Tag: Leon

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Seat Video

Australia is the best country in the world, except…

Dale Lomas with his new Seat Leon ST Cupra 280

Australia is one of the best countries in the world to live. If not the best. But there are two things we can’t do and that’s buy a fast Seat wagon and we can’t drive our own cars around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Yes, I’m sure that second part can be done, but not without a lot of red tape, a lot of hassle and, importantly, a lot of money.

Dale Lomas from Bridge to Gantry just bought himself a new car—a Seat Leon ST Cupra 280 estate—and on day one of ownership he ducked around to his favourite local road for a run. Bastard!

Oh yeah, that Harry’s Lap Timer setup seems pretty cool too, even advising of a yellow flag via the mobile phone app.

Settle in and enjoy the lap.

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2014 Geneva Motor Show in pictures – part 2

2014 Geneva Motor Show

Here’s your second batch of photos from the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, that makes it 155 photos in all. We start part 2 with the very cool Maserati Alfieri concept and end with the very cool Volvo Concept Estate. Cool!

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Motor Shows Seat Video

Geneva 2014: Seat Leon Cupra 280

Seat Leon Cupra 280

Seat has launched its Leon Cupra 280 at the Geneva Motor Show and in doing so has officially confirmed its claim on the unofficial front-wheel drive lap record at the Nürburgring.

Of the record setting lap Seat says the Leon Cupra 280 was fitted with an optional Performance Pack, which includes uprated Brembo brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. Former Seat WTCC driver Jordi Gene handled the driving duties around the Nordschleife on a dry day with ambient temp of 10°C.

Interestingly the Seat UK press release also states the car used was fitted with a DSG transmission, but on the video published by Top Gear you can clearly see Gene changing gears with what appears to be a manual transmission.

The Leon Cupra 280 is powered by a 2.0 litre TSI four cylinder engine producing, as its name suggests, 280PS (206kW). It’s also available in a detuned state with 195kW on offer. Both tunes offer 350Nm of torque.

If this is all sounding a little familiar that’s fair enough, the engine is also found in Volkswagen and Audi models. Unlike its stablemates the Leon is not available with an optional all-wheel drive system.

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Seat

Seat Leon Cupra 280 breaks Ring 8-min barrier

Seat Leon Cupra 280

The Seat Leon Cupra 280—essentially a detuned Audi S3/Golf R—has set a new Nürburgring benchmark for a front-wheel drive production car. The official announcement is being saved for the Geneva Motor Show, but Top Gear has the scoop for now.

As you can see the lap time is 7:58:44, which is pretty bloody quick, obviously. It also cuts almost 10 seconds off the previous best, set by the Renault Megane RS 265 back in 2011.

Seat recorded the lap time late last year with factory touring car driver Jordi Gene at the wheel. His Cupra 280 was fitted with a 6-speed manual gearbox and super sticky (optional) Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup 2 tyres.

[Source: Top Gear]

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Seat

El nuevo Seat Leon Cupra R

Seat Leon Cupra R

We first heard of the spiciest Seat Leon, the Cupra R, before last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show. It’s pretty much a Spanish Golf with a bunch of chillies stuffed down its trousers. Those chillies are rated at 195kW and ensure the driver will have to keep their wits about them; all that power is put to the road through the front wheels.

Essentially the car uses the same drivetrain found in the Volkswagen Scirocco R and employs a trick electronic diff (XDS) to try and hose down that firecracker of an engine. Apparently the results are “effective yet unobtrusive”.

The Leon Cupra R has just been launched in the UK and their press team have been kind enough to send out a few pics and a brief introductory video. You can see all that for yourself right after the break.

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Seat

SEAT León Linea R

SEAT Leon Linea R

It’s fresh, it’s funky, it’s fast, and its not available in Australia! This is the SEAT León Linea R. Okay, so the Linea R range is not much more than a fancy body kit, and it’s only fast if you tick the 147kW 2.0 TSI engine option from the three choices available—but it does look the business. The other engines have been raided from the VAG parts bin and include the 125kW 2.0 TDI (as seen in the Golf GT) and the 118kW 1.8 TSI (as seen in the Audi A4).

The León Linea R also gets a bunch of goodies thrown in such as 18″ ‘Supercopa’ alloys, dual zone climate control, TCS (traction control), ESP and, of course, the funky body kit, complete with Linea R badging.

While the exterior of the León Linea R makes you take notice, the inside is not quite up to Golf standards. It looks sporty enough, but the fine detail is just not there and the low placement of the Sat Nav unit is questionable, to say the least. Never mind that, SEAT’s generally drive just as well as their Volkswagen cousins, and normally offer more bang, for less buck. You gotta be happy with that!

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