2024 CUPRA Leon 2.0 TSI VZ3 Design Edition 300PS DSG in-depth review

The new CURPA Leon Design Edition adds three extra styling elements to the already loaded standard VZ3 spec. Will the UK get the spec it deserved when it launched back in 2021, or has it been left behind once more? Is it too little too late before the facelift launches this year?

What is it?

The now familiar MK4 CUPRA Leon (if you’re new to it, pretend you are for the sake of this paragraph; I’ll explain more below) is now available to order in the UK in this new “Design Edition.” This edition features some enhanced aesthetics, including a panoramic sunroof, black side skirts, and a black roof spoiler, parts that we believed should have been standard in the UK when the car first launched.

Exterior

Now, Brexit isn’t really on anyone’s radar anymore. It seems we’ve been given access to some parts from the European CUPRA Leon 2.0 TSI 300PS we reviewed back in 2021; when the car arrived, I thought to myself, “I’ve seen those alloys before.” Even though the UK market is quite late to the party, these three added options are welcome.

Test car key specifications

• Boot space: 380L
• Fuel tank:50L
• Kerb weight: 1,504kg
• Benefit-in-kind rate: 37%
• Insurance group: 31E
• Recommended Retail: £44,815
• Options:
• Metallic paint: £630
• As Tested: £45,445

I’m wondering if I was to put the standard spec non-Design Edition VZ3 CUPRA Leon against this new version if you’d spot the three changes; yes, the alloys are obvious and, in my opinion, look fantastic, but on the downside, they’re a bit of a pain in the proverbial to clean. Each wheel has the CUPRA name embossed on the alloy, and some quite intricate styling is going by the MK3 older versions, which seem to scratch just by looking at them.

This car couldn’t have come at a better time; after having twins just over a year ago and realising I needed to start adulting, the SEAT Leon Cupra 300 ST 4Drive went back to SEAT, and I got a SEAT Tarraco 1.5 TSI 150PS FR Sport, a great looking car but to once again set eyes on a sports car made me realise two things, firstly, it’s got a pretty good standard stance, the alloys fill the arches nicely, and the overall look is nice and sporty; secondly, I miss my Leon (all 3 of them), delivery day felt a little special.

Looking front on I still found myself wanting something just a little more aggressive, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it all week, but now I look at all the photos I think either the front grill is too small, or it just needs a front splitter (or both). On the plus side, the bonnet has some very nice lines which point towards the CUPRA logo, which has definitely grown on me. The fins in the bumper do a great job of keeping the fog lights discreet, shame that these fancy radar devices are so square and ugly as they always seem to ruin the appearance somewhat.

Moving down the side, we see the second of our new Design Edition additions, side skirts; near enough always going to make a car look better, in my opinion; it seems to break up the air gap from the bottom of the doors to the floor without compromising on massive amounts of ground clearance/function. The blade, shall we call it, protrudes more over the rear doors than the front; I do wonder if, in the unfortunate event of a high curb, you’d scrape them before the alloys; both obviously bad news, but repairing an alloy is more common these days over getting a big scratch down your skirts.

One thing I did notice on the driver’s side was the hole for the key in case the central locking suddenly breaks or you run out of battery in your fob when you’re out and about; you would have thought that with the money being spent on this car that they could have put a moulded cover over it, I feel it looked like a blast from the past when you had to use a key, my current SEAT Tarraco doesn’t have one. Hence, I’m not sure why they would want to add/keep it in.

Moving to the rear quarter, I’m still a big fan of how the side of the car merges into the rear light cluster with some nice aggressive body lines. Oh, and then there’s the petrol cap—that’s still the same.

This might be me being a little picky, but it seems that the sensors on the wheel arch are more indented than the ones on the rear bumper (if I’m honest, I only noticed when looking through the images). I cannot seem to think of a valid reason, and since I have now seen it, I cannot unsee it.

The rear, the location for the last mystery Design edition addition to the CUPRA Leon, it’s something I’ve always wondered as to why it’s not been a default on all SEAT Leon Cupra’s and CUPRA Leon’s in the past; the simple things seem to make a big difference in my mind so a rear spoiler I find really sets the car off from the side and the back, previously we’ve just had a lip with no real presence. Considering it’s only about 3 inches deep, it adds just enough to go with the skirts and alloys.

The main rear end is much the same as the previous VZ3: four exhausts, a small rear diffuser, and that CUPRA badge that, for some reason, still looks too small compared to the front grill. For me, the best bit that most people will get to see in this 300PS version is the “Coast-to-Coast” rear lights. It never gets old when you’re walking away from the car and just look back to see the LEDs drifting towards the rear CUPRA badge.

The rest of the rear end is much of the same as previous reviews on the CUPRA Leon, the VZ3 Design Edition sees the quad exhaust which I much prefer over the MK3 Leon Cupra Ovals (unless you went for the RS3 tips which seemed to fill out the back end a little more. I’m still annoyed that the exhaust tips you see in the picture below are not actually connected to the exhaust itself; it acts as a facia to a degree, it by no means takes anything away from the looks unless you look closely, just a little thing that wouldn’t have taken much to sort so we can only assume it was a cost-saving measure.

Interior

I believe that the CUPRA interior is better than your FR Sport SEAT (SEAT’s sporty trim). The dash has nice stitching, the seats are nicely shaped, and the steering wheel is probably the best I’ve used in the SEAT / CUPRA world. This is a nice place to start the interior journey.

When the CUPRA Leon got released and we as a country worked out that we weren’t getting some of the goodies our fellow European counterparts had access to, well, now it seems, three years on, we’ve got it. Firstly, you may remember that the CUPRA Leon Estate 310PS had this steering wheel, but the Hatch didn’t for some reason. The profile and start/stop buttons are a pretty handy thing, changing from Comfort to Sport then to CUPRA is just a single press, the start stop did catch me out quite a few times as I found myself looking at the centre console for a button only to see an ESP button.

Looking just to the left, you have your normal infotainment screen, even though it’s bigger than my SEAT Tarraco. If I’m honest, I didn’t have a single problem with it during the entire week I had the car, so that’s a bonus.

Screen size is slightly different to my 23-plate Tarraco, the CUPRA Leon comes in with a 12” infotainment screen, whereas the Tarraco is only a mere 10” in size (what’s 2 inches between friends?); from the images below, it’s clear that the CUPRA version (top) looks a little better, the downside of the bigger screen is that you have that awful touch buttons for the aircon, which on my car I get a touch button section under the main centre air vents which is quite a bit easier to use.

Down towards the gear selector (I don’t think the name gear stick counts anymore), we find pretty much the same setup as the older generation DSG cars. Still, the selector is now 2 inches tall and has a button for Park instead of a full gear stick, which includes everything. Also note that with this new gear selector, you can no longer manually select gears like the full version. It looks sleek and easy to clean. I’m quite happy that the Traction control button is proud of its place for those who wish to launch the car on short notice.

I don’t want to bore you with masses of detail that most of you probably already know, as this model of the CUPRA Leon has been out a while now, but in short, you’ll find some copper bits all over the place and two badges on the seats.

Let’s be honest: You see the inside more than the outside, and with that in mind, I’d put the CUPRA Leon under the “functional” bracket for the interior. It’s far from the old Volvos that had 50 million buttons, but it’s also not like a Tesla that has just a screen, and that’s it, although it’s not far off.

Does it feel empty? Is it a nice place to be? Yes, do I like it? Yes, it is.

Is a heated seat that would keep all your squidgy bits in the right place whilst fighting extra G forces around corners (on a track, of course) something that interests you? Look no further, yes, they’re not proper racing seats with a 5-point harness but they 100% did the job for me, I felt almost cocooned to the point of getting in my Tarraco and felling like I was on a sofa with the extra space to move about.

Moving to the rear of the car, the back seats are well… back seats. Nothing fancy or remarkable. I can just sit behind myself (6ft2) using my driving position, which is handy. You also get a nice digital section on the back of the centre console with some USB-C charging sockets for all the young people out there who cannot live without something digital in their hands.

I will say that coming from an SUV to a hatchback, the visibility out the rear window is quite limited in comparison. You still have the option of an armrest if you don’t have three children (or four friends, for that matter). If you are required to go skiing, you can use the awesome ski hatch (I first remember seeing one of them in a Saab 93 back in the early 2000s—good times).

Last on my list is the boot. (Prepare my best Jeremy Clarkson voice.) Good News! It seems that I was blessed with a spare wheel, one that works with a car on 19s, which is always nice. It’s not a full-size wheel, but anything’s better than the gunk injection system you get instead these days.

Once the boot liner is down, you find that the boot is of a decent size for a hatch; you can get around 6 Tesco bags for life with some space spare. Does it fit my double side-by-side buggy? Not really. Would I get this car with twin babies? Probably not; I’m not sure they would enjoy the ride or exhaust that I would probably put them through joining motorways, etc.; this car isn’t designed for a fully functional large family, including babies, so I cannot really take away any points for that.

Overall, the interior is very similar to my FR Sport trim in the Tarraco; it’s more refined and better looking, but it’s also more challenging to get in and out of the seats.

I also noticed that when you’ve been in an SUV for a year when you get in a low-down hatch, you fall in and do not get in. With my Tarraco, I get in horizontally. The Leon was like I lost the feeling in both legs and just slotted into the seats. It took me a few tries to get to it. I’m glad I didn’t have issues the other way around, walking into the Tarraco expecting to fall into the seat.

Engine and sound

To start, here are some engine stats from the spec sheet for those interested in numbers.

• Engine  2.0 TSI
• Transmission   7-speed automatic
• Max. Power: 300PS
• Max. Torque: Nm @ rpm  400 / 2000-5200
• Fuel economy (mpg) WLTP 24.9 – 43.9
• CO2 (WLTP) 173g/km
• Euro standard  EU6 AP
• 0-62 mph 5.7secs
• Top speed 155mph

So, let’s say your daily driver is a 1.5 TSI, 150PS, 1,700kg, seven-seater tank; you then get into a 2.0 TSI, 300PS, 1,400kg, five-seater sports car; what do you do first? That’s right; you put it in your comfort zone and do a run, working out the best MPG you can get. That’s the mindset of someone who struggled to go back into comfort mode once Sport/CUPRA mode was activated, it’s been over a year since I had my MK3 Leon Cupra ST 300, and I was twitching.

In Comfort mode, the car has smooth gear shifting and tiny annoyances to the non-sports car lover. It has a nice, bassy undertone to the exhaust (I’m not sure how much was coming through the speakers). Driving after 45 minutes (26 miles with an average of 34mph) on the single-lane A47 with occasional overtaking lanes was quite pleasant. I managed to get 40.6mpg, which, if I’m honest, for a very low mileage (not bedded in) car was pretty impressive.

I then drove home but stayed in CUPRA mode, now as my parking spot to get photos was a nice big multi-story car park. You can imagine my smile when leaving said car park when the exhaust just nicely lets you know that it’s very much ready to go to war with people’s eardrums.

On exiting the city traffic, I got out onto 60mph roads now after reviewing the CUPRA Leon Estate 310, I wasn’t massively impressed with the exhaust tone vs the hatch, but I can say I was quite impressed (if you want it to be loud that it is), if you drop the accelerator at just over 3k revs it goes from a purr to what I can only describe as a drive-by on request. This kept my very childish brain (mental age of 5) happy all the way home, so what do you think the difference in mpg was? I got 29.3mpg, which isn’t too shabby at all.

On the road

From the offset, I knew the Leon would be a harder ride than my Tarraco. Still, with the aid of DCC, it does stir the pot a little as comfort mode is actually quite usable day-to-day, going over speed bumps, etc. Still, once you get into the sportier profiles, it takes me back to the MK3 Leon Cupra with bone-breaking suspension (CUPRA mode); you know that point when you’re slowing everyone down going through a town with multiple speed bumps. Where the VZ3 Design Edition lacks comfort, it makes up for it everywhere else; the handling, power and response are all on point. I will say that I’ve never modified any of my cars in terms of engine maps etc, so I’m basing this on other stock cars I’ve driven, I’ve even driven a 1998 Fiat Punto Sporting 1.0l 60bhp beast, so you keep your thoughts to yourself if you’re not in that club.

Off the mark, the Leon hatch still has much to desire over the 4WD Estate. My MK3 Leon ST 300 4 Drive got 4.7 seconds 0-60mph, while the VZ3 Design Edition Hatch shows only 5.7 seconds. However, I imagine that around a track, the FWD would overcome the differences with the weight reduction.

Once the car moved, I had zero issues with grip in the wet and dry using the Bridgestone Potenza S005 tyres 235/35/R19 (around £160 a tyre at the time of writing). The interior road noise wasn’t as bad as my Tarraco, either, which does run on 20” alloys (255/40/R20).

Technology

I’ll start with the items I’ve never enjoyed using or seeing in person; first off the block is those fancy LED Matrix headlights. I’ve only ever had the pleasure of the normal LED lights, which are still the case on my FR Sport Tarraco; there’s something about making driving easier for the driver, and this is 100% one of them; as soon as you turn on the auto option the lights light up in the middle of the car’s vision then sweep outwards (obviously pretty quickly) just like opening the curtains in the morning. I had zero issues with them and no issues from other cars flashing me; I would say they were on point for sure; now I’ve used them, I would 100% spec them up on my next car, unfortunately like all nice things, they normally lie on the fanciest spec available (VZ3 Design Edition).

After the lights, I’ve got the Panoramic roof, something I’m still yet to connect with; since an early age, I was always taught never to get a sunroof because they always leaked at the seal and, in turn, caused more hassle than a benefit; obviously, things have moved on since then, but it still lingers in the back of my mind.

Is it letting more light in the cabin? Yes, but I’m still yet to really see a car in the wild that ever opens it as you’ve probably got the air con on to cool down, so for me, it’s pretty much a gimmick (along with the laptops that detach the screen from the keyboard). I used it once to get the photos, took it for a drive and didn’t really click; I must add the touch button for the roof was very good and did work on the command, which I found better than the aircon touch buttons on the centre console.

Now, we’ve probably all seen LED interior lighting, whether it’s after-market like I did in my MK2 Leon Cupra R or factory-fitted like this VZ3 Design Edition. I found the nighttime experience in the CUPRA Leon much more pleasing to the eyes. From the coast-to-coast lights under the windscreen to the door and footwell illumination, it just felt like they put a little effort into its function and options.

Also worth noting is that the puddle light with the CUPRA badge is way better than my “Hola” version in the Tarraco.

There is no other reason than my liking of the photo, really, but who is starting to think the rear lights are rather good-looking?

I could ramble on all day about details, but to summarise the last few bits, electric heated seats work in the heated department. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t given them enough time in the day or if they just give too many variations, but the seat controls make it nearly impossible to get a perfect position, which I manage every time with manual controls in previous cars.

I don’t want to get hate mail for the following statement, but during the whole week of using this car, I had zero (0, nothing, nada, zip, the square root of 0) problems, issues, annoying traits, or bad things to say about the Infotainment system. I connected my phone (Google Pixel 7 Pro) via Android Auto, it connected wirelessly and wired with zero issues, I had no rebooting etc, flawless. That is all, no really that’s it, it just worked.

Diving aids, this one could be interesting. So, let’s start with the camera on the VZ3 Design Edition; it’s a rear-only facing camera that seems strange, considering my Tarraco has both front and rear-facing cameras alongside the top-down view; this VZ3 Design Edition has neither. I’ve also noticed that something doesn’t seem as good about Leon’s image quality. I’m not sure if it’s the screen resolution as it’s a different size (top-down shot takes up quite a bit of space) or just not set the same, but I took a picture of both; it’s not the brightness or anything as it was a slightly different time of the day. CUPRA Leon top, Tarraco bottom.

Next up is my favourite thing ever, not. I’m still sure that when the CUPRA’s come over from Europe, they don’t change anything software related, so when you try and use something like Lane assist, the car has an inbuilt lack of understanding for UK roads; the main one I see around me is when they narrow the road before you enter a slower speed or village, now I’m never going to indicate to go around a stuck out curb as I’d look like a complete buffoon. Still, if I then go to steer around it whilst staying in my lane, the car has a fit and tries to steer me back into the curb, which doesn’t help at all. I have quite a few of these near me, and it gets annoying, as I like the lane assist for the most part.

What’s it like to live with?

Running Costs

If I’m honest you don’t buy this car for running costs, you buy it for the experience but for the sake of the review, it’s not a cheap one to run if you keep it well looked after (99 ron fuel etc). You’ve got an oil change service at £233; add an Inspection to that, and it’s £282; now, as I type this, I’m also searching against a Tarraco 1.5 TSI, and I must say I’m a little annoyed, the Tarraco comes in at £240 and £272 which is not what I expected. Replacing front discs and pads for Leon is £791, the Tarraco came in at £645 which is still not the gap I was expecting due to disc size differences. Interestingly, the Tarraco has an option for a Cambelt change, but the Leon does not (both are the same age). Does that mean that Cambelts are now good for the life of the car with the CUPRA Leon, or does the 2ltr engine have something different over the 1.5ltr, or it’s not showing on the SEAT/CUPRA website because it’s a Sunday… who knows.

Fuel-wise, it’s always down to how you drive. We get around 450 miles to a tank in the Tarraco, doing mainly local journeys with the odd 50-mile round trip every other week and a big journey (100 miles each way) every month or so. In the Leon, I would assume if you went nicely and did longer journeys, it would be close to 400; otherwise, you’re looking at maybe 300-350.

Tyres, if you want the best stuff, I assume you’d go for PS4S’s which if you buy 2 (normally a discount for 2+ it’s around £330 fitted through a popular tyre website. The Tarraco is 100% worse off here as it’s got 20-inch wheels, so it’s a glorious £450 for 2 PS4S (don’t remind me).

Rating – 6/10

Comfort

What’s the comfort of a sports car? Even in Comfort mode I wouldn’t class this as comfortable, not like being sat in a 10-year-old Volvo or one of them old cars with the sofas for seats, you’d slide everywhere but you’d be comfy. The Leon is functional for its purpose, it’s a sports car so it’s sports suspension and bigger wheels with a rather thin tyre profile. All in all, happy with the comfort for what it is, I’d say it’s better than my old MK3 Leon Cupra ST 300 and way better than my old MK2 Leon Cupra R.

Rating – 7/10

Power

So, power is an important thing when talking about sports cars these days, it’s all figures and 0-60mph times, but for me it’s about the experience and how it feels when you drive it. Driving this VZ3 Design Edition felt great; it felt planted, and even though it’s not 4WD (which would have made this an amazing machine) the power is sent to the floor which is where you want it, sure they could have put the 2.5L RS3 engine in and had 400 ponies like the Formentor VZ5 (one we never got, damn you Brexit!) but I think a car gets to a point when it’s not really usable day to day unless its bone dry and with warm tyres.

I will say that 310bhp is the most powerful car I’ve ever driven (2 x SEAT Leon Cupra 300’s, CUPRA Leon Estate 310, and this VZ3 Design Edition), so I don’t have the ability to break it down further. Hence, I only give this an 8. I’m sure there are more powerful cars that do work for daily use.

Rating – 8/10

Cost

Cost is always a sore point when buying a car. This Design Edition VZ3 starts at £44,025 (at the time of writing), which puts it in perspective. When the VZ3 (non-Design Edition) first came out in 2020 using the new shape, it started at £40,790, so nearly £4,000 more than its starting price. Personally, I don’t think that’s too bad, considering it’s been four years, and there are some new bits.

Obviously, that’s a serious amount of money for a hatchback, but it puts it within reach of the other top brands. I specified a fully loaded VZ3 Design edition and then went over to get a Golf with the same kit (as close as I could get) and the CUPRA Leon came in at £47,355, and the Golf was quite a bit more at £56,290, I didn’t double and triple check my finding as this isn’t a science class, but it shows that the CUPRA Leon does have loads of goodies as standard where in our good friend over at VW, everything seems to be an extra, which does make things nicer to spec but also more expensive in the long run.

Rating – 8/10

Styling

I love the styling—simple as that. The wheels are what I’d choose. The spoiler is a nice touch. Maybe a bigger rear diffuser would have been a nice touch, but I’d be happy with it as it stands. The interior is functionally sporty. The touch buttons are still letting things down. You lose that connection, which is easy to sort without looking normally, but now, with touch, you find yourself having to constantly look at what you’re doing.

Rating – 9/10

Tech

For the week I had the car, the only issue was the lane assist, everything else worked flawlessly, to make things even more exiting I didn’t even get any rattles which seems to be a VW/SEAT/CUPRA thing these days with all that plastic. I will say that I’m a little annoyed that the VZ3 Design edition didn’t come with the top-down parking view like my FR Sport Tarraco; it does come in handy; the front camera I could do without, but it’s supposedly the top-spec CUPRA Leon, but my poor man’s CUPRA (SEAT) gets a little more tech doesn’t feel right. I think the LED Matrix lights will win in the next car! Also, there is no heated front windscreen, which I thought everyone would be jumping on now. (Editor’s note: I think Ford/Volvo patents these.)

Rating – 9/10

Would I buy one?

This is a very good question; if you’d asked me before I had twin girls, I would have given this some serious thought for a lease, but now I’m locked in with a 7-seater SUV it’s no longer my cup of tea until we can start charging the little ones rent so we can get a weekend car. It’s got all the gadgets, and with the prices of other likeminded cars, it’s pretty good value; even with a remap for those who go for that, you’d be up there with the rest in no time, and the car would still be cheaper I’d say, like with all cars, everything is personal taste.

What do you think? Do the additions to this car appeal to you? Let me know in the comments.

Jimbobcook

• View all 11 articles