If you’re fantasising about finding one of these under the Christmas tree this year, make sure it’s the right colour.

Yellow, perhaps. Or red. In fact just about any colour other than this very dark metallic purple, which looks black from any distance beyond about eight inches. Crucially it fails completely to make the black finish at the bottom of the rear bumper, the larger grille at the front and the Ebony Black door mirrors and B-pillars stand out. Which means that at a glance it looks like just about any other Leon.

Now, I’ve always been a fan of the Leon’s shape, but I think SEAT could have done a little more to make the most sporting model in the range really leap out at you. Admittedly, a very fine-looking body kit is available, but it really ought to come as standard from the wing of VAG that prides itself on sportiness and flair. Even better, they could have borrowed some styling cues from the WTCC car, proudly displayed at the Spanish launch venue.

You can’t argue with what’s under the skin, however. This new version of the TFSI (turbo petrol) engine is the most powerful unit ever to reside in a SEAT, and it will also be unique to SEAT within the VW group. Its boosted power has been achieved by an enlarged turbine and compressor in the turbo, larger injectors and a new cylinder head. The pistons and conrods have also been strengthened. The result is 237bhp at 5700-6300rpm, with 0-62mph in 6.4sec and a top speed of 153mph – not the sort of stuff you’re likely to be bored with by Boxing Day.

Inside, the Cupra gets black trim throughout, broken only by the red perforations in the steering wheel and the ‘anatomical’ (although anatomical for whom I’m not quite sure) gearknob. The plastics seem a bit scratchier than in a Golf, but there are particularly nicely sculpted seats, of which the press pack informs us, ‘These are not just mere seats, they are authentic racing bucket seats featuring a wraparound design with integral head restraints’. Made by Marks and Spencer, presumably…

Spanish motorways are some of the least crowded and most interesting in the whole of Europe, and photographer Stuart Collins and I are soon blurring the Armco at a steady 100mph. Yet the Cupra doesn’t feel like it’s doing more than half that. It’s so composed that we try 120, then 130, yet all remains unwaveringly stable and serene. The steering is decently weighty, which helps at high speed and bodes well for involvement when we eventually turn off towards the hills.

As we pass through a typical Spanish town that looks like it has been in the process of being finished for several centuries, the Cupra gives a few low-speed jiggles over the broken asphalt. Although the ride is undoubtedly firm, the suspension is also very well damped, but as speed increases the Cupra reveals the Golf GTI’s ability to smooth over a surface in ruthlessly efficient fashion.

The TFSI engine is as fantastic as ever and you still wouldn’t know that there was a turbo nestled under the bonnet. At first it doesn’t feel much quicker than the 197bhp version, but as the road gets interesting and you start holding on to a few more revs, you soon realise that it spins harder and faster at the top of the rev-range than any Golf GTI or Leon FR.

The first section of the road into the hills is a series of slightly frustrating hairpins. The Leon is too big a car to ever feel like it’s going to three-wheel round these, its weight meaning you just have to exercise restraint and wait for the road to open out again. When it does, the Cupra is blinding through the faster corners, the mass of the car feeling as though it has all been placed low down between the wheels. Grip is huge, yet easily trimmed on the limit.

There’s a particularly good uphill right-hander preceded by a long left. Exit the left, stay away from the brakes and just knock back from fifth to fourth in the left/right transition, then nail the throttle early through the right-hander. The Cupra corners flat and hard, a little gentle slip at the front bled out into the incline before it grips again and sets about the next straight. It’s a steely display of dynamic control.

And yet that is perhaps the Leon’s only downfall. Those who loved the last-generation Cupra R will remember a car that was almost irresponsibly lairy at times. A strange pentagonal graph in the press pack shows how the new car has reduced roll and increased lateral grip. Yet these 'improvements’ mean that some of the fantastic adjustability has gone, and that’s a shame.

But at £19,595, complete with bi-xenons, climate control and an MP3-compatible CD player as standard, the Cupra is likely to be a huge hot hatch success. Unfortunately you’ll have to put that Christmas fantasy on hold, because it doesn’t arrive in the UK until March – about the same time you can hope to get your PlayStation 3. Maybe you could have it wrapped inside a giant Easter egg…