Need help/advice buying Leon - new to Seat

[leonico]

Hi all,


Before I start I just want to say that I don’t know a hell of a lot about cars unfortunately so I’m hoping you all can help...I currently drive a 2007 fiat punto which is my first car that I bought and had it for 3 years but it only causes trouble and needs major repairs at least once a year...it’s just sh*t and I need an upgrade asap.

My budget is about £6000-£9000(most likely on finance) and the car should have a bit more power than my 90bhp fiat.

I’ve been looking at all kinds of makes to see what I like the most and seat is one of them - I looked at Mini Cooper S as well but i don’t think I’ll be happy with how small they are and apparently they can be expensive to maintain. However i also found 2013-2014 Seat Leon - the 1.4 or 1.8 TSI FR (I want something with a bit more power). They look so good and have great looking interiors with awesome extras that other cars I looked at don’t offer. It just seems like that a Leon might the right car for me.

I just still have some questions about it at all as I want to make sure I know as much as possible before committing to a seat - I hope you guys can help a bit.


Are there any models that I shouldn’t touch at all? What are things to look out for when buying a Leon and what are the running costs like?


Is it still good to go for a car that came out in 2013/14 or should I get a newer?

And what mileage is good - I’m looking at under 40.000 miles because I think that there should be less problems as it hasn’t been running as long as at 60.000 or is that not relevant at all and worth looking at up to 60k miles as well?


Are automatics good or are manual models better? Like would automatic transmissions cause more or less problems compared to manual ones? Because my current car needed the whole gearbox and clutch fixed a year ago which cost a lot and I wanna avoid that from happening again....obviously I don’t know what the 6 previous owners did to the car.

As I never owned a “sporty” car is there anything that I should be aware of running cost wise? As there are probably a few things that will be more pricey compared to owning a 90bhp punto.


I hope you all can help me with this!

 

[HighFlyingBird]

The 1.8 and 1.4 can both shift, and are obviously much quicker than the fiat. Leon's that have more than 150 horsepower (1.8 petrol, 2.0 petrol and the 184 horsepower diesel) have independent rear suspension. If they have 150 horsepower or less (1.2 petrol, 1.4 petrol, 1.6 diesel) they have a cheaper beam suspension. It won't make much of a difference to normal driving, though you may find the independent suspension a bit quicker.

The FR models will offer you sportier seating, a chunkier sports steering wheel and a bunch of electronic gizmos like drive profiles (sports and eco mode) that you won't find on the cheaper SE models. FR models made from 2016 onwards have a slightly nicer steering wheel than the 2015 and below models, it's slightly fatter and is made of smoother leather. It's also worth pointing out that most FRs are specced with the LED lights, which in my opinion are one of the signature features of the MK3 Leon, though some cheaper SE models do have the LED lights equipped as an optional extra. The FR also has different exterior styling, the front and rear bumpers are different to the SE models.

As for the gearboxes it's entirely down to personal preference. The clutches in the manuals wear down as they do in all cars so will need to be replaced eventually anyway. In the DSG automatics there are 2 clutch plates, these will wear down too over time but probably at a much slower rate (depending on how you drive it) but when they do need replacing it'll be a much bigger and more expensive job.

If I were you I'd try find a 2016 or maybe even a facelift 2017 FR with the 1.8 engine because it'll be a huge upgrade from the Punto (twice the horsepower), test drive both a DSG and a manual to see what you prefer. If insurance cost is a concern try the 1.4 instead, but try find a 1.4 that has the ACT engine. This engine shuts 2 cylinders off when driving to help save fuel and it's also the most powerful version of the 1.4 with 150 horsepower.

 

[The Daily Meme]

I have a 2014 1.8 TSI Sport Coupe. Lovely car, I've owned it for 2.5 years and not had a single issue with it. Comapred to my old VW polo, this car is much more reliable. It has just about any gadget I would ever need without anything I don't really use. I hit 44,000 miles this week and it still drives just as well as it did when I bought it (on 12,000 miles).

For your budget you can probably pick up any trim pre facelift car with mileage under 40k for less than £9k. However, if you want a newer car, you could probably get away with an early facelift car, 2016/17.

I personally would always take the FR over the SE. It has a sportier appearance, lower suspension, bigger alloys, and comes with some extra kit as standard. The ride is aparently a bit more rough than the SE and the excellence, but I drive on some country lanes and don't really have any complaints. Plus the price difference between a 2014 SE and a 2014 FR is pretty slim these days.

I can't comment on the gearbox really, I drive a 6-speed manual, but I have a Cupra on order with a DSG gearbox since you can't get it in manual anymore. The DSG Gearbox is very smooth to the point that you sometimes don't even notice the gear changes, plus it is very quick to change gears. Only really issue is trying to accelerate quickly after slowing down. (such as on approach to a roundabout). All auto's seem to have this issue though.

Get yourself down to a SEAT dealership with a used car section and try and test drive a 1.4TSI, and a 1.8TSI. If you can try the dsg and manual in the engine size you prefer. Coming from a punto with 90BHP. even the 1.4 engine will be a big step up. Before i had a polo with just over 50 hp with a 3 cylinder engine. Then I got the 1.8TSI and thought it was rapid. Which it is, but I find it tame after driving it for 2.5 years now.

Fuel costs between the two 1.4 and 1.8 engines will depend on your driving. I do a lot of intercity commuting in mine and consistently average 44mpg. This drops to around 36mpg when driving around town. I drive enough to fill up almost once a week which is about 450-500 miles. Tesco Momentum is £1.20 / L at the moment so its pretty cheap to run.

When i bought the car it still had the tyres it came out the factory on. I replaced the front two fairly early on, around 16,000 miles with a set of dunlops that were supposed to reduce road noise. £80 a tyre on black circles (I have the 18 inch alloys so tyres will always be more expensive than the SE) And again, the lifetime of the tyres depends on your driving. IF you are ragging it around a lot, you will need to spend more on tyres. The 1.4 is not a sporty car in my opinion, but the 1.8 is getting there.

 

[BigJase88]

coming from a punto I think you will be more than happy with a 1.4tsi with 150bhp, plenty enough oomph and cheap enough insurance, plus the 1.4 seems to hold its value better and be in plentiful supply.

Manual or DSG that is your choice, I have a manual only for the cost (cheaper) but I think next time I would prefer a dsg gearbox as my left knee is about buggered

 

[leonico]

The 1.8 and 1.4 can both shift, and are obviously much quicker than the fiat. Leon's that have more than 150 horsepower (1.8 petrol, 2.0 petrol and the 184 horsepower diesel) have independent rear suspension. If they have 150 horsepower or less (1.2 petrol, 1.4 petrol, 1.6 diesel) they have a cheaper beam suspension. It won't make much of a difference to normal driving, though you may find the independent suspension a bit quicker.

The FR models will offer you sportier seating, a chunkier sports steering wheel and a bunch of electronic gizmos like drive profiles (sports and eco mode) that you won't find on the cheaper SE models. FR models made from 2016 onwards have a slightly nicer steering wheel than the 2015 and below models, it's slightly fatter and is made of smoother leather. It's also worth pointing out that most FRs are specced with the LED lights, which in my opinion are one of the signature features of the MK3 Leon, though some cheaper SE models do have the LED lights equipped as an optional extra. The FR also has different exterior styling, the front and rear bumpers are different to the SE models.

As for the gearboxes it's entirely down to personal preference. The clutches in the manuals wear down as they do in all cars so will need to be replaced eventually anyway. In the DSG automatics there are 2 clutch plates, these will wear down too over time but probably at a much slower rate (depending on how you drive it) but when they do need replacing it'll be a much bigger and more expensive job.

If I were you I'd try find a 2016 or maybe even a facelift 2017 FR with the 1.8 engine because it'll be a huge upgrade from the Punto (twice the horsepower), test drive both a DSG and a manual to see what you prefer. If insurance cost is a concern try the 1.4 instead, but try find a 1.4 that has the ACT engine. This engine shuts 2 cylinders off when driving to help save fuel and it's also the most powerful version of the 1.4 with 150 horsepower.

Thanks for taking your time to read and answer to my questions!
I definitely want to get a FR model as they seem to be a bit better than the SE models.

The reason why I mentioned the gearbox is because manual shifting can be so annoying when its rush hour and you just have to clutch in and out and in out...DSG would make life easier but if its costs more to repair then it might not be worth it...

I've been looking at used Leons on autotrader and all I have found in a radius of about 50 miles from where I live are the 2013 and 2014 models which are all between £8000-£9000. Got 3 favourites so far but the one thing I worry about is mileage...my Punto had about 50k miles when I bought the car (also 6 owners and only cost me £1.3k...so warning signs were there but was desperate back then) and 1 year later things just started to break non-stop and it keeps going. Would I still be fine going for a Leon with 50k-60k miles or am I better off to go for a Leon with lower mileage (if available)?

 

[leonico]

coming from a punto I think you will be more than happy with a 1.4tsi with 150bhp, plenty enough oomph and cheap enough insurance, plus the 1.4 seems to hold its value better and be in plentiful supply.

Manual or DSG that is your choice, I have a manual only for the cost (cheaper) but I think next time I would prefer a dsg gearbox as my left knee is about buggered

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah I think 150bhp should be enough as well as its quite a jump from 90...might comes down to which of the models are cheaper to ensure and what kind of deal I can find!

 

[leonico]

I have a 2014 1.8 TSI Sport Coupe. Lovely car, I've owned it for 2.5 years and not had a single issue with it. Comapred to my old VW polo, this car is much more reliable. It has just about any gadget I would ever need without anything I don't really use. I hit 44,000 miles this week and it still drives just as well as it did when I bought it (on 12,000 miles).

For your budget you can probably pick up any trim pre facelift car with mileage under 40k for less than £9k. However, if you want a newer car, you could probably get away with an early facelift car, 2016/17.

I personally would always take the FR over the SE. It has a sportier appearance, lower suspension, bigger alloys, and comes with some extra kit as standard. The ride is aparently a bit more rough than the SE and the excellence, but I drive on some country lanes and don't really have any complaints. Plus the price difference between a 2014 SE and a 2014 FR is pretty slim these days.

I can't comment on the gearbox really, I drive a 6-speed manual, but I have a Cupra on order with a DSG gearbox since you can't get it in manual anymore. The DSG Gearbox is very smooth to the point that you sometimes don't even notice the gear changes, plus it is very quick to change gears. Only really issue is trying to accelerate quickly after slowing down. (such as on approach to a roundabout). All auto's seem to have this issue though.

Get yourself down to a SEAT dealership with a used car section and try and test drive a 1.4TSI, and a 1.8TSI. If you can try the dsg and manual in the engine size you prefer. Coming from a punto with 90BHP. even the 1.4 engine will be a big step up. Before i had a polo with just over 50 hp with a 3 cylinder engine. Then I got the 1.8TSI and thought it was rapid. Which it is, but I find it tame after driving it for 2.5 years now.

Fuel costs between the two 1.4 and 1.8 engines will depend on your driving. I do a lot of intercity commuting in mine and consistently average 44mpg. This drops to around 36mpg when driving around town. I drive enough to fill up almost once a week which is about 450-500 miles. Tesco Momentum is £1.20 / L at the moment so its pretty cheap to run.

When i bought the car it still had the tyres it came out the factory on. I replaced the front two fairly early on, around 16,000 miles with a set of dunlops that were supposed to reduce road noise. £80 a tyre on black circles (I have the 18 inch alloys so tyres will always be more expensive than the SE) And again, the lifetime of the tyres depends on your driving. IF you are ragging it around a lot, you will need to spend more on tyres. The 1.4 is not a sporty car in my opinion, but the 1.8 is getting there.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

You're right, what I have found so far are 2013/14 models with mileages ranging from 16k to 50k for £8000-£9000 so thats all good. The one thing I'm not sure about is the mileage as my Punto had 50k when I bought it and a year later everything just started to break and it hasn't stopped since...I know that certain things have to be fixed/replaced when hitting X amount of miles so I'm torn if I should go for below 30/40k or over 50k....

The mpg sounds really good compared to my 36/38mpg my car hits on the daily commute to work and back...if a Leon can hit around 44mpg this would definitely decrease the amount of times I have to refill which would be a great bonus!

Its not a bad shout to test drive some used ones from a Seat dealership to get a feel for the car for both manual and DSG...I even would prefer to buy one from a Seat dealership but their cars all seem to be prices about 2k higher unfortunately

 

[The Daily Meme]

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

You're right, what I have found so far are 2013/14 models with mileages ranging from 16k to 50k for £8000-£9000 so thats all good. The one thing I'm not sure about is the mileage as my Punto had 50k when I bought it and a year later everything just started to break and it hasn't stopped since...I know that certain things have to be fixed/replaced when hitting X amount of miles so I'm torn if I should go for below 30/40k or over 50k....

The mpg sounds really good compared to my 36/38mpg my car hits on the daily commute to work and back...if a Leon can hit around 44mpg this would definitely decrease the amount of times I have to refill which would be a great bonus!

Its not a bad shout to test drive some used ones from a Seat dealership to get a feel for the car for both manual and DSG...I even would prefer to buy one from a Seat dealership but their cars all seem to be prices about 2k higher unfortunately

Okay so polo got to 150k miles and then bits just started falling off it. The cat disintegrated and the exhaust fell off.

Anyway... Screw the dealership prices. Back when i bought my car, these cars were goinf for around £14,500 with 20-30,000 miles on the clock. and a lot fewer optional extras. They put a premiumo n them to give them a higher starting point when haggling. But you do pay extra anyway because they have to get the cars to a standard to be compliant with "approved used" cars. I would prefer to buy from a dealership myself because you have someone to hold accountable when something goes wrong. Be prepared to have a stiff conversation with a dealer if thats the route you go down.

I bought my car from a SEAT dealership for £10,500 in 2017 when it had 12,000 miles on the clock. So put that into perspective when searching. Second hand cars do come up sometimes for abolute bargains.

When looking at milage you should compare it to its age. I assume that 10,000 miles a year is average. although my car had only 12,000 on it when it was 3 and a half years old. So i started asking questions as to why. Previous owner was an avid cyclist and cycled to work so rarely used the car. But low milage over that period comes with its own problems. IF you are looking for a car that is 4 or 5 years old. Expect them to be around the 45,000 mileage mark. anything under that is probably a good bet. You can check the MOT history of cars too to see if that car did loads of mileage one year compared to another where it did barely any.

Also, sometimes cars are advertised on this website for sale at cheaper than auto trader prices. have a look in the "SEATs for sale" section to see if there is anything that takes your fancy.

EDIT: the 1.4 cars have cam belts which need raplacing when the car is 5 years old or reaches a certain mileage. Worth asking about when you go to look at a car. they are about £3-500 to replace because in some cases the engine needs to come out. The larger engines tend to have cam chains whcih don't need replacing like the belts do.

 

[leonico]

Okay so polo got to 150k miles and then bits just started falling off it. The cat disintegrated and the exhaust fell off.

Anyway... Screw the dealership prices. Back when i bought my car, these cars were goinf for around £14,500 with 20-30,000 miles on the clock. and a lot fewer optional extras. They put a premiumo n them to give them a higher starting point when haggling. But you do pay extra anyway because they have to get the cars to a standard to be compliant with "approved used" cars. I would prefer to buy from a dealership myself because you have someone to hold accountable when something goes wrong. Be prepared to have a stiff conversation with a dealer if thats the route you go down.

I bought my car from a SEAT dealership for £10,500 in 2017 when it had 12,000 miles on the clock. So put that into perspective when searching. Second hand cars do come up sometimes for abolute bargains.

When looking at milage you should compare it to its age. I assume that 10,000 miles a year is average. although my car had only 12,000 on it when it was 3 and a half years old. So i started asking questions as to why. Previous owner was an avid cyclist and cycled to work so rarely used the car. But low milage over that period comes with its own problems. IF you are looking for a car that is 4 or 5 years old. Expect them to be around the 45,000 mileage mark. anything under that is probably a good bet. You can check the MOT history of cars too to see if that car did loads of mileage one year compared to another where it did barely any.

Also, sometimes cars are advertised on this website for sale at cheaper than auto trader prices. have a look in the "SEATs for sale" section to see if there is anything that takes your fancy.

EDIT: the 1.4 cars have cam belts which need raplacing when the car is 5 years old or reaches a certain mileage. Worth asking about when you go to look at a car. they are about £3-500 to replace because in some cases the engine needs to come out. The larger engines tend to have cam chains whcih don't need replacing like the belts do.

Definitely agree with you...I mean there are these "knock off dealerships" that sell any car and they have good prices but I dont trust them to be 100% honest when buying cars which is why I rather would get one from a Seat dealership as well. Luckily its still a while until I can get a new car so hopefully prices will go down a bit and knows if I can get the price down further when discussing the deal with them.

So my punto is at 92k miles now and owned it for 4 years and I wanna try and drive it until it basically doesn't move anymore which seems to be soon, I think what happened is that my current car made me very paranoid about getting any new car as I dont want another car that needs fixing every year, but I cant compare my £1.3k punto with a £9k 2014 Leon which is something I have to get better at haha!
Mileage wise I'll keep your tips in mind when it comes to looking for the right Leon for me.

By the way thanks for mentioning that cars with larger engines dont have cam belts, didnt even know that. I assume the 1.8 Leon has a cam chain then?

 

[KXL]

I would say go for one of the 1.4 EcoTSI in DSG guise...They only come in FRs, so the trim is sorted for you. Assuming you won't be doing high number of miles a year (15k +) you should be more than happy with the 1.4 TSI petrol's economy If however you actually do lots of motorway, then the TDI diesel is still the one to go for. If your budget can stretch for the Mk3 facelift (the headlights are better, and is just a bit more polished than the pre-facelift with bigger sat nav screen etc). Once you do get it, treat it with a full tank or two of the really expensive petrol (Shell Vpower/Esso Supreme) for their cleaning properties, afterwhich you can just give it the regular 95RON petrol. Don't get a shock, that replacement tyres in 17 and 18 inch would be a lot more expnesive than your Punto's 15/16inch.

 

[The Daily Meme]

Definitely agree with you...I mean there are these "knock off dealerships" that sell any car and they have good prices but I dont trust them to be 100% honest when buying cars which is why I rather would get one from a Seat dealership as well. Luckily its still a while until I can get a new car so hopefully prices will go down a bit and knows if I can get the price down further when discussing the deal with them.

So my punto is at 92k miles now and owned it for 4 years and I wanna try and drive it until it basically doesn't move anymore which seems to be soon, I think what happened is that my current car made me very paranoid about getting any new car as I dont want another car that needs fixing every year, but I cant compare my £1.3k punto with a £9k 2014 Leon which is something I have to get better at haha!
Mileage wise I'll keep your tips in mind when it comes to looking for the right Leon for me.

By the way thanks for mentioning that cars with larger engines dont have cam belts, didnt even know that. I assume the 1.8 Leon has a cam chain then?

I was in your position when I was looking for my car. I needed something bigger that was cheap to run. I was origionally looking at the 1.4, but when this 1.8 Sport Coupe came up I went and drove it and just had to have it. Has the winter pack, leather interior and tech pack. As I said too, no major issue under my ownership. I've been pleasantly suprised by its performance. Its most expensive service was about £250 when I had everything including the air con done.

As for the cam belts. My 1.8 TSI engine has a cam chain. I am pretty sure... the 2.0 litre TSI has a cam chain as well, but someone can correct me if i'm wrong, i think the 2.0 TDI has a cam belt. The following engiens are driven by a cam chain.

SEAT: 1.2 litre 3-cylinder petrol engine, 1.2TSI and 1.4 litre TSI 4-cylinder up to 2012 when replaced by belt cam EA211, 1.6 litre FSI,1.8 litre TSI 160, 2.0 litre 1,984cc 2-1PS EA888 TFSI and Alhambra V6.


So as of 2012, anything over 1.6 petrol has a cam chain. 1.5 and 1.4 will have a cam belt, and all diesel engines have a cam belt.

 

[HighFlyingBird]

Thanks for taking your time to read and answer to my questions!
I definitely want to get a FR model as they seem to be a bit better than the SE models.

The reason why I mentioned the gearbox is because manual shifting can be so annoying when its rush hour and you just have to clutch in and out and in out...DSG would make life easier but if its costs more to repair then it might not be worth it...

I've been looking at used Leons on autotrader and all I have found in a radius of about 50 miles from where I live are the 2013 and 2014 models which are all between £8000-£9000. Got 3 favourites so far but the one thing I worry about is mileage...my Punto had about 50k miles when I bought the car (also 6 owners and only cost me £1.3k...so warning signs were there but was desperate back then) and 1 year later things just started to break non-stop and it keeps going. Would I still be fine going for a Leon with 50k-60k miles or am I better off to go for a Leon with lower mileage (if available)?

The DSG is amazing in traffic. If you're buying from a proper dealership and not a used car lot I'd get a DSG and get whatever warranty package the dealer offers. The DSG issues that were present in earlier iterations of the gearbox have been fixed long before the 3rd gen Leon's were released. A new clutch pack for a DSG is roughly £1000 excluding labour to have it fit but it's highly unlikely that it'll need one until there's some serious mileage on the car.

As for the milage of a Leon, I've had a 1.2 with 96k and my current 1.4 with 17k, which is now on 24k. The 1.2 Leon's engine was trashed, but the body work and interior was absolutely spot on, everything was like new, even the steering wheel had no wear and year on it. My 1.4 is the same but it's not done enough miles to compare it to the 1.2. Either way the build quality will be a huge leap from a Punto

 

[leonico]

I was in your position when I was looking for my car. I needed something bigger that was cheap to run. I was origionally looking at the 1.4, but when this 1.8 Sport Coupe came up I went and drove it and just had to have it. Has the winter pack, leather interior and tech pack. As I said too, no major issue under my ownership. I've been pleasantly suprised by its performance. Its most expensive service was about £250 when I had everything including the air con done.

As for the cam belts. My 1.8 TSI engine has a cam chain. I am pretty sure... the 2.0 litre TSI has a cam chain as well, but someone can correct me if i'm wrong, i think the 2.0 TDI has a cam belt. The following engiens are driven by a cam chain.

SEAT: 1.2 litre 3-cylinder petrol engine, 1.2TSI and 1.4 litre TSI 4-cylinder up to 2012 when replaced by belt cam EA211, 1.6 litre FSI,1.8 litre TSI 160, 2.0 litre 1,984cc 2-1PS EA888 TFSI and Alhambra V6.


So as of 2012, anything over 1.6 petrol has a cam chain. 1.5 and 1.4 will have a cam belt, and all diesel engines have a cam belt.

Sounds like I'm gonna keep my eye on the 1.8 one then...Thanks for helping me!

 

[leonico]

The DSG is amazing in traffic. If you're buying from a proper dealership and not a used car lot I'd get a DSG and get whatever warranty package the dealer offers. The DSG issues that were present in earlier iterations of the gearbox have been fixed long before the 3rd gen Leon's were released. A new clutch pack for a DSG is roughly £1000 excluding labour to have it fit but it's highly unlikely that it'll need one until there's some serious mileage on the car.

As for the milage of a Leon, I've had a 1.2 with 96k and my current 1.4 with 17k, which is now on 24k. The 1.2 Leon's engine was trashed, but the body work and interior was absolutely spot on, everything was like new, even the steering wheel had no wear and year on it. My 1.4 is the same but it's not done enough miles to compare it to the 1.2. Either way the build quality will be a huge leap from a Punto

The more I think about it, the more I like the sound of having DSG rather than manual...especially if I can get a 1.8 Leon with it.
Thanks for helping me with my questions...lets hope I can find a good car!

 

[HighFlyingBird]

The more I think about it, the more I like the sound of having DSG rather than manual...especially if I can get a 1.8 Leon with it.
Thanks for helping me with my questions...lets hope I can find a good car!

Check the dealers that sponsor the forum, you might be able to get a good deal. The 1.8 or 1.4 with the DSG will be a huge upgrade from the Punto

 

[The Daily Meme]

The more I think about it, the more I like the sound of having DSG rather than manual...especially if I can get a 1.8 Leon with it.
Thanks for helping me with my questions...lets hope I can find a good car!

You will be better off looking for a facelift if it is a 1.8 DSG you want. I struggled to find a 1.8 in automatic when I was looking for mine, and that was when the facelift was coming out. I settled for a manual in the end. , although looking forward to getting my Cupra soon.

 

[leonico]

You will be better off looking for a facelift if it is a 1.8 DSG you want. I struggled to find a 1.8 in automatic when I was looking for mine, and that was when the facelift was coming out. I settled for a manual in the end. , although looking forward to getting my Cupra soon.

Had a look again yesterday and found three 2016 1.8 with DSG but all between £10.5-£12k which is a bit of a pain...will have to see what else I can find this year.

Congrats on the Cupra by the way, hope everything goes well!