hi, just sold my Mineral Grey 3 series 330d x-drive touring (BMW Performance Kit ECU chip to 300BHP, 60 was around 4.9), loved the car but my 25k miles a year has dropped to about 5k due to Covid/WFH. I'd done 140k miles in it and it was just hitting that point where I was going to have to spend money (eg adaptive shocks 400 quid a corner).
Always had my eye on the Leon ST, my wife has a Leon FR and it's a nice place to be, reminds me of my old Mk V Golf GTI. So I bought a Mystery Blue Cupra ST Lux, 2019 so digital cockpit and 7 speed. Approved Used 2 year warranty, 30k miles, has one light scratch that will polish out but otherwise in really nice condition. I'm not totally sold on the colour, I think I prefer Glacier Silver, however a polish and ceramic should do a lot for it.
First impressions are that the cabin is nice, really appreciate the electric driver's seat (BMW manual seat adjustment is awful). The digital cockpit and infotainment is good, the sat nav is worse (I was expecting that, the BMW sat nav is good, particularly if you subscribe to real time traffic which colours sections of the road according to traffic density, similar to Google maps). Hate using a touchscreen but it is what it is. I appreciate all the extras you get as standard with SEAT such as the DCC, one of the reasons I went this route rather than VW. The BMW felt like a much bigger car although the boot space is about the same, I think it's down to bonnet length.
Driving is obviously very different, I haven't been in petrol for quite a while. The wave of torque from the big diesel was amazing and I do miss that, sort of hurtles you to the horizon without fuss, it's taking a while to get used to winding the petrol engine up by comparison. The handling reminds me of everything good about my old Golf and is more involving than the Beemer and as I start to use it more I think that is what will win me over.
Always had my eye on the Leon ST, my wife has a Leon FR and it's a nice place to be, reminds me of my old Mk V Golf GTI. So I bought a Mystery Blue Cupra ST Lux, 2019 so digital cockpit and 7 speed. Approved Used 2 year warranty, 30k miles, has one light scratch that will polish out but otherwise in really nice condition. I'm not totally sold on the colour, I think I prefer Glacier Silver, however a polish and ceramic should do a lot for it.
First impressions are that the cabin is nice, really appreciate the electric driver's seat (BMW manual seat adjustment is awful). The digital cockpit and infotainment is good, the sat nav is worse (I was expecting that, the BMW sat nav is good, particularly if you subscribe to real time traffic which colours sections of the road according to traffic density, similar to Google maps). Hate using a touchscreen but it is what it is. I appreciate all the extras you get as standard with SEAT such as the DCC, one of the reasons I went this route rather than VW. The BMW felt like a much bigger car although the boot space is about the same, I think it's down to bonnet length.
Driving is obviously very different, I haven't been in petrol for quite a while. The wave of torque from the big diesel was amazing and I do miss that, sort of hurtles you to the horizon without fuss, it's taking a while to get used to winding the petrol engine up by comparison. The handling reminds me of everything good about my old Golf and is more involving than the Beemer and as I start to use it more I think that is what will win me over.
