Remember when SEAT Leons used to be fast and exciting? The optional Monsoon Grey of our FR test car would seem an appropriate metaphor for the brand's current standing in PH eyes and, indeed, so perfectly matched the colour of the sky during the test period that we'd have lost it in the car park were it not for the LED lights.
LED lights look fancy; FR previews Cupra
Every Monsoon Grey cloud and all that because within this 'warm' FR Leon are hints of what's to come with
the Cupra announced
Sharing the already ubiquitous MQB platform with others in the group (step up Audi A3, VW Golf, Skoda Octavia et al) SEAT's brand values once again seem tightly squeezed between Skoda's bargain offering and the inoffensively premium VW option. The whole feisty party image is about as vibrant as the Spanish economy but if the FR isn't quite enough to rattle the average PHer's cage is there hope for the Leon yet?
If you've dipped your toe in any other MQB-based cars the Leon will feel very familiar; the doors feeling a bit light (reflecting overall weight savings) and the cabin sober but workmanlike. There are loads of gadgets, the £1,075 Technology Pack comprising LED lights, nav and DAB currently free on FR level cars. FRs also get unique front and rear bumpers and a few little sporty trim items but it has to be said it's pretty low key.
Sensible, good value, etc but we want the Cupra!
It feels very generically MQB too, which isn't a bad thing per se once you've turned off the irksome
lane correcting steering
and left it to the default twangy assistance. Shifts are light and positive and it rides crisply but comfortably, even on optional 18s. FRs get the fancier multi-link rear suspension too, more basic variants making do with a twist-beam.
As previously discussed
, the view out is particularly good thanks to the door-mounted mirrors. Competent is a word you'll keep coming back to, which sounds like damning with faint praise but really since when should it be. This is a very good car. If not an especially exciting one.
The 1.8 petrol engine pulls well and sounds rather nice higher in the revs but one suspects the 184hp 2.0 TDI FR will feel subjectively a little more potent, even if the bare performance figures are pretty much identical. The petrol is nearly 50kg lighter like for like though.
Compared with other MQB cars the Leon FR is definitely good value, this 1.8 TFSI's £20,770 base price comparing well against the £24,050 of an equivalently powered A3 Sportback. Looking like an Audi that's been through a Corby trouser press, the Leon's knife-edge lines are sharper and more distinctive too. There's no direct Golf equivalent on the petrols but the diesel FR has the same 184hp 2.0 TDI as the GTD and costs £22,555 against the VW's £26,220 for an equivalent five-door manual.
As such the diesel FR is probably the more compelling package, this petrol appealing but a little tepid by the final reckoning With another 100hp, an active diff nabbed from the fanciest Golf GTI but a pricetag to undercut the same by a significant few grand? That sounds rather more like it. It'll be good to have the Spaniards back in the game.
SEAT LEON FR 1.8TSI 180PS
Engine: 1,798cc 4-cyl turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 180@4,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 184@1,500rpm
0-62mph: 7.5 sec
Top speed: 140mph
Weight: 1,297kg
MPG: 47.9mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 137g/km
Price: £20,770 (£24,125 as tested)
