Leon Cupra ST Wagon Now Seat’s Most Powerful Model

Whoever said you can’t stand in the way of progress clearly never faced a conflict between two measures of that progress. But Seat has.

According to Auto Express, the Spanish automaker has been forced to limited the output of the Leon Cupra hot hatch. Apparently the model didn’t stand up to the new Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicle Test Procedure (abbreviated as WLTP). So the progress of its output has had to take a step backwards in order to comply with the progress of emissions testing. As a result, the vehicle previously known as the Leon Cupra 300 is now being dialed back to 290 – those numbers representing their output in metric horsepower.

What hasn’t changed is the Leon Cupra ST – the wagon version which comes with all-wheel drive and is therefor apparently held to a different standard. So while the hatchback will revert to the previous 286-horsepower engine, the wagon will carry on with 296… and keep the four-wheel traction to get all that power down to the tarmac, not to mention the added cargo capacity to make it a real challenger to performance crossovers.

An earlier version of the Seat Leon Cupra ST clinched the Nürburgring lap record a few years ago for the fastest wagon ever to circle the Nordschleife, which it completed in under 8 minutes. And that was with “only” 276 hp on tap. The latest model packs 24 more horses and all-wheel traction, making it an even more compelling alternative to heavier performance crossovers. (No word yet, though, on the limited-edition Cupra R with its 306 hp.)