Luke Wikner reports on our new Cupra Leon long-termer.

Cupra Leon 1.5 e-Hybrid V3

P11D: £43,285  BiK: 6% I £43 (20%) /£86 (40%) RANGE: 81 miles (EV) + ICE  ON FLEET RANGE 82 miles EFFICIENCY 4.5mpkWh

First Report:

I mentioned in my final report on FW Fleet’s hugely impressive Cupra Tavascan that it was quite nice to transition to a slightly more compact hatchback, as I probably didn’t utilise the Tavascan’s capabilities as much as someone with a larger family and covering a few more business motorway miles would have done.

When the daily commute involves far more urban driving, not only do EVs come into their own, but most plug-in hybrids arguably make an even stronger case for themselves.

And so it seems with Cupra’s latest Leon eHybrid. In fact, I think – BEVs aside – this particular car has hit the absolute sweet spot in this respect. This comment stems from having run a first-generation SEAT Leon e-Hybrid back in 2020/21 which offered exactly the same PHEV functionality, but had a significantly smaller battery – and less clever battery tech to make it as efficient as possible – which meant a real-world range of around 35-40 miles.

For those with a 20-mile commute in the winter, this often meant dipping into the 1.5-litre petrol engine’s reserves to get home, thus diluting the PHEV benefits. The new e-Hybrid is in a completely different league in this respect – offering an 81-mile range – and although it doesn’t have the 350-mile-plus capability of the Tavascan, it represents a paradigm shift and makes the Leon so much more useable if you like electric motoring, with zero range anxiety.