Just thinking aloud

[Hugo_Nebula]

I have a 300bhp Leon at the moment. As a car it's nice enough (but not without it's flaws), but I don't need all that power. I'm considering changing it for the hybrid model.
- Is its handling as good?
- I know I would need to charge it at home to run in EV mode but what happens when the battery goes flat? Does it behave like a 'normal' hybrid with it being recharged by coasting and braking?

 

[Rob66]

Hi Hugo, we have the Formentor 204bhp, which i guess is basically the same as the Leon. Can't comment on handling apart from to say between the non Hybrid and Hybrid Formentors we drove the Hybrid of course felt heavier but also very planted on the road - i don't really notice the weight now.

I have charged at both home and at the fast chargers that accept contactless payments (refuse to get any more Apps). From around 10% to 80% on a Fast Charger takes 45mins or so and is around £15.

At home we haven't 'yet' got a dedicated charger so charge from wall socket and 10% to 80% takes in excess of 7hrs. 80% gives around 41miles of EV range maybe more on the Leon.

Car will start on EV only if charge but i always switch to Hybrid. You can press preserve EV so you would think that would be then petrol only but it does still use a little of the EV charge - so if i press it with 15% remaining and drive another 10 miles when i get home it will have dropped to probably 11 or 12%. When it switches from EV to Petrol its normally pretty seamless but of course the Rev Counter jumps into life.

Even when it says EV is '0' it isnt quite as there is always some for parking etc and the Boost Gauge indicates there is EV if you use Kick Down. So if you drive with '0' range its pretty much like a 'normal' car, with a touch of EV.

I have only once seen EV Range increase (in last 3 mths), so i don't think regen does a great deal.

MPG wise its flipping complicated to work out, but according to the car on a regular run i do 80miles Sussex to Essex if i have EV Range it normally shows around 86mpg (more round town). Once EV range is spent it drops to around 45mpg which is still pretty decent.

So basically, you get good mpg but to get the most out of the car you do need to keep some EV range, but its not the end of the world if you don't. Its enjoyable to drive smooth and comfortable but try to get a long test drive and think about the potential hassle of charging unless you have a proper wall charger as it can be a bit of a pain. Just drove to work in my Mk2 Leon and still love it

 

[Solo]

In addition to the above, which I agree with, driving with zero charge is not a great experience.

Regarding driving with no charge in the battery, the engine will still cut out when you stop or crawl and when it kicks in and starts up again, the revs shoot up unnecessarily high causing a slightly jerky ride.

With charge in the battery, when the engine comes in (usually at higher speeds) it is less jerky and very smooth, almost unnoticeable.

You can set the regen to be harder so it puts charge in the battery even when not braking but this hammers your mpg so is hardly worth it, but it can improve the jerky ride if you regen a few miles worth of range!

Can't comment on handling as this is my first Leon and I drive pretty slowly anyway. But the 19" wheels are quite unforgiving on the UK's less than perfect road surfaces.

 

[Mupwangle]

I've had multiple VWs on similar Golf-based platforms and the 272 Leon PHEV feels really heavy on corners sometimes. It's not awful, but you can feel very aware of it sometimes.

I've had the 2025 PHEV for 9 months and I've never seen it charge back above 0 miles EV range, but I think the battery at that point is about 10-15% which is about the same as the HEV battery and it does appear to charge that much like the HEV would, but will stop the engine and go electric rather than charge beyond that. Unlike Solo, I don't feel that it's that noticeable though when you're on HEV mode though. The rev counter is really distracting though, if you've been driving mainly on EV mode and suddenly it's jumping around. It does rev a bit higher than feels normal though, although my last PHEV and a HEV that I used to drive for work were much worse.

I think the additional weight and the 19" wheels don't help given the current state of the roads. Much like if you've got the boot full of heavy crap, when the PHEV hits a big pothole it really hits it. Just had to replace both front tyres at 8000 miles after hitting a massive pothole at about 40mph.

 

[Solo]

To put more range into the battery, you have to mess with the hybrid settings and tell it to maintain a certain % battery charge.

If your chosen % is higher than what you currently have, it uses the engine to generate electricity for the battery. You can effectively fully recharge the battery this way if you drive far enough and don't mind the awful mpg!

Adding extra miles of range purely on braking regeneration just won't happen.

 

[Mupwangle]

I've not seen those settings on mine. The only battery level one I've seen is for charging when plugged in. I've seen them mentioned, but not found them as yet.

But, yeah, I don't think it's worth it.

 

[Solo]

'manual control of the battery charge'

 

[Mupwangle]

Thanks Solo.

No wonder I didn't see it in the settings though - given that most of that screen is empty space, it makes perfect sense to put it in a non-obvious sub-menu!

I sometimes wonder if the people who design car interfaces have ever driven a car. Had a hire car recently that was a Dacia and it had quite an agressive lane-keep system and where I was had loads of roadworks so the lanes were all over the place. There was an option in the settings to turn it off. If you turned it off it turned itself back on again as you watched. At first I thought it was because the engine was on (was as at traffic lights). Stopped and had to Google it. To get that menu option to stay set you had to first press a hidden button near your left knee.