Styling
We said in our review of the facelifted Formentor 333 TSI that we weren't wholly convinced by Cupra's new corporate look, and the Leon only confirms this. Abandoning a traditional radiator grille entirely is a bold decision, but it leaves the Leon with a nose that's more beaky than shark-like. A pity, as there are some nice details, like the new 'triangles in a triangle' lamp clusters fore and aft, and a full-width light strip on the car's tailgate which includes an illuminated Cupra logo for the first time. Yet we can't really get past that nose, which may be more featureless in between the headlights but which seems overtly fussy when you take in everything that's going on with the front 'bumper', lower air intakes and licence-plate mounting point below.
Anyway, each to their own on the visuals; you may look at the new Cupra Leon and think it looks pretty smart. One thing we definitely don't like, by the way (and we don't reckon many people will either), is that the solenoid for opening the boot has had to move to accommodate that glowing Cupra badge on the back of the car. It's now positioned way over to the right near the lamp cluster, but as no one bothered to tell us where it had got to and Cupra has also elected not to make the surface of this rubberised pad feel any different to its surroundings, it led to a lot of awkward fumbling as we desperately searched for the sweet spot. Yes, you can probably infer what we mean here... it was basically embarrassing for all involved.
As before, the Cupra Leon will be available in both regular hatchback and then Sportstourer (estate) guises, and now it and the Formentor look like the Tavascan and Born, it means the odd one out aesthetically in the Cupra line-up is the
poor old Ateca, which is soldiering on in the background much as it ever has done.
Interior
No major issues in here, as the key change for the 2024MY Cupra Leon relates to its infotainment screen. It is now presented on a large, 12.9-inch floating touchscreen running the latest MIB4 operating software, with the inclusion of illuminated sliders for temperature and volume controls underneath. All of this works slickly enough and, even if it doesn't for your technological tastes, you can bypass it with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but as ever with these big central pads almost all the climate controls - apart from those sliders, which only adjust the split-zone temperature up and down - are on the main display. Which makes trying to change the airflow in the cabin or alter the fan speed a needlessly convoluted process of random screen-prodding while you're travelling at pace.
However, material quality is very good across the board in the Leon, while the copper flashes of detailing that represent Cupra's signature colour are a nice touch that gives a little light and shade to the visual finishing of the car's fascia. So overall, from a technology, equipment and materials point of view, the 2024MY Cupra Leon's cabin is a success.
Practicality
There's enough space in the back of the Cupra Leon to render the idea of carrying four tallish adults in the car as an idea which isn't daft, although five would be a push because of the transmission tunnel impinging on the centre-rear footwell, as well as considering the narrowness of the middle-seat squab. As ever with PHEVs, though, the Leon eHybrid hatch has a considerably smaller boot on rated capacity than the petrol model, at 270 litres instead of 380. This is because the battery pack for the hybrid gear is under the boot floor, so it reduces the amount of cargo the Leon hatch can carry by a not-insignificant 110 litres.
Performance
Plenty of the engines seen before in the Cupra Leon line are carried over, so the 1.5-litre TSI petrol is retained in 150hp guise, while there's also a 300hp 2.0-litre TSI for the front-wheel-drive hatchback flagship. The Sportstourer, though, was always offered with a slightly more potent version of this four-cylinder turbo unit (with 310hp) as it was fitted with Cupra's 4Drive all-corners traction system. Well, as a result, the facelift model of that top-dog four-wheel-drive estate has now been enhanced to 333hp and 420Nm, the same figures found in the revised Formentor we tested a few weeks back, and indeed in the latest
Audi S3 and forthcoming
Volkswagen Golf R 8.5 too. The Cupra Leon 333 TSI Sportstourer also gains that fancy torque-vectoring rear axle for its 4Drive as well, with the twin clutches to split the grunt.
However, back in the wider Leon world, perhaps the biggest mechanical change comes for the PHEV eHybrids. Previously, these used an older 1.4-litre TSI petrol engine as their basis, coupled up to a six-speed DSG transmission and with the 80kW electric motor supplied by a 12.8kWh lithium-ion battery pack. You could choose from either a more modest 204hp eHybrid, or a performance-oriented 245hp derivative that was pretty much the equivalent of a Volkswagen Golf GTE.
Now, though, the 1.4 has been junked in favour of the Volkswagen Group's newer, and widely preferred, 1.5-litre TSI, while the electric motor has been tickled to 85kW as well. As before, for some reason the eHybrids use a six-speed DSG when all other dual-clutch Cupra Leons enjoy seven ratios in their 'boxes, but otherwise it's a more advanced set-up in the PHEVs than it was before the facelift.
That's not the big news, though, and nor is an increase in peak output to 272hp for the higher-level eHybrid (you can still have the PHEV in the facelifted Leon as a 204hp drivetrain if you prefer). No, it's the size of the battery pack - it's now 19.7kWh usable, which nigh-on doubles the part-electric Leon's zero-emission range from around 38 miles previously to an eye-catching 74 miles now. It also leads to some absolutely farcical on-paper eco-figures of 9-10g/km of CO
2 and economy in excess of 700mpg (no, that's not a typo; seven-hundred miles-to-the-gallon - as if), so you can probably safely disregard the latter of these and focus instead on the 'charge-sustaining mode WLTP range' that Cupra quotes, which is a much more realistic 51.4-52.3mpg.
Now, we could spend all day arguing about the whys and wherefores of WLTP official statistics, or indeed have a long discussion about the fact the old Cupra Leon eHybrid would never have done 38 miles on electric power alone, and nor will the new one get anywhere close to 74 miles, but however you cut it, such a large battery pack means that in real-world practice, the updated Leon PHEV is unequivocally going to go much further in zero-emissions mode than it ever did before - no matter how you drive it.
Therefore, one of the first 'performance' benefits of the latest Leon eHybrid is that it can now charge on a rapid DC connection of up to 50kW, which much reduces any plug-in top-up times you might encounter. For instance, your traditional 10-80 per cent battery charge would take just 26 minutes on a suitable public DC unit doling out 50kW, which is a handy timeframe and should allow owners to, y'know, actually
plug their plug-in hybrids in more often than not. For reference, 11kW AC chargers will need two-and-a-half hours for 0-100 per cent charge, while the same job on a typical 7.4kWh domestic wallbox will take somewhere beyond three hours.
The flipside of a bigger battery and undisputed greater electric-driving range, though, is more weight, so despite the fact this car has 27hp more than its immediate predecessor, it turns out it's slower from 0-62mph by four-tenths of a second, at 7.1 seconds plays 6.7 seconds prior. No matter; the Cupra Leon 272 eHybrid is still a willing performer, with plenty of low-range muscle and even a notable degree of top-end responsiveness. Like any VW Group product with this 1.5 fitted, it can get a bit rowdy when approaching the redline, but it's generally accomplished and likeable in all other regards. And we even saw an indicated 74.3mpg from it on a fairly varied test route, which is impressive parsimony in practice.
Ride & Handling
At 1,708kg, the Leon 272 eHybrid is no lightweight, but it masks its bulk rather well to deliver a clean, composed and generally capable handling experience, although it's not quite as exciting as a Leon 300 TSI. But the dynamic gap between them isn't as wide as you might think, because neither car has what we'd called scintillating steering so getting the full level of informative detail a keen driver would want from the chassis isn't the easiest job. Yet body control, grip and traction are all first-rate with the Cupra Leon, so it will link a series of corners together at a decent lick and not feel like it is losing its composure in the slightest while doing so.
Where the eHybrid proves itself as the most appealing model in the revised line-up, however, is for the other side of the kinematic coin. As it runs on smaller alloys and bigger sidewalls than the 300 TSI, and as it also has a slightly softer tune of suspension (or at least, it feels like it does), the ride comfort is better in this car - no doubt helped by the 1.7-tonne kerb weight keeping things nicely buttoned down. It can then also be far more refined than the purely petrol-powered Cupras when it's running in its electric mode, which makes it a much nicer Leon to be pottering about town in. For that dichotomy of character - as in, it can be highly relaxing when you want it to be and then sweetly engaging when you're on a quieter country road - the eHybrid is arguably the pick of the updated Cupra Leon's range.
Value
The updated Cupra Leon range starts from a smidge beyond £31,000 for a 150hp 1.5 manual hatch, which is impressive, but the 272 eHybrid is a trifle dearer spec-for-spec than the 300 TSI, with a starting figure of £42,075 for this PHEV. That's pretty chunky, although - in a repetition of Cupra's trim-grade hierarchy - V1 and V2 cars are only available with the lower-powered drivetrains, while this 272hp hybrid and the 300hp TSI kick off at luxurious VZ1 and rise to VZ3, with a time-limited, bells-and-whistles VZ First Edition available for a short period too. Cupra doesn't believe in a lengthy options list, so the price you see is the price you'll probably pay, as long as you don't pick a really expensive paintjob for your Leon eHybrid.
Verdict
The crux of the matter with the updated Cupra Leon family is this: do you like that striking new front-end design? If the answer to this question is 'yes', what you'll find here is a talented and appealing range of hatchbacks and estates, with high-quality interiors, advanced onboard tech and generally excellent driving manners. If you're not so sure about the restyling, though, you might find that revised models like the Leon 272 eHybrid are a little off-putting from a design perspective. Which is a shame because, underneath it all, this is a very good performance plug-in hybrid, all things considered.
