The New Seat Leon Cupra - Mention a ‘hot-hatch’ car and instantly an image of a young male driver appears. But that image is now so 20th century for it is the younger females who are taking an interest in the more sportier cars hence the new SEAT Cupra, the most powerful of the Leon range, is right up their street.
Especially if it comes in the bright yellow paint as my test car did and will certainly turn heads so be prepared for lots of admiring glances from on lookers. Being the flagship of the Leon range, the Cupra has some very distinguishing differences to her siblings in the Leon range such as special 18-inch alloy wheel with red painted brake callipers, the trademark Cupra oval exhaust pipe along with the Cupra badge on the boot lid. She is also slightly more aggressive looking with the bonnet having beautifully scalloped headlights flanking the large SEAT emblem that points down via the almost crease like lines into a huge air intake grille with the most extraordinary shaped twin grilles either side and the little fog lights staring out. To profile, the sleek use of glass with the rear black outs, coupled with the black heated, electrically adjustable and folding door mirrors gives a real sporty yet inviting look. While to the rear, the lovely lip over the rear window along with the sport headlights sprawling over both the rear and the boot areas with the large unusual shaped bumper elude more wow factors. Not being great fan of SEAT, I was extremely impressed with the eye-catching exterior.
Inside I was greeted with really comfortable sports bucket style seats that immediately got me in the mood for driving this car. But I had to be patient and familiarise myself with all the controls. So on the height adjustable steering wheel was also the cruise control, audio switches, as well as the normal lights, indicators and wipers, the instrument panel was clear to real in a three-dial format. The central console tilts towards the driver and is suspended thus produces a cavity behind the gearlever that acts as an oddments tray as well as housing cup holders. The console is home to driver and passenger duel zone climate control and the CD radio with eight speakers. Being a Cupra, the interior was black including the roof lining, with metal covered pedals and a specific Cupra branded steering wheel and gear knob. To accommodate a girl’s night out, the Cupra can take three passengers safely or for shopping trips the boot capacity is very large but for serious retail therapy, the backseats fold back flat thus given a load space of 1,166 litres, about 100 shopping bags.
So upon tuning on the engine my ears became attuned to a very sporty sound at low revs and when idling, acclimatising to a more throaty sound at higher revs thanks to the Cupra being the first car to use ‘SEAT SOUND’ which is a new system designed to make these noises. You see, it’s not just boys and their very loud toys! Whipping the Cupra into action is a 2.0 litre turbocharged FSI petrol engine exclusive to SEAT featuring direct injection and 16 valves thus achieves a top speed of 153mph, 0-62 in a very quick 6.2 seconds. The FSI technology helps to keep the fuel consumption at bay with 34.0 mpg on a combined cycle and CO2 emission are 199g/km, which is pretty impressive for a 240 PS sports car. The downside, is because the Cupra is a sports car, it falls into insurance group 17 E and VED band of F. Couple this with a price tag of £19,595 would be buyers should have redundant proof career in order to maintain the Cupra.
The Cupra comes with sports suspension that enables the car to respond instantaneously to the driver’s commands thus gives the driver a better feeling of control over the car. This was particularly apparent on the county roads with the Cupra taking the bends beautifully in its stride. This could also be due to the fact the ride height has been lowered by 14 mm compared to a basic Leon to improve road handling. The steering is superb thanks to Driver Steering Recommendation that helps to keep the vehicle on the correct course in critical handling situations while the brakes have been modified by having larger brake discs and of course, those red callipers really do look cool.
For peace of mind, the Cupra comes with the latest generation of ABS with Electronic Brake Force Distribution, ESP that can be de-activated if required, and includes Emergency Brake Assist, Traction Control, an over boost that increase brake pressure if needed and BSW that cleans the brake discs regularly whenever the windscreen wipers are switched on. This is a great safety features as the discs do accumulate lots of dirt thus affecting their performance.
Further safety measures come in the form of driver, passenger, front side and curtain airbags, with rear side airbags an optional extra, height adjustable front seatbelts with tensioners and load limit, three 3-point rear seatbelts, and ISOFIX. While to secure the lovely Cupra is an immobiliser, volumetric alarm with a back up horn, remote central locking with deadlocks, selective door opening, Visible VIN in the windscreen and locking wheel bolts. Well that a pretty impressive list of security features.
There are quite a few optional extras to customise the Cupra such as metallic paint, Bi-xenon headlights, for exterior enhancements or comfort options such as rear parking sensors, electric sunroof and communications pack but I liked my Cupra just the way she was. Bright yellow. What a statement she made and what a brilliant car she was to drive.
Jackie Violet FemaleFirst