On paper this car looks like a monster, but in reality it is well behaved with good manners.

The power outputs of hot hatches just seem to have gone up and up over the last few years. In years gone by anything with more than 200ps was seen as the ultimate performance car. But this new Coupe from SEAT boasts a massive 280ps, yes 280ps.

When the car arrived the  thoughts were it was going to be a handful and difficult to handle, and would always want to be off as fast as possible throwing you back in your seat, even if you didn’t want it to. But it was so compliant and not once did it feel that it was getting out of control and it tootled around, as quiet as a mouse, which made for a nice drive and ride. But prod the accelerator hard and it’s off like a rocket, demonstrating its performance side.

We did not get chance to test the cars highly acclaimed chassis’, performance and handling, as the roads around Huddersfield do not really lend themselves to such a car.    

The colour of the test car was a little interesting. It is officially called “Nevada white metallic” but it neither looked metallic or white, it was more of a “duck egg blue”. It is a pleasant yet a different colour, the name is a bit misleading.

The Leon is available in either five door (Hatch), estate (ST) and three door coupe (SC) and all have great looking body styles: all very different, but all very attractive.

The Cupra 280 is powered by a 2.0 litre TSI turbo charged petrol engine and this is coupled to either a DSG auto or 6 speed manual gearbox. Our test car was fitted with the DSG gearbox, which was very smooth, quiet and efficient. With the DSG transmission the car accelerates from 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds, with the manual taking 5.8 seconds.

The interior is high quality, but lacks a sporty look and feel. When you’re sat in the car there are no real signs or styling cues to give you the impression this is a very hot, hot hatch, it could easily be just an ordinary standard hatch. A bit of red piping or stitching would not have gone amiss. But despite the un-sporty styling it all works well. The buttons, switches and levers all have good haptics and are in the right position and easy to use.

The top speed is set at 155mph for both. The CO2 emissions figure is 149g/km for the DSG and 154g/km for the manual. The official combined fuel figure is 44.1 mpg for the DSG and 42.8 for the manual, although during the time we had the car it only managed just over 30 mpg. But most of the journeys were local and no long motorway runs were taken. Therefore our results, as indicated by the on-board computer, may be a bit unrealistic. 

The Leon SC is a good looking car from every angle and has some very clever and distinct swage lines down the side; it is a very pretty coupe.

The price of the Leon Cupra 280 is not exactly cheap, and some would argue it is not good value as it starts around £28,000. When you add on a few options such as driver assist pack, leather pack, safety pack, adaptive cruise control and SEAT sound pack and the cost goes up to £30,735 OTR. But compared to other hot hatches it could be argued that it is, in fact good value as it does have a huge long list of standard equipment.

The Leon Cupra 280 does offer real sports hatch performance packaged in a good looking coupe with high levels of quality and fit and finish and does not act or drive like a hooligan, unless provoked. In fact it is a very pleasant car to drive when you are not in a rush, but it does come at a price, and a price that many may have to take a large intake of breath at!

Martin Ward, Manufacturer Relationship Manager