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The wraps have come off the 2016 Seat Leon Cupra 290! The sharply-styled Spanish hot-hatch touts even more power this time round, with the upgraded variant offering a total of 290 PS – an additional 10 PS over the 2014 Seat Leon Cupra. Looks wise, the car appears to have retained most of the original’s styling cues. Standard goodies on the outside include full LED headlamps, LED taillights and 19-inch wheels.

Moving on to the interior, one gets Alcantara-trimmed sport seats, a “Cupra” steering wheel, a 6.5-inch touchscreen display with navigation and LED ambient lighting – the latter features adaptive colour schemes with white being the standard shade while “Cupra” mode turns it red.

Under the bonnet, a turbocharged 2.0 litre four-cylinder petrol engine pumps out 290 PS. Torque figures remain unchanged with a total of 350 Nm of twist quoted – it is produced within a broader range of 1,700 to 5,800 rpm, though. Equipped with a double-clutch transmission, the car rockets from rest to 100 km/h in only 5.7 seconds while opting for a manual gearbox records a 5.8-second run instead. Top speed is 250 km/h.

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Also, the 2016 Seat Leon Cupra 290 is equipped with a “retuned exhaust system” that should please the inner child within us all. For more serious drivers, a Sub8 Performance Pack can be ordered – said option includes a set of Brembo brake calipers, new wheel designs and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres.

Other standard performance-enhancing features that have been carried over from the outgoing model include front-axle differential lock that’s said to improve the handling levels of the front-wheel drive hatch, dynamic chassis control (DCC) and progressive steering. Also, the Leon Cupra 290 is equipped as standard with the “Cupra” drive profile which allows drivers to tailor the car to suit their current driving style.

GALLERY: 2014 Seat Leon Cupra

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