Poor Quality Cupra R - Am I being unreasonable?

[Just4 Perry]

My 54 Plated LCR already has 28k on the clock.
So far I have had a new dash- the old one rattled and creaked from new.
I have a very annoying rear end rattle that drives you up the wall, that the dealers can't find. The rear wash wipe pipe has become detached and now needs re-connection, requiring all the plastic lining to be removed. The foward spoiler is so low, that it touches the road on the slightest of incline / kerb. The temp warning light flashes and beeps, when the temperature is very cold. The engine needs an oil top up every 2k miles & I'm lucky to get 9k out of a set of front tyres.
Brakes have just started to squeal, (hope this is nothing major) still the original set.

I was asked recently would I recommend this car to someone. My reply was..
If you want a blistering drive yes, but if you want quality buy something else. I won't be buying another.

Very frustrated LCR owner

 

[GreyKnight]

1) A lot of folks with various SEAT models are reporting the problem with the water temp warning beeping and flashing when starting up in the mornings now that the weather is colder. It seems to be a very common fault, my dealer said they've had a lot of people complaining about it. Mine does it, however they want to have the car in overnight so that they can start it in the morning and see it happen for themselves What the hell is that gonna prove? It's not like I'm going to make something like that up is it!

2) The plastic front diffuser is there to hit the ground before anything else. That's what it's for. Mine is scuffed to hell, they only cost about £20. Don't worry about it.

3) The LCR eats front tyres. It's normal.

4) Engine oil shouldn't go down that quickly unless you're revving the nuts off it when it's cold in the mornings. (always keep revs low until engine heats up).

5) Brakes squeel on all sorts of cars.

 

[Pabs]

re temp sensor and flashing beeping - have a search in the Leon Mk1 forum - LOADS of info recently on this. Dealer sorts it as your car should still be under warranty. About 1/2hr job and £15 part if not under warranty. Dealer cleaned my sensor and all is fine again.

Splitter scuffs - normal on any sporty car - they are lower to the ground for the sporty look/feel, so thats what you have to expect. Cheap to replace though.

Pipe disconnections for the rear wiper - usually as the pipe freezes and you try using the wash-wipe- causing it to build up pressure and disconnect - at least its not that tricky to get to.

brakes squeaking - normal for most cars in these weather conditions - wet icy, cold....

As for rear end rattle - probably the rear seats. Again a search on the forums show that a bit of insulation tape around the seat catches works a treat - I did one of mine today and instantly improved the squeaking.

Good luck in sorting your problems - IMO they are quite minor considering.... You can go and spend 40k on a merc and still have problems like this.

 

[massivebhp]

I work in a Seat garage and we all know CupraR drivers seem to complain about the strangest things. You have bought a "sports car" a cheap "sports car" at that and its always going to be a comprimise between perfomance and reliability. If you'd spent another 10 grand and bought an Audi or a BMW you may not have these problems.

1) Cupra suspension is lower and stiffer for handling reasons, bad side is they ground out easier and cause a number of rattles, particularly the one behind the dash (a nightmare to locate and usually 4 hours labour to remove the dashboard!)

2) Coolant temp gauge flashing usually means an intermittant fault with the coolant level sensor in the reservoir bottle, something that can't be cleaned (i've replaced hundreds) if your local garage doesn't know about this common fault, you should be taking your car else where!

3) On average 10000 miles is average for a pair of front tyres on a CupraR. Sometimes down to more enthusiastic driving but often only wearing on inner edges, this is due to a camber angle on the front wheels to aid traction on corners. This angle can be adjusted but will drastically affect handling for the worse and the traction control light will flash round every corner.

4) Oil consumption needs checking, tell your garage you need a consumption test over a period of time. If you can prove its using more oil than Seat recommends and no external leaks found, they'll have to check it out further.

5)CupraR brake pads only start with roughly 8mm of lining instead of a usual 12mm (i'm guessing) because of a wider disc this is all that will fit. This means on average a set only do 20000 miles (often alot less), 28000 miles and your on borrowed time. Worse case is the pads have worn down to the metal and it'll need new discs too.

6) Rear washer pipes come adrift for a past time and has nothing to do with frost. The connections are only a push fit and someone who doesn't know what thier doing will just push it back on. Superglue and insulation tape seems to work, it sounds like a bodge but really is the only way to garrantee it stays on. A simple 15 min job the only problem being the tailgate trim often breaks on removal as the metal clips holding them on are alot stronger the thin plastic. If the cars still under warranty you should be covered.

 

[GreyKnight]

I work in a Seat garage and we all know CupraR drivers seem to complain about the strangest things. You have bought a "sports car" a cheap "sports car" at that and its always going to be a comprimise between perfomance and reliability. If you'd spent another 10 grand and bought an Audi or a BMW you may not have these problems.

Hmm, the thing is all us Cupra R drivers know this is the way the SEAT dealers think and frankly it's disgusting. We bought SEAT's top-of-the-range model and we expect it to work properly. What you're saying is "Yes we know SEATs are crap, what do you expect?".

Which ever way you look at it an £18,000 car isn't a cheap car. I don't know if I speak only for myself here, but saying what you said there isn't likely to go down too well with most of the folks on here .

I know you've tried to help with the rest of your post (thanks), but that first bit kind of spoilt it...

 

[Scotty_b]

18k isnt cheap in my eyes mate, and its atitudes like that why i dont like going to a stealler, as they dont care about the car, they have your money and tuf titty if it goes wrong.

With regards to your tyres mate, what are you using? p-zero's?

There anoying things but i dont think you can reject the car for them! The character as my dealer keeps telling me!

 

[massivebhp]

Apologys if I rubbed anyone up the wrong way, i'm new to forums (can you tell??), I could have worded it better. Don't get me wrong I talk to Cupra R drivers everyday and get on with them fine because they know a nice car when they see it.

Problem isn't with the technicans like myself working on the cars alot of the time people leave main dealers with a bad taste in the mouths because of the way there run. Service managers arn't interested in jobs that may loose them money and receptionists often don't know the first thing about cars so will ask all the wrong questions pointing technicians in the wrong direction.

As for being cheap, thats not exactly what I was saying was it? I meant that if you were to pick an Audi A4 or a BMW 3 series that had the same performance, it would cost a lot more. So yes it is an affordable (cheap) sports car. Can anyone name another car with 225bhp costing less than 18k?

 

[massivebhp]

Another thing on main dealers, I can honestly say even though I work at one, if I was in your shoes I wouldn't go to one either. As soon as the warranty runs out i'd be taking my car to an independant specialist. Not because of the work being done but because your paying over the odds for it. Then again we all know independents sometimes cut corners so maybe you get what you pay for.

I might say that because i'm bitter about the people I work for or maybe because I can fix things myself. I've always liked VAG cars though and think its the VW infuence that makes Seats good but then they are still being built buy Pedro in his shed!

Saying that there not half as bad as some other bigger brands and i've never had the attitude of "they're crap, what do you expect" I just wished people would understand that a lot of comprimises were made when designing the CupraR to get the extra perfomance.

 

[mrcoyote]

Can anyone name another car with 225bhp costing less than 18k?

Focus ST - £17,495 iirc.

 

[NickP]

Focus ST - £17,495 iirc.

Thought that was only 220bhp?

 

[Scotty_b]

How much is the vaxhaul vx?
Cossie, west field, MR2 t-bar (import), older evo, older M3.... Shall i go on!

If you wnat to see crap manufacture look at the nissan 350, the bloody radio flap broke when the dealer was showing it to me and he said "ow bugger not again!"

 

[Feel]

Back on topic.

I've more "stuff" go wrong on this car than I have on any other - the two main reasons I beleive for this are i) I see stuff on SCN, and I think "oh yeah, mine does that. Best get it booked in" ii) I love the thing that much more than any other car that I'll go to the trouble of getting all the minor niggles sorted out. Previously, stuff would've got ignored, stuck back on or together...

Anyway, your 2k oil top up doesn't sound right. I think I had to top mine up twice in the first 20k. I seem to remember that there was a guy with a TT on www.tt-forums.co.uk that had a similar issue, and Audi told him that it was fine. I'd be concerned about that one.

 

[mrcoyote]

Thought that was only 220bhp?

Nope, 225PS same as the LCR.

 

[Ant FR]

Nope, 225PS same as the LCR.

in laymans terms 222Bhp.

oh and you can already get them for £16500 on the road, discounts already available through carselect.



also the comment from the SEAT employee,

To be honest thats what i expect fromthe dealers, i find it hard to believe that so many car dealers are not actually into their cars and not pasionate about cars, they see it as just another job. This is where the problem turns up, cos most LCR owners are gonna be petrol heads who are into there cars and expect the same enthusiasm from the delaer, unfortunately this causes a problem when the dealers who do not give a feck do not realise the annoyance of items such as a squeaky dash, or wierd performance issues.

Although i say that, i am lucky cos the dealer i bought mine from, both salesmen are well into cars and so is the service guys, one races stocks and the other drives a 2.0 turbo Corsa, so i always end up spending 1 hour chatting about whats been done to mine recently and vice versa.

 

[Scotty_b]

Depends how bad these problems are, my dash rattles a bit, but i only notice it when i have the radio off (thats why there so good, to drown out the sounds!). I ve come from fords (FRST's etc) and as soon as you lower the susspension etc you get loads of rattles etc.

Tyres etc was one of the first things i asked teh dealer about as its a sports car so i would have thought it would eat tyres.

The only real issue i can see with the car is the dash rattle sif there really that bad, but you can get a 60k merc lemon or a 5k kia lemon

 

[Just4 Perry]

Thanks to all for the positive comments

Firstly, Let me ask the technician where do you work, it looks like I've finally found someone who appreciates the difficulties and knows something about fixing it. If there were more guys like you on the front desk at the main agent I am sure most of the problems would be sorted very quickly. If you are in Manchester area you can have my service contract.

Yes £18k Is a cheap car and yes I know I was taking a risk with it compared to the A3 quatro Sprotsback 2.0T I road tested at £30k. Despite the problems the LCR is much more fun. However, I had a performance Skoda prior to this costing roughly the same dosh and being honest it was a much better built car, which just goes to prove what a great job VAG did with Skoda that is so urgently needed with Seat cars.

I hold an Advanced Drivers certificate and recently qualified as a group observer (instructor) with the IAM. The main reason (probably) I have got nearly 28k from my brake pads is I hardly need to use them. This car is so responsive and well balanced that using 'accelerator sense' matched by correct gear choice and positioning, I find that the tendancy is to accelerate through corners rather than slowing ( but this is based on being able to accurately assess the limit points). Get the gear right and the car slows on its own. I find driving the car hard (on the highway) the ESP needs to intervene only when the road is wet (from a standing start) and ocasionally when it hits a man hole cover, but with experience one learns to see and avoid them.

So is this a poor quality car? Performance for the money is outstanding.
When your sat in it 24 /7 on target for between 40,000 and 50,000 mile per annum, I am not convinced. Perhaps I should have bought it for the weekend drive only?

 

[Pabs]

hmmm, i would have to say its not a car that I would consider if I was doing so many miles. I would look for something more economical and more comfy as well - perhaps an executive type car like a nice A4 or similar. But depends on the budget at the end of the day.

I think buying a sporty car such as the cupra R would be for fun and for average distances. However, thats not all to say you made a bad choice - i think if you find yourself a helpful dealer you will feel much better about it all.

 

[GreyKnight]

I find driving the car hard

the ESP needs to intervene only when the road is wet (from a standing start) and ocasionally when it hits a man

Jesus! I though they taught you how to drive better in the IAM! Here you are struggling to drive and running people over

 

[GreyKnight]

I do 20,000 miles a year in my LCR and really it's been fantastic, the only problems I've had have either involved minor electrical faults or trim problems. My next car is going to be even less fuel efficient though, so clearly mpg isn't a major concern for me

 

[Ant FR]

and that is a what? what you getting next????