P1Fanatic

Currently drive an Astra 1.6 for economical reasons. Fancy something faster, yet still reliable and low servicing costs. Tempted by a Civic Type R but still a bit pricey from dealers (and I want a warranty).

What do people reckon to Leon Turbo's? I will get around to test driving one but testing the water first as quite a bit of experience on here.

Test drove a diesel 3 years back and it was like jelly on wheels. I assume the 20V has better suspension setup?

Also how tunable are they?

Cheers,
Simon.

matchmaker

No experience of Seats, but I drive an Octavia vRS. The 1.8T is a very tuneable engine. For about £500 a remap will give you an extra 30-35 bhp. From then on depends on how much you want to spend - there are vRS's around running up to 350 to 400 bhp

Castrol

I had a new one for 9 months and 12K miles. Apart from being the most unreliable car I've ever owned (needed 3 Coils, 1 Gearbox, new seals on 3 doors to stop leaks, new Central Locking module, new Stereo etc etc), the suspension was awful. The springs were too hard and the dampers not stiff enough. It used to wind itself up so much, you felt like you would be thrown off the road.

Final straw was when I was hassled through every bend, on a road I knew like the back of my hand, by a Pug 405 Diesel Estate. Sold it and bought Impreza No 4. Stupid idea to try and save money.

Dealer gave me £12.5K trade in and sold it 8 months later for £8.5K. I was told the new owner wrote it off when he lost control on a bumpy road and ended up in a ditch.

Good luck.

Brit_in_Japan

I had a Leon Cupra 20VT for 2 years and about 35,000 miles. I have to say I had not one problem with it, nothing. Given what castrol said above it just goes to show that even today there can be big differences between individual cars. Before you buy I recommend you get a full history of the car from the dealer which serviced it to see what they worked during the warantee period, then you can see if it is a rogue car or not.

Engine is very smooth, pulls well from quite low down all the way to the red line but ultimately lacks a real kick in the back. The flat torque curve made it feel less interesting and quick than it really was. It was fast enough to earn me a ban at the wrong side of 110mph

Handing was very competant in my opinion, firm but still quite a comfortable ride. If your driving is mostly down twisty A/B roads then you can find front tyres don't last too long. A friend was regulalry getting through sets of front tyres at 10,000 miles intervals.

I didn't like the traction control on it, I used to have to pull onto a dual carriage way from a minor side road and in the wet the TCS could just kill the torque produced to an extent that it was like a beached whale with traffic racing up behind you, so I usually switched the TCS at that junction and just controlled traction with the throttle.

Fuel economy isn't stellar. I regulalry got mid to high 20's with a record of only 32 mpg. At the low end I was in the teens

I think that a TDi Leon would be a very good compromise, same torque as the 180PS engine but much much better fuel economy.

16vmarc

My mate had one, nice leather interior and fairly nippy. The only problem he had whilst owning it was the engine management light came on after he changed the radio!

addy

Had a leon cupra 180bhp before my subaru good car had no problems dealer not too bad either much better looking than the new one

mg driver

i test drove one ,when got back to garage gave the salesman the keys back and said cheerio,he said what do ya mean cheerio,i said well its rubbish,he thought i was joking till i drove away
most boring power delivery and uninspiring engine ive ever experienced,the turbo came in low down and then it just eventually pulled round the rev counter with no increase in pull or sound or owt ,it spoilt the whole car which otherwise seemed pretty nice.