| A Week at the Wheel | Cambs, England | SEAT Leon Cupra |
SEAT's Cupra range is a familiar sight on our roads now. The brand, bolstered by keen advertising and product placement in events - such as a one-make race series and the British Touring Car Championship - has further pushed it into the psyche of the enthusiast. The previous incarnation of the Leon Cupra sold well in a variety of petrol and diesel derivatives offering excellent performance at competitive prices, significantly undercutting rivals and enjoying deserved success as a result.
The latest Leon continues to build on the ethos of dynamic ability at attractive prices, in the case of the Cupra offering more performance than the majority of rivals, but at a significantly lower cost. The marque has rethought its styling direction of late though and moved away from its family relatives by offering larger one-box type designs. The Leon itself is marketed as offering coupé lines, but the flexibility of a hatchback.
Its styling is distinctive, but it looks a little too much like an MPV for our liking and perhaps awkward as a result. There's no arguing with the aggression of the front end, but in profile the Leon lacks some of the sporting stance you might expect and from some angles it looks plain frumpy. The loud paint hues, dark alloys and bright calipers lurking behind them add sporting intent, but overall it looks too much like an
Altea in our eyes.
The interior is enhanced over lesser models by some really supportive bucket seats and some carbon-effect dash mouldings. Unfortunately this feature didn't find its way on to the doors and the expanses of plain black plastic reflects the difference in quality and budget compared to a Golf. The shortfall is very evident. However, it is comparable to competitors such as the
Renault Mégane and is functional and easy to use.
Space is a strong point too - as you'd expect given the body shape - with headroom in particular being appreciably better than rivals and lending a very roomy feel. Boot space is equally impressive. Ambience would be improved with some lighter colours and features in the cabin; it's all a bit dark.
The Cupra houses the 237bhp derivative of the now familiar VW Group 2.0-litre FSI turbocharged four-cylinder unit - a full 40bhp up on the Golf GTI (excluding the
special Edition 30 model). Much of the power bias has been shifted upwards, the boost peaking higher, later and more intensely. Peak torque is up to 221lb.ft from 2,200-5,500rpm with that peak power figure held from 5,700 to 6,300rpm.
Curiously, the red line on the rev counter is set at under 6,500rpm, compared to 7,000rpm in the Golf, but armed with that prior knowledge and experience we soon found you could hold gears longer and drive clean through the red line with the actual limiter set a few hundred revs higher.
All out pace is impressive with 60mph coming up in just under six and a half seconds but, more tellingly a reflection of that extra potency, the surge to 100mph being dispatched in a little more than 15 seconds, a full three seconds quicker than the standard
Golf GTI. In-gear pace is significantly quicker and the Cupra feels on level pegging with the current benchmarks of the Mégane R26 and the unruly
Mazda 3 MPS.
On the open road the Cupra proves to have more than adequate pace, hauling itself out of bends with alacrity and accelerating strongly through to license-compromising speeds through a slick shifting six-speed 'box. The handling is sharp and agile with plenty of grip being complemented by a stiff and roll free suspension set up, naturally with a sporting bias. Ride quality and composure does suffer slightly as a consequence, with motorway manners in particular being significantly deteriorated compared to rivals, and body control isn't as accomplished as it should be.
The brakes are strong and offer good feel with no sign of fade when pressing on. The steering gives good feedback and is impressively free of torque steer on all but the wettest or most heavily cambered surfaces; not an inconsiderable achievement given the potency on tap. The whole package adds up to a fairly raw and hardcore offering that is fun, but does lack that degree of polish that marks out a genuinely talented car from a very competent one.
Somehow the Cupra adds up to less than the sum of its parts. There's no questioning it offers gutsy performance and a rawer, edgier feel than the Golf, but for me the deficit in ergonomics, quality and polish isn't bridged by the extra power and pace. However, for some the bar room bragging rights of those all-out performance figures may be hard to resist, but for those people it must be hard to resist the Mégane. In my mind, if the chassis was perfectly polished then the Leon would be able to compete more comfortably, but as it is, it falls between both stools and fails to match either rival.
It's a worthy addition to the hot hatch line up, but the talented rivals that exist elsewhere, principally in the form of its stable mate, the Golf, and Renault's Mégane R26 possibly cover the bases more effectively than the Cupra can. It's an interesting cultural spectrum to compare the three cars. There is some definite Latin spirit on show in the SEAT, a reflection of the marque's philosophy and a stark contrast to the pure Germanic efficiency of the Golf GTI. However, more tellingly, it falls short of the R26's Gallic flair. We expect to see an even harder version of the Leon to go chasing after the R26's crown. There's enough capability in the Cupra to suggest that it should keep the Mégane honest.
2007 SEAT Leon range overview
| Model | UK (£ on-the-road) | Ireland: (€ on-the-road) |
| SEAT Leon 1.6 Reference | £12,495 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 1.9 TDI Reference | £13,495 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 1.6 Stylance | £13,695 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 1.9 TDI Stylance | £14,595 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI Reference Sport | £15,495 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI Stylance | £16,695 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TSI FR | £17,250 | €32,400 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI DSG Stylance | £17,695 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI DPF FR | £17,695 | €34,180 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TSI DSG FR | £18,250 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TSI Cupra | £19,695 | n/a |
| SEAT Leon 1.4 R 85 BHP | n/a | €19,900 |
| SEAT Leon 1.4 Costa 85 BHP | n/a | €20,200 |
| SEAT Leon 1.6 PETROL R | n/a | €20,950 |
| SEAT Leon 1.6 PETROL S | n/a | €22,790 |
| SEAT Leon 1.9 TDI R | n/a | €23,400 |
| SEAT Leon 1.9 TDI S | n/a | €26,140 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 PETROL FSI S | n/a | €27,975 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI S | n/a | €29,600 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 PETROL FSI S AUTO | n/a | €29,975 |
| SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI S AUTO | n/a | €31,600 |
