Cupra Leon 300
Don’t be deceived by the looks – the Cupra’s performance can surprise
THE FIRST THREE FAST FLEET CARS THAT I ever ran at evo were all white. A Mini Cooper S, a Caterham R300 and a Mk5 Golf GTI. All looked rather distinctive; a certain nostalgia around the Mini, a definite motorsport vibe to the Caterham. But it was the Volkswagen in particular that caused comment because it seemed like a bold choice at the time. It stood out.
Fast forward a decade and a half to the white Cupra Leon and it would only stand out less if it was snowing. It’s not a bad looking car, but it just looks like a humdrum hatchback rather than a hot one.
I’m not sure how much of it is down to the hue, but I don’t think it helps. I praised the VW T-roc R for being a bit of a Q-car and you could certainly take the same stance with the Cupra, except I’m not sure that ‘understated’ is the look the Spanish brand is supposed to be channelling.
But a bit like Geoffrey from accounts who confounds everyone when he lets loose with an incredible Freddie Mercury impersonation at the Crimbo Karaoke, so the apparently subdued Leon has the ability to surprise. For a start, it’s quite the peacock at night. The huge, bright white Cupra logos that project onto the tarmac from under the mirrors are just the beginning. Inside, the interior can be lit up with colours of your choosing, split between the single thin strip that runs round the top of the dash and the softer glow in the door cards. It’s cool. It’s fun. It’s much more what you might expect.
Then there is the surprising speed with which it can cover ground. Not long after I took over custodianship of the Cupra from managing editor Ian Eveleigh, I had to get to the station in a bit of a hurry. Up until this point I hadn’t really had cause to stretch the Leon’s legs, but heading over the hills it was frankly astonishing the pace it possessed. It’s easy to get a bit blasé about the performance of front-wheel-drive hot hatches because they seem to have been static at around 300bhp with 0-60mph times of just under six seconds for quite a while now. And of course they do the day-to-day with such a disarmingly demur demeanour, doubleclutch deftly dispatching the drearier journeys, that it’s easy to forget what they’re capable of.
But let off the leash through the well-sighted corners and along the straights, the Leon 300 was genuinely thrillingly rapid. It likes a trailing brake into a bend, the rear happy to swing round neatly. The EA888 engine also feels noticeably stronger now with a few more miles on it since I last drove this car for the group test back in issue 290. I can’t say I looked back longingly at the latest white car on the Fast Fleet as I ran for the platforms, but I did think about that drive as I sat on the train.
Date acquired July 2021 Total mileage 8508 Mileage this month 1870 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 28.6
‘It’seasytogeta bit blasé about the performance of frontdrive hot hatches’