The Seat Leon Cupra Has Gone AWD - But It's Not That Simple
Of all the news we were expecting this month, another power upgrade to the Leon Cupra wasn’t among it. But even stranger than that, Seat’s most powerful car has gone four-wheel drive – but only on the estate.
The power increase is another 10bhp, making it twice now that the Spanish company has added that amount to its output. But this time there’s also another 22lb ft to play with, which should help make a little more difference than the power upgrade alone.
Buy a new Leon Cupra 300 in five-door hatchback or three-door SC shape and you’ll get the same front-wheel drive platform we know and love, complete with the VAQ front diff assist that helps drag the car into apexes like you wouldn’t believe. It really is awesome to drive.
But as a five-door ST estate you’re now looking at four-wheel drive and DSG only. Essentially the Leon Cupra 300 ST is a cut-price Golf R estate. Consider our eyebrows raised…
That could easily mean that the estate is faster to 62mph than the FWD cars. The Golf R wagon (also DSG-only) makes the sprint in 5.1 seconds, while the Leon Cupra 290 hatchback does it in 5.7 with DSG.
It’s rare to split drivetrains so dramatically across models that share the same engine, but time – and sales figures – will tell us what the people think.
Pricing is yet to be sorted out, but the difference between the hatchbacks and the estate is going to be interesting. We’re not sure which one we’d choose.
Comments
Ford Focus RS wannabes..
Because Ford Focus RS is the only AWD car…
I think the the Golf R was AWD before the focus RS…….
No they aren’t like Focus RS’s
These cars are actually good!
Bro RS is a R wanna be according to your logic because the golf R had AWD first.
It makes sense to give people the option. Us purist nutters get the FWD limited slip diff option whilst the general public who think 4WD drives on rails would probably prefer that system. Sounds like more like a clever business plan than anything else haha.
More power and torque, and a new AWD option to go along with it. Nice.
And here’s me with FWD manual estate version, just chillin’
Sorry but I’m hyped for this!
Shame, I was pretty excited for the hatches going 4wd. Having said that golf 7R’s have gotten quite cheap in the UK recently
I wonder Fiat is going to do a better job at tuning the suspension than VW did on the Golf R. It’s quite a challenge, but I feel like Seat always made the slightly sportier MQB car.
I’m sold! Always liked the Leon, but Golf R matched in estate form, where do I sign?
Quite a decent idea and makes a ton of sense, the hatchback is for more hardcore drivers so keeping it FWD is a given, the Estate is a more useable car anyway so why not give it 4WD?
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