1000 miles done....

[Starbank]

Plenty of motorway and B road driving over Christmas and I'm happy to say that the new Leon is loosening up nicely!

The handling and performance are really impressing me - it may not be turbocharged but the 150bhp 2.0 FSi is a corking engine and has plenty of grunt. It's a surprisingly quick car - every bit as pacey as my Loop GTi!

Trip computer tells me I'm averaging aroung 34 mpg which is a wee bit less than the book figure but I expect this will increase as the engine loosens up more. Not bad though for a petrol!

No rattles or squeaks either.

I've also replaced the standard headlight bulbs with some Philip's Vision Plus bulbs and what a difference they make - highly recommended.

Also never realised just how cool the rear lights look when they are a switched on!

Happy New Year folks!

 

[s22jcd]

I managed to clock up 2000 miles already.

a nice long trip up to Sheffield and then down to Exeter.

Really enjoying the 2.0 TDI engine, its got some real grunt and goes very well.

How much were the light bulbs and were did you buy them from?

Do they make a lot of difference?

 

[slo2mad]

I managed to clock up 2000 miles already.

a nice long trip up to Sheffield and then down to Exeter.

Really enjoying the 2.0 TDI engine, its got some real grunt and goes very well.

Done 1200 in mine and I fully agree, goes very well and getting 44 mpg to boot. Did a trip up to Scarborough in snow. Thankgod for Traction and ABS.

 

[Starbank]

I bought the bulbs from Powerbulbs.com and they were about £40 - I replaced both the H1 (main beam) and H7 (dipped) bulbs.

Much whiter light and a much better spread of light - supposed to be 50% brighter and give up to 20m extra spread. Looks about right. The main beam upgrade makes a huge difference.

SEAT have fitted Philip's H7 bulbs as standard - almost 'visually' identical to the Vision Plus.

Replacing the bulbs was relatively straightforward - the only potential faff is the postion of the H1 bulbs - unless you use a small mirror, you will be unhinging and replacing the bulbs blind due to the awkward access! Be very gentle with the clip because if it fully falls out, it will be a real pain to get back into position!.

 

[djawol]

Trip computer tells me I'm averaging aroung 34 mpg which is a wee bit less than the book figure but I expect this will increase as the engine loosens up more. Not bad though for a petrol!

Are you running it on Super Unleaded? I seem to remember reading that the FSI needed Super to get the most from it.

I could be misinformed though.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Starbank]

Are you running it on Super Unleaded? I seem to remember reading that the FSI needed Super to get the most from it.

I could be misinformed though.

Cheers
Andy

Yes, needs Super unleaded - I always use Optimax, but read a blinding article over Christmas in Evo which found that BP Ultimate is excellent too.

Worrying thing they found was that there were a number of "bad batches" of petrol during the test which caused their cars a few problems and didn't give any performance/economy gains??

The Tesco version is average.

 

[LeakyTurnip]

Well it's coming up on three months since I picked up my Leon and I've just done 1300 miles. Two days after picking up the car I moved to a different office and decide to get the Train, I cannot stand sitting in traffic on the way home from work!

Still no problems, and I was expecting some after my experience with the Ibiza. I've fitted a chrome tail pipe to fill the huge gap in the bumper and have the chrome tailgate trim and the mesh for behind the 'S' grill on the front on order.

I've taken a few pics of the car over the weekend. Click here.
When I was picking up the car the dealer told me to use Super Unleaded even on my 1.6! We then drove to a petrol station and he filled it with regular!

 

[djawol]

]
When I was picking up the car the dealer told me to use Super Unleaded even on my 1.6!

Yeah, I believe the FSI engine whatever the size needs Super to perform well. Which can negate the cost benefit of an FSI engine which should be more economical.

Cheers
Andy

 

[paradyne]

I've now driven 1600 miles in my 2.0TDI Sport and I'm delighted by the car.
Theres been lots of motorway and B road driving and the computer is averaging 46.2 MPG. I did do a run where I managed 50.2 and was pretty happy about that! The engine is definately improving and freeing up as it gets used.

There aren't any sqeaks or rattles at all, the only noise worthy of note is the tyres on certain road surfaces. The M25 has sections near Heathrow that are near silent and yet others with quite a roar.

 

[THE BIG GAS MAN]

I've now driven 1600 miles in my 2.0TDI Sport and I'm delighted by the car.
Theres been lots of motorway and B road driving and the computer is averaging 46.2 MPG. I did do a run where I managed 50.2 and was pretty happy about that! The engine is definately improving and freeing up as it gets used.

There aren't any sqeaks or rattles at all, the only noise worthy of note is the tyres on certain road surfaces. The M25 has sections near Heathrow that are near silent and yet others with quite a roar.

Your lucky. I have now done 2600m but my average fuel consumption is only 40mpg. Do you drive like Miss Daisy? I do about 80mph on the motorway and drive within the national limits on all other roads. Has anyone got any ideas if something is wrong or do I just need to get rid of my lead wellie
Apart from that the car is brilliant with excellent road holding. Also good to have people looking at the car all the time. I passed a silver 2.0tdi Sport on the M74, the first one I have seen and he chased after me to have a look.

I have to agree with you about the tyre noise, it can be a bit loud but you just turn up the music and enjoy.

 

[s22jcd]

I have to say I have only just started getting 44 MPG out of it. I was down about 35 MPG but that’s because I was really given it stick when ever I drove it. But now have settled down. Well most of the time

Your right about not seeing many on the road. I have only seen two in this country. One was on the A303 about a month ago and the other was in Hastings town centre. I saw a black TDI last week when I was in France. But on the whole there does not many around.

I am always on the look out to see know ones. A couple of times I have had the new Mk5 Golf’s having a look and trying to keep up. One experience was on the A21 coming back down to Hasting. I overtook and he gave chase, could not catch me just stayed the same distance apart. He looked a bit surprised!! We came up to traffic and I could see him looking at the car thinking I wonder what engine that’s got??

(bit of a long post)​

 

[slo2mad]

I have to agree with you about the tyre noise, it can be a bit loud but you just turn up the music and enjoy.

It depends what tyres you have fitted to the car. Mine is really quiet on the dunlop 9090's.

I have only seen one other new leon on the road and that was going in the other direction. I don't know what spec, just that it was silver and looked quite smart in that colour.

Loads of people turn to look at the car whilst i'm driving and every comment has been positive so far

 

[P0LKR]

It depends what tyres you have fitted to the car. Mine is really quiet on the dunlop 9090's.

I have only seen one other new leon on the road and that was going in the other direction. I don't know what spec, just that it was silver and looked quite smart in that colour.

Loads of people turn to look at the car whilst i'm driving and every comment has been positive so far

Should I remap my new 2.0Tdi Sport. Can it hanndle the extra power . are the brakes good enough. Advice anybody?

 

[TFSI 2006]

Should I remap my new 2.0Tdi Sport. Can it hanndle the extra power . are the brakes good enough. Advice anybody?

Sure. Go for 170 BHP, as on new FR.

Unfortunately, brakes are smaller than on TFSI, so that might be problem.

 

[dchbrown]

brakes are the same on both Sport TDi and Sport TFSi (i think lol)

but even if they arent they arent the same - 312mm on the front and 280ish on the back so they are plenty big enough for >170bhp

 

[TFSI 2006]

The Leon brochure:

2.0 tdi: 288 X 255

TFSI: 312 X 260

What "Sport" mean?

Maybe UK specs are different....

 

[dchbrown]

yeah UK specs have a sport model. the 2.0TDI has 312x260

the 1.9TDI has the 288x255