The way it could deploy all that power through just its front wheels was remarkable

I didn’t for a moment think that we’d catch the Cayenne S. It’d had a head start, after all. By the time we set off it had already taken a good bite out of Bruntingthorpe’s runway, its driver clearly not sparing any of its V8’s 380bhp, all four wheels firing any loose stone they encountered high into the air behind.

Yet slowly but surely we reeled it in, and by the time we reached the timing beams at the far end of the straight – where we’d originally intended to park up – we were past the Porsche, all three of us in the Cupra whooping and cheering at winning our impromptu drag race, then shouting ‘One-fifty!’ in amazed unison as our speed appeared on the read-out on the verge.

It’s amazing to think that the kind of pace that could recently only be found in a hatchback if it was an expensive, four-wheel-drive homologation special can now be had in a front-wheel-driver priced at under 20 grand, yet it’s exactly why, when our SEAT Leon Cupra long-termer arrived back in May 2007, I was more than happy to be appointed its custodian. With virtually identical statistics to the Astra VXR I had run before it (237bhp, low sixes to 60), I had a hunch the Cupra wouldn’t disappoint.

And disappoint it didn’t, not least because the way it could deploy all that power through just its front wheels was quite remarkable. Despite 221lb ft of torque being available from 2200 right up to 5000rpm, torque steer was something the Cupra had clearly never heard of, while even pulling away briskly on a wet surface was not the traction control-troubling experience you might expect. It really made me wonder why the likes of the Astra and the Focus ST made such a meal of similar situations.

And it wasn’t just under acceleration that the SEAT impressed – it had all the bases covered. The giant 345mm front discs would make light work of shedding speed, while in the corners the Cupra’s Pirelli P Zero Rossos felt like they were clawing the car down onto the tarmac long after most hot hatches would be displaying an unsettling lightness.

All of which made quick cross-country driving in the Cupra surprisingly effortless – you never fought the car, you just picked your speed for the next bend and got on with it. But there was a price to be paid for such abilities, most notably in terms of ride comfort. Almost every passenger who rode in the Cupra (evo staff included) commented on how stiff it was. It wasn’t a big deal when you were driving – you’d just be enjoying the way the car always felt 100 per cent in sequence with whatever passed beneath its wheels – but sat in any other seat the constant jiggling quickly became tiresome.

In fact, beyond the handy dual-zone climate control, the Cupra didn’t have a lot to offer passengers. The interior certainly wasn’t plush, with cloths and plastics that were all rather ho-hum to look at and touch. At least they were all black (surely the best option for a built-to-a-price interior) and hard wearing (there were no unsightly scuffs after 11 months of use). The driver was well catered for, though, with wonderfully supportive, low-set bucket seats, chunky leather steering wheel, perfectly spaced pedals and easy-to-read instruments. In fact, you really couldn’t argue with where SEAT had chosen to spend and save money to give the Cupra a competitive spec at a competitive price (£19,695 in 2007, £19,505 now, although the bi-xenon lights have been relegated to the options list).

However, you could quite easily argue with the £1595 being asked for the optional satnav/stereo unit. KR07 had it fitted, and the satnav part proved too basic and too slow, while the stereo sounded truly cheap. Other bugbears? The angle and thickness of the Leon’s A-pillars meant they were too often right where you wanted to look when tackling a large roundabout or a sweeping bend, and the engine rattled like a diesel on start-up (but sounded fine thereafter). And then there was the emissions warning light, which kept appearing for days on end and then mysteriously disappearing again. I’d hoped that Motorvogue SEAT in Northampton might be able to fix the problem at the Cupra’s first and only service during its time with us (at just shy of 11,000 miles and at a cost of £169), but thanks to diagnostics tests repeatedly and unhelpfully suggesting that a duff ECU was the cause when it was in fact a faulty emissions sensor, it took a few more visits before the problem was resolved (all under warranty). We received a number of e-mails from owners of various SEAT models that have suffered the same problem, often with different fixes.

But worrying illumination or not, I never stopped enjoying driving the Cupra. Odd as it sounds for a five-door hatch, you do need to be a bit selfish to consider one if you carry passengers on a regular basis, but it’s this lack of compromise, the way performance is put first, that gives the Cupra its appeal. Call me selfish if you like, but it was my kind of car.