Colour is so important when buying a new car. You might walk into a garage with one brand in mind and then you see a gorgeous red or blue-coloured car and it might cause you to change your mind and buy a different brand. Nowadays you pay extra for Metallic paint, but would you ever think of ordering a car with a Matt finish?
I say ‘order’ because 99% of cars available in any garage showroom are likely to come with a Metallic finish. I can assure you that the Cupra Leon with an Enceladus Grey Matt finish that I drove last week, got a very good reaction from neighbours and also from strangers in supermarket car parks.
But it wasn’t just the colour, as this classy-looking car from the Cupra stable has a lot more than colour going for it. Parent company Seat already has a Leon version, which is still available, but as late Con Houlihan used to say, read on.
You probably know already that Seat name their cars after cities and districts in Spain. León is the capital of the province of León in the northwest of the country.
The Seat Leon was introduced back in 1999 and shared components with other cars in the VW group like the Golf MK4. However, the Leon was marketed as a sportier and cheaper variant. In order to reinforce the sporty image, it had a fastback design inspired by the Alfa Romeo Alfasud.
Now Cupra has come up a sportier image for their own version called the Leon Hatch VZ. My test model was a plug-in hybrid, with a range of approximately 50km in full electric mode.
Cupra has been selling their cars in Ireland for four years now. They are reasonably happy that they have gained one per cent of the market. The brand was not helped by the arrival of Covid, but Brand Director Gaspar Alcaide says they expect to at least double that sales figure by the end of the year.
When a car company introduces a new brand, it takes time for the car-buying public to get to know about it and its range of cars. Advertising helps and word of mouth is also very good, but nothing beats seeing the car ‘in the flesh’ on the road or in shopping centre car parks.
I thought the Matt finish worked well on such a classy motor which has some lovely touches, front and back and topped off with attractive 19-inch Hailstorm Copper alloys.
Cupra has a very cute logo displayed on the grille of all their cars, but they don’t carry the name of the car on the back or side like most other manufacturers. So, you might need to be a tyre-kicker to know your Cupra, who also have the Tavascan, Formentor, Terramar and fully electric Born, on their fleet right now. However, a colleague told me that if you look very closely you will find the name of the car written on the rear lights.
Inside, the copper touches are replicated all over the dash, which is dominated by a neat 12.9-inch infotainment screen. You are also getting copper stitching on the seats which coupled with a sunroof, does brighten the interior décor.
Prices start at €36,955, but my test model with a plethora of extras, will cost you €61,139. Cupra make no secret of the fact that they aiming to increase their Irish sales by targeting males in their early forties who have a higher disposable income. Well, the economy is booming right now and Cupra should see more males and females make the switch to their brand.
However, if you are not yet earning that kind of money the regular Seat Leon is still available, with prices starting at €29,910.
