SEAT Leon Cupra R

It seems hard to believe, but it was back in January that we acquired the keys to the hottest-ever Leon to come from the SEAT stable. How time flies when you're having fun!

Auto Express Car Reviews

By Gavin Ward

May 2003

It seems hard to believe, but it was back in January that we acquired the keys to the hottest-ever Leon to come from the SEAT stable. How time flies when you're having fun!
Regular stints at the wheel of the turbocharged and twin-intercooled 1.8-litre Cupra R have been effortless and impressively rapid. We love how its 210bhp is transmitted to the tarmac, the great six-speed gearbox and the precise feel of the steering. And unlike many other range-topping sports models, the ride is neither too harsh nor the seating uncomfortable when tackling long journeys.
The Leon has been put through its paces on the practicality front, too, courtesy of home improvement work at Chez Ward. On one occasion, I managed to squeeze the entire ground floor carpet of a large house into the car. Better still, only one trip to the local dump was needed to offload crates full of rubble and wood. All this was made possible because of the car's large, square load area, flat-folding rear seats and wide opening hatchback. In fact, the only awkward bit was having to remove the rear headrests.
Sadly, my enthusiastic DIY efforts mean the boot area has picked up one or two scuffs, but it's an opposite story with the exterior paintwork - there's not a stone chip in sight. Totting up the fuel consumption figures since our last report (issue 741) wasn't too much of a shock, despite some hard driving. Alternating refills between 95 Ron and super unleaded has seen the Leon return between 21 and 28mpg - with the average now settling at the 25mpg mark.
However, despite my obvious pride in running what is arguably one of the best cars on the Auto Express fleet, it hasn't been all plain sailing. With only 2,000 miles on the clock, part of the dashboard developed a rattle. Badly surfaced streets and the dreaded speed bumps brought this fault to the fore - and a glance through road tests we've done on earlier Leons reveals this isn't the first time such a problem has emerged.
Another minor gripe concerns the roof-mounted radio aerial. Firstly, the reception it provides isn't that strong and it often loses stations. Secondly, despite our best efforts, we have been unable to unscrew the device. So if you want to put the Leon through a quick automatic carwash, there's a risk of the aerial or the paintwork being damaged.
Drivers not used to the SEAT will also be alarmed at the way the fuel gauge needle rapidly falls away to Empty as soon as it hits the quarter- full mark. Several times now I've had to cruise to lower than normal speed just to be absolutely sure of reaching the pumps.
But maybe I'm being a bit too harsh. The aerial and the dashboard rattle should both be fixed when the car gets its 10,000-miles service, and the fuel gauge merely takes some getting used to. Meanwhile, the biggest expense in the coming months looks likely to be a new set of front tyres. Because the Cupra R is a car that urges you to always push harder than normal, perhaps I should not have been that surprised when a routine inspection of the rubber revealed that the front pair were looking particularly worn.
With the odometer only just past the 7,000-miles mark, such wear may seem premature, but this is partly the price you pay for having so much power going through the front wheels. At ΂£147 a corner, the bill for the 18-inch Pirelli P Zeros should be just about acceptable.