Cupra Leon 300

The final verdict is in: the latest Leon is a rewarding, do-it-all hot hatch that stands out from its stablemates

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MY EXPERIENCES WITH SOME OF THE VOLKSWAGEN Group's other recent hot hatches put something of a dampener on my enthusiasm for the Fast Fleet Cupra Leon. I'd driven this facelifted model abroad on its launch last year and enjoyed it, but my feelings for it had withered since, through no fault of its own. However, after a stint in our long-termer for its final weeks on the evo fleet, things were flipped on their head.

I'm not a huge fan of its looks, and neither are the rest of the team. To my eyes the new front end is more generic than those of the pre-facelift car and the SEAT Leon Cupras that came before it, and while the rear end looks sharper, with its full-width light bar and Dodge Viper-style illuminated badge, it doesn’t quite make up for it. Thankfully the place where the driver spends most of their time gives you a lot more to like.

Look past the marginally improved but still not great infotainment and the cabin is a nice place to be, with cool (real) carbonfibre-backed bucket seats (part of the top-level VZ3 trim package), tasteful ambient lighting, a relatively slim steering wheel rim and a dedicated drive-mode button mounted on one of its spokes. The upholstery is also pretty much unique, and while our car didn’t have it, the option of Cupra’s signature blue leather remains. Overall, there's still room for improvement, but the difference in character and perceived quality between the Leon and its Volkswagen counterparts is night and day.