In flagrant disregard of the less-is-more principle, SEAT has given the Leon Cupra a few extra horsepower. *SPOILER ALERT* It's worse for it. Full review at www.honestjohn.co.uk.
Disagree with this review. Having test driven, and actually wanting, some of the other hot hatches, nothing compared to the joy of driving a Cupra 300. Some of the other cars drive a bit effortlessly when pushed whereas the Seat required some skill to keep her straight. Puts a smile on my face every time and a proper drivers car. Each for their own.
Indeed! I think the Civic Type R is a bit weird to look at (in and out), for the BMW the LSD is an (expensive) option, so the Cupra might be the sensible sweet spot. And the traction issues? LOL learn to drive a FWD :P
I wish the real cost vs list was discussed in these reviews, SEAT will give absolutely massive discounts, real world price is well below golf GTI money.
Mate, this car has 300 bhp on front wheels, of course you’re going to get wheel spins if you plant your foot down from a stand still. Implement a bit of educated driving and it’s all good.
The main thing causing traction issues and associated wheel hop in current gen Cupras are the rubbish standard tires which are about as sticky as teflon. Once swapped for Pilot Super Sports, you only get some wheelspin when launching, which is fair enough considering, you know, 380 Nm and FWD. On the standards though you get wheel hop in 2nd and even 3rd if wet, which is frankly ridiculous.
Mine is tuned to 360BHP with Pilot Super Sports and an uprated engine mount. I only get wheel hop/Spin if I completely plant the accelerator with no thought. So in summary completely agree with your points Cristian.
The tramping is hard to forgive. On the other hand, other fwd cars do it too. And there is something exciting in driving something that has more power than grip, meaning you the driver needs to use some skill. On a superbike people don't complain that you cannot pull away full throttle (without traction control cutting in massively)... And driving enjoyment is more than pulling away quickly from the lights... For some at least.
Another great review. Thank you. This car makes so much more sense when you look at the ridiculously cheap lease deals that Seat offer. Could average lease prices be factored into future reviews? It would be a USP as no other reviewer takes this into account and for an average Joe like me, leasing is the only ticket into an above average motor!
Agreed. Mine arrives next week on a lease deal. I pay £350 a month, zero deposit, but thats with most option boxes ticked including the expensive ones like pano roof.
I second that! Going from a 280 to a 300. Obviously looked at the S3 and R first and went for seat again due to the lease price. Was able to spec it really high too and still comes in under the price of the other too for leasing. Plus it now gets the Digital cockpit, iluminated door sills and rear USB ports at no extra cost as well.
Well for me the Cupra is a great car, the hot hatch with the best value- prize ratio. This is the third review by this guy that I habe seen and it was way better than the rest. Sometime is way too goofy or too many bad jokes, but still he has his own style...
This guy needs way more subscribers, knowledgeable, funny, & not too full of car jargon. On the car, I honestly believe SEAT are being held back from performing as well as they could do, I'm sure VW wouldn't want one from their own stable giving their beloved Golf GTi or R a bloody nose. VW are already jealous of Skoda from their profit margins, which makes no sense, you think they'd be grateful.
Canadian here, cant even get half the cars you review but you always kill it. You guys and the dudes from thestraightpipes should be moving on up in subs. Good job hj reviews.
I’m not even into cars like that. I only found your channel because I was reviewing cars for my first car, but your reviews are really engaging to the point that I’ve subscribed 🙄😂
HonestJohn.co.uk, at 3:25 it is saying that it takes 5.9 to 62 mph. I checked and actually it is 5.6 as you wrote in the comment. The ST version (awd) is 4.9.
I would NOT buy a SEAT of any kind, I'm on my 3rd new SEAT in 6 years and I recently had an issue with my Ibiza Cupra where the drivers seat was rocking on it's internal mechanism. The car is just over 2 years old with 24,000 miles and SEAT do not want to know and will not repair it under warranty and say it's 'normal' yet all the showroom cars seats and the passenger seat are solid and don't rock. Never again will I buy a SEAT, the service is ZERO.
I had a Cupra Ibiza in 1997, same issue about traction. In the wet I had to wait for a decent gap in traffic before I could pull out then immediately change from 1st to 2nd before I could boot it and even then the traction kicked in horribly. Seems Seat have not sorted that out yet.
Can you not drive? I've 2016 Ibiza Cupra 6p 1.8t running stock at 192 now about 245 and no traction issues. It's 300kg lighter than the Leon! So it should be worse. Test drove Leon cupra 300 St fwd and it drove very well. No problem with getting it up to speed from standstill. Of course you will have wheel spin running so much power. You'd get a. Nice wheel spin of awd car with this much power
As a former Seat owner, it's sad to now see the company's Leon hot hatches fall behind those of the Skoda brand. VAG had diluted auto emocion out of the company. Proper review as always.cheers.
I had a 280 and found it fine. I liked it so much I got the 300. They are great every day cars. They can't put the power straight down. But set off just a bit off full power and it will grip and go.
