Road Test
Seat Leon Cupra
Test date 28 February 2007
Price as tested £19,545
For Straight-line pace, great engine, value, driving position
AgainstBrake feel, some rivals handle better, cabin detailing
The hot hatch buyer has never had it so good. And now there is another new contender worthy of your cash. The hot hatch competition reaches its most cut-throat around the £20,000 mark; just 12 months ago we were struggling to choose between the Focus ST, Golf GTi and Astra VXR. Now, there’s the added temptation of the manic, space-age Civic Type R, the subtle but rapid Mazda3 MPS and a more focused hot Mégane. The latest addition to the fold is a welcome return for a familiar name: the Seat Leon Cupra.
With the previous-generation Leon, Seat found success by taking the underpinnings of the rather uninspiring Golf GTi Mk4 and improving the mix with more power, better looks and a bargain price. This time round things might not be so easy. For a start there’s that long list of bright new things ready to challenge the Cupra on a power-to-pound basis. The greater hurdle, though, is that the current Golf GTi is day and night better than the old model and a difficult act to beat, even taking into account the Leon’s promise of more grunt.
Fortunately, this Leon is based on the same platform as the Golf and comes with fully independent rear suspension. Built at Seat’s Martorell factory near Barcelona, the Cupra version has been some time coming, and has been previewed by a succession of increasingly warm Leon derivatives. First there was the now-discontinued 182bhp TFSI with discreet Q-car styling, then the 197bhp FR model, which is also available as a diesel. Now, though, the Cupra is here, and the figures that matter are 237bhp and £19,595. That’s 40bhp more than the GTi can muster for £985 less.
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