Test: Cupra Leon Sportstourer – good, but not very sporty

However, before continuing with what the Cupra Leon offers, I must remember that the Spanish dealers could have taken a cue from one of the plots from “The Wire”. It is in this cult series that Stringer Bell, a drug lord, learns about economics. Bell, who is developing his empire, asks the lecturer what to do when you have an inferior product and fierce competition? Buying other companies is out of the question, as is reducing production costs. The consultant’s final recommendation is to change the brand. Changing the color of the package covers in which the drugs were sold later turned into a bull’s eye. You know what I mean?

Cupra also records excellent results, although apart from Formentor there are no innovative cars. These are seats with different badges, now available even with engines with a volume of 1.5 liters and a power of 150 HP. It’s hard to talk about any game here, but the Cupra’s rise in popularity certainly wasn’t hindered by the limited offer of the Seat Leon. There, in turn, we will find one gasoline engine, one hybrid, a station wagon “diesel” without 4×4, a small multimedia at the beginning, which of course translates to a lower price of PLN 118,100. Cupra Leon starts from 130,000. PLN, but it already has a reversing camera as standard.

What is important, however, is that the Cupra Leon Sportstourer is offered with 1.5 l units with a power of 150 HP and 2.0 l with a power of 190 HP. Filip Buliński, who drove the weakest Leon at the end of 2022, had an interesting comment here: “such a solution. the customers themselves asked. Even fleets were interested in a car with less power, and therefore cheaper, because of the restrictions on the purchase of SUVs. So here it is,” he wrote at the time. It’s also worth noting the fact that while the Formentor was responsible for 88 percent of the brand’s sales, the base 1.5-liter unit accounted for 76 percent of sales. That’s: it’s meant to look quick, but it doesn’t have to be.

So let’s get down to the facts: the 190-horsepower Cupra Leon “in station wagon” will reach a top speed of 230 km / h and accelerate to 100 km / h in 7.5 seconds. This is more than enough for everyday driving. But the analysis of the price list shows: if you want to drive fast, you had to pay extra for the best version: adjustable suspension costs PLN 3,680 (although in this car it was very noisy, especially at the back), performance brakes are. it is not available at all, as is the sports steering wheel (and heat) ). Even the differential lock is electronic, which means that the wheel is only locked during cornering. After the cornering session, you can apply the brakes properly.

Make no mistake, the Cupra is sporty in name only. Of course, there’s a sport driving mode available, but it’s a more aggressive setting for the power cut assistance (but quite accurate) and the vertical position of the gearbox. Typically for VAG cars, the double clutch tries to keep the adjustment as low as possible each day, which may make sense in lab tests, but not in everyday use. And although the engine “runs from the bottom”, it is clearly visible in the city fuel consumption results: 9.1 l/100 km is a result that I have not seen in a compact car for a long time.

The Cupra Leon Sportstourer itself is quite a large car (620 liters of trunk), and you may also like the cabin lighting that spans the entire width of the windshield. It’s true that the plastic no longer gives them a look, as was the case with the first models of Leon, but it’s still better not to touch them for your peace of mind. There is no change, however, in the electric field: he’s still as bad as he was. This means that if you do not connect your phone via Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, you will encounter multimedia that is difficult to use, and a complex menu system, and when you overcome even this, you will be asked for the current date and time. . And no, my battery has not “failed” before.

However, this is not a surprise to those who have handled this generation of Leon (Seat or Cupra, it doesn’t matter). However, if we assume that it is just an ordinary station wagon, we will be completely satisfied. However, if we fall for the Cupra brand, which once stood for sports cars (now too, but not at a very low price), we can be very disappointed.

For the version with a 190 HP engine, you have to pay PLN 155,300 (PLN 1,691 net for a lease with no down payment, 48 months, 10,000 km annually). A few thousand PLN more and you end up with the Škoda Octavia RS, which has been considered a “warm” but not “hot” rear end with 245 HP, albeit with a manual transmission. Interesting: Kia ProCeed GT has a power of only 160 HP, Peugeot 308 SW, on the other hand, has an astronomical price due to the hybrid system. Are the days of powerful station wagons over?