Questions Regarding Leon ST - FR 1.4EcoTSI - Drive the deal

[coinz]

Hi,

Been and test drove a Leon today and think I will go for the Leon ST FR 1.4 EcoTSI but I have a few questions.

Iv been offered from the dealer the manual 1.4 EcoTSI Leon ST with paint for £20580, seems pretty standard deal to me but it is still higher than what drive the deal and what car new car offers show.

Are the drive the deal offers legit? The same car with a colour choice is only £18633. Drive the deal also doesnt mention if that is a PCP or Cash price...

The dealer was very clear the max they can offer via the manufacturers is 3k so list price is £23000 as standard, minus £3000 plus £580, hence the £20580 price.

So I dont understand how drive the deal can be over a grand cheaper for the same car and its made me a bit skeptical about the site.


Other Questions:

1. I presume the 1.5 Evo will be rolled out into the Leon range eventually to replace the 1.4 EcoTSI, however is the 1.5 Evo actually better and worth waiting for before ordering? When I compare the weight of the Arona to the weight on the Leon ST, the Arona is lighter but has less MPG and is slower 0-62 than the Leon ST 1.4 EcoTSI. Am I missing something about the Evo that makes it better?

2. Should I get manual or DSG? Does the flappy padels come as standard with DSG? If not how much extra as I am having a hard time finding that info.

3. How is the Leon ST from long term owners with the EcoTSI? Is it fast? Good real world MPG? I had to only test drive the 125 today and it didnt have the power I expected in 3rd gear.

I plan on buying this with the extended warranty and running it into the ground over the next ten years so its a long term choice for me and I wish to make the right one.

Thanks

 

[CAPS_LOCK_STUCK]

If you have concerns about brokers have you tried Car Wow to see if another dealer can beat that price?

 

[coinz]

Yeah iv checked Carwow is clear that a cash sale is a cheaper option but still slightly more than What Car new car offers and drive the deal.

I think £18633 with paint included is very good and im not going to get better. Im happy to go with drive the deal but I just dont understand why the main dealer couldnt even come down to Carwow prices, let alone drive the deal. As I said he was assuring me he literally cannot knock any more off the price.

 

[Conal]

Lots of info about fuel economy here
http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=429632
I’ve had an ST FR 1.4 ACT (As it was called when I bought it) for almost 40 months now, 64 plate. Car has been excellent and I love the engine. I took out the extended warranty for 5 years when I bought it, just had to use it at 39 months to have the turbo actuator valve replaced. Worth it for the peace of mind if you intend keeping the vehicle IMHO.
Conal

 

[coinz]

@conal excellent thanks for the feedback. Did you go with DSG or Manual?

 

[ewen1605]

DriveTheDeal don’t guarantee you’ll get that price, they just show the price they think they can get and if you submit an enquiry they’ll phone around their dealership network and try and find a dealership willing to let you have the car at that price. The upside is great price, the downside is the dealership may be nowhere near you. I placed my order through DTD but my vehicle was ordered and being delivered to a dealership nearly 200 miles away from me. Once DTD put you in touch with the dealer, you deal directly with the dealer after that.

My DTD quote was £20k with options, which was £6k cheaper than list and still about £3k cheaper than Carwow quotes. I took the quotes to my local dealership who sold me my last 2 cars and they simply could not get anywhere near the DTD price. The easiest way to explain why the DTD price is so cheap is that they’ll find you a dealer who really needs the sale and is willing to make very little money (or in some cases lose order to have it. All dealers have targets to meet, and meeting targets means bonuses, so losing money on a couple of cars but hitting the figures they need might actually work out better for them.

I wouldn’t bother waiting for the 1.5 engine. Real world difference will be negligible and isn’t worth waiting on.

Manual or DSG is completely your preference, really. If you go for DSG you’ll get the flappy paddles with the FR trim level. I had a manual 1.4 125 engine before and loved it, but I opted for a DSG this time after a test drive and it was really smooth and easy to drive. I’ve currently got a Golf GTI DSG as a hire car (thank you customer services!) and it only reaffirmed that I made the right choice going auto.

 

[Conal]

I’ve got the manual and find the gearbox pretty slick. I tow a caravan so I like the manual box especially with the smaller petrol engine. It’s not ideal for towing so a bit of gear shifting is needed especially on hills. I had diesel Saabs for 13 years and they would pull anywhere, very little changing down was needed with them!
It’s a bit of a compromise for towing but solo it’s ideal for me.
Good luck,
Conal

 

[coinz]

@ewen, excellent, Im glad I came to this forum this is the sort of info I was looking for.

DSG it is, I deserve it.

Im happy to go to collect from anywhere in the UK if it means I save that much.

 

[ewen1605]

@ewen, excellent, Im glad I came to this forum this is the sort of info I was looking for.

DSG it is, I deserve it.

Im happy to go to collect from anywhere in the UK if it means I save that much.

You’re welcome!

Definitely worth test driving a DSG to get a feel for it. I’m still getting used to it in this Golf - find my left foot pressed really hard against the foot rest most of the time and I’ve had more than one occasion where I’ve gone for a clutch that isn’t there Parking took a bit of getting used to as well, but it was all made up for when sitting in slow moving traffic. Crawling along in an auto is so much nicer than in a manual!

Going to collect didn’t bother me either. Some dealerships I’m sure will arrange delivery for you, but for the sake of £30 I’m getting a train to my dealer in about 4 weeks time and I’m going to drive it those 5 hours back myself!!

 

[coinz]

Is it me or is the official Seat site rubbish? It errors all over the place.

According the official site when comparing trim levels, the rear parking sensors are not standard on the FR ST and neither are the tinted windows. Is that true?

 

[Carlosram]

I've had pretty much the same experience as Ewen, I am paying 17900 for a manual 1.8TSI FR in Mystery Blue with a few optional extras. This included a £2500 discount if I took out their 4.9%APR PCP. At the time I think there was another £1000 daylight saving discount.

About a month later Drive the Deals price was about £2200 more so I think I got a bit lucky with timing. Hopefully should be picking my car up next month from a dealer in Kent.

 

[coinz]

@Carlosram Wow thats a good deal - was that the ST yeah?

 

[ewen1605]

Is it me or is the official Seat site rubbish? It errors all over the place.

According the official site when comparing trim levels, the rear parking sensors are not standard on the FR ST and neither are the tinted windows. Is that true?

Download the most recent brochure & price list. Much more reliable than the Configurator which is a bit crap.

The FR definitely has tinted rear windows & rear parking sensors as standard.

 

[Carlosram]

@Carlosram Wow thats a good deal - was that the ST yeah?

No just the standard 5 door. The RRP price of the extras which includes the metallic paint and machined alloys came to just over £2100 and even these seemed to have a slight discount.

A couple of times I have thought it seems to good to be true but everything is signed for so I just need to be driving back up the M1 in it after picking it up before I am 100% sure.

 

[marcuscupra300]

Mine is PCH which id different but to sort the deal i needed, the dealer on my form had my cupra 300 listed at a sales price of sub 23k, that 8k off list

 

[coinz]

I think this will be my last question:

Reading about the front assist pedestrian system in the Jan 2018 price list and it says not available on the ecomotive engines, looking at the old price lists from 2017 it was clear which was an ecomotive engine and which one wasnt.

The 2018 price list has no ecomotives listed from what I can tell but is the EcoTSI an Ecomotive engine?

 

[ewen1605]

I think this will be my last question:

Reading about the front assist pedestrian system in the Jan 2018 price list and it says not available on the ecomotive engines, looking at the old price lists from 2017 it was clear which was an ecomotive engine and which one wasnt.

The 2018 price list has no ecomotives listed from what I can tell but is the EcoTSI an Ecomotive engine?

I believe only the 1.0 is an Ecomotive engine.

“1.0 TSI Ecomotive 115PS Unleaded Petrol
SE Technology”

 

[coinz]

Drive the deal quote:

Leon ST FR Trim 1.4 EcoTSI - DSG

£20313 including black paint, adaptive cruise control and 18" 30/1 Alloys.

Going for it!

 

[Carlosram]

Drive the deal quote:

Leon ST FR Trim 1.4 EcoTSI - DSG

£20313 including black paint, adaptive cruise control and 18" 30/1 Alloys.

Going for it!

Nice one coinz and in a months time you will have mine and ewens testimony on how the whole process of buying through Drive the Deal went.

 

[coinz]

Yeah please report back, how much deposit did you guys put down?