SEAT Leon Diesel.
23/12/2011Now Cars Review the SEAT Leon Diesel
The SEAT Leon Diesel, equiped with a 105PS, 1.6 litre diesel engine, is listed at £17450, althouth I suspect you would get something off that.
That puts in in the range with Focus and Astra, and it is here that it must do battle.
We drove about 500 miles in the car, and in summary found it to be competent but bland. However, bland is too subjective, so here for some details.
Visually, we struggled a bit with the car. It reminded us of the Sage building in Gateshead. You keep looking for new angles from which to view it, because occassionally it looks quite attractive. The curious arrangement of not having a rear door handle, tried, and abandonned, by Alfa, adds nothing but a need for explanations to all passengers!
Inside the car was black. And featureless. The dashboard is clear, but the left hand dial attempts to communicate so much information that it actually can be confusing.
So what about driving the car? Well, it does depend what you compare it with! If you are prepared to be robust with the throttle it is actually lively for the money, with respectable road manners. But, unusually for a diesel, I thought it lacked torque, so you have to keep it spinning. Which left me with a fuel consumption of 47.8mpg, which is fine, but will be beaten by many of the competitors.
And it was noisy. And not particularly comfortable, with hard suspension, and a firm ride.
However some of that comment is harsh. As I drove the car, it became more acceptable - it grew on me. A little. I can see, as a budget family car, how it would do the job. But I could never really love the car. I liked the steering wheel. I liked the big rear view you get from this car - seriously, it is better than most by a long way. But the dashboard was still disappointing me, and I as I got used to driving the car with more revs the fuel consumption was slowly going down.
Cars like this have a hard job to do. Largely functional, they have to operate in a very competitive market. Let's be honest, the Focus and the Astra and extremely good at what they do, and this car, at similar money, offers little to draw away from rivals.
So, in conclusion, we score it at 6 out of 10. No reason not to buy it. But drive the competition before you decide!
The SEAT Leon Diesel, equiped with a 105PS, 1.6 litre diesel engine, is listed at £17450, althouth I suspect you would get something off that.
That puts in in the range with Focus and Astra, and it is here that it must do battle.
We drove about 500 miles in the car, and in summary found it to be competent but bland. However, bland is too subjective, so here for some details.
Visually, we struggled a bit with the car. It reminded us of the Sage building in Gateshead. You keep looking for new angles from which to view it, because occassionally it looks quite attractive. The curious arrangement of not having a rear door handle, tried, and abandonned, by Alfa, adds nothing but a need for explanations to all passengers!
Inside the car was black. And featureless. The dashboard is clear, but the left hand dial attempts to communicate so much information that it actually can be confusing.
So what about driving the car? Well, it does depend what you compare it with! If you are prepared to be robust with the throttle it is actually lively for the money, with respectable road manners. But, unusually for a diesel, I thought it lacked torque, so you have to keep it spinning. Which left me with a fuel consumption of 47.8mpg, which is fine, but will be beaten by many of the competitors.
And it was noisy. And not particularly comfortable, with hard suspension, and a firm ride.
However some of that comment is harsh. As I drove the car, it became more acceptable - it grew on me. A little. I can see, as a budget family car, how it would do the job. But I could never really love the car. I liked the steering wheel. I liked the big rear view you get from this car - seriously, it is better than most by a long way. But the dashboard was still disappointing me, and I as I got used to driving the car with more revs the fuel consumption was slowly going down.
Cars like this have a hard job to do. Largely functional, they have to operate in a very competitive market. Let's be honest, the Focus and the Astra and extremely good at what they do, and this car, at similar money, offers little to draw away from rivals.
So, in conclusion, we score it at 6 out of 10. No reason not to buy it. But drive the competition before you decide!
