Seemingly out of nowhere, SEAT revealed the Leon SC Cross Sport concept car today at the Volkswagen Night. It shared the stage with the Bentayga and the Huracan Spyder. Yet it had my undivided attention for several minutes, being the only car there the average petrolhead might one day afford.
The Leon has long established itself as the sportiest hatchback made on the MQB platform. Being cheaper and more stylish than the Golf, it appealed to most young European petrol-sexuals. The Leon Cross Sport is even more of a thorn in VW's side, as it wraps the same engine as the Golf R in a more durable package.
We are looking at a concept car, SEAT officials say, but from the paint to the interior, everything is as it should be in a production model.
The powertrain is what we'd call a hot hatch on steroids. At 300 horsepower, the Cross Sport packs 10 extra ponies compared to the Leon Cupra. It also brings the Haldex 5 all-wheel drive system of the Golf R. When the six-speed DSG gearbox takes care of changing gears, this family car is said to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) in only 4.9 seconds.
Simple to understand, easy to use
What's different from the R is that the suspension has been raised, not lowered. You get 41 mm more ground clearance than the standard Leon SC, which means the urban environment poses no challenges for this plucky Spanish Argonaut.
Looking from the bottom up, we notice that the Leon has dropped its running flats for a set of rubber boots. Extra body cladding has been installed to protect the underbelly of the beast from stones and manmade hazards. While gloss brown paint is used, we can imagine those very panels in a basic plastic finish.
Other design goodies include a quad exhaust system (Leon Cupra has only two pipes), 19-inch alloy wheels with a two-tone finish. The soft-roader also features metal skid plates, tinted windows and roof rails.
In our minds, this concept car makes perfect sense. Not only is it a much cheaper alternative to the Mercedes GLA 45 AMG, but it would also be the fastest SEAT model ever.
Nurburgring lap times might matter for some, but we'd pick durability and weekend adventures over flat cornering any day of the week.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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