Long-term report: The Cupra Leon has become a real workhorse

Four and a half months in and it’s fair to say that the Cupra Leon has become a great daily workhorse.

Since I took delivery of it in February, I’ve racked up nearly 4,000 miles and I have to say, it’s been excellent.

Don’t get me wrong, it does come with its downsides, but we’ll get to that later. In the meantime, let’s focus on what’s good about travelling up and down the country in this very likeable and capable hot hatchback.

In the last four weeks, the Leon has lived on the motorway, taking me to airports, UK car launches and other private trips around my local area. In that time, I’ve become very well known in how it behaves out on the open road, but also with its controls.

The car is really refined and that makes long motorway journeys so much more bearable, while the power from its 2.0-litre turbocharged engine never gets boring. Plus, I’m still averaging around 40 to 45mpg on long runs, which isn’t bad when you consider this a 296bhp performance car.

To be brutally honest, I hardly ever use the different driving modes, as I think the standard setup is the perfect blend of comfort, speed and driving dynamics. You can change between ‘Race’ and ‘Cupra’ mode, but with the exception of a valve opening up in the exhaust, I can’t tell much difference.

At night, the car really comes alive with its chequered flag-styled LED headlights and the rear light bar’s illumination when parked up is a really cool touch that gets everyone talking.

The touchscreen infotainment system looks good and is slick and easy to use, and weirdly I’ve got used to the touch-sensitive climate control buttons – although I’d still prefer physical ones.

So, have there been any issues? Well, yes. Just last week, a late dash out to Bournemouth airport caused a random fault to pop up on the dashboard to say that there was a ‘headlight system malfunction’ – which indicated to me that a headlight bulb had blown. However, jumping out the car to find all the lights were working, including the rear ones, led me to believe that it might have been a glitch in the system. The next day, my assumptions were correct, by turning the car off and on again seemed to fix the problem. I’ve been monitoring it and there have been no issues since.

Another issue is that parking the car can be a little tricky when the ‘auto hold’ function is engaged, as the gearbox can be rather violent when tapping the accelerator. This is especially noticeable when you are simply setting off, as the car seems to accelerate quite vigorously. However, overtime you would get used to it, it’s just a case of balancing the accelerator with the brake.

But, apart from those minor irritations, the Leon still represents a fast, capable and practical everyday hot hatchback that has a lot going for it.

Don’t get me wrong, it still isn’t the most involving car when it comes to a B-road blast. For me, an engaging hot hatchback should have a manual gearbox and it needs to be lighter, as the Leon’s kerbweight of 1,415kg makes it rather hefty.

Now, I’ve only got around a month and a half before my time with Leon is up, but thankfully, there are still plenty of trips coming up with many more miles to cover before I can make my final verdict on this likeable Spanish hot hatchback.