SEAT Leon CupraLow miles this month, as the SEAT visits the garage for troublesome dashboard light correctionBy Ian Eveleigh | April 2008 |
 Lower mileage than usual for the Cupra this month. Alas I’ve not been off enjoying some winter sun, leaving the Leon to languish in a murky airport car park. Instead KR07 missed out on its usual 85-mile daily round trip for a week while Motorvogue SEAT in Northampton were looking for the cause of its pesky illuminated emissions warning light.
You may recall that the new ECU fitted last month didn’t fix things as hoped, so it wasn’t too helpful when this time the diagnostics test once again snitched on the ECU. Thankfully Motorvogue managed to identify that the real source of the problem was a defective exhaust gas sensor, and, part ordered and fitted – under warranty again, of course – the light appears to have gone for good. Which is good.
Ironically, I guessed it was an iffy sensor causing the problem from the outset, because, well, isn’t that always what causes an emissions warning light to come on? Actually, it seems not. I’ve recently heard from several SEAT owners who have had the same problem fixed by replacing parts as diverse as an accelerator control unit and, in the case of one reader’s Leon, a section of wiring loom that took 16 visits to the dealer to pinpoint. SEAT must be doing something right, though, as the experience hasn’t stopped that car’s owner from placing an order for a new Cupra.
Motorvogue once again supplied a courtesy car, this time a 101bhp, 1.6-litre Leon. There’s always something engaging about driving a ‘normal’ car for a few days, not least the challenge of preserving momentum. The novelty soon wears off, but there’s no better way to appreciate just how rapid your own car is, and blimey did the Cupra feel fast when I got it back.
Just how fast it is I got to fully appreciate a few days later when we visited Bruntingthorpe for the VMax challenge. A quick blast up the two-mile straight in the Cupra saw it break the timing beams at an effortless 150mph. It was still accelerating, so with a bit more space it would easily have hit its claimed 153mph top speed. Impressive stuff. Nearly as impressive as a 16-year-old 325i clocking 142.
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