The no-nonsense feeling of the Cupra Leon continues when you find some corners. There’s no contrived sportiness here, no needlessly heavy steering, unyielding suspension or complicated four-wheel drive system.
The bottom trim, VZ1, gets 18in wheels with 225-section tyres and passive dampers. We suspect this set-up would harmonise well with the rest of the car’s character. Our VZ2 test car, with its 19in wheels, 10mm-wider tyres and adaptive dampers, will be more representative of how people spec their cars, though.
The dampers are adjustable through no fewer than 12 settings. That sort of granularity is overkill, no doubt, but with a bit of experimentation, there is a good compromise in there.
We found that the standard Sport preset soaks up big bumps very adroitly while taming the worst of the body roll. It allows some movement, but in the absence of any real feedback from the steering, that’s quite helpful in gauging what the chassis is doing. Moving the slider further to the right ramps up the control, but also introduces brittleness, so the firmer settings are better left for a smooth track.
On a road with some medium sweepers, the chassis shows itself to be sweetly balanced. The stability control can be turned off, and a well-timed lift of the throttle will make the rear end edge ever so slightly wide. The Leon is no hooligan like a Ford Focus ST and is never going to catch a driver unawares but offers just enough throttle adjustability to make it feel agile and playful.
