The new Cupra Leon estate is the most powerful Cupra Leon yet

Cupra has revealed its most powerful car ever, which takes the form of a five-door estate car with very sensible four-wheel-drive, a practical 620-litres of boot space and [checks notes] a turbocharged petrol engine and a drift mode.

No wonder it looks angry. Welcome to the new Cupra Leon estate, a car featuring a 328bhp 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, a seven-speed DSG gearbox and four-wheel-drive. 

Cupra hasn’t detailed just how fast the new Leon estate is, but consider it comes with torque splitter tech and big Akebono brakes (on the VZ3 trim), and you’ll get a sense of its speed. (Read: Much.)

The Leon Estate also gets an exclusive ‘Cupra’ mode, which further tweaks the accelerator and gearbox for circuit work and allows for torque to be apportioned to either left-rear or right-rear wheel according to grip levels.

There’s a ‘Drift’ mode too, which unshackles the ESC and tweaks the torque splitter so you can… drift. In a medium-sized, grey Spanish estate! Should 328bhp and drifty goodness prove too much, there’s a less thrusting 200bhp AWD Leon estate available.

Both cars sit on the VW Group’s MQB Evo platform and get a choice of hybrid powertrains too: a mild-hybrid 1.5-litre turbo with a 48V starter-generator, or a full PHEV available with either 200bhp or 268bhp. That PHEV gets a 19.7kWh battery able to travel a claimed 62 miles on electricity alone. Though because it’s a Cupra, there are massive brakes, too.

Over in hatch-land, the standard five-door Cupra Leon arrives with a FWD 148bhp turbo petrol option with a six-speed manual, or a 300bhp hot hatch that gets a fancy front diff for better grip. It’s the Golf GTI that’s not called a Golf GTI.

Though, you wouldn’t mistake either for a Golf because both hatch and estate now feature Cupra’s new design language – as witnessed on the Born EV – and are therefore much more… Cupra-ish.

For that, read: shark-nose front end, triangular LED headlights, ‘muscular’ bumpers, and a cleaner rear with a single bar connecting the new rear taillights. Naturally there are new wheel options – 18in or 19in – and a range of colours all hovering around the ‘moody grey’ side of the colour chart. There’s black, blue and white, if you don't like fifty shades of grey.

Cupra said it’s bolstered the interior cabin quality as well, and has fitted a new 3D pattern to the dash, redesigned the centre console, used better materials and upgraded the seats. Speaking of which, you can option ‘CUPBucket’ seats on the range-topping VZ3 trim, and they’re...  exactly what you think they are.

There’s a bigger HMI and larger infotainment system, the latter measuring in at 12.9in, along with a bigger stereo, and – on the Leon VZ – a ‘sound actor’ that “reinforces the natural sound of the engine”. Yeah, us neither. Naturally there’s plenty of driver assist and connectivity thrown into the mix, too.

“The new CUPRA Leon embraces the future with next-generation powertrains and a more environmentally conscious approach to performance,” said Cupra boss Wayne Griffiths. Enough to carve out a more distinct identity than the old Leon managed, though? Let us know below.