Seat company spent a lot of time attempting to further update its Leon Cupra and thanks to their tenacity they developed a 2017 model year that now has 296 HP and 280 lb-ft of torque at its disposal thanks to engine upgrades it received.
The stronger hot hatch from Seat now has pretty much the same output as the Volkswagen Golf R, as it uses the 2.0 L turbocharged engine that this two share, and they both deliver their maximum torque between 1800 rpm and 5500 rpm. None of the official performance figures have been released, but we expect that the new Leon Cupra will shave off a tenth or two of a second compared to the previous models 0-62 MPH sprint time that was 5.8 seconds just on sheer power (296 HP now VS 286 HP previous model).
But this is not all from the Spanish company. Together with the Leon Cupra hatch a new AWD ST estate version will see the light of day. This four wheel drive equipped model will come only with a DSG dual-clutch automatic gearbox, and it will be targeting the markets of northern Europe where all-wheel-drive estate have a high sell tendency. Seat will also try to sell this to other European markets, including Great Britain. We could hear that they are not planning, at least for now, to offer three and five-door hatchback models with AWD. Why is this so, nobody understands, but it goes as such despite the fact that Seat always shared a lot of parts with Volkswagen, especially now since the Golf R that only comes in AWD configuration.
If we disregard the technical changes, the refreshed 2017 Seat Leon Cupra will have a lot more driver assistance systems that will come as standard, such as – Traffic Jam Assist, Lane Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control and Pedestrian Protection. The Media System Plus infotainment system uses the 8-inch touchscreen, and that also was an item on the list to update, so it now hosts smartphone wireless charging and a phone signal-boosting GSM antenna.
2017 Seat Leon Cupra Release Date and Price
The sales are planned for March 2017, and they will start in the UK firstly. That is probably the time when we will receive some specific information regarding its price, but we believe it is fair to expect a small increase over the current Leon Cupra 290‘s that goes from £28,680.
