USED Seat Leon Hatchback (00 - 05)

My car

Looks good value compared to the equivalent VW Golf GTI Turbo or Audi A3. The Cupra has the same engine as these, but produces 180bhp instead of 150 and it has a six speed gearbox. This is a proven unit from VAG and even with the standard 180bhp it is pretty quick. There's more power to be gotten out of this unit though as proved in the Audi TT and the Cupra R version, so I decided to have mine re-mapped to 212bhp at a cost of £225. What a difference this makes as it's noticeably more aggressive when the turbo kicks in and you can certainly tell the difference on the motorway. Having six gears is nice. It just wants to go in every gear including sixth, but you don't have to rev it to death in order to make it shift(unlike Civic Type R's and other V-Tec engines) due to it having masses of torque and that the turbo cuts in at just 1800rpm. Will run on either super or normal unleaded, so I tend to vary it. Fuel economy is reasonable providing you drive it conservatively. Being re-mapped hasn't made any difference. I get 30-32 mpg most of the time if not too heavy with the right foot and maybe even more on a long, steady run, but these figures will soon plummet if you're constantly using the turbo. The engine has a pleasing, sporting note and doesn't become intrusive even at high revs. No problems with reliability so far. Ride quality is pretty firm as expected and handling is very good with excellent grip.

My car

After my previous review, the driveshaft seal started leaking, so I took it back to the same dealer to fix it.

They ordered the part which would take six days to get and said it was alright to drive, even though it was spraying gearbox oil all over the engine.

Less than half a mile from the dealer, I had trouble to get gears and when I got a gear, it would jump out of gear to neutral. I managed to take it back to the dealer and they had a look at it.

I finally got it back after they had it for 36 days and had replaced the gearbox again! It's been at the dealers and getting repaired for 60 days out of the eight months I've had the car.

Out of the six types of car that I've owned, the Seat is the only car that has ever needed to have anything other than a tyre replaced or anything fixed.

My car

Very occasionally, when you look through a company car list, you come across the equivalent of the classic CD in the Woolies bargain bin.

The Leon Cupra is one of these.

Three years ago I had come out of a VX220 and was trying to choose between a Saab 9-3 and a Honda Accord, when I tried the downmarket, cheap Leon just out of curiousity. Within 1 mile I was completely converted.

Okay, the cabin is a bit dull, and the badge isn't as aspirational as some, but as a drive it's hard to beat. In fact, it's so good a colleague opted NOT to get one because she already had too many points on her licence! It has a nice firm ride, good grip and feedback through the wheel, and a really great engine.

As a keen driver who likes to press on (a bit), I'm going to miss it when it goes back next month and am having a really hard time choosing its successor, as the new FR isn't on the list.

Oh well, back to Woolies...

My car

I have owned this car(2001 Y reg)for the past three years after selling a VW Golf 1.6s and to be honest I prefer the Seat.

I did have a problem with water ingress in the front drivers footwell but this was sorted out by the Seat dealer under warranty,apart from that the car has been reliable and practical.

I find that the view through the rear screen when reversing is limited so I had a set of reversing sensors fitted.