What's your "Individual Profile"

[Seastormer]

I'd be interested to hear what others feel about the Diff in the various profiles. I'm usually in Individual with Diff set to cupra and sometimes I wonder if its even working, especially in the wet. Compared to my old Megane 250 cup which the diff was brilliant and you could trust it to always kick in, the one on this i'm not so sure about - it certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

Don't know why you are finding this, as every tester in any mag has raved about the diff, and they reckon it was what got the car under 8 secs on the ring, what helped beat the Golf R on test tracks both in wet and in the dry, so maybe yours ain't working right, as I can go quicker round bends in this than my all Biza Cupra's I had before.

 

[Stever750]

I'd be interested to hear what others feel about the Diff in the various profiles. I'm usually in Individual with Diff set to cupra and sometimes I wonder if its even working, especially in the wet. Compared to my old Megane 250 cup which the diff was brilliant and you could trust it to always kick in, the one on this i'm not so sure about - it certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

Even with the diff lock in Normal mode, it corners in the wet, let alone dry like no other front drive car I've ever driven, bearing in mind this is the only FWD car I've driven with an LSD. There's a bit of understeer dialled in as standard, as in any road car; but it doesn't suddenly wash out wide when you open the throttle powering out the bend. I would have thought this is the case for any FWD fitted with a proper LSD, it's not necessarily unique to SEAT.

 

[mrlynch]

I agree, I had read all the positives regarding the diff before I got the car and was expecting to really feel it working - so far this hasn't been the case. Sometimes I think I feel it working, other times it will understeer quite a large amount for a car of this type (bare in mind i'm comparing this to the 250 diff so maybe i'm used to a different feel).

When it works it seems to the job, the problem is it doesn't seem to be consistent.

I think i'm going to find some wide roads and keep my foot in when it starts understeering, maybe it'll kick in eventually?

EDIT:

I just read this on the Piston Heads review, I think this sums it up perfectly for me:

"The diff's behaviour can be quite unnerving on both road and track. Hydraulically actuated but electronically controlled, it's that fraction of a second that the electronics take to react that can undermine confidence as the understeer continues but instinct says to keep your foot in. It's that split second where the RCZ R and Megane 265 feel so devastating as the diff hooks up and eliminates understeer. In the Cupra the push comes first and then the diff responds; it's effective eventually but a little unsettling, and makes establishing a rhythm difficult."

Is this how you guys feel it, a decent amount of understeer and then the diff kicks in?

 

[Stever750]

Is this how you guys feel it, a decent amount of understeer and then the diff kicks in?

No, not for me. I can't feel anything happening or twitching about (and I was one of the few that thought the original Mondeo ST24 had an unsettling rear end that just caused you to momentarily distrust it). Maybe I just haven't really driven it hard enough yet, greasy roads in November in an almost brand new car isn't going to throw up much.

Back to the profile topic of the OP, I noticed something very odd with the Individual Profile. I've decided to set everything to Cupra, except engine which is in Sport (since I'm not a fan of the fake sound track). When I start the car up in that mode, it defaults to Comfort (D), flicking the lever in and out of auto / semi-auto makes no difference. If I then swithc back to Sport mode, then back to Individual, the drivetrain is now in Sport mode (so in auto it's showing S2, S3 etc for each gear selected). Could one of you try and replicate this? Hopefully it's a fault or better stupid operator error, and hopefully not a built in design feature....

 

[Seastormer]

No, not for me. I can't feel anything happening or twitching about (and I was one of the few that thought the original Mondeo ST24 had an unsettling rear end that just caused you to momentarily distrust it). Maybe I just haven't really driven it hard enough yet, greasy roads in November in an almost brand new car isn't going to throw up much.

Back to the profile topic of the OP, I noticed something very odd with the Individual Profile. I've decided to set everything to Cupra, except engine which is in Sport (since I'm not a fan of the fake sound track). When I start the car up in that mode, it defaults to Comfort (D), flicking the lever in and out of auto / semi-auto makes no difference. If I then swithc back to Sport mode, then back to Individual, the drivetrain is now in Sport mode (so in auto it's showing S2, S3 etc for each gear selected). Could one of you try and replicate this? Hopefully it's a fault or better stupid operator error, and hopefully not a built in design feature....

Not a problem , already been discussed in some other thread ages back, basically if driving the car and you switch into Sport or Cupra it goes to S3 or whatever, but when you park up and switch off, it always starts in the D position so you don't over rev while still cold. folk decided that keeping it in Cupra mode all the time and toggling it into S with the gear selector when you wanted to give it beans was a good idea.

 

[AndrewJB]

VCDS - Diff lock strong thats what you want

 

[Stever750]

Not a problem , already been discussed in some other thread ages back, basically if driving the car and you switch into Sport or Cupra in goes to S3 or whatever, but when you park up and switch off, it always starts in the D position so you don't over rev while still cold. folk decided that keeping it in Cupra mode all the time and toggling it into S with the gear selector when you wanted to give it beans was a good idea.

I guessed it did that, but it does when the engine is hot. That means to invoke engine sport mode I've got to cycle through Individual -> Sport -> Individual every time? That's pretty crap tbh. Unless I'm missing something, how do you toggle it into S when in D? Flicking across the gate to manual and back doesn't do it...

 

[Stever750]

VCDS - Diff lock strong thats what you want

Andrew, do you know if it's possible to disable the sound trumpet in Cupra mode, and also to permanently disable auto stop/start?

I really don't like the latter when driving it hard, stopping the engine with high oil temps not a good idea....

 

[Snah]

I did both myself with VCDS.
Soundactuator is off and Start-Stop is also disabled.
Look here for how to (it is in German but Google Translate is your friend):

http://www.stemei.de/pages/coding/seat-leon-5f.php

 

[Stever750]

Thanks. Now to find someone with VCDS

 

[AndrewJB]

Yes as said above, I have disabled the auto stop/start... hated it.

It does show a warning on the sat-nav unit saying "power usage high" or something.

 

[Seastormer]

I guessed it did that, but it does when the engine is hot. That means to invoke engine sport mode I've got to cycle through Individual -> Sport -> Individual every time? That's pretty crap tbh. Unless I'm missing something, how do you toggle it into S when in D? Flicking across the gate to manual and back doesn't do it...

The bottom position on the gear stick is D/S, when in D just pull back and presto you are now in S, do it again and back to D, so you can toggle back and forth in an instant. So you just leave the car in Sport or Cupra and when you want to go full beans, just toggle.

 

[Stever750]

OK that's new to me! Just pull it back? There's no obvious further movement so it must be a contact sensor.

 

[MOzR1]

OK that's new to me! Just pull it back? There's no obvious further movement so it must be a contact sensor.

It is. It moves a couple of mm. It's not another detent....

 

[Stever750]

I wonder how many other little surprises I've yet to discover.. Does it fly?? Hover?

 

[Seastormer]

Mine flys for short periods on the borders roads I use.

 

[Stever750]

OK, the clue of course is in the selector position marking. D/S and the down arrow, completely logical of course. Works a treat, now I can experiment between normal and cupra diff lock. So far, I haven't, because half my journeys have been full of delicate stuff as I'm moving house, and the other half its been foggy / greasy / late and I'm tired.

 

[gartner]

VCDS - Diff lock strong thats what you want

Does changing settings with VCDS void warranty? Are there any counters or something like that, which can't be reset after customizing or is everything reversible?

 

[AndrewJB]

Nah nothing you chance in VCDS will because they are stuff that can be set by factory.

 

[gartner]

Nah nothing you chance in VCDS will because they are stuff that can be set by factory.

So no indicator will be set when fidling with VCDS?