Seat Leon Estate review

There’s more than enough space for a couple of tall adults in the front, with particularly good head and leg room and reasonable interior width, so you're not butted up to your passenger.

There are also plenty of cubbyholes in which to stow odds and ends. There's an armrest with a storage compartment beneath, a pair of cupholders between the seats and a decent-sized glovebox and front door bins. You even get an extra storage drawer under the driver's seat (and the passenger's seat on upper trims).

There’s space for three in the back, but if all three are broad adults, it’s a squeeze. If it’s just two, only super-tall folk are likely to grumble about leg or head room, and the Leon is on a par with the likes of the Volkswagen Golf Estate. The Skoda Octavia and Ford Focus Estate are noticeably more spacious in the rear, though, as is the truly enormous Skoda Superb.

Rear seat passengers don’t get lots of storage space. There are useful door bins that are each big enough for a reasonably large drinks bottle. It’s also fairly airy and light, so passengers won’t feel hemmed in on longer journeys.

The Leon is a conventional family estate car so, unlike MPVs and SUVs, it doesn’t try to do anything especially clever with its seating configuration. The rear seatbacks fold down in a 60/40 split to extend the boot space, but that’s your lot.

The passenger seat has a height adjuster as standard, but only FR trim and above get the added bonus of passenger lumbar adjustment.

There's enough space to take a couple of large suitcases or a fold-up pram, and if you fold down the rear seats, which lie almost flat, there's room to carry longer and bulkier items on board. There's also a height-adjustable boot floor, which reduces the load lip and allows you to create a separate storage area if you need it. 

That's all good, then, but ultimately it's not the best Estate of its type. Of its immediate rivals, the Skoda Octavia Estate is way bigger, and of course you can find much more practical estates in the classes above.

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