Wait over - its here! 2.0TDI Sport observations

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
Today I picked up my Leon 2.0TDI Sport. :)
After what seemed a lengthy paper filling in excercise I checked over the car with the dealer and the keys were mine.

Kicked myself for not negotiating a set of mats when I did the deal initially, and the official Seat set cost me circa £45.

It was the first time I'd seen the Lluvia Blue on the Leon and I'd been been slightly nervous of the choice, even though I'd briefly seen the colour on an Ibiza. I shouldn't have worried as its exactly what I wanted and looked great. (pics tomorrow in daylight)

I jumped in the car, adjusted the drivers seat and started up. The delay for the glowplug is almost non existent... a pleasant surprise and it fired up instantly.
I got just out the dealers into traffic and it felt weird - maybe I should have moved the steering wheel position ;)
Drove it round the block feeling a bit awkward and decided to pull over and rectify, much better whens its in the right place.
I'm fairly tall at 6'3" and had the seat all the way down, the front pillars don't bother me at all but I have found that the rear view mirror does slightly obstruct my view to the left causing me to shift my head to get the best view.

Coming from a V5 Toledo with its near silent tickover it seemed noisy, though not to bad for a diesel - at least I know its still running! Power delivery is effortless in all but top gear, I seemed to be in 5th most of the time. The gate on the gearbox needs a bit more precision than I was used to but I quickly got the hang of it. Running in should be a breeze given that going over 4000rpm isn't needed thanks to all that low down torque and I've not needed to change my driving style.

Handling is fantastic and the car feels really planted on the tarmac. Tyres are the Bridgestones. I had concerns after reading comment of the ride being too firm, but my driving on some of the very poor local roads removed the worry. Its taught and connected with the road and not at all jarring. Overall very happy with the sporty feel. Steering is a pleasant weight and its turns in beautifully.

I chose the MP3 option (£25) for the radio on the basis that it was more flexible and massively cheaper than the cd changer. I turned on the radio for the first time and its sounded decidely average, definately not as good as the Aura set in the Toledo. That was until I got an MP3 cd loaded and fiddled with the basic EQ. Someone had pumped up the mid range and dropped the bass. Yuk. It needed a healthy dose of treble (+5) the mid setting to 0 and the bass at +2. Faded 2 clicks to the rear. Massively better. Bizarrely there is no way to enable "Loudness" (which you can get on the American models) but I reckon my manual EQ settings are close to that. I love the steering wheel controls for safety and useability. Without hearing the head unit with uprated speakers its difficult to score but I'd call it 7/10.

Another option was the auto dimming mirror (neat) and auto lights and rain sensor. Rain sensor worked really well to control the wiper speed (it rained tonight) going from slow intermittent to a constant wipe automatically. I enjoyed not having to think about toggling between wipe speeds. Washers spray out a really fine fan shaped mist which is cool to watch and clens very well.

Bi-Xenon lights. Ever since I was a passenger in a mates VW Polo GTI with xenons I was converted. That bright white with a hint of blue really cuts into the darkness. Full beam is very good and on dipped I seemed to have a lot more light than the Philips Vision Plus bulbs I ran in the Toledo.

I've clocked up nearly 100 miles on day one and can't wait to do some more.

If you've any specific questions, ask away :D
 

Fl@pper

Back older greyer and less oilier but always hope
Jun 19, 2001
12,370
26
Gloucester
nice one m8 - sounds a cracker

as for noise itll quieten down as you run it in and plus diesels are noisy when cold anyway - have a listen after it's fully warmed up - should be a lot quieter

got any pics ? not seen that colour yet
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
I'll get some pics up soon as I can.

I forgot it was a diesel this morning, just turned the key and it started instantly.

The remote unlocks the driver door only on the first push of the open button, and all doors on a second click within 2 seconds. Got in the car twice and wondered why my other half was waiting to get in till I remembered to open the door... lol

BTW if you have the bluetooth option and therefore the larger MFD in the dash, you can change a few car parameters like the coming home light delay and more, I figure you can only do the changes with an OBD lead and software otherwise.
 

Ant FR

Full Member
Feb 15, 2005
2,861
0
Kent
i can see one of these bad boys becoming my sted of choice once my 1.8T fun is over.

What wheels you got, the 16's, don't forget, give it a few more miles and that engine is gona feel like a ripper. Very nice.

Also don't forget to check your oil regulalry, diesels can be buggers at using a lot on run in. My old tdi 130 used a litre in the first 1000 miles then nothing for th next 9000.

Do seat let you use the variable sevice on the new LEon or is it still fixed servicing.

Oh, do you need REVO's number yet???

Whats the Dash illuminate like,

good choice though!
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
Hi Ant!

Its got the 17" wheels and 225 45s on it. Seems to be very grippy so far and I expect it will improve with the tyres being run in.

Brakes need bedding in, it'll pull up ok so far, but i'd like a bit more bite.

I bought a litre of oil when I collected it, knowing that its likely to use more than normal. Manual says to only use synthetic.

Servicing is the 10000 miles or year, whichever sooner.

Not sure about a Revo yet, perhaps next year when its freed up. :D

Dash illumination is great. Really crisp white backlighting (possibly white LED as it appeared whiter than bulb illumination) on the dials and the computer looks really sharp with the red text, much improver over the LCD on the old model. I always liked the red illumination in the Toledo, but this is way clearer overall.

Discovered a storage area under the front passenger seat (amazing how informative the manual is :D )
 

JK1

Full Member
May 15, 2002
531
2
Bedford
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I have a couple of questions:

Is the larger MFD only fitted to models with Bluetooth?

How is the heater? :) During the winter I really hate my Leons climate control as it is only just going to full blast as I pull up in my parking space

Does the rear wiper squeak? Every Seat I have owned so far has had a noisy rear wiper.

I'd order one today if I had the money :(
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
Hi JK1.

I think you only get the larger MFD with either bluetooth or the horrendously expensive sat nav.

Heater had warm air within about 5 mins, and hot within 10, not such a cold morning here though as earlier in the week and nothing to demist. I left the climate on auto.

Rear wiper is squeak free! Toggles on an off of a 6 second intermittent on the control stalk.
 

Starbank

Full Member
Sep 22, 2005
187
0
Edinburgh
Huaaagely jealous Paradyne - but also delighted that you have collected your car and seem to be delighted with it!

My dealer called me yesterday and confirmed that my new Leon was put on the boat from Barcelona on Monday. Expects it to dock in Sheppey in 4 or 5 days - then 3-5 days transporting to Edinburgh. So hopefully I should have the car next weekend!

I will really miss the xenons on my mad Lupo - peculiarly they were not available as an option for the Reference Sport? Only way I can get them is by ordering and post fitting them when I get the car - which is something I will seriously consider if the standard lights are naff.

Have you noticed any rattles or squeaks (or is the clatter of the oil burner drowning them out! Only kidding!).

Glad to see that you like the sport suspension - I had read it was too firm in the motoring mags and couldn't really understand what the problem was! I'm really looking forward to driving the car on the west coast of scotland - there are some great driving B roads up there!

You mention the stereo sound quality - did you change the settings on the stereo or does the MP3 itself have sound controls?

Get some good pics posted!
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
Hey Starbank, glad things are progressing on your car.

I didnt notice that the Ref Sport couldnt have xenon's - I suppose Seat thought that being the "budget" sport model that people were unlikely to pick the xenons to add on.

No rattles or squeaks at all which is good news.

Had a bit of dust in the car, specifically on the steering column cover but that wiped off easily. The New Car smell is almost intoxicating its so strong :drool:

Radio: I needed to fiddle with the treble, bass and mid to get it to my liking. Sounds good to my ears from cd and mp3. FM sounds compressed, but then it really is. I'll try my ipod with iTrip later and report on sound quality.
Several different sound settings can be memorised and accessed using the station preset buttons.

@Stu B. I'll have a couple of quick pics up later. I can have a fettle in photoshop and produce a special green edition for you if you like ;)
 

Starbank

Full Member
Sep 22, 2005
187
0
Edinburgh
Mmmm.....new car smell!!

I read in some motoring mag that the new car smell is actually quite toxic - all the fresh glues and chemicals used in the manufacturing process.

I wonder how LeakyTurnip is getting on with his??
 

JK1

Full Member
May 15, 2002
531
2
Bedford
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I have thought of another question

The MP3 CD player how well does that work, is it basically a CD style playback of an MP3 CD or can you put playlists on the CD and put tracks in sub-folders?

I'll also be interested how the itrip works as I have just bought myself an iPod

Thanks
 

LeakyTurnip

Mull Fember
Feb 11, 2005
165
0
N.Ireland
I've been away in not so sunny and not so warm Denmark for a while, hence the lack of postings!!

Still really happy with the car. I got the AutoGlym Lifeshine applied to the car and it stays nice and shiny even when it's dirty...and it's much easier to clean too.

Still no rattles or sqeaks and I sort of expected some with this cold weather. The new car smell is still present and I know what you mean when you says it's strong. My tip is drive with the window down for the first little while.

which is something I will seriously consider if the standard lights are naff.
The lights seem fine to me, much better than the Ibiza's...

That'll do for now before someone in work spots me on the interweb...
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
Some pics

Heres a couple of shots of the car and one of the paint colour.

leon1
leon2
lluvia blue

The first shot, the camera was on auto white balance and looks more blue. The second two with the cam on overcast setting which look a little greener overall.
When I take some more I'll do a proper white balance, but the paintwork shot is fairly close.
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
The MP3 works mostly like a cd player.

The disks I made I did with Nero and its MP3 disk format.
When you load the disk, the radio displays "reading" whilst it looks at the disk structure. Each folder on the disk becomes numbered, with the root of the disk being #1. below is a representation.

#1
|
-#2
| |
| -#3
|
-#4

Within each folder the tracks are numbered also.
When selecting a folder it scrolls the name on the display, and if the track has ID3 tags it will display the artist and track name. It works well enough.
On the second MP3 cd I made, I just put the album folder in the root rather than one level deeper in an artist folder. I think that makes it easier to navigate.

I haven't tried a playlist file yet and there was no mention of support in the manual.
 

Starbank

Full Member
Sep 22, 2005
187
0
Edinburgh
It's a nice colour matey!

Good to see the British weather has already christened the bodywork! You'll have to get the car shampoo, polish and wax out over the weekend!

Still only ever seen one new Leon on the road up here - soon to be two!
 

leonlad

Full Member
Mar 28, 2004
1,126
48
london
nice car btw :drool: does the headunit display id3 tags on the mfd display when u are navigating the cd ?
 

paradyne

Full Member
May 30, 2004
111
24
UK, Bucks
leonlad said:
does the headunit display id3 tags on the mfd display when u are navigating the cd ?

I don't have the larger MFD which may, but it doesn't show in the trip computer area.
 
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