This Is The New And Enlarged Seat Leon
If the idea of a VW Golf 8 just seems a little too sensible, allow us to present your best alternative. It’s the all-new Seat Leon, which sits on the same MQB Evo platform as its cousin from Wolfsburg.
It’s quite a bit bigger than before, growing by 83mm (93mm for the estate), although it’s a smidge narrower. The extra length means a 49mm increase in legroom for whoever you’ve stuffed in the rear seats, and while the boot space of the hatch remains the same at 380 litres, the estate’s 617-litre load space is 30 litres larger. So the next time you go to IKEA, you’ll be able to fit some frozen meatballs back there along with the flat-pack Malm chest of drawers you just bought. Happy days.
The styling is reasonably distinct from the old Leon, with the new car sporting a Tarraco-like face and fancy LED lights front and rear. The clusters at the back are linked by a light bar that stretches across the boot lid.
The light bar theme continues inside, with big light-up strips fitted across the dash and front doors. It’s not just about giving off some nice ambient light - the design touch “also provides a number of key functions such as blind-spot detection”. Clever.
Also in the cabin, you’ll find a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, paired with a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system on all trim grades apart from the base SE car. On that, you’ll have to make do with an 8.25-inch display.
A 1.0-litre inline-three turbo petrol unit kicks off the engine range, with a useful output of 108bhp. Then there’s a 1.5-litre inline-four available with either 128bhp or 148bhp, sitting under the range-topping 2.0-litre petrol which is good for 187bhp.
On the diesel front, 113bhp and 148bhp versions of a 2.0-litre TDI engine are on the menu. The 1.0-litre inline-three and 148bhp 1.5 petrols can be paired with a 48-volt ‘eTSI’ mild hybrid setup, or if preferred, there’s a full plug-in hybrid packing 201bhp and an electric-only range of 38 miles. And yes, there will be an all-powerful Cupra Leon emerging eventually, using a much more potent version of the 2.0-litre petrol.
The new Leon can be specced in six different trim flavours - SE, SE Dynamic, FR, FR Sport, Xcellence, Xcellence Lux. Go for either of the FRs, and you’ll be treated to a 15mm ride height to go with sportier front and rear bumpers.
Like what you see? The Leon is set to go on sale at the end of March.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Looks great! Better than the Golf 8 in my opinion
Looks like a Mazda 3 from the side
I saw elements from many cars in this Seat. The front have some details from Ford
The styling is reasonably ‘district’ from the old Leon?
Stick on screens are the worst. If I wanted to stick my iPad on the dash I could do that myself. Surely someone at the VAG group could design something better.
I really dislike it what makes it less sensible than a golf it looks even more boring than the golf.
New Seat Focus Estate looks nice
I read “New and Enlarged” as “New England”
Another bland vanilla-esque car with an equally vanilla-esque interior and looking at the competition it lags behind the Mazda 3 by a mile. VW and Seat´s design lately are quite a let down
The looks on this thing. Damn.
That rear looks so good.