| Long Term Test | SEAT Leon 2.0 TDI Sport |
| Arrival date: | | December 2008 |
| Price: | | £18,197 (including £1,317 of options) |
| Current mileage: | | 7,500-miles |
| Average economy: | | 41.3mpg |
| Relevant links: | |
Euro NCAP results for SEAT Leon
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Been anywhere interesting?
Yes indeed. Plenty of places in fact, though most sadly journeyed via miles and miles of dull, jarring motorway. The Leon, for all its charms - and there are many - is not a motorway car, I've officially decided. Don't get me wrong, it's far from the worst thing to spend time with on a three-lane stretch, what with its strong urge in any gear and impressive diesel economy. But
that ride. Ouch.
So, where have we been? Well, there've been a few 500-odd mile round trips to airports for various launches; a trip to Sandbanks for a quick cruise in a
Peugeot 308 CC (six hours each way); and, most recently, a very worthwhile trip to Inverness for a delightful Highland blast in the new
BMW Z4. Oh, and it's been on the receiving end of a Gatso too - but the Nichol household is still trying to work out who exactly was driving. I, of course, blame Mrs Nichol, aka 'Schumacher'.
Anything stand out...?
A few little foibles, but nothing to really shout about. The over-riding feeling regarding the SEAT in our house remains largely positive. In fact, whenever a minor grumble rears its head, it's met with inappropriate glee simply because it means I'll have something to write about here. Those grumbles include a driver's seatbelt latch that gets 'lost' inside the seat when it's raised to its highest setting (to the constant annoyance of 5'2" Mrs Nichol); a persistent rattle from the centre air vents at 70mph and above; a boot lining that's coming away (see picture); neck-craning at roundabouts courtesy of chunky A-pillars; a frisky passenger seatbelt sensor that keeps telling my bag to belt up; and a paintjob...
Ah yes, the paint. The Leon's metallic black shade has deteriorated into one giant hologram. You've probably seen (or experienced this) before, but just in case, 'hologramming' is the effect of a 3D line or swirl that appears 'inside' the paint. It looks ghastly, to be honest, and given the fact the Leon's been washed all of twice in my custody, I can't help but think it's a Spanish paint issue rather than a corrosive cleaning fluid one. Maybe it's something I should explore further, because I know it's a problem that can be rectified, but at what cost I don't know.
...and for the wrong reasons?
Oh, I've just gone through them all, so I'll talk a little about the good stuff here if you don't mind. Actually, I've spent so much time with the Leon recently (as you'll see by the way the miles have piled on since my
last update), that it's getting more and more fun to drive simply because I'm learning exactly what its limits are. The downside is that I'm more than ever yearning for more power - I can't count the amount of times I've blasted out of a second gear corner then hit the rev limiter exactly at the wrong moment. Still, it's not exactly sluggish. It does sound like a tractor though.
Other things that stand out include a Bluetooth phone thingy that works really well, picking up both a Nokia N95 and an iPhone without getting all confused or constantly asking us for codes or blood, as can often happen. And the radio actually picks radio stations up too - a surprisingly common oversight in cars I find.
Where next?
Ooh, wherever two kids and a hectic launch schedule takes us really. The diary's actually a little quiet for the next couple of weeks, so the Leon will get on with its usual duties: taking two kids to nursery/grandparents/parks/swimming pools and gradually accumulating a collection of cardboard coffee cups, Flake wrappers, scarves, jackets, Postman Pat paraphernalia and miscellaneous buggy parts along the way. I've given up keeping it tidy...argh - next I'll be thinking about people carriers! Never.
