My Car History | Part Two

 Part two, and this has to be the car that had the biggest impact! This was my 2014 Seat Ibiza Cupra, it had the 1.4 twin-charged engine paired to a 7-speed DSG gearbox. Stock they run about 180bhp which is a respectful figure, however I couldn't just leave it at that.

The Cupra was on my hitlist after the Polo had been written off, mainly due to the fact I wanted something quicker, something I could modify more extensively and I wanted something a bit different. I had a mate who had a Bocanegra (a special edition) which definitely made it easier to know that this was the car for me. After a few weeks of searching, I found a nice example not too far from me. After a viewing and test drive, I knew it was the car for me. The following week I picked the car up and got straight to enjoying it and getting used to having an automatic. 

From purchase, the car had been tinkered with but I was limited on what had been done. I eventually got in contact with the previous owner and he ran through everything he had done with the car. From a full gearbox rebuild to each modification that was on the car. The only thing that had changed was that the remap he had, was taken off more than likely down to the ECU being reset at some point between the ownership change. 

Once I learned about the map being taken off, I got into researching who to go to for getting a remap done to take advantage of the upgraded exhaust, intercooler and intake. It was at this time I came across RTMG. If you know the Ibiza Cupra platform, you probably know these guys. If not, they do a whole host of tuning and parts for a wide range of cars however they have unmatched knowledge when it comes to the 1.4 EA111 engine in the Cupra. They hold the record (at the time of typing) for the fastest EA111, which is fitted into an Ibiza of course. Running 650hp it's certainly no slouch.

Once I learned about them I didn't hesitate to get the Cupra booked in, and sooner than later it had been mapped. I was lucky enough to meet Chris, who other than being a god amongst men was the one who mapped the car and made sure it was running perfectly and I was happy with it before I left. What was an amazing day did take a turn whilst on the way home though. Whilst heading home the waterpump decided to give up and threw all the coolant out. So what had already been an expensive day, turned into an even more expensive day. 

 

After the mapping, the car pretty much stayed the same. Apart from stripping out the majority of the interior to help with the weight and the usual servicing and maintenance. I felt the car was perfect, the power was useable and at around 240bhp, it wasn't the most powerful but it handled incredibly well and surprised a lot of people.

 

But I had an itch that needed to be scratched. Ever since I first started looking at Cupras, I always preferred the look of the pre-facelift, I'm not 100% sure what it is about them but I just think they looked better. So with this in mind, I began seeing if anyone had 'de-facelifted' an Ibiza. From all my research, I couldn't find much, people had spoken about doing it but no one seemed to have actually completed or even started to do it. So, what better way to be the guinea pig and have a go myself.

After a lengthy time of sourcing the right parts, I had a genuine Ibiza Cupra front bumper, the even harder-to-find pre-facelift xenon Cupra headlights as well as the bonnet. And that's all that was needed to make the change. Once I got it all together, I was buzzing, even though none of it was paint-matched just yet, I knew it wouldn't be long before I could finish what I had started. 

Little did I know though, this would be the end of the journey with the Cupra, it had developed the infamous mechatronic failure which is super common with these, and due to a bunch of personal circumstances at the same time, it was time to let it go. Something I wish I never had to do but it was the right thing to do.

Only recently did I notice the car up for sale on Facebook Marketplace and it was great to see the car in its former glory and the pre-facelift swap complete and all colour matched. At the time I had literally just purchased the S3, otherwise, I would probably have the Cupra sat on the drive at home instead of the S3. 

When it comes to the Cupras, I very much have unfinished business with them and likely I will own another in the future. However, for now, I am onto bigger and better things with the S3. The lesson learnt with the Cupra is sometimes you have to cut your losses with a car to get into a better situation. If I had kept it, who knows when it would've been fixed up and on the road the way I wanted it to be. If you have found yourself in a similar position, don't let your pride get in the way. Cars are replaceable but time isn't, focus on the important things in life and you'll find everything else just falls into place.

Part three is gonna be a bit different from the past car history posts, again with some more life advice if ever you should need it. 

As always, enjoy the ride,

E.

My Car History | Part One

 Like anyone in life, I have had my fair share of influences that change my opinion on certain things. If you read the very first blog post you will know that my love for cars started many years ago. More specifically when I used to watch my older brother play Need for Speed Underground. By the time I had my first car, the 'car scene' had drastically changed, and so had my life. 

As you can probably see, my first car was a 2016 Volkswagen Polo. It was an R-Line with a great spec, from the rare Night Pack to the winter pack and electronic climate control. It was a good car however there was one catch.

So with the Polo, I made a big mistake, I got in over my head with a silly finance deal, and it may not have been expensive for some people but for my situation at the time I could have got a similar car for much less. However, we live and we learn. The Polo was such a nice car and it really made me appreciate and understand about looking after a car. However, since I was shelling out so much money on the finance deal, I never had the money to modify or make any changes. Not long into ownership, I ended up being involved in an accident which in turn meant the Polo was written off by the insurer. Some would say this was unlucky however it got me out of the expensive finance deal I signed my life away to and left me with a clean slate to start again.

 

The Polo was a short-lived car however I still really love these cars and the 6r/6c Polo is the best-looking one, especially in comparison to the newer models. 

Just going back to the car finance side of things, if there's any life advice I can give you, do your research before signing anything. A lot of people talk about finance and make it out to be this big bad thing you shouldn't do, but for the right person, it can work. Just make sure you can afford all the other things that go with owning a car, like the tax, fuel, and maintenance costs. I fell into that trap and it can put you in a difficult financial spot pretty quickly! If you own your car outright, that's great. If it's on finance, that's great too. Don't let the naysayers make you feel bad if you own your car or not. 

So next time you hear someone making fun of finance, just leave them be, the car scene is full of haters, maybe that's why it feels like it's dying. But there is still good in this world of cars so let's focus on that.

Enjoy the ride,

E.

Baby steps

Time to start ticking off the boring maintenance jobs, starting with the quick and easy PCV valve. Now before you read any further, I am not a trained mechanic just yet, so don't take what I say as gospel. I am mainly going off the advice from friends and forums. 

So then, the PCV valve, these valves seem to be a common issue and many people early on adopted a PCV delete as the OEM part just didn't do the job. Many revisions of the part later it now is recommended to be the best option when it comes to a solution. 

Now before changing the PCV valve, I was getting a bit of oil going back through to the turbo as well as the odd cloud of white smoke when moving off from a standstill. Common signs that your PCV has seen better days. With the new PCV valve, I also got a new gasket as it was only a couple of quid extra. Removed the old one and fitted the new one in all of 20 minutes, super simple and peace of mind achieved, regarding the PCV at least. 

Whilst I was under the bonnet and this job was so quick, I had a look at the coil packs as the OEM units were in place and I want to update these to a set of the R8 coil packs every man and his dog runs in a modified VAG car. Safe to say they had seen better days but I will have to wait for a payday to treat the motor to a new set of them. (Unfortunately no picture here, clearly I was in a rush to go and do something else.) 

Now no power is going to be added because of this change, however not everything you do to your car has to be about power. Completing little jobs like these can help bring you joy in ways that you probably wouldn't expect, even if the forum nerds say it's easy and a 1-second job. So see what maintenance jobs you can undertake and have a crack at it, even if you need a few friends round to help out. Working on your own car gives you satisfaction like nothing else can, especially when things go right. 

Enjoy the ride,

E.

The start of the S3

Hello, welcome to the Up To Fun blog. A personal blog to document all things automotive going on in my life. I started this to document the build on my new-to-me Audi S3, but I feel the content won't be exclusive to just that.

So here it is, my new to me 2010 Audi S3 8P, a car that has been on my hit-list ever since my older brother owned an A3 8P many years ago. This Sprint Blue example has come with some tasty extras from the factory as well as some things I can't be quite sure about, but more on that later.

For anyone interested, the spec from the factory includes the Sound Pack (Bose sound system), electric folding mirrors, interior light pack, and of course, the optional Sprint Blue Pearl paint. Now I know it's not got the spec list as long as some other cars out there but I really don't mind. I appreciate this car for the driver-oriented car it was the day it rolled out of the factory and continues to be to this day.

The bits I can't be quite sure about is the modifications, the car may or may not be remapped, it certainly feels quicker than the 265bhp factory figure. The exhaust also sounds to be something other than stock, whether that be just a resonator delete or more, I guess we will find out together. On the topic of mods, most things will likely be swapped eventually and follow along what the plan turns out to be.

So tag along to stay up to date, plenty to come and hopefully it will make a change to how you usually stay up to date with a build.

Enjoy the ride,

E.