Thinking of buy a LCR

trac_uk

Guest
Hi guys,

Im looking for some advice and help from you guys. Im looking at buying a 55 plate Cupra R, as i have a golf at the moment and want to stay in the VAG engine group really, and as the LCR has the same engine at the S3, i thought it would be a good way too go.

But what I wanted to know was what are the common faults and problems i should look out for and be aware of as a possible future LCR owner? And have all known problems been fixed under warranty for everyone?

Thanks in advance. :)
 

virdi

Active Member
Nov 12, 2006
892
2
Middlesex
Here is a list of a few things I was given by another forum member ;)

1) Uneven tyre wear
2) How much front brake pad depth you have on the car - check service book / receipts for no. of replaced tyres/brakes
3) Squealing rear brakes when reversing
4) Pit marks in the outer rim of the alloys from hot brake dust (usually indicates its been driven hard)
5) The state of the bottom black plastic splitter (they are all scraped as they are just too low), but see how bad
6) Kerbed alloys
7) Excessive wheel wobble at 70mph+
8) Try and sense how much play there is in the steering rack (whilst driving just gently tip the wheel to the left and right) - will give you an indication of how hard its been driven

...oh yeah and check for wet carpets - There is a lot of topics about water leaks recently...
 
Last edited:

Feel

Veedubya 'velle
Jun 12, 2003
4,918
2
Midlands
Not entirely sure they're common LCR Faults. Here are some that I would say are common faults:

1) OE Fit Pirrelli P Rossos are rubbish, you'll want to change them. Also the uneven wear mentioned above is the center section of the tread wearing down more than the edges. Looks like over-inflation and that often gets blamed for the wear pattern.

2) The Brembos are prone to the laqcuer peeling/bubbling up, and I've seen a few where the caliper gets scratched where a stone get stuck between the wheel and the caliper. Don't jet-wash the calipers. The bubbling often starts around the bleed nipple. The pads are very thin when new and you often get told they're ready for changing. The disks have 1mm per side wear allowance on them.

3) Quite a few LCRs appear to pull/drift to the left.

4) There's a common rattle from the rear seat area - it's either the seatbelt clips rattling together or the seat backs rattling on there stops.

5) ARB Creaking over speed bumps is a common problem.

6) Two stge fans are a problem, the low speed fails (same as mkIV)

7) Water pumps have plastic impellors which crack and fail, and can cause the car to overheat (same as mkIV).

8) As the weather drops cooler, you sometimes get three beeps from the coolant temp gauge which signifies that the coolant level is low. If it's not low, the level sensor is knackered - can be cured with either a whole new header tank, or by gently scraping the two metal prongs in the header tank to de-scale them.

9) Rear wash wipe fails when the pipe inside the wiper arm corrodes and splits dripping washer fluid on the rear boot lock, causing that to also fail. If the jet on the rear wash-wipe moves with the wiper arm, it's failed. If when unlocking the car, opening the boot then leaving it for >30sec the car re-locks itself - the boot lock's gone.

10) Most of the hoses under the engined are prone to blow-off (especially remapped), the Coolant Temp Sensor, the MAF, the N75 have all been known to cause problems. Coilpacks are just like any other.

11) There's a small pipe off the charge pipe to the N75 that's been known to split. There's a 'Y' Pipe off the N249 that's been known to split, especially if the coilpack on No4's been changed. There's an 'F' pipe on the end of the inlet manifold that's been known to go, the turbo outlet hose has been known to split.

12) Headlights are crap.

13) The splitter is seen by many as a consumable item. £15-£18 from the dealer.

14) The trim piece that sits in front of the inlet manifold has been known to fall off.

15) Every one I've been in (okay, only a handfull) the driver's side door gets noisey at high speed.

16) There's a painted ring on the standard gear-knob that is known to chip.

17) Commonly there's a god-awful rattle coming from the boot - the metal clips holding the rear trim on the boot lid break off.

18) I remember a few cars with badly fitted rear bumpers, and I've quite a few with a badly fitted boot lid.

19) Check for a full-size (same as the others) spare, and check that the tongs for pulling off the nut caps and the locking wheel-nut key are all in the boot.

20) The range has been known to go on the keys (new transponder), and there should only be one flip-key, not two.

21) Might want to try searching for "de-locking" or relocating Fuse 38.

22) There should be a "Cupra R Addendum" in the owners wallet.

23) The hanger just in front of the rear back-box commonly snaps, doesn't cause a problem but someone on here recently failed an MOT with this as one of the issues.

I think that's it :D.
 

Feel

Veedubya 'velle
Jun 12, 2003
4,918
2
Midlands
Sorry - I was thnking on the way home that I'd painted a bad picture of them!


That list is about 3.5 years worth of sitting reading this forum, and applies somewhat to the chipped motors (pipes blowing off, etc).
 

si-mate

Jai Ho or Jay Ho?
May 31, 2004
941
0
Kunt Centryside
In my opinion the LCR is not better nor worse than any other car you can buy. All cars have faults to watch out for, but I don't think there is anything to be overly concerned about with these.

I've had mine now over 3 years and it has cost me very little (apart from in fuel :blink: )

Reading forums you will always come across problems as people come on here to ask for assistance / have a moan. They rarely come on to say that there is nothing wrong with their car.
 

karlosR

TORQUEY, NOISEY V6
Mar 10, 2006
1,469
0
BEDFORD
go for it mate. i got mine earlier this year and i haven't stopped smiling yet................ isn't prozac great!
 

km

Guest
I went for a derv and walked away with an LCR.
Its a great car, yes there are always niggles the only one which really bothers me is the soft front suspension when you really upset it cornering hard (with the ESP off) but then maybe uprated ARB's or shocks/springs will fix it. Not enough to make me change it though :happy:
 

rllmuk

Active Member
Apr 23, 2005
1,241
6
Another vote for the LCR. You can't get a better driving machine for the age or price.
 

virdi

Active Member
Nov 12, 2006
892
2
Middlesex
Not entirely sure they're common LCR Faults. Here are some that I would say are common faults:

1) OE Fit Pirrelli P Rossos are rubbish, you'll want to change them. Also the uneven wear mentioned above is the center section of the tread wearing down more than the edges. Looks like over-inflation and that often gets blamed for the wear pattern.

2) The Brembos are prone to the laqcuer peeling/bubbling up, and I've seen a few where the caliper gets scratched where a stone get stuck between the wheel and the caliper. Don't jet-wash the calipers. The bubbling often starts around the bleed nipple. The pads are very thin when new and you often get told they're ready for changing. The disks have 1mm per side wear allowance on them.

3) Quite a few LCRs appear to pull/drift to the left.

4) There's a common rattle from the rear seat area - it's either the seatbelt clips rattling together or the seat backs rattling on there stops.

5) ARB Creaking over speed bumps is a common problem.

6) Two stge fans are a problem, the low speed fails (same as mkIV)

7) Water pumps have plastic impellors which crack and fail, and can cause the car to overheat (same as mkIV).

8) As the weather drops cooler, you sometimes get three beeps from the coolant temp gauge which signifies that the coolant level is low. If it's not low, the level sensor is knackered - can be cured with either a whole new header tank, or by gently scraping the two metal prongs in the header tank to de-scale them.

9) Rear wash wipe fails when the pipe inside the wiper arm corrodes and splits dripping washer fluid on the rear boot lock, causing that to also fail. If the jet on the rear wash-wipe moves with the wiper arm, it's failed. If when unlocking the car, opening the boot then leaving it for >30sec the car re-locks itself - the boot lock's gone.

10) Most of the hoses under the engined are prone to blow-off (especially remapped), the Coolant Temp Sensor, the MAF, the N75 have all been known to cause problems. Coilpacks are just like any other.

11) There's a small pipe off the charge pipe to the N75 that's been known to split. There's a 'Y' Pipe off the N249 that's been known to split, especially if the coilpack on No4's been changed. There's an 'F' pipe on the end of the inlet manifold that's been known to go, the turbo outlet hose has been known to split.

12) Headlights are crap.

13) The splitter is seen by many as a consumable item. £15-£18 from the dealer.

14) The trim piece that sits in front of the inlet manifold has been known to fall off.

15) Every one I've been in (okay, only a handfull) the driver's side door gets noisey at high speed.

16) There's a painted ring on the standard gear-knob that is known to chip.

17) Commonly there's a god-awful rattle coming from the boot - the metal clips holding the rear trim on the boot lid break off.

18) I remember a few cars with badly fitted rear bumpers, and I've quite a few with a badly fitted boot lid.

19) Check for a full-size (same as the others) spare, and check that the tongs for pulling off the nut caps and the locking wheel-nut key are all in the boot.

20) The range has been known to go on the keys (new transponder), and there should only be one flip-key, not two.

21) Might want to try searching for "de-locking" or relocating Fuse 38.

22) There should be a "Cupra R Addendum" in the owners wallet.

23) The hanger just in front of the rear back-box commonly snaps, doesn't cause a problem but someone on here recently failed an MOT with this as one of the issues.

I think that's it :D.


so... apart from all of the above - They're great cars - lol :cry:
 

trac_uk

Guest
Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess what im worried about is ending up with a lemon and having trip after trip to a stealers to get it sorted. But as you all point out you can get that with any car!

Well im gonna go for a test drive tomorrow and to look at a few LCR's and see how i get on. Least the cluth and gear change wont be as hard to make smooth as on my Subaru WRX i had before! lol
 
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