Seat Ibiza Cupra R

The R version of the Ibiza Cupra was the first Seat to sport the R badge. Only 250 examples where initialy planed however it is belived that demand exceeded this fiqure and perhaps up to 300 where built.

The engine powering the R is the same 1.8 Litre 20 valve turbo charged unit as found in many different VAG models. In Ibiza cupra this unit is set at 150BHP however for the R version Seat Sport re-mapped the ECU to enable the engine to produce an extra 30BHP. This to be fair is a very mild level to which the K03 equiped 20VT engine's can be re-mapped to - Infact examples have seen over 210BHP from re-mapping alone.

Changes with the R include 305mm Brembo 4 pot Brakes at the front, 16" OZ alloys , Seat Sport suspension settings and Oil temp/Battery Meter Gauges.
Other differences with the R are Seat Sport branded front seats and various R badges over the car and a Carbon Fibre Engine Cover.

These pic's where taken not far from my home in Lesmahagow(Scotland). My car was only a few weeks old and even then I was in love with this wee car. Ok so at £4995 extra on top of the price of a Ibiza Cupra it might not be exactly great value for money but when your driving it on roads like these thats the last thing on your mind lol.
This picture shows my last car an Astra GSI next to my R. The Astra wasn't a bad car really but the changes I made allow made it look better they never really helped to make it a better drive. The koni Struts and Eibach springs proved to be too uncompromising to attack a back road and on the motorway hitting a bump could lose you a filling lol. I liked the wheels though...

This pic shows my car next to another Astra GSI which is owned by my pal. He has had this car for a couple of years now and still drives it as hard as ever and its never gave up the ghost lol. From this angle you can see that the Ibiza is quite a bit smaller than the Astra. The big difference being the back seats which are hardly fit for 2 children let alone 3 adults which the Astra would easily handle.

Lastly this pic was taken at Crail Airfield. Since buying the car in March 2002 Dave's Black Ibiza is the one of only two other Cupra R's that I have seen on the road. Its owner is as fanatical about the R as I am however he does keep his cleaner lol.

This picture was taken in January. It was a small meet at a local cruise and it shows on the left my flying banana lol - next in a stunning 25th Aniversory Golf - to the right of the golf a 2.0 16v Mk2 Ibiza( Really cool car ) - and finally on the right Dave's Cupra R again.