. I understand the crappy AWD system in Cupra price range, but on A45 - holy hell, at the very minimum at least overspeed the rear like Focus RS or Toyota GR Yaris does, but nah - here's your FWD system and on/off open diff to connect the rear - quality /s And a 4 banger on top as the ultimate "get ****** losers". You can buy m340i for that price - 6 cylinders and an actual RWD based car.

I just don't understand who buys A45 AMG. Like, you're not that rich to not care about what you buy, because it's still an A class, and you do look presentable enough to get a test drive with BMW and, like, instantly feel how A45 is FWD and how m340i xDrive is RWD.

After doing 2000 kms in my Cupra Leon Sportstourer and previously have owned Lexus IS350 XE20 AWD - I just can't call A45 or Cupra or Golf R an "AWD" car with a straight face (absolutely no respect, it's a complete joke) - yea, bla bla, technically akshually it is AWD, but it's so close to FWD that it's more correct to call it FWD cars. My two cents. Not entirely correct, but putting A45 and m340i as both having AWD is way more a lie, because they are fundamentally different systems - FWD based vs RWD based. And it's a huge difference, otherwise no one would buy a Miata and I just found new respect for good RWD cars like Miata after "enjoying" joke AWD-FWD.

The bit I don't quite get on this post, is why the aggressive wording towards someone buying an A45? I appreciate you may not of meant to come across as aggressive, but the post certainly reads that way.


Secondly, at the risk of being pedantic, neither the Cupra 4Drive, and the AMG 4matic are actually AWD systems, unlike what you see in the Focus RS and things like Scoobys and Evos.

All Wheel Drive means a system where all 4 wheels are being driven all the time. There are of course massive advantages to this. But disadvantages in that you're moving extra transmission around all of the time when its simply not needed...

CO2 emissions of 175g/km give Focus RS owners an annual road-bill of £205. That's £25 more a year than the Golf R and A45 AMG, the same as the Honda and £60 a year cheaper than the RS3.

Of course there are disadvantages and advantages to the temporary 4WD systems too. Those of the VAGs 4drive system in the Cupra and what whatever system the A45 uses (4matic?).

But lets be honest, for the general public, most are not going to get to test these back to back in anger or have the ability to push them to their limits anyway.

But then there are the motoring journalists that do, and the occasional petrol head who gets the cars as long termers etc.

There are a number of posts on here from myself, stating the 4drive of my second Cupra ST (from factory anyway) lost out massively to the driving feel of my first FWD Cupra ST (that stayed standard mechanically). At the end of the day though, the 4drive for most people is a much more superior car for day to day.

So yeah the Focus RS on the limit with its trick AWD system is going to out perform the temporary 4 wheel drive system in the Cupra. But in day to day driving (and reliability and looks etc) I know where I'd rather be sitting.

Also on the BMW front, given the choice of the 4 pot M135i and an older 6 pot BMW 3 series, I chose the M135i

 

[Stebb]

The bit I don't quite get on this post, is why the aggressive wording towards someone buying an A45? I appreciate you may not of meant to come across as aggressive, but the post certainly reads that way.


Secondly, at the risk of being pedantic, neither the Cupra 4Drive, and the AMG 4matic are actually AWD systems, unlike what you see in the Focus RS and things like Scoobys and Evos.

All Wheel Drive means a system where all 4 wheels are being driven all the time. There are of course massive advantages to this. But disadvantages in that you're moving extra transmission around all of the time when its simply not needed...



Of course there are disadvantages and advantages to the temporary 4WD systems too. Those of the VAGs 4drive system in the Cupra and what whatever system the A45 uses (4matic?).

But lets be honest, for the general public, most are not going to get to test these back to back in anger or have the ability to push them to their limits anyway.

But then there are the motoring journalists that do, and the occasional petrol head who gets the cars as long termers etc.

There are a number of posts on here from myself, stating the 4drive of my second Cupra ST (from factory anyway) lost out massively to the driving feel of my first FWD Cupra ST (that stayed standard mechanically). At the end of the day though, the 4drive for most people is a much more superior car for day to day.

So yeah the Focus RS on the limit with its trick AWD system is going to out perform the temporary 4 wheel drive system in the Cupra. But in day to day driving (and reliability and looks etc) I know where I'd rather be sitting.

Also on the BMW front, given the choice of the 4 pot M135i and an older 6 pot BMW 3 series, I chose the M135i

Very well put.

 

[Copar]

I’ve had my ‘brand diluting’ 150 etsi dsg v1 for 4 months and I still love it. I wish I had the blind spot function though, as coming from a 3 door car, the door pillar position is a bit annoying.
Wireless charging is a bit iffy like I suspected it would be (strangely though I had a vw t-cross hire car in Ireland and its charger worked perfectly). No IT issues to speak of other than very occasional reboots just after starting the car.

I get that the heater control can be awkward for some at night but setting it by voice is easy and always works for me.

 

[adrianator]

I’ve had my ‘brand diluting’ 150 etsi dsg v1 for 4 months and I still love it. I wish I had the blind spot function though, as coming from a 3 door car, the door pillar position is a bit annoying.
Wireless charging is a bit iffy like I suspected it would be (strangely though I had a vw t-cross hire car in Ireland and its charger worked perfectly). No IT issues to speak of other than very occasional reboots just after starting the car.

I get that the heater control can be awkward for some at night but setting it by voice is easy and always works for me.

The reboots are fixed in version 1940. They were so annoying...I hated them so much that I updated it manually because the version was not available at the dealer.