A LONGER LEON (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

SEAT's now-improved second generation Leon Estate might be the best car you've never heard of. Jonathan Crouch reports.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 80

With 620-litres of luggage space and riding on the same MQB chassis as the Volkswagen Golf MK8, the improved version of this second generation SEAT Leon Estate offers sharp handling, excellent build quality and solid practicality. Plus the imptroved version of this car delivers improved media connectivity and some fresh new engine options. As before, the prices being asked represent a substantial saving over those of a comparable, identically-engined Golf Estate. It's hard to grumble at that sort of deal.

Backgroundword count: 117

So to the SEAT Leon Estate, launched in fourth generation form back in 2020 as a compact station wagon that actually wasn't that compact. And a sensible estate that claimed to be sporty. It's always been a car of contradictions then, but one that promises to be quite appealing family transport, especially in the improved form we look at here with its updated engines, smarter cabin and improved media connectivity. Practical and sporty, it aims to offer a more dynamic option to family estate buyers, with a 'lifestyle' appeal that might even pique the interest of folk looking at Qashqai-class crossovers. That's what SEAT says anyway. Time to look at this car in a little more detail.

Driving Experienceword count: 305

You might not be surprised to learn that this Leon Estate offers a very similar driving experience to that of its hatchback stablemate - which wasn't guaranteed given the fact that this variant must carry along so much extra length behind its rear axle. With this fourth generation Leon, most mainstream versions continue to persist with an old-school torsion beam rear suspension set-up. Which isn't to suggest that nothing has changed here with this revised model. Quite the contrary. Take the engine range, which is now four cylinder-only. That's a reference to the fact that the previous entry-level three cylinder 1.0-litre TSI petrol unit has been replaced with a four cylinder 1.5-litre TSI powerplant developing 115PS (5PS more than the old unit) and 220Nm of torque (20Nm more). It's linked to 6-speed manual transmission. As before, there are two mild hybrid eTSI petrol units available, also based around the 1.5-litre four cylinder powerplant, exclusively available with 7-speed DSG auto transmission and developing either 115PS or 150PS. SEAT has also taken the opportunity of this update to introduce a new generation eHybrid Plug-in Hybrid unit. This is now based around the 1.5-litre petrol unit (replacing the old petrol 1.4) and develops 204PS in combination with a 115PS electric motor and a now-bigger 19.7kWh battery pack which can now take the car up to 62 miles between charges. As before, you'll also be offered the option of diesel power - there are two versions of the efficient VW Group 2.0 TDI 'twin dosing' unit, offering either 116 or 150PS. Closely related to this ordinary Leon Estate is the CUPRA Leon fast estate variant, which can be had with either an uprated 245PS version of that 1.5-litre Plug-in Hybrid powertrain we just mentioned. Or with a conventional 2.0-litre TSI petrol unit, developing either 310PS in 4WD Estate guise.

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