Hi this will be my first post too.
I´m from Portugal and i recently bought a leon st fr 1.5 etsi, very well equiped with 18 alloys, it seems i´ve been lucky too, regarding software bugs although my software version is 1672, what i think it´s a little outdated.
I dont consider the lack of physical controls a dealbreaker, even with phisical controls you still look to them when you use them, even worst, in most case you look down, and in leon st you still manage to look to the road due to the infotainment position, when operating most of the controls.
The lane assist is very crappy, i hope they
review this feature it goes to the line before acting and battles the driver when you correct the wheel, i always turn it off because its very intrusive when you´re driving, the other assists work very well especialy acc and emergency braking, i also disable front assist when i wanna go fast, because it tends to break acording to the road and traffic.
The leon st provides a very relaxing and smooth ride when you travel at low speeds on a country road, but it can also gives some strong sensations when you drive on a curvy mountain road on sport mode, although it´s no cupra i think it moves very well, whith good power levels at lows and medium rpm, but not so good at high, just like a diesel car.
The suspension even in confort still a bit hard, but you can´t have everything, my saab 93 with bilstein b6 is a lot harder then the leon, if you want grip and low body roll the leon st has it.
So far im happy with the car, although i think that after a few km´s there will be noises in the dashboard and vents area, due to the plastics quality, they´re a little hard, especialy on the vents, the door and central column plastics are hard but i think they wont have that kind of issues becasuse they feel tight and solid.
Regarding fuel efficiency it´s good i´ve been making on long term about 7l/100km, wich is good considering that sometimes i have an heavy foot.
the power output of the engine is allright, although i know some cases here that have been remapped to 195hp and it becomes a very fast car, it´something to consider after warranty.
It´s confy and spacious i have two small kids and when i travel i have bootspace for everything i need, and its a lot of stuff.
The only thing i dont like so much are the noises made by the gearbox, when im slowing down to a stop, sometimes it´make a sort of clunk (DSG7) and a weird rattle noise in hard paved roads or turning hard left, comming from the left front wheel, that may be break pads or a funky transmission, i will go to the dealer to see if they find what cause this issue soon.
The noises are only heard with the window open, the sound isolation is very good, there was also a plastic noise from the dashboard frame very irritating that i resolved using some velcro tape.
I had the same doubt that you have leon st or corolla st 2.0 but i travel a lot on highway and i think that leon st becomes more efficient there, corolla st with cvt gearbox its very noisy at highways at least at the speeds i travel, also corolla st is heavier and its steering isn´t has accurate has the leon.
Considering the offer at the moment i think leon st is one of the best estate in c segment that you can buy regarding price/design/inovation/security/price/quality.
i hope i helped with my feedback
