I'm still enjoying my 2014 Leon despite having it since new and putting 166,000 miles on it (mostly learner driver mileage). I think it's a great car. So I was excited to see the new Leon.
Please don't be offended as I know people can be defensive about their cars as if it was a personal insult not an opinion about a machine they will one day sell or scrap.
The Mk4 Leon felt like a downgrade, firstly no SEAT sound which is a real highlight in my car, to my surprise I have found it better than the 2004 350z Bose, 2008 A5 Bang and Olufsen, 2009 A3 Bose and 2014 Mazda 3 Bose. The A3 being the lowest quality as far as my ears could tell.
There are no HVAC knobs and all the buttons are no longer buttons which I find far more challenging and frustrating to use.
The rest of it doesn't feel like a downgrade but it doesn't feel like an upgrade either.
You get less for your money too, my car was £20,000 for 1.4 140ps FR model with a couple of options, now a similar powered and spec'd car is £26,300 - that's not just SEAT but it seems cars have suddenly got a whole lot more expensive, far exceeding inflation. If I assume 2.5% inflation compounded over 6 years it should be around £23,000. That's being generous as inflation was actually lower over that period.
Also the dealer said you can't add options, which is good in some ways but not in others.
To me it feels more or less like the same car with different interior and exterior styling. The interior quality is still the same with the same plastics high and low. They have just changed the look and made it harder to live with by putting too much reliance on a touch screen which for me is distracting and doesn't work in the winter. The Mazda 3 knob I currently have is a lot easier.
Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something? Why should I "upgrade" to the latest model?
Oh and what's with the silly Leon font on the boot, looks very out of place, maybe I would get used to it.
Please don't be offended as I know people can be defensive about their cars as if it was a personal insult not an opinion about a machine they will one day sell or scrap.
The Mk4 Leon felt like a downgrade, firstly no SEAT sound which is a real highlight in my car, to my surprise I have found it better than the 2004 350z Bose, 2008 A5 Bang and Olufsen, 2009 A3 Bose and 2014 Mazda 3 Bose. The A3 being the lowest quality as far as my ears could tell.
There are no HVAC knobs and all the buttons are no longer buttons which I find far more challenging and frustrating to use.
The rest of it doesn't feel like a downgrade but it doesn't feel like an upgrade either.
You get less for your money too, my car was £20,000 for 1.4 140ps FR model with a couple of options, now a similar powered and spec'd car is £26,300 - that's not just SEAT but it seems cars have suddenly got a whole lot more expensive, far exceeding inflation. If I assume 2.5% inflation compounded over 6 years it should be around £23,000. That's being generous as inflation was actually lower over that period.
Also the dealer said you can't add options, which is good in some ways but not in others.
To me it feels more or less like the same car with different interior and exterior styling. The interior quality is still the same with the same plastics high and low. They have just changed the look and made it harder to live with by putting too much reliance on a touch screen which for me is distracting and doesn't work in the winter. The Mazda 3 knob I currently have is a lot easier.
Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something? Why should I "upgrade" to the latest model?
Oh and what's with the silly Leon font on the boot, looks very out of place, maybe I would get used to it.
Last edited: