LeakyTurnip
01-09-2005, 21:49
Visiting my friendly SEAT dealership today and went for a little spin in an 1.9TDI Leon. Looks much nicer in the flesh than in any picture. Me thinks me wants one!!
I took some photos with the old camera phone but I think there are enough floating around!
Has anyone any impressions of the 1.6 engine? I was about 5 minutes away from ordering a 1.6 Stylance today but decided to sleep on it. Oh and anybody have a car in Zenith Grey, a picture would be great!
Thanks
140tdi felt good last night
140tdi felt good last night
Especially on roundabouts :D
Muzorewa
02-09-2005, 09:55
Went well around that roundabout halfway down the A627(M)
Would have liked a go in one with the DSG though, still can't get my head round how that works.
But the little people liked the new Leon, although the girl said she would have preferred a red one :rolleyes:
Grateful to David Cook motors for giving us the opportunity :clap:
Myself , Saul and our Rick went joy-riding in the Sport, which was fun :)
Im very impressed with the new car, rides and handles far better out of the box than the old car, and is very refined on the road. I wouldn't mind a go in a DSG myself, as i keep trying to drive manuals like auto's :p (sorry saul, my big feet).
I'm a fan of the shape myself, i know many are not, the front end is the only part im not as keen on, but from most angles, it looks smart, and has a stocky poised coupe look to it, its bigger than the old car, but not hugely apparent to the naked eye, it actually appears a bit smaller to the eye really, though tardis like for its dimensions inside, lots of boot space, more than the older car, though the high boot lip and small entry space would make loading some items difficult.
Very roomy inside, in fact i could get in the back very comfortably with legroom and space to spare, and if you've met me you know, what an achievement that would be to fit me in the back. :D I can't get in the back of my current Leon, without seriously damaging parts of me or the car.
Getting in and out of the front was a little more tedious for me, as the low sloping roof-line, means i had to stoop my head quite a bit to get past the A-pillar, but once inside the car, i had loads of headroom, legroom, and very good seating postion was easy to find, and in the real world it wasn't that much of a problem, but worth mentioning, taller people will have to stoop a bit, Saul looked comfy enough when driving it though, and he's a lot taller than me.
The seats are really very good in the Sport, they hold and support you very well, and are very comfortable, especially when Saul was pushing the envelope on a roundabout. :) We were convinced we got it to cock a rear wheel, but it remained poised and held on, the ESP was a bit intrusive, but these driver aids always are.
Handling was a plus point, the new Leon really does feel great on the road, handles fast bends, slow bends and roundabouts with ease, is poised, and can change direction at speed and abrubtly ;) without getting out of shape, and holds on as mentioned above, it instills confidence that you can chuck it about, the multi link rear suspension is a vast improvement. Ride is smooth, and not crashy.
The DSR (Dynamic Steering) that was strange at first, but we started to get use to it by the end of the drive, slow speeds the steering is very light, so light infact, its almost like its no longer connected to the track rods :D Then as you put on some speed it loads up a bit more, though personally i'd prefer a bit more feedback, stiffer, maybe something that can be adjusted later (Vag-Com) maybe?
First time ive driven a sooty too, and I was mighty impressed with how good it was to drive, very quick, and pulls like a train, however it does run out of puff very quick in the gears, but its unfair for me to compare it with my current Cupra R's 1.8T engine, as the engines are like caulk and cheese, but i think id prefer a TFSI (pending a future test drive), even though it seems to be diesels that hold their money these days.
Delivery was smooth and powerful, though the diesel tubby has quite a bit of lag, when you really give it some right foot, but then dumps power and torque at you like a lump hammer, given that though, the car is quiet, it was far far quieter at a ton (on a private road of course) ;) than my Miltek zorsted Cupra R is when doing 85mph.
Stereo seemed acceptable, yet for some reason the rear speakers didn't seem to work very well, sounded like they were knackered to be honest. Didn't get much time to play about with it really.
We maybe unique on here so far, in that we've test-driven it at night (9.30pm we were joyriding up the M60) :D , visibility was very good from the headlights, as the current Leons can be a bit poor at night, Xenons are optional, and they would improve it again im sure.
Some criticisms though, i mentioned the low roof-line at the front, already, but the A pillar is a bit obtrusive for overall vision, but not as bad as i thought it would be, and the sloping windsreen and low roof, kind of tunnels your vision and feels a bit closed in, the rear visability is not that good, the rear screen is tiny, even worse than the current Leon for rear view, however the large door mirrors help.
Though as i say we drove it at night, which is undoubtably one of the occasions when vision is at its worse, and I wasn't really struggling to see, as i said above, the lights are large and illuminate the road well, the directions from my brother in law could of been better, but otherwise not horrendous, I would expect in the daylight it would be easier to judge.
Some of the dash plastics seem a tad fragile, but that may just be how they appear, i didn't test them by scraping my fingernails over them or anything :p
Cosmetically, we didn't like the plastic slam panel under the front windscreen, looks cheap, and the grey plastic looks like it will probably discolour in the sun over time, lots of Back to Black required. :no: Looks better on the black car, as its less noticeable, other colours i would expect it to stand out like a sore thumb.
Wheels not big enough for my taste, the 16-17" wheels look lost but thats something id change myself anyway.
A lot of travel on the brake pedal, though they seemed to work well enough once you actually hit the braking point.
Overall, I was very impressed with this new car, and certainly will be taking the dealers offer of a longer test drive in the future, though I'll likely be holding out for a TFSi or FR, I went with an open mind, and found a very impressive modern car, which is good value. But don't take my word for it, go try it for yourself :)
TallFella
02-09-2005, 12:58
Went to the preview t'other night and I have to echo the above in terms of interior space. Having to duck through your average doorways I was inpressed by the amount of under-steering-wheel legroom. With the wheel in the fully raised position, and pulled back towards you, there is what seems like acres of room under the wheel. (lanky folk like myself will know what I mean). The steeply raked windscreen makes the interior feel a lot bigger, and the raised shoulders and waist of the car make you feel a lot more cosetted. The centre console makes more sense than my current car (I had an armrest fitted afterwards) with cupholders and a removeable ashtraythat becomes another cupholder which I thought was a bit of a touch for us non-smokers.
Spoke to the dealer and he said that they reckon the FR will be out around Feb next year, and are hoping that the Cupra will be around for May time. Which is great news for me as my current LC is up for renewal at about the same time. He suggested that prices are likely to be about the same in order to retain customers and stay competitive - which all makes sense.
I am going to save a test drive for nearer the time, but as things stand I am very tempted, but I want an FR at the very least. I have regretted not going for the LCR this time round, I don't want to do the same thing again.
Cupra in May? I hope so. If I have to wait until January 07 my head will fall off.
Z - Saul - Rick - me well jealous - not driven one yet. Was the footwell wet by the end? :drool:
Scott
it was, Z kept getting his foot stuck to the brake and stalling it :p
Icecavern
02-09-2005, 13:54
I need to go see one tape measure in hand... From the pictures I think it'd make a fantastic ICE car, but I want to measure some specific bits to see.
And then I want a decent local Seat dealer... Oh damn now I've gona and asked too much... :no:
Cupra in May? I hope so. If I have to wait until January 07 my head will fall off.
Z - Saul - Rick - me well jealous - not driven one yet. Was the footwell wet by the end? :drool:
Scott
Well here is the puppy. What we were told last night, now I am taking this with a pinch of salt at the moment, but you will see me making a beeline for the SEAT UK marketing boss at Silverstone in a few weeks, to grill him as much as possible. :p
Leon FR - January possibly even sooner November now being mentioned. 170bhp PD for the FR. No word whether or not it will get a 200bhp TFSi, thoguh id feel its likely they will offer both a range topping petrol and diesel. But the dealer had only been told about the 170PD.
Leon Cupra- 240bhp as has been mentioned umpteen times.
And they've been told, that SEAT want/intend to launch this at the very first race of the 2006 BTCC season.
Now one point is that there isn't a track/venue calendar yet available for the 2006 BTCC, though this will be announced within the next couple of months.
Second point - SEAT UK have yet to commit to the BTCC for 2006, though recently more and more little snippets of information and certain things appearing, and my own gut feeling is that they will remain competing in the BTCC in 2006 with the new Leon.
it was, Z kept getting his foot stuck to the brake and stalling it :p
Yer for some reason, i think my foot was thinking it was in an Automatic. Seemed to fail to press the clutch in. :p
Well here is the puppy. What we were told last night, now I am taking this with a pinch of salt at the moment, but you will see me making a beeline for the SEAT UK marketing boss at Silverstone in a few weeks, to grill him as much as possible. :p
Leon FR - January possibly even sooner November now being mentioned. 170bhp PD for the FR. No word whether or not it will get a 200bhp TFSi, thoguh id feel its likely they will offer both a range topping petrol and diesel. But the dealer had only been told about the 170PD.
Leon Cupra- 240bhp as has been mentioned umpteen times.
And they've been told, that SEAT want/intend to launch this at the very first race of the 2006 BTCC season.
Now one point is that there isn't a track/venue calendar yet available for the 2006 BTCC, though this will be announced within the next couple of months.
Second point - SEAT UK have yet to commit to the BTCC for 2006, though recently more and more little snippets of information and certain things appearing, and my own gut feeling is that they will remain competing in the BTCC in 2006 with the new Leon.
I need a shower and a clean pair of undies now. I've even blown a hole through the middle of my desk :blink:
Scott