MrHooky
Guest
Thought I’d give an ‘end of term’ write up now that my ‘57’ plate Candy White Leon FR TDI is going back to the leasing company after two years of ownership.
Alows me to give my thoughts as well as consideration to anybody who is thinking of getting one.
Firstly, reason for getting the car. With the arrival of my son in April 2008 I needed a car which was practical/reliable and also a bit of fun. Being 24 at the time I also didn’t want to be stung on insurance and fancied a diesel due to benefits of performance vs. economy/running costs. The Leon has been great as a family car. Five doors (love the rear hidden door handles which have fooled many passengers) and a decent boot size too. Much bigger in the back than my fathers Octavia too. Rear leg room is actually really quite impressive and must be close to class leading.
As for the looks of the car. I still love how it looks now. I can say this unbiased (as getting rid of it!), I actually prefer the look of the pre facelift to the post. I know the majority of people can’t tell, but I don’t like the revised ‘squarer’ front grille, rear lights and tailgate glass extension that the newer cars have. I would choose the newer mirrors actually, as the ones on my prefacelift are a bit small personally. I chose the candy white which I think was a great choice. It highlights the rear bumper black plastic which marks it out from the lesser model, and with the few mods I did help make the car look sporty. More and more people buying white cars now given they are the latest craze, so I was pleased I was an earlier trend setter! The few mods I did extended to the replacement of grille with a cupra item and changing the mirror caps. If the car wasn’t leased I would have changed more. Which probably would have involved lowering, as the car rides too high in my opinion, a 25mm drop would still look OEM but at least make the 18s (only option I chose) fill the arches better. I would have also looked into having the front number plate recess vinyl coated in black along with the roof. Perhaps the Cupra rear spoiler too, plus powder coated the wheels black. I just think the Leon is one of the few cars that black wheels and decals looks good on as they are OEM options. Personally for all other cars they look a bit ‘chavvy’. As the latter mods were harder to reverse and would have been money wasted I didn’t bother. A remap would have also been high on the list.
Driving wise it has also been a good car. Not as quick as my previous motor which was a Megane 225, plus never had the same shove as my Ibiza FR TDI which was remapped to c.170bhp. The 2.0 TDI was a more refined unit which somehow didn’t give the same turbo lag feel of the Ibiza which I enjoyed! Refinement was very good on the motorways. 100mph an effortless cruise. Never tried to V max it really although did get 135mph quite comfortably on the M6 toll. Only gripe is that it is a very ‘crashy’ ride. Although firm, which is what you expect, I don’t think it is well damped, and so you feel a lot of the bumps. Corners reasonably well, although not as well as the Megane I owned. Economy was good. Again not as good as the Ibiza which I find bizarre for a newer engine. I know the Ibiza smaller but not massively lighter. Was probably getting high 30s on my 12mile run into town, with very early 40s on long motorway jaunts. I normally do 90-100 on the motorways when it’s clear. Don’t mean to speed it’s just the engine is still idling at that speed and is a very quiet cruiser.
Interior is nice and has grown on me. I like the soft touch dash although too much flat plastic with the stereo and heating controls. Although VAG it’s clearly lower class than the golf and A3 (and perhaps even the Skodas!?). Still a nice car though and well specced. Cruise and dual climate are welcome niceties. Seats very comfy and supportive too, were always very comfortable for the long journeys.
Shame it looks so much nicer from the outside than the inside really. In my opinion there is no better looking warm/hot hatch on the market. I would enjoy having a cupra for a short while although given it’s almost identical on the inside I would get bored of it. I do think it looks a smart car in white and the right side of boy racer for me.
Only real niggle I had was after the 10k service the garage left three bolts out of the under engine plastic guard which rattled above 80mph. very annoying and took about 6k/8 months to figure it out. Not best pleased when I knew what it was…!
Hope the above helps someone in either making their mind up about whether to get one, or some people just share my opinion. Enjoyed getting my thoughts off my chest anyway!
You may be wondering what I’ve bought in replacement. Well my wife has just got a new Audi A5 Sport which is very nice. I have bought myself an TT MKI 3.2 with the DSG box, much quicker than my Leon, plus fancied something with more than four cylinders. Clearly a Cupra would have been affordable but having the same car twice is boring. Not a Seat anymore but enjoyed the Leon and the two years I had with my Ibiza.
Alows me to give my thoughts as well as consideration to anybody who is thinking of getting one.
Firstly, reason for getting the car. With the arrival of my son in April 2008 I needed a car which was practical/reliable and also a bit of fun. Being 24 at the time I also didn’t want to be stung on insurance and fancied a diesel due to benefits of performance vs. economy/running costs. The Leon has been great as a family car. Five doors (love the rear hidden door handles which have fooled many passengers) and a decent boot size too. Much bigger in the back than my fathers Octavia too. Rear leg room is actually really quite impressive and must be close to class leading.
As for the looks of the car. I still love how it looks now. I can say this unbiased (as getting rid of it!), I actually prefer the look of the pre facelift to the post. I know the majority of people can’t tell, but I don’t like the revised ‘squarer’ front grille, rear lights and tailgate glass extension that the newer cars have. I would choose the newer mirrors actually, as the ones on my prefacelift are a bit small personally. I chose the candy white which I think was a great choice. It highlights the rear bumper black plastic which marks it out from the lesser model, and with the few mods I did help make the car look sporty. More and more people buying white cars now given they are the latest craze, so I was pleased I was an earlier trend setter! The few mods I did extended to the replacement of grille with a cupra item and changing the mirror caps. If the car wasn’t leased I would have changed more. Which probably would have involved lowering, as the car rides too high in my opinion, a 25mm drop would still look OEM but at least make the 18s (only option I chose) fill the arches better. I would have also looked into having the front number plate recess vinyl coated in black along with the roof. Perhaps the Cupra rear spoiler too, plus powder coated the wheels black. I just think the Leon is one of the few cars that black wheels and decals looks good on as they are OEM options. Personally for all other cars they look a bit ‘chavvy’. As the latter mods were harder to reverse and would have been money wasted I didn’t bother. A remap would have also been high on the list.
Driving wise it has also been a good car. Not as quick as my previous motor which was a Megane 225, plus never had the same shove as my Ibiza FR TDI which was remapped to c.170bhp. The 2.0 TDI was a more refined unit which somehow didn’t give the same turbo lag feel of the Ibiza which I enjoyed! Refinement was very good on the motorways. 100mph an effortless cruise. Never tried to V max it really although did get 135mph quite comfortably on the M6 toll. Only gripe is that it is a very ‘crashy’ ride. Although firm, which is what you expect, I don’t think it is well damped, and so you feel a lot of the bumps. Corners reasonably well, although not as well as the Megane I owned. Economy was good. Again not as good as the Ibiza which I find bizarre for a newer engine. I know the Ibiza smaller but not massively lighter. Was probably getting high 30s on my 12mile run into town, with very early 40s on long motorway jaunts. I normally do 90-100 on the motorways when it’s clear. Don’t mean to speed it’s just the engine is still idling at that speed and is a very quiet cruiser.
Interior is nice and has grown on me. I like the soft touch dash although too much flat plastic with the stereo and heating controls. Although VAG it’s clearly lower class than the golf and A3 (and perhaps even the Skodas!?). Still a nice car though and well specced. Cruise and dual climate are welcome niceties. Seats very comfy and supportive too, were always very comfortable for the long journeys.
Shame it looks so much nicer from the outside than the inside really. In my opinion there is no better looking warm/hot hatch on the market. I would enjoy having a cupra for a short while although given it’s almost identical on the inside I would get bored of it. I do think it looks a smart car in white and the right side of boy racer for me.
Only real niggle I had was after the 10k service the garage left three bolts out of the under engine plastic guard which rattled above 80mph. very annoying and took about 6k/8 months to figure it out. Not best pleased when I knew what it was…!
Hope the above helps someone in either making their mind up about whether to get one, or some people just share my opinion. Enjoyed getting my thoughts off my chest anyway!
You may be wondering what I’ve bought in replacement. Well my wife has just got a new Audi A5 Sport which is very nice. I have bought myself an TT MKI 3.2 with the DSG box, much quicker than my Leon, plus fancied something with more than four cylinders. Clearly a Cupra would have been affordable but having the same car twice is boring. Not a Seat anymore but enjoyed the Leon and the two years I had with my Ibiza.
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i take it youll never be back to seat then?
![[:@]](/forums/styles/seatcupra/oldforumsmileys/furious.gif "Furious [:@]")
