Long-term report: We say farewell to our Cupra Leon

So, the time has come to hand back the keys to my trusty Cupra Leon, which I’ve been running for nearly seven months.

I won’t lie, it’s been a pretty sad day. If I cast myself back to February 10, when I took delivery of the car, I was jumping with joy as it was so refreshing to drive a car that wasn’t an SUV.

Since February, the Leon and I have racked up nearly 5,000 miles together and I can honestly say, it’s been a joy. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t been all plain sailing, as I’ll get onto that later, but as an overall package, I’ve been very smitten with my Spanish hot hatch.

Let’s start with the good. I’ve lost count with the amount of times I’ve travelled up the M3 and along the M25 in this thing, but every time I have, it’s been a painless and smooth process. In terms of refinement, its German underpinnings and build quality means that the Leon absorbs lots of its surroundings, meaning when I haven’t got my music blaring out of the speakers, I can just get home in a comfortable and quiet manner. The fuel economy has got a little bit better too, as it’s now easily achieving around 40 to 45mpg on a long run and, although I hate to say it, I’ve got used to the touch-sensitive volume and climate control buttons.

When it comes to performance, I love how stealthy this car looks, with only the quad-exit exhaust tips giving the game away that this is a fire-breathing 296bhp hot hatchback. The power is just there, whenever you want it and the sheer level of torque from the 2.0-litre engine is just as impressive.

It’s been a great workhorse as well, with the five-door body style really making it easier for passengers to clamber aboard, while there is plenty of interior storage and the large 380-litre boot space has managed to transport my grandparents’ old 55-inch TV with no issue.

So, the Cupra Leon has been perfect, right? Well, not quite, even though it’s been an extremely capable car, there have been some irritations and gremlins that slipped in over the last seven months. The first has to be the seats, which look great, but after a while began to give me a lot of backache. Meanwhile, the seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox isn’t the most responsive and the steering wheel-mounted paddles don’t improve engagement any further.

If you’re looking for a hot hatchback that you want to take on a Sunday afternoon gander, then this isn’t it. The car would be far more fun to drive if it came with a manual gearbox, as having a standard auto box limits the fun factor you get from a hot hatch.

Let’s not forget about electrical glitches and software gremlins either, as one morning after not using the car for about a week, the Apple CarPlay connected, but my music started playing as though it was at the bottom of the sea. After a bit of locking, unlocking and fettling with the car, the speakers were behaving normally again, and it’s a similar scenario when the car was used to pick up some family members from Bournemouth Airport. The car randomly threw up a ‘headlight system malfunction’, which turned out to be a glitch in the system, as all the headlights were working as they should.

But, apart from those minor niggles, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Cupra Leon. It’s fast, practical, looks good and has proved to be fairly economical for a long-distance trip. Sure, it’s not the most engaging hot hatch to ever grace the tarmac of our roads and the little glitches have been annoying, but if you’re looking for a performance-focused hatch to live with everyday and want something with a little bit more flair, then the Cupra Leon really is a tough act to follow.

Model as tested: Cupra Leon VZ2 DSG
Price as tested: £45,630
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol
Power: 296bhp
Torque: 400Nm
0-60mph: 5.5 seconds
Top speed: 155mph
MPG: 40mpg
CO2 emissions: 172g/km
Mileage: 7,354 miles