What do Red Bull, Blue smarties, Crash bandicoot and the Seat Leon Cupra 300 all have in common?
… They all send me a little bit loopy. Now I know you don’t care about how hyper caffeine
makes me or how crazy crash bandicoot makes me Because you’re here for the Leon… And
it’s a beast. With it’s newly tuned 300 bhp engine and
the option to add AWD, that’s only available on the Estate btw but I’ll talk more about
that later, It is now more threatening to its rivals than ever before. The only exterior
tweak is that all important 300 badge on the rear but apart from that, this is still the
same sleeper it’s always been so lets take it out and see just what Seat are shouting
about Oh and by the way, I may be a wee bit of
a Leon fanboy. By todays standards it’s specs don’t have
the wow factor they once would have had, with a 0-60 of 5.9 seconds and a top speed of 155mph,
something like the Audi RS3 would make mince meat of it in a quarter mile. But it’s not
all about how fast you can go. The Peugeot 205 gti was a world beater and took 7 and
a half seconds longer, whilst being half a tonne lighter than the cupra.
I’m getting carried away now, I know the 205 is an old car, I shouldn’t even think
about comparing the cupra to it but my point is, facts and figures aren’t the be all
and end all. For me it’s about driver satisfaction, can you sit behind the wheel and enjoy yourself
on a track day or a country road… Yes. Definitely, Earlier I said this was a beast and I meant
it, the engine feels like it’s going to rip itself through the bonnet every time you
put your foot down. In front of me is a newly tuned 300bhp 2.0 litre petrol unit, which
is mated to this very slick 6 speed gear box. Personally I really like the standard leons
manual box, it’s smooth whilst still being precise and the cupras feels even better.
I wouldn’t however go as far to say it’s better than the Hondas type R gear box, but
then again, not a whole lot is. Steering is brilliant too. You can really
feel the road move with you as you thread the leather through your hands. It sits perfectly
with the chassis too, every swooping bend feels, almost, cinematic, like you’re in
an advert and the road has been moulded specifically to show off the best angles of the car.
In terms of grip however, I can’t lie, the 2wd sometimes struggles to deliver everything
you need with wheel spins in 4th gear when you have the pedal flat, You’ll be thankful
your leather is black when youre getting to grips with it’s limits. I personally like
that extra sense of danger, certain other cars, even in the VW group are shooting so
much power through their wheels they’re almost obliged to include all wheel drive,
taking that extra fun factor away. If you do prefer that extra safety you can get the
cupra with AWD, but only on the estate. Why? Basically the cupra ST has been built from
the xperience model, which already has 4wd. Hopefully it’ll end up coming to the hatch
too at some point. Another thing I must mention is this driver
select mode, which perfectly has the Cupra logo pasted onto it. If I just press this…
You’ll see you can choose between comfort, sport, cupra, my favourite and individual.
Individual mode is great, it lets you modify the cars tuning to suit your needs so If you
want more throttle response but lighter steering, this is the mode you need.
Now I know only people ‘in the know’ can spot a cupra from a standard leon due to it’s
subtle exterior changes between the two but I think that’s part of it’s charm. It
doesn’t scream at you like a Type R or a Focus RS. You could happily sit at the lights
next to pretty much anything else and leave them for dust before they can even read them
magic letters on the rear hatch. However, do google the Seat leon cup racer edition
Just like the standard Leon, you can still definitely tell you’re in a VW group car.
It’s stylish, and simplistic with enough plushness to know you got a good deal. There
are some cheaper feeling plastics lower down but realistically in a car like this, you’re
looking at the road, not at your knees. The Cupra does come with a couple of upgrades
as standard, 19 inch alloys with red brake calipers, these figure hugging seats, which
I much prefer to the old ones with the white stripe down the side, cupra badging and cupra
exclusive bumpers to name a few. It does also come with this black roof lining
which makes it a lot darker in here. This is subjective to certain people, some love
it and some hate it. To me it means for a more focused drive, kind of like when a film’s
shot in anamorphic and them bars come on the screen and make it go as thin as my patience
with people who take forever at the cash machine. Impressively the rear and boot are exactly
the same as the standard model so check out Ryans review up there for more information.
With 158 g/k m and a claimed 40.9 mpg it’s also reasonably efficient for a hot hatch.
But lets be honest… Nooooone is going to be hitting that mpg. Also coming in at just
over 30 grand, it’s priced competitively against all its key rivals too. You do get
a seriously impressive amount of kit for that price too. This desire red does cost an extra
£650 like…. Worth every penny in my eyes. I think for a long time now Seats little rocket
has been overlooked for more obvious and recognised hot hatches but similar to the likes of Peugeot
they’re really starting to throw their weight around and forcing the rest of the automotive
world to sit up and listen to what they have to offer.
It may not be the most obvious choice in the world, it hasn’t broken the land speed record
and it wont turn hundreds of heads like a type R but I honestly do believe this is a
very realistic choice for the car buyer who still wants to have fun on the roads after
they’ve dropped their kids off at school. All I can say is, book yourself a test drive
and see for yourself before you just jump into a 5 years finance deal with a more obvious
choice.