Still nervous about the reliability and upkeep with these. Is there anything that I should be looking out for? For instance, I bought a 2008 BMW 320d with the N47 engine with 85k miles on it about 4 years ago and it’s been a literal money pit. Way more than the cars worth... Just curious what these Mk1 Cupra’s are like?
Cheers! ?
Ok I don't know about the Cupras I have a TDi 110 since June 2016, poor girl has been neglected abused and spent long periods of time off the road for whatever reason, and was on around 80k when I got hold of her - paid 1700 and basically forced the garage to throw in a cam belt and water pump as there was no service history whatsoever. She's now over 130k and all I've done is basic maintenance, both bottom ball joints which are a weak spot on these, all round brake pads, and put her right after a large log ripped the sump and put dents underneath all the way along. I've only been driving to and from work (10 miles each way, dual carriageway) for a year and outside of that she has been the length and breadth of the country never missing a beat, sometimes more than 1000 miles in a weekend trip. All this from a 14 to 18 year old car that is basically an old banger. I don't want to tempt fate but she has always come home on her own 4 wheels.
Because of time off road waiting for a sump from Germany for a sensible price, we put our other one on the road which we bought for spares, a 2000 petrol 1.6. Bearing in mind it was scrap, MOT cost us 300 including you guessed it bottom ball joint ... then in a week it was back for a £500 LUK clutch will will likely long outlast the car. It is what it is, a car snatched from under the scrapper's nose, but it runs and it's reliable so far. Obviously I don't have the same trust in it as I have in my dizzle, but 6 months on all's well.
Bottom line these are good cars, a lot of fun, and by modern standards cheap and easy to keep on the road. To have, get and keep them pristine and customised will cost whatever you want to put in but a lot less than a lot of much less fun stuff. If you've always wanted one, have one - regret what you did and not what you didn't do. I don't call mine my mid-life crisis car for nothing!
