Cupra Leon Estate
The latest addition to the Cupra Leon range blends practicality with fuss-free performance On sale Now Price from £36,300
Practical sports estate gets up to 306bhp and four-wheel drive, plus there’s a plug-in hybrid option
SAYS Not the most engaging car to drive, but very quick, well priced and seriously spacious
THE PERFORMANCE LOAD lugger is quite a narrow niche, but Cupra now owns a very greedy slice of it. Squarer-backed and nearly 30cm longer than the Cupra Leon hatchback, the estate combines space and pace for way less than an Audi RS6, for example, and there’s even an e-hybrid plug-in version that’ll appeal to the pockets of company car drivers.
Topping the range, though, is this 2.0 TSI 310 model, which will suit the family that absolutely must get their sizeable picnic to the park before anyone else. With 306bhp, the turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine has been tuned to give 10bhp more than it does in the Cupra Leon 300 hot hatch, with stout reserves of mid-rev grunt so you can pass slowermoving traffic in a finger snap.
Okay, the upcoming Volkswagen Golf R Estate has even more power (316bhp), but the Leon 310 matches the Golf’s 0-62mph sprint time of 4.9sec and is much quicker than the Leon 300 hatch, which takes a relatively tardy 5.7sec to perform the same sprint.
If you’re thinking “surely a few extra horsepower can’t make that much difference to acceleration”, you’re right; power is only part of the story. You see, unlike the hatch, the hottest version of the estate has four-wheel drive as standard, so there’s barely any tyre-scrabbling when you accelerate hard from low speeds.
Indeed, the Leon 310 positively rockets away from a standstill and maintains this composure as speed builds. The 300 hatch, by contrast, tugs away at the steering wheel as its front differential and traction control system fight to keep both front wheels in check.
With such assured traction, the Leon 310 is very quick across country, and its powerful brakes are easy to judge, although it doesn’t quite have the agility or playfulness of the rival Ford Focus ST Estate.
The standard seven-speed automatic gearbox rattles through gearchanges at lightning speed on the open road, but also eases the burden of town driving by shifting gears smoothly when trundling along in heavy traffic. And thanks to Dynamic Chassis Control adaptive suspension, which can be stiffened or softened when you desire, the Leon 310 does a grand job of taking the sting out of urban potholes that would agitate the Focus ST and its less sophisticated, non-adaptive suspension.
Inside, things aren’t much different from what you’ll find in a regular Seat Leon Estate, save for well-bolstered sports seats and some copper-coloured trim highlights. You get a fine driving position with a clear digital instrument panel that provides lots of information, while thin windscreen pillars afford excellent forward visibility. Sizeable rear side windows, along with a rear-view camera and sensors all round, help when parking, too.
Interior quality stands up well next to the Focus ST, but while the latter’s standalone aircon controls are a breeze to use on the move, the Leon forces you to dive into a touchscreen menu or use fiddly touchsensitive pads.
Whether you sit in the front or the back, you’ll find plenty of head and leg room. At 620 litres, the 310’s boot is huge, too; its e-hybrid plug-in sibling makes do with 470 litres, because its hefty battery takes up space.
So, the Leon 310 is a lot more versatile than any traditional hot hatchback and trounces the Focus ST Estate for power and performance, if not smiles per mile. And with prices for the new Golf R Estate expected to start north of £40,000, the Leon looks like a performance estate bargain.