Seat Leon Cupra R

Seat's most powerful car ever, the 261bhp Leon Cupra R, has landed in the UK, and it is very yellowy.

And fast: the Cupra R (which, if you say it too fast, makes you sound like an angry dog) will get from 0-62mph in 6.2 seconds and on to a limited 155mph, courtesy of the same turbocharged two-litre four-cylinder engine found in the VW Scirocco R - and, in slightly uprated form - the Golf R.

See more pics of the Seat Leon Cupra R

Like the Scirocco R, and unlike the Golf R, the Cupra R (there's a sentence to make you sound like a cheery pirate) remains front-wheel drive. XDS, Seat's electronic interpretation of a limited slip diff, will do its best to stop you torque steering into a wall/tree/ditch/Peter Bowles.

Seat is bigging up the green credentials of the Cupra R. It'll return 34.9mpg and 190g/km of CO2: not quite Bluemotion-rivalling figures, but respectable enough for a rapid hot hatch.

The Cupra R gets a shorter-shifting gearbox than the standard Leon Cupra, 19-inch wheels and a whole lot of ‘R' badging. Oh, and a pair of glossy black front seats moulded from Darth Vader's own codpiece.

UK production is limited to 500 cars each year and prices start at £25,205. That's a handy three grand cheaper than the Scirocco R. Tempted?

Sam Philip