New Volkswagen Golf R Estate vs Cupra Leon Estate
These two fast freighters combine power with practicality, but which is the better buy?...
The contenders
NEW Volkswagen Golf R Estate 2.0 TSI 320 4Motion. DSG
List price £44,535
Target price £44,535
Estate version of the hottest Golf promises an appealing blend of pace and practicality. It packs more power than its Cupra relative, too
Cupra Leon Estate 2.0 TSI 310 VZ3
List price £43,290
Target price £42,867
The Cupra Leon is at its fastest in estate form, and this top-spec VZ3 undercuts the Golf R Estate on price
Distribution firms such as Amazon, FedEx and DHL spend vast sums of money figuring out how to speed up deliveries. Perhaps they should just equip themselves with a fleet of fast estate cars like these and have done with it.
The Cupra Leon Estate and VW Golf R Estate are every bit as rapid as their hot hatch equivalents. In fact, in estate form, the Leon gets an extra 10bhp and four-wheel drive over its hatchback sibling. And even if you go for top VZ3 trim, it still costs less to buy than the Golf R Estate.
However, the Golf also has four-wheel drive and packs even more power than the Leon, so perhaps it justifies its price? Let’s find out.
Driving
Performance, ride, handling, refinement
We should take a moment to appreciate that these fast estates are every bit as quick as a Ferrari F355 from the mid-1990s – a remarkable achievement, considering the two-seat Ferrari was a full-blown supercar with barely any room for luggage.
Against the clock, the Golf edges the Leon, though. It rockets from 0-60mph in 4.4sec to the Leon’s 4.6sec. That isn’t surprising, given that the Golf is more powerful and (slightly) lighter, but looking at the 30-50mph and 50-70mph times, which are more representative markers of overtaking ability there’s only a 0.1sec difference in favour of the Golf.
In short, both feel similarly rapid – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t differences. For example, while both have seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearboxes that offer rapid-fire shifts once on the move, each car’s is programmed differently. Go for a gap when crawling up to a roundabout in the Golf and acceleration is almost immediate; the Leon often pauses between the accelerator being trodden on and the car surging forwards. Similarly, downshifts in the Cupra can be quite abrupt when you’re slowing down, especially if you’re in the sportiest ‘Cupra’ driving mode. That might sound like a sporty attribute, but downshifts in the Golf are much smoother.
The four-wheel drive system in the Golf also feels a step ahead of the Leon’s. That’s because its rear axle incorporates two clutches that enable drive to be sent separately to each wheel. When you’re cornering hard, more power is sent to the outside wheel, helping to rotate the car into bends rather than letting it wash wide of your intended line. This allows the Golf to give y0u a much more dynamic driving experience than the effective but blunter Leon.
The Leon doesn’t have quite as much grip, either. Drive both cars along a twisting country road and you’ll find it can’t quite keep up. The Leon doesn’t feel as darty as the Golf, either, probably due to the latter’s ‘progressive’ steering, which gets quicker the more lock you apply, so less arm-twirling is needed through tight twists and turns. That’s not to say the Leon feels like a truck, though. Its lighter steering has all the accuracy you’d want for swift driving, but doesn’t feel much different from the steering in a regular Seat Leon.
The Leon’s trump card, though, is its highly customisable adaptive suspension, which comes as standard. This allows you to tailor the ride to suit your mood and the road surface, from hard and focused when you’re blasting down a B-road to soft and cosseting on a long motorway trip.
The Golf’s regular suspension doesn’t have this split character; it still swallows up the worst impacts from potholes, but doesn’t have the suppleness that the Leon provides in its comfiest setting. Our test car didn’t have it, but you can add adaptive suspension (Dynamic Chassis Control in VW speak) to the VW Golf R for £840, and that should improve its ride comfort.
Neither car offers a scintillating soundtrack, although the Cupra Leon does have a bassier exhaust note. You can switch on an augmented engine sound mode in both to ‘enhance’ the noise via the stereo, but the effect sounds very obviously fake.
However, when you’re looking for peace and quiet, the Leon is the quieter cruiser, with slightly less wind and road noise.
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