Seat Leon a smooth operator

Make:

Friday, September 16, 2011

Just a few short weeks ago in these columns, we were extolling the virtues of the absolutely cracking Seat Leon Cupra R which is as good a hot hatch as is out there right now.

This week, however, we test a rather more mundane sibling from the Spanish stable — the humble, but very worthy, Seat Leon 1.6 TDi.

Thanks largely to its access to the vast parts bin of the parent company, Volkswagen, Seat has a fine range of cars and the Leon, to a large extent, is their take on the family hatchback; their Golf, if you will. Given the status of the Golf in the motoring pantheon, that is of course a big ask for the Spanish concern.

But, I have to say, Seat has never shirked a challenge and although their car shares much of the running gear with its German rival/stablemate — engines, gearboxes, etc — to even try and match the capabilities of the Golf, not to mention its sales potential, is still a big challenge.

And it is not just the Golf, the Leon has to contend with, what which such models as the Ford Focus, the Opel Astra as well as a raft of Far Eastern challengers, the job ahead of the Leon is not an easy one.

Even so, it is fair to say that while this car may not top the heap in the segment, it is a decent challenger that offers a lot in terms of price, specification and style.

Now it must be said that while Seat does have access to the VW parts bin, there is a definite element of the ‘hand-me-down’ here because the Leon actually uses the underpinnings of the previous Golf model and not the current one — in much the same way as Seat’s Exeo is based on the last generation Audi A4.

Now given that the last Golf was not exactly a brutal machine, that still gives the Leon a credibility that many others would only be too delighted to enjoy.

Seat has, of course, tweaked various bits and bobs to its own tastes — the suspension being a case in point, which is sportier and therefore firmer than people would have experienced in the Golf.

The ‘ecomotive’ engine too is Seat’s take on VW’s planet-saving Bluemotion technology and is now available pretty much across the Seat model line-up.

In this instance we have a 1.6 litre turbodiesel outputting some 77 Kw (105 bhp) and a very decent 250 Nm of torque at between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm.

Thus you can see this is yet another modern diesel which does not have to be flayed to extract the maximum from it and even keeping it under 3,000 rpm will provide you with very decent pulling power while also maximising consumption, which in this case works out at a very satisfying 4.2 l/100 km, while the CO2 emission level of just 109 g/km is also very tax-friendly.

Top speed is 185 kph and the 0-100 kph dash is achieved in a reasonable — if not eye-popping — 11.3 seconds.

Those figures may not, as I have hinted, be of world land speed record proportions, but I can assure you that if you keep this unit spinning in its sweet zone, there is loads of mid-range punch.

Tie that in with the sporty suspension and the excellent grip levels it provides and you have a machine that will surprise you with its cornering abilities and its willingness to pull strongly out of them.

The five speed gearbox is a smooth performer and works well in tandem with the engine and these, combined with the high grip suspension (MacP front and multilink rear) add up to providing a machine which is great over twisty roads — what with taut body control and very predictable handling — decent on motorways, but a tad unsettled on rougher surfaces.

From a driver’s point of view the Leon is an able partner, but there are a few downsides.
One of the Seat design cues is that the windscreen wipers tuck in to the A-pillars at the front and as these are already quite thick — creating substantial blind spots — the wipers don’t help.

Other than that, though, the steering is adjustable for reach and rake, the seats are comfortable and supportive and also adjustable for height.

Interior space is excellent with plenty of head and leg room for rear passengers; boot space too is very good and there is loads of room, but the problem is that in the search for an eye-catching rear end design, the boot lip is very high and this makes loading heavy items quite tricky.

Equipping levels are good too with all versions getting six airbags, electric front windows, remote central locking and air con. It does have to be said, however, that the overall drabness of the inside of the car is another minus against it.

The materials utilised throughout are nowhere near as classy as some rivals but, in fairness, everything seems to be built to last and should survive the daily rigours of family life with some ease.