What’s hot
- The estate model retains the hatchback’s angular lines penned by chief designer Alejandro Mesonero-Romanus, including the ‘linea dynamica’ crease along the side of the car, which breaks up at the rear door to provide real crispness to the rear styling.
- It looks less like an estate and more like a larger hatch model – which in many ways it is.
- Boot space is 587 litres (the five-door hatch Leon has 380) while simple-to-operate levers to each side of the load bay release the 60:40 split rear seats to increase space to 1470 litres (1166 in the Leon five-door).
The SE is well equipped. Full aircon, and business essentials like Bluetooth, cruise control and sat nav are included - Companies that need staff to take occasional long items can choose the optional folding passenger seat (£75) to extend the load length to 2.5m
- The ST also comes with a double boot floor to further increase practicality.
- The 1.6 diesel emits just 99g/km so business drivers will pay company car tax at the rate of £49 a month (20%) and £97 at 40%.
- Running costs look good too: official combined economy is 74.3mpg – we saw over 55mpg during our varied route test drive.
- Currently the £1075 Technology Pack is being offered free-of-charge on both car purchases and car leases – this includes LED headlights, sat nav system and DAB digital radio – boosting the SEAT’s value for money further.
- Bluetooth phone connectivity is standard.
- Standard kit on the SE model includes chrome roof rails, leather steering wheel and gear knob, 16 inch alloy wheels, front fogs and cruise control.
- Car feels responsive to drive, brakes well and the snappy gearchange is a delight.
What’s not
- The ride is firm – and the 17 inch alloys (£375) on our review car exacerbate this.
- The DSG auto is incredibly smooth but makes the Leon ST feel lacklustre – the manual feels perkier.
- Talking of which there are only five speeds and fifth gear is a long one.
- The electronic steering can feel a little ‘sticky’ when you start to apply lock.
- The Ecomotive version of the Leon ST is arriving in February and this will lower CO2 emissions to 87g/km and offer a six speed gearbox – so it might be worth waiting (although there is extra cost involved).
