For the last two years of Leon ownership I've suffered the usual complaints; shocking dealer customer service, rattles, poor quality control, depreciation (the usual forum gripes).
The Leon was a car I really wanted from the get go and TBH when I started to see the price/spec list it was the car I really wanted to test drive. It didn't take long for me to find out it was a damn good car. Sadly a few negative dealer experiences and non-serious snags have made me forget.
Over the XMas/NY period I think I've remembered.
My ST (boot in lower position) is an absolute cavern. Kids, wife and families Xmas pressies and luggage for 4 in the boot, non of that parcel shelf loaded and zero visibility crap! Kids happily in the back, plenty of space and relative comfort. Bike/roof rack fitted to the roof (Atera roof bars are ace!) and, at 70 mph, barely a whisper never mind any whistling. A three hour drive with the ACC making the drive up the A1 relatively stress free. Even though the car was fully laden it never felt labored. FWIW, I even averaged 57mpg.
Last leg of the journey was into the worse rain I had ever driven in (start of the flooding). The Winter tyres came into their own and I never once had an 'oh sh*t' moment. The Leon never skipped a beat.
Driving home the weather was worse and we were sat in a lot of stationary traffic. Again, the Leon just made everything stress free and oddly it didn't rattle once
. Driving in the dark and on the quieter A roads closer to home the LED, adaptive lights were as good as ever. Once I unpacked the car, filling up our utility room and kitchen I realised just how much we crammed in there.
On the 30th we driven down to Cardiff for the night. Again, lots of poor driving conditions and a 2 hr stationary queue at the A14/M6 interchange (Catthorpe) but the kids with their DVD players and headphones were happy, helping me and the missus to stay relatively stress free. Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the drive through Monmouthshire, the Leon soaking up the miles with minimal fuss.
I'm familiar with getting to Cardiff as my missus is from Llanelli but coming off the M4 I had to rely on the sat nav to get us to the hotel, on the south side of the city. Not a problem. The sat nav has never let me down yet.
The drive home was actually enjoyable, the rain had stopped and with it being NY eve the roads were eerily quiet. It was then I realised that the Leon had been faultless through some horrendous driving conditions and traffic jams. I actually think it made the journey that little bit more manageable.
I think for the first time in 2 years I actually realise what a good car the Leon is. Yes, I've had to spend time and money soundproofing my doors but I've ended up with a better car for it, so no harm done. Yes, I've had to put up with rubbish dealer experiences but I've just found a good independent specialist for servicing. It has enough options to make it competitive with cars coming out now and mechanically I've never had a single problem in 35k miles. To top it off I think the Leon is still the best looking mainstream car on the road.
I even had the pleasure of listening to colleagues (all Audi owners of < year old A3, A4, A6 and TT's) bitching about the problems they've had in their first year of ownership, including build quality, expensive warranty work and crap dealers. So the 'premium' grass isn't always greener….
Finally the Leon has turned into the car I wanted two years ago.
The Leon was a car I really wanted from the get go and TBH when I started to see the price/spec list it was the car I really wanted to test drive. It didn't take long for me to find out it was a damn good car. Sadly a few negative dealer experiences and non-serious snags have made me forget.
Over the XMas/NY period I think I've remembered.
My ST (boot in lower position) is an absolute cavern. Kids, wife and families Xmas pressies and luggage for 4 in the boot, non of that parcel shelf loaded and zero visibility crap! Kids happily in the back, plenty of space and relative comfort. Bike/roof rack fitted to the roof (Atera roof bars are ace!) and, at 70 mph, barely a whisper never mind any whistling. A three hour drive with the ACC making the drive up the A1 relatively stress free. Even though the car was fully laden it never felt labored. FWIW, I even averaged 57mpg.
Last leg of the journey was into the worse rain I had ever driven in (start of the flooding). The Winter tyres came into their own and I never once had an 'oh sh*t' moment. The Leon never skipped a beat.
Driving home the weather was worse and we were sat in a lot of stationary traffic. Again, the Leon just made everything stress free and oddly it didn't rattle once
. Driving in the dark and on the quieter A roads closer to home the LED, adaptive lights were as good as ever. Once I unpacked the car, filling up our utility room and kitchen I realised just how much we crammed in there. On the 30th we driven down to Cardiff for the night. Again, lots of poor driving conditions and a 2 hr stationary queue at the A14/M6 interchange (Catthorpe) but the kids with their DVD players and headphones were happy, helping me and the missus to stay relatively stress free. Nothing to do but sit back and enjoy the drive through Monmouthshire, the Leon soaking up the miles with minimal fuss.
I'm familiar with getting to Cardiff as my missus is from Llanelli but coming off the M4 I had to rely on the sat nav to get us to the hotel, on the south side of the city. Not a problem. The sat nav has never let me down yet.
The drive home was actually enjoyable, the rain had stopped and with it being NY eve the roads were eerily quiet. It was then I realised that the Leon had been faultless through some horrendous driving conditions and traffic jams. I actually think it made the journey that little bit more manageable.
I think for the first time in 2 years I actually realise what a good car the Leon is. Yes, I've had to spend time and money soundproofing my doors but I've ended up with a better car for it, so no harm done. Yes, I've had to put up with rubbish dealer experiences but I've just found a good independent specialist for servicing. It has enough options to make it competitive with cars coming out now and mechanically I've never had a single problem in 35k miles. To top it off I think the Leon is still the best looking mainstream car on the road.
I even had the pleasure of listening to colleagues (all Audi owners of < year old A3, A4, A6 and TT's) bitching about the problems they've had in their first year of ownership, including build quality, expensive warranty work and crap dealers. So the 'premium' grass isn't always greener….
Finally the Leon has turned into the car I wanted two years ago.
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