Cupra Leon review

As anyone who’s watched The Sixth Sense will know, a good twist is pretty exciting. And the Cupra Leon we're reviewing here is a fast car with its own interesting twist – and not just because it's available as a hatchback or estate.

As well as getting a turbo-boosted petrol engine that thumps out masses of power, the Cupra Leon also comes in two super-quick plug-in hybrid versions that emit nothing from their exhaust pipes when running on battery power alone.

Still, as the Cupra Leon tries to reinvent itself – gaining bespoke styling and engines that set it apart from the Seat Leon for the first time – it’s going to need to play all the cards in its hand to take on its rivals. After all, they include such big names as the Ford Focus ST, Honda Civic Type R, VW Golf GTI and VW Golf Estate R.

Read on to find out how we rate the latest Cupra Leon against the best hot hatchbacks...

The driving experience in the Cupra Leon varies quite a lot depending on the version, but we'll start with the entry-level 1.5 TSI 150, which is available with a six-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed automatic.

If you treat it as a mildly sporty family car, performance is fine, but the 148bhp power output isn’t exactly scintillating in the world of hot hatches. If you're not bothered about racy looks, consider the near-identical Seat Leon FR with the same engine. It costs less and still offers a slightly sharper drive than most family hatchbacks.

We think the Cupra Leon is best with one of the engines you can’t get in the Seat model – especially the 2.0-litre turbocharged unit in the 300 hatchback. It produces 296bhp and can sprint from 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds, which is pretty much a match for the Ford Focus ST.

You don’t need to work the engine hard to unlock its potential, and it’s ready to leapfrog slow traffic at a moment's notice, with only a tiny hesitation from the automatic gearbox. Speaking of which, unlike the 1.5 TSI 150, the performance versions are not available with a manual gearbox – if you’d prefer one of those, have a look at the Focus ST, Honda Civic Type R or Toyota GR Yaris.

Make no mistake, the Cupra Leon 300 is a quick car – but there is one issue: all the power is fed straight to the front wheels. In wet conditions, that limits how quickly you can accelerate without the front wheels spinning away. 

The 300 isn’t even the fastest version of the Cupra Leon. Oh no, you can have the estate car version with a 328bhp 2.0 petrol engine, which is also available in the Cupra Formentor. Like the Formentor, the 333 has 4Drive (four-wheel drive) and its extra traction helps make it easily one of the quickest-accelerating load-luggers for the money, getting from 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds.

For some added efficiency, you might instead go for one of the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) 1.5 TSI e-Hybrid engines. With 201bhp or 268bhp, they’re very different propositions and can officially drive using battery power alone for up to around 80 miles.

Having an electric motor to add low-end thrust to the petrol engine is good news for flexibility, although the e-Hybrid PHEVs are still nowhere near as punchy as the 300 and 333 versions.

Indeed, while the 268bhp PHEV can cover 0-62mph in 7.1 seconds, it’s still miles off the pace of the best hot hatches at this price – and you only have access to all the performance available if there’s enough charge in the battery. Plus, once the battery is out of charge, you’re left with just the petrol engine lugging the extra mass around.

The extra kilos from that PHEV battery rather dampens any thrills in the bends too.  

Weight – this time from the four-wheel-drive system – is also an issue in the Cupra Leon 333 estate car. It weighs more than the 300 hatchback and never feels as eager to make quick changes of direction. However, the margins here are much smaller, and the estate's extra traction does help it feel more composed and planted on greasy roads.

Ultimately, the 333 estate gets our vote as the best to drive relative to its closest peer, the Ford Focus ST Estate. The four-wheel-drive system helps neutralise the power delivery, so it’s more effective at putting its power down. There's less wheel spin than in the 300 hatchback, and the driver doesn’t have to wrestle the steering wheel as it pulls left then right in your hands when accelerating hard.

All the Cupra Leons we’ve driven have had adaptive suspension, which comes as standard on all but the entry-level trim. It offers three main settings (Comfort, Performance and Cupra) plus a number of settings beyond and between those three, so you can really fine-tune things.

The trouble is that while you can make these Leons very compliant over softer folds in the road, anything sharp creates more of a thwack than it would in a Focus ST or even a VW Golf GTI with a similar adaptive suspension set-up. 

Road and wind noise aren’t frightful for a fast car with big tyres and is no worse than a Focus ST. Meanwhile, the e-Hybrid PHEVs' engines stay silent when running in electric mode – although that's not necessarily what hot-hatch buyers want.

That said, even the entry-level petrol versions don’t sound that compelling, seeming pretty bland in the standard driving mode. The 2.0-litre engines sound much better, with a subtle exhaust note that adds a suitable amount of theatre.

There's a digitised engine note in the more aggressive drive modes but it's not very convincing (you can turn it off in the Individual drive mode).

The e-Hybrid versions' brakes aren’t hugely confidence inspiring because the regenerative braking system means the brake pedal’s feel changes depending on whether it's recovering energy. They’re good for an ordinary PHEV but not by the standards of the best hot hatches.

Happily, the brakes fitted to the 333 estate are much more confidence-inspiring, and with optional larger alloy wheels and Brembo or Akebono brakes, you’ll get an appreciable improvement in bite in the pedal’s initial travel.

"I'm not convinced by the V8 engine noise that comes through the speakers in Cupra mode. It’s supposed to make things a bit more exciting when you’re pushing on but it’s very obviously fake." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

The Cupra Leon’s driving position is excellent, with pedals that line up neatly with the steering wheel and driver’s seat, which is comfy on long journeys and supportive through corners.

The digital driver's display is great too. It’s highly configurable and offers a wide range of lay-outs, while physical buttons on the steering wheel make it easy to use.

However, you don't get proper buttons or switches on the dashboard to adjust the climate control system. Instead it has touch-sensitive pads (like in the VW Golf GTI) that you can’t find by feel, so you have to look away from the road, and that’s distracting at 30mph, let alone 70mph.

The Cupra Leon has reasonably slim windscreen pillars so forward visibility is fine, but its chunky rear pillars can make reversing trickier than in some rivals. Front and rear parking sensors are standard, and stepping up to V2 trim or above adds a rear-view camera. LED headlights are standard too, with an automatic main-beam feature to avoid dazzling other road users.

The infotainment system includes a 12.9in touchscreen, DAB radio, and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. The screen is bright and clear, and the operating system it runs is responsive – although it takes a good 20 minutes of playing with the menus to grasp the slightly odd menu lay-out.

A seven-speaker sound system is standard, while top-spec VZ3 trim comes with a 10-speaker Sennheiser upgrade. The upgraded system provides plenty of bass-heavy punch but the sound quality itself is actually quite muffled.

You also get a natural voice-control function. You wake it up by saying “Hola, Hola”, and then a phrase like “I’m cold” (to ask it to turn up the heater). It doesn’t always work perfectly though.

The Cupra Leon has a plusher-looking interior than the Ford Focus ST. You’ll find squidgy, dense-feeling plastic on the top of the dashboard and lots of Cupra flourishes dotted about inside, with plenty of bronze highlights and ambient lighting. It doesn’t look or feel as posh inside as a BMW M135 but it’s a step up from the Focus ST and as good as the VW Golf GTI.

"I like that every Cupra Leon gets a digital driver's display that’s quite impressive, giving you lots of different view options, including everything from normal dials to a large sat-nav map." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There’s absolutely loads of head room in the front of the Cupra Leon and its seats slide back a long way too. Plenty of shoulder room completes the package, making it a comfortable place for even your tallest and broadest friends. Better still, there’s also an array of storage spots for all your accessories.

If you’re thinking the Cupra Leon is bound to be a less practical choice than a VW Golf GTI you’re in for a surprise. It’s longer than the Golf and has quite a lot more rear leg room as a result – as much as a Ford Focus ST in fact. That means two tall adults fit in the back with no problem, or three with a degree of shoulder-rubbing.

With the hatchback's rear seats in place, the boot takes up to six carry-on suitcases below the parcel shelf, which is more than you’ll fit in a Focus ST hatchback or Golf GTI. The boot volume is 380 litres in most Cupra Leon hatchbacks, but the e-Hybrid PHEVs get 270 litres because the hybrid kit steals some space.

There’s a ski hatch for poking long, thin loads through, and the rear seat backs split 60/40 and fold down for when you’ve got something larger to transport.

As you might expect, the Cupra Leon estate car brings even greater practicality, giving you 620 litres of boot space to play with – more than the VW Golf Estate R. Again, going for a PHEV reduces boot space, taking the figure down to 470 litres. 

"I think it’s great news that the Cupra Leon gets a ski hatch to poke items through from the boot, because its 60/40 split-folding seats are not particularly versatile." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

There are not that many hot hatches left to choose from these days, and while the entry-level Cupra Leon 1.5 V1 isn’t the most entertaining option, it does at least look sportier than most hatchbacks while remaining affordable to buy and fuel.

The hotter Cupra Leon 300 hatchback is available with a few trim levels, but even the entry-level VZ1 version costs more than the Ford Focus ST and about the same as the Focus ST Edition.

Similarly, the VZ1 333 estate car – the most exciting version – is more expensive than a Ford Focus ST Estate and almost exactly the same price as a VW Golf Estate R. We’d avoid the most expensive VZ3 hatch, because this is within close reach of the dynamically superior Civic Type R.

Aside from the 1.5-litre petrol, no regular petrol-engined Cupra Leon will be particularly cheap to run, but they should still be competitive against models with similar performance. If you’re a company car user, the e-Hybrid plug-in hybrids will be your best bet because they keep BIK tax payments down with their low official CO2 figures and electric-only ranges.

In terms of trim levels, even the entry-level Cupra Leon V1 comes with plenty of kit, including 18in alloy wheels, three-zone climate control, automatic wipers, rear privacy glass and, on versions with an automatic gearbox, a heated steering wheel.

Stepping up to V2 or V3 trim gets you 19in wheels, keyless entry, electrically adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, additional ambient lighting and adaptive suspension. The estate car version in those trims gets an electric tailgate. V3 simply adds electric adjustment for the front passenger seat and extra safety equipment.

The VZ trims (again badged 1, 2 and 3) add even more kit (including adaptive LED headlights) and are the ones you’ll need if you want the most powerful engines.

As for safety, all versions of the Cupra Leon offer automatic emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keeping assistance, with adaptive cruise control and traffic-sign recognition offered as reasonably priced extras. Euro NCAP awarded the model a five-star rating based on the results for the Seat Leon.

While we don’t have data for the Cupra Leon itself, Cupra as a brand finished 17th out of the 31 manufacturers included in the 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. That’s one place above Volkswagen but a few places below Ford (14th).

Something working in the Cupra’s favour, though, is the fact that it comes with a five-year, 90,000-mile standard warranty, compared with the fairly basic three-year, 60,000-mile warranty you get from Ford and VW. 

"Going for the top trims costs a lot but gives you access to the exciting engines, which is the point of the Cupra Leon. Otherwise, I’d save your money and go for the Seat Leon." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

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