What is it?
Fast, fun and family-friendly - not three criteria which naturally go together. And yet, if the 4.5-star rating currently applied to the Volkswagen Golf R Estate - plus our glowing first drive of the Focus ST Estate - shows us anything, it's that the best hot hatchbacks can indeed become practical estates without losing their appeal in the process.
Enter this, then. The recently facelifted Seat Leon ST 300 Cupra. Like the regular Leon 300 Cupra, this version's got 10bhp more than the old model, alongside a small increase in torque. Inside, you'll find the same interior updates as the rest of the Leon range which means a brand new touchscreen infotainment system borrowed from the latest Volkswagen Golf and various blink-and-you'll-miss-them tweaks to the exterior styling, too. Plus, for this car, there's four-wheel drive and a DSG gearbox.
That four-wheel drive element is important because this is the only such Cupra you can get in this country. There aren't any plans to offer the regular Leon Cupra hatchback with four-wheel drive, and even Seat says the Leon ST 4Drive Cupra is aimed more towards the snow-capped mountains of Northern Europe than the soggy B-roads of Britain. It's a toe-in-the-water moment, then, and while we were impressed when we tried the new Leon 300 Cupra abroad recently, this is our first time to try that car in estate form and with four-wheel drive in the UK. Should the Golf R Estate be quaking in its wheel arches?
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Booting it
agree paulmt123
Less aggro and better looking than the Golf R...
Should be cheaper