Facts, figures, likes and dislikes
- Company car tax – £47 per month for a basic rate tax payer
- Official mpg – 54.3mpg
- Our average mpg – 43.3mpg over 5000 miles
- Our best mpg – 47mpg on a 400 mile round trip
- We like – the way it does corners, acceleration, build quality, squat, competent good looks, good level of kit with sat nav, cruise control, climate control and an infotainment system that’s not too hard to use
- We don’t like – brakes can ‘grab’, seats are rather firm, the CD player’s hidden in the glove box!
IT was going to be a SEAT Leon Ecomotive but what actually turned up as the new business car was a SEAT Leon SC 1.4 TSI. Hmm.
Two-door coupe in other words, and as it turned out, quite a rapid one. Not quite wind in your hair, but definitely the stuff of carefree days when 2 doors were enough.
On the face of it, as someone with 4 kids this didn’t look like such a good idea but the outcome has been surprising.
Three of the ‘children’ are already driving themselves anyway, and two of them are at university so they’re hardly around. When they are the lack of car doors is a convenient excuse for ducking out of family jaunts in favour of doing something more interesting.
If you do need to carry them around they’re terribly bendy, and can fit in the back quite comfortably. They really weren’t bothered and there’s always the other cars if we really need to cart them around.
Of course I was at first distraught at the prospect of spending less time listening to their ‘music’ in the car but it’s surprising what you get used to. And here’s the thing; through the unexpected absence of 2 car doors, out of the blue you find yourself spending more time in the car – alone. Or as a couple. Quite like old times.
Spontaneous suggestions that we might walk up that hill, stop at that pub, drop in on those friends, are no longer greeted with howls of protest about how this might spoil their plans.
At first it almost feels illicit, but it’s heady stuff, freedom. Over the spontaneous pub lunch, or two, talk turns to unencumbered evenings, weekends, and even holidays! I can almost feel the sun.
All because the car only has two doors. I recommend it.