2016 Seat Leon Cupra 290 UK first drive

The Seat Leon Cupra 290 is a mildly overhauled version of the Spanish car maker's range-topping hot hatchback. It’s available in three-door SC, five-door hatchback and five-door estate bodystyles, the three-door being just a touch cheaper than the equivalent five-door.

The main news here is a new sports exhaust, a modest power and torque hike and a similarly modest inflationary price hike, arming the Leon a little better to deal with more powerful competitors that it now faces two years after launch: the likes of the Honda Civic Type R and Ford Focus RS. So the car’s turbocharged 2.0-litre engine now develops a peak 286bhp, up from 276bhp. Its 258lb ft of torque now comes over a spread of revs broadened out by 550rpm in all, to 1700-5800rpm.

Performance claims for the car are unchanged, albeit pretty conservative: 5.7sec to 62mph for the fastest three-door. That we figured the outgoing 276bhp Cupra, in DSG form, at 5.9sec to 60mph – with the non-negotiable presence of plenty of unwanted wheelspin in the mix thanks to the car’s hilariously ineffective launch control system – suggests a well-driven manual might be a 5.5sec car in ideal conditions and probably deserves consideration as one of the very quickest front-drive performance cars out there.

Seat has also simplified the Cupra buying routine a bit, deleting the more affordable 261bhp three-door – but keeping the optional ‘Sub8’ pack, which brings with it a brake upgrade, lightweight 19in wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. Adaptive dampers, an electronically controlled locking front differential and variable-rate ‘progressive’ steering are still all standard, while new Black-line, White-line and Orange-line option packs add two-tone 19in wheels and coloured body bits to personalise the exterior.

On the 19in alloys of our Black-line five-door test car, the Cupra 290 is unexpectedly firm-riding – which is a disappointment given the praise we poured on the pleasingly rounded dynamic character of the car two years ago. Fidgeting and thumping over road scars and expansion joints, the suspension will try your patience on a long journey and isn’t nearly so cleverly managed on these wheels and low-profile tyres by the standard-fit DCC adaptive damping as you’d like.

The car’s Comfort, Sport, Cupra and Individual drive modes allow what seems like plentiful scope for adjustment of the ride to begin with, but ultimately none of them produces the balance of ride suppleness and close wheel control that a hot hatchback needs to work well on UK roads. Firm, short springing and what you’d imagine must be quite a lot of unsprung mass give the car’s adaptive dampers a lot to do and little wheel travel in which to operate. The car’s B-road gait therefore ends up feeling quite choppy, crashy and abrupt.

Handling is undoubtedly strong, though – as is the Leon Cupra’s engine. Seat’s variable-rate steering is heavy and should really produce better contact patch feedback, but its weight is generally consistent and the ramp-up of its directness off centre is gradual. As a result, the car steers with good response and corners with balance, accuracy and stability. Try a fast getaway from a T-junction and you’ll find traction is strong, too – although some steering interference is telegraphed up through the column as the locking front differential comes into play.