Seat – AUSmotive.com

El nuevo Seat Leon Cupra R

We first heard of the spiciest Seat Leon, the Cupra R, before last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s pretty much a Spanish Golf with a bunch of chillies stuffed down its trousers. Those chillies are rated at 195kW and ensure the driver will have to keep their wits about them; all that power is put to the road through the front wheels.

Essentially the car uses the same drivetrain found in the Volkswagen Scirocco R and employs a trick electronic diff (XDS) to try and hose down that firecracker of an engine. Apparently the results are “effective yet unobtrusive”.

The Leon Cupra R has just been launched in the UK and their press team have been kind enough to send out a few pics and a brief introductory video. You can see all that for yourself right after the break.

SEAT LeÃ³n Linea R

It’s fresh, it’s funky, it’s fast, and its not available in Australia! This is the SEAT LeÃ³n Linea R. Okay, so the Linea R range is not much more than a fancy body kit, and it’s only fast if you tick the 147kW 2.0 TSI engine option from the three choices availableâ€”but it does look the business. The other engines have been raided from the VAG parts bin and include the 125kW 2.0 TDI (as seen in the Golf GT) and the 118kW 1.8 TSI (as seen in the Audi A4).

The LeÃ³n Linea R also gets a bunch of goodies thrown in such as 18″ ‘Supercopa’ alloys, dual zone climate control, TCS (traction control), ESP and, of course, the funky body kit, complete with Linea R badging.

While the exterior of the LeÃ³n Linea R makes you take notice, the inside is not quite up to Golf standards. It looks sporty enough, but the fine detail is just not there and the low placement of the Sat Nav unit is questionable, to say the least. Never mind that, SEAT’s generally drive just as well as their Volkswagen cousins, and normally offer more bang, for less buck. You gotta be happy with that!