Independent Reviews of SEAT New and Used Cars

SEAT has pushed the performance boat out with its 310PS Leon Cupra R hatch. Jonathan Crouch reports.

SEAT's Arona is a small SUV with an important role to play in the Spanish maker's model line-up. Jonathan Crouch takes a look at what's on offer.

At the end of the day, it's horses for courses. If you're a red-blooded hot hatch enthusiast, you'll have no time for eco-conscious hot hatches like this one. You'll want a Renaultsport Clio 200 and happily put up with its firm ride, noisy engine and high running costs. The Ibiza Cupra is for a more thoughtful kind of buyer. Someone with bills to pay and a green conscience. Someone who still loves to grip-and-go but doesn't need to be doing it every waking mile. For you, this Ibiza Cupra will suit perfectly, quick but resolutely high-tech and in every way 21st century. Truly a shopping rocket of our times.

This Leon remains a strong but often overlooked contender in the family hatchback segment and it's been usefully improved in this facelifted guise. Buyers will appreciate the smarter safety and improved media connectivity and the 1.0-litre TSI petrol engine is a unit that many diesel buyers ought to have looked at first. As for the wider Leon range, well whether there really is 'latin spirit in every one' is another question of course. In the case of sportier versions like the FR models, we'd be tempted to say yes. Overall, on a pure value-versus-quality basis, this Leon has long been the pick of the Volkswagen Group offerings in this sector. And that also makes it one of the key segment benchmarks outside the Wolfsburg family of brands. Which in turn, makes it a very good car indeed.

SEAT's MK5 model Ibiza supermini gets a range of strong engines, including an efficient 1.0 TSI three-cylinder unit. The experts at Car & Driving check it out.