Hyundai Veloster vs Cupra Leon

What's the difference?

Giant carmakers seem like pretty sober sorts of places. Everything goes through endless committees, every decision has to be signed off, sent in, sent back, subjected to endless scrutiny to make sure it will make money.

Sometimes, a brand will do something odd like BMW's i3 which is like sending up a flare to get people talking.

Hyundai, for many years, seemed to be trying to emulate Toyota. After a brief flourish in the '90s when it did for curves on cars what Kim Kardashian did for curves on grubby internet sites, the company lost its bottle and tried to go full mainstream. Never go full mainstream, that's for the old folks.

Then, out of the blue, came the Veloster. It's probably one of the most wilfully weird cars in decades (apart from various Citroens, but that's a special case).

One long door on the driver's side, two shorter doors on the passenger side. When BMW did something similar with the Mini Clubman, right-hand drive markets didn't get their own version of the kerb-side door, but Hyundai isn't like that.

Making the Veloster properly in right-hand drive is a wonderful gesture from a company that worked out being itself was a better idea than being Toyota.

Cupra is not trying to fit in.

In a car market that is getting more and more crowded the Volkswagen Group-owned Spanish performance brand is looking to stand out. Which is why its refreshed Leon hatchback range has added the most unlikely of new models - a small wagon.

The conventional hatchback is struggling to survive against the onslaught of SUVs, and almost every brand has abandoned the wagon in all its sizes, but not Cupra. It has added the Leon Sportstourer to its facelifted Leon hatchback range, giving buyers looking for something different a new alternative.

This new compact wagon is powered by a plug-in hybrid powertrain and joins the Leon hatch in a three-pronged line-up initially, with the Leon S mild-hybrid and VZx hot hatch. A red hot VZx version of the Sportstourer and plug-in hybrid hatch are locked in to join the local Cupra range in 2026, but for now we’ll focus on this trio.