Die hard Seat fans have waited a long time for the return of the Leon Cupra R, but with an expected release in 2010 at around £20,000 it may have been worth the wait.

For a little more than the price of a current Seat Leon Cupra owners will get a fettled 2.0 16V T FSI engine producing 263bhp, a 0-62 mph time of 6.1 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph.  Midly impressive compared to the Cupra’s 236bhp, 6.2 second 0-62 and 153 mph top speed.  The tweaks help more than the performance though as the Cupra R gains an extra 1mpg over the current Cupra’s 34mpg on a combined cycle.  There is no indication whether Seat have managed to drop the CO2 emissions however.

Aesthetically the Cupra R will be splashed with liberal amounts of Cupra and R motifs inside and out… just in case you forget what your driving.

I’ve always liked the new Seat Leon, I would have had one too if I wasn’t about to be a father and my Mazda wasn’t such a steal.

Gallery

Seat Leon Cupra R Exterior

Seat Leon Cupra R Exterior

Seat Leon Cupra R Exterior

Seat Leon Cupra R Exterior

Seat Leon Cupra R Exterior

Seat Leon Cupra R Interior

Seat Leon Cupra R Engine

Watch out MX-5 – Nissan is getting ready to give the 370Z a baby brother Auto Express has learned that the Japanese manufacturer is planning a new small sports car to rival the popular Mazda roadster.

The open-top, rear-wheel-drive two-seater would mix stunning looks with storming straight-line performance. It would also take the fight to other forthcoming compact sports cars, such as the Honda CR-Z hybrid and Toyota’s next MR2 which we revealed in Issue 1,055.

Styling cues are set to be taken from the 370Z and Nissan’s Urge concept, which was seen at the Detroit Motor Show back in 2006. And there is certainly a gap in the range for the new model. The brand hasn’t had a presence in this sector of the market since production of the legendary 200SX ceased in 1998.

The sports car would get a turbocharged 1.6-litre petrol engine delivering in the region of 200bhp. That would propel it from 0-60mph in 6.5 seconds and on to a maximum speed of 140mph, while promising low emissions and impressive fuel economy of around 35mpg.

via Auto Express .

However, these rumors have probably been going since the last S15 rolled off the production line in 2002 and a two seater roadster is a bit of a departure from the sports coupe format.

I thought I’d attempt to bring the various rumor pics together and as such I’ve included a gallery of the various renderings and mock-ups that have been created over the years (mostly by Japanese car magazines), you can see the wide array of designs that have been thrown up.

As well as the look of the car there have also been some pretty out-there rumors such as the new 200SX being AWD and running a Subaru Boxer engine.  RWD is usually dropped in favour of FWD due to it being cheaper so I can’t imagine the more expensive AWD being chosen over RWD to be honest.

I fully expect the rumor mill to continue running on overtime with this one.