Our cars
Hidden Gem
Our tester may be guilty of a spot of neglect but there’s no danger of him losing respect for our long-term Cupra Leon. Pete Tullin
I’ve been a road tester for more years than I care to remember and in that time, I must have driven thousands of cars. Indeed, I can think back to one particular decade when I seldom, if ever, drove the same car on consecutive days. Yes, there are one or two murky patches in the old grey matter but if you asked me to reminisce about a car, I appraised way back in the day I could probably still manage to give you a half- decent summary.
Obviously, some motors are easier to recall than others, such as the ground-breaking original Ford Focus and the game-changing BMW E39 5 Series, as well as rolling nightmares like the tearaway TVR Tuscan and the retina-shaking Saab 900 convertible. That said, I reckon many hidden gems are the motors I have to dredge my
Standard equipment: 18in alloy wheels, climate control, sports seats, heated sports steer- ing wheel with shift paddles, LED headlights LED tail lights, Digital configurable cockpit, 12in touchscreen, 4 USB type C, sat nav, smartphone integration includ- ing Mirror Link, Apple Car Play, Android Auto
Options: Metallic paint £870
memory bank to recall, and I wouldn’t mind betting that in a few years’ time the Cupra Leon will slot nicely into this category.
This is because cars like the Leon and its kindred spirits are so darn competent and go about their daily duties with such effortless aplomb they all too often get taken for granted. I’ve certainly been guilty of this heinous crime recently, which no doubt explains why the Leon’s gleaming effervescent-red paintwork has been languishing under a combination of grime and tree sap and its interior has begun to resemble, and pong, like a teenager’s bedroom.
In my defence, I’ve been a wee bit rammed of late, trying to balance work commitments alongside regular trips up North to supervise family affairs, as well as labouring away at various DIY projects for my two daughters. If only one of them had had the foresight to marry a plumber or a brickie instead of a pen pusher. Anyway, regardless of my hectic schedule, I have always been able to rely on my trusty Spanish assistant and despite a lack of TLC and much- needed ablutions, the Leon continues to perform almost flawlessly.
Obviously, the infotainment system is still a wee bit sketchy and the USC ports are increasingly less reliable as they inevitably begin to lose their grip on my phone lead. Show me the individual who thought these infernal devices were a better bet than a perfectly good USB port
and I’ll show you a miscreant who thinks a bottle of Blue Nun is the equal of a magnum of 1983 Chablis Grand Cru. Not that these little irritants have dulled my respect for the Leon, and I’m not alone in my admiration. Pulling up next to an identically coloured Seat Leon FR in my local supermarket car park, the owner was only too eager to tell me of her love for her current charge and was intrigued to know more about the subtle differences between our two cars, especially why the Cupra didn’t have a Leon badge on its rump? Although the lack of nomenclature stumped us both and neither could claim to possess encyclopaedic knowledge of the more in-depth aspects of each model’s features, between us, we concluded that subtle stylistic differences aside, the Cupra comes with a heated steering wheel and rides on larger 18-inch alloys, while the Seat makes do with 17-inch items and misses out on the mitt warmers. More pertinently, the Cupra’s P11D is around £1400 higher than the Seat’s, which seems a fairly steep premium for a few splashes of copper and chrome trim, slightly bigger rims and some toasty digits.
Although the starry-eyed Seat owner couldn’t explain what it was that enthralled her so about her Leon, it was enough to know that she simply loved it. None of this surprised me really, as it has been my experience that this kind of blind devotion is not uncommon among
WEBSITE Please visit
www.businesscar.co.uk/tests/long-term-test/ for previous reports on our fleet
Cupra Leon V1 1.5 eTSI 150 DSG
P11D price £31,645 As tested £33,480 Official consumption 47.9mpg Our average consumption 44.6mpg Mileage 4582
people who have little or no interest in what makes a certain brand of car better than another and end up buying or leasing a VW group product almost by accident. Now, I certainly wasn’t about to turn nasal-toned anorak and start delivering a diatribe re kinetic dynamics so instead, I resolved to nutshelled matters by telling her that because so much time and effort had gone into ensuring every individual component was tuned and balanced to complement the next, by people who understood how this process produces a car that delivers easy drivability, and therefore by association, makes a car constructed in this way, a safer car. Halfway through my exaltations, however, I observed a certain glazed expression taking hold, so I quickly grabbed my anorak made good my excuses and beat a hasty retreat, much to her obvious relief.
Why we’re running it
To see how the eTSI version of the Cupra Leon works for our fleet.
www.businesscar.co.uk | August 2023 | 45
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