Seat Leon Cupra 300 4WD Review: Why I’d Rather Stick With Its FWD Sibling

I’ve long had a soft spot for the Seat Leon Cupra. I maintain it’s still a thoroughly tempting option even though its place at the top of the hot hatch food chain is now under threat from the Ford Focus RS plus the outgoing and incoming Honda Civic Type Rs, and now, Seat has made some improvements to ensure it’s better than ever.

The Spanish company’s Sport division has added 10bhp, and, err, that’s about it. But here’s the thing: while the ladies and gents in Barcelona were at it, they whipped up an all-new four-wheel drive version.

In a move that initially confused us, Seat announced that the new ‘4Drive’ Cupra would only be available as an estate, and with a DSG automatic gearbox. But it’s all to do with the tooling and expertise already being in place for the Leon ‘ST’ estate-based Xperience, the only other four-wheel drive Leon in production. Yes, you can buy a four-wheel drive VW Golf R as either a hatch or estate with the same MQB platform, but MQB isn’t just a playbox from which any VW Group brand can take whichever toy it fancies - it’s not quite that simple.

So, boring production line stuff out of the way, what’s it actually like to drive? Rapid, is the answer. Seriously rapid.

It has the same eager, surprisingly revvy ‘EA888’ 2.0-litre inline-four offering up 297bhp, but four-wheel drive traction plus a launch control function does wonders for the Cupra’s acceleration capabilities. 0-62mph is dispatched in just 4.9 seconds, down from 5.8.

But it’s not just the off-the-line pace: whenever you put your foot down you can guarantee the 4Drive Cupra will hook up and shoot you off into the distance with vigour. There’s no waiting for excitable front wheels to stop scrabbling and regain traction here.

Lateral grip meanwhile is impressive to the point that your face will probably give way before the tyres do. Although being a front-biased Haldex system, you’ve probably guessed by now that safe and predictable understeer is waiting for you should you manage to exceed the limit.

The body doesn’t budge a whole lot either, but then it shouldn’t - as with pretty much every Leon Cupra before it, this is one stiffly sprung car.

So it’s way faster than the front-wheel drive version, grips harder in the corners, and doesn’t light up its front tyres at the slightest provocation. So obviously, I’d ignore it and buy the regular front-wheel drive car. Wait, what?

Hear me out, as this is one of those classic, ever-so-slightly clichéd instances of the inferior car being the more interesting one. This is all reminiscent of when we tested ‘our’ VW Golf GTI Clubsport against the Golf R - the Cupra 4Drive’s German cousin. These days, 297bhp isn’t a power output that automatically ‘requires’ four-wheel drive: the trick VAQ differential in the front-wheel drive car - itself essentially half a Haldex four-wheel drive system - can handle it, but only just. And the ‘just’ bit is crucial.

It’s that feeling of being on the edge of what’s capable that’s so exciting. I like the scrabbling front wheels. I love the feeling of the power being shuffled from wheel to wheel, livening up the Cupra’s otherwise lifeless steering. And I love the way you can feel the VAQ system tug the front end into line.

You get much more of a sense of what the car’s doing to get you around the corner, making you feel far more involved. The 4Drive machine on the other hand doesn’t require much effort at all to drive very quickly, and just isn’t as thrilling.

The draw of four-wheel drive grip and security means the Leon Cupra will appeal to a lot of buyers, particularly in the often wet UK - few cars will be able to touch this when the roads are well lubricated. At £34,485 it costs under £1000 less to buy outright than the VW Golf R estate, but you do get more stuff as standard - adaptive dampers are standard on the Cupra for instance. But the Golf claws it back if you’re leasing: at present, you’ll get a better deal on the VW.

There’s no doubt 4Drive Cupra compliments the hot Leon range nicely, but for me? I’d take the much cheaper, much more exciting front-wheel drive car without question. If you’re really into driving, I’d recommend you do the same.