Estates are an increasingly rare option nowadays, but as we’ve seen throughout history, European brands can build an estate better than most. The Cupra Leon Sportstourer is one such example, being sold alongside a smaller hatchback version, but offering more practicality and arguably even more style.
Cupra has come a long way in recent years and has been selling its own version of the Seat Leon for a few years. This already sleek and aggressive-looking model was recently updated to be even more striking, and we recently had the chance to live with it in VZe guise.
Read: Cupra’s Raval Rivals The Alpine A290, And Comes With A Trick Differential
While the model we tested had the same powertrain as the Cupra Terramar VZe I also recently lived with, the Leon actually revealed itself to be a better all-round package, free from some of the SUV’s issues. If a VW or a Skoda isn’t stylish enough for you, then the Leon Sportstourer may make sense.
QUICK FACTS
SWIPE
Photos Brad Anderson/Carscoops
There are currently three versions of the Cupra Leon on sale in Australia, with two other variants launching soon. Sitting at the base of the range is the Leon Hatch S, starting at AU$46,990 (equal to US$33,600 at current exchange rates), while sitting above it is the potent Leon Hatch VZe, equipped with a 221 kW (296 hp) turbo-four and starting at AU$64,990 (US$46,500).
While the Leon Sportstourer VZe doesn’t quite match the performance specifications of the VZx, it’s more expensive, starting at AU$69,990 (US$50,000), because it offers a more complex hybrid powertrain. Later this year, the Leon Sportstourer VZx will launch with the same 245 kW (329 hp) powertrain as the Golf R, carving out a niche of its own.
Sleek And Sporty
Photos Brad Anderson/Carscoops
There’s no denying that the cabin of the Leon Sportstourer is a very nice place to spend time, and it certainly feels more special than a similar VW or Skoda, even though it does share many familiar parts with the rest of the VW Group family.
Rather than featuring an unconventional column shifter like the Terramar, the Leon retains an electronic shifter in the transmission tunnel, allowing Cupra to fit conventional – albeit cheap – plastic stalks. However, this isn’t the highlight of the cabin; rather, it’s the sporty steering wheel with copper-colored accents and the large 12.9-inch infotainment screen.
Read: Cupra’s Top Terramar Is A More Exciting Tiguan That’s Slower Than The One Below It
Perched atop the dashboard, the screen doesn’t look particularly stylish, but it functions well and has little to no learning curve. It includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and houses all the important vehicle controls, including climate control. Joining the central screen is a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster that offers a wide range of gauge displays and ample configurability.
Photos Brad Anderson/Carscoops
The console includes a circular button to turn off traction control, though I mistook it for the engine start/stop button on a couple of occasions. Elsewhere, there are plastic paddle shifts, soft-touch black leather on the dashboard with copper stitching, and a metallic pattern running along the dash.
Given the Sportstourer is an estate, rather than an SUV, it’s possible to position the driver’s seat nice and low in the cockpit. The seat itself is decent enough, complete with solid side bolsters, but I found the seat base quite firm during longer trips. Like the Audi SQ6 e-tron I tested last year, there’s also a curved ambient lighting strip swooping around at the base of the windshield, doubling as a bling sport alert system, so that’s a nice touch.
Other important features include a 12-speaker Sennheiser premium audio system, which I found slightly better than the system in the Terramar, although it’s certainly not exceptional.
In terms of practicality, the Leon Sportstourer excels. The second row is spacious enough for adults, while the trunk can swallow up to 470 liters (16.6 cubic feet) of cargo with the seats upright, or 1,045 liters (36.9 cubic feet) with them folded down. It’s also nice that there’s a small ski hatch in the center rear seat that can be folded down separately.
Estates Are Great, But What About This Hybrid?
Photos Brad Anderson/Carscoops
As with the Terramar VZe, the Leon Sportstourer VZe uses a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder driving the front wheels, and is complemented by a single electric motor and a 25.8 kWh battery pack. In total, it delivers 200 kW (268 hp) and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque.
This powertrain isn’t the most exciting, but there’s no arguing with its efficiency. Thanks to the fairly sizeable battery pack, Cupra claims it can sip just 0.4 l/100 km (588 US mpg) of petrol and return 16.9 kWh/100 km from the battery when operating in hybrid mode and favoring battery power. Admittedly, the fuel efficiency claim is only relevant if the battery is frequently charged.
Operating solely as an EV, the Leon Sportstourer VZe can travel up to 121 km (75 miles) on a charge, which is more than enough for the average person’s daily commute. Using the battery in conjunction with the engine, we averaged a touch over 4.0 l/100 km (59 US mpg) during our time with the car, but that didn’t charge the battery at all, eventually fully draining it. With both the engine and electric motor providing power, the car averages 5.2 l/100 km (45.2 US mpg).
I was disappointed with how the Terramar VZe’s plug-in hybrid powertrain performed in the real world, as it suffered from absurd levels of torque steer and it just wasn’t very refined. The Leon proved itself to be more adept.
While it still had some torque steer, which is to be expected for a car with this level of power and front-wheel drive, the low-slung estate is much more composed than its SUV sibling. It also doesn’t suffer from the car jitters off the line, deploying the instant torque of the electric motor in a slightly more refined way, making it an altogether more enjoyable car to drive.
Performance is respectable, with the 0-100 km/h (62 mph) sprint taking 7.2 seconds. It feels the most rapid when driven in Cupra mode, as power from the electric motor is available as soon as you hit the throttle. Annoyingly, Cupra mode does plumb in some awful fake engine sounds, so I primarily drove in the Individual mode with the powertrain in Cupra mode, but the fake sounds turned off.
But it’s not in a straight line where the Leon Sportstourer excels, but rather it’s in the corners. It’s equipped with the Dynamic Chassis Control Pro suspension that offers a wide range of adjustments, from plush yet sporty to downright rigid. I mostly kept it in the softest setting, as the roads around where I live are particularly awful.
Regardless of how the suspension is configured, the Sporstourer VZe performs extraordinarily well around corners. Shod with 235/35 Bridgestone Potenza S005 tires, it offers plenty of mid-corner grip and feels glued to the road. A notable downside of these tires is that they’re loud on coarse surfaces and don’t have a great reputation for longevity. The Terramar handles well, but the Leon is much better, no doubt owing to the lower center of gravity. The steering is also excellent, providing direct responses, while weighting up during cornering nicely.
Somewhat undermining the car’s performance credentials is the braking, just like the Terramar VZe. Cupra simply hasn’t done a good job of calibrating braking feel, and the transmission between the regenerative brakes and the friction brakes can be quite abrupt. Braking alone is not a deal-breaker, but I suspect some prospective buyers will be turned off by it.
Photos Brad Anderson/Carscoops
Verdict
The Leon Sportstourer VZe probably isn’t the best variant in the line-up, carrying a relatively high sticker price and, because of the hybrid powertrain’s complexities, lacking some of the polish of non-electrified alternatives. With that being said, the estate body style makes it even more appealing, not only improving the design but also adding practicality that matches some of Cupra’s SUVs.
It’s infinitely more stylish than an equivalent model from VW or Skoda and backs up the aggressive design with a sporty and well-equipped cabin. It’s also quite enjoyable to drive and is efficient, particularly when making the most of the plug-in capabilities. Sadly, Americans won’t be able to enjoy Cupra models like this anytime soon.
