Golf vs Leon - 1.4 prices

[essayer]

Looking at both of these as potential cars for the missus..

I'm surprised to see the Leon (1.4 SE/FR) going for broadly similar prices to the equivalent Golf - 14-15k

If the Golf has better residuals maybe I'm better off there.

Is there much movement in main dealer prices on year old stock? probably look at a PCP deal.

[Toaster Pilot]

Is that the 1.4 NA ? Do they still put that engine in a Golf/Leon?

Drive it first, if they do. Had one inflicted on me by Europcar too many times

[andyalan10]

Well as Parkers, for example, links to a brand new Leon FR at £16,200 I don't think I'd be in a hurry to pay £14-15,000 for a year old one.

[essayer]

andyalan10 said:

Well as Parkers, for example, links to a brand new Leon FR at £16,200 I don't think I'd be in a hurry to pay £14-15,000 for a year old one.

This is what I don't get, with the used prices you might as well buy a new one (with free tech pack / LED lights etc) so I tried looking up one of the approved used cars on WBAC, who quoted £10k vs the £14500 being asked for

So - presumably like VW - do Seat just stick all their comparable cars up at some hugely inflated price but in reality sell the cars much cheaper?

And it's the mk3 with the 1.4 TSI which is well regarded, I believe.

[CYMR0]

I'd be very careful of a used car PCP - the APRs can easily make them far more expensive than new.

[Toaster Pilot]

essayer said:

And it's the mk3 with the 1.4 TSI which is well regarded, I believe.

Yep, completely different story that.

Don't know if oil consumption is still a problem mind, like it was on that unit in the Fabia VRS etc

[Claudia Skies]

Drive both, see which you prefer. The thought of being stuck with a dull car just because it has marginally lower depreciation would fill me with horror.

[essayer]

Claudia Skies said:

Drive both, see which you prefer. The thought of being stuck with a dull car just because it has marginally lower depreciation would fill me with horror.

To be fair there's not much in it between them, I think.
But id be interested to know how set in stone the dealer asking prices are, guess we'll see when I go and see a particular car!

[Dolf Stoppard]

Loads of movement as far as the Seat prices are concerned - try Carwow to see what the 'real' price of the Leon is. My Dad has just bought one with a huge discount. Nice cars but quite a lot of chat on the Seat forums about some questionable interior build quality on door panels etc.

[essayer]

Thanks for the car wow tip.
It reinforces these weird prices.

My local dealer has a 1.4 TSI FR on a 14 plate with 10k = £18000
I have had a few offers for a NEW one circa £18500, or even cheaper with a manufacturers finance contribution of £1000 toward a deposit

It just makes no sense whatsoever, unless I've missed something, last time I looked at used cars you got a much bigger discount for buying 'nearly new'

[Claudia Skies]

essayer said:

last time I looked at used cars you got a much bigger discount for buying 'nearly new'

Quite often those cars come off the manufacturer's own fleet and are used to supply to customers who "want a car right now" and don't want to wait for a brand new model in that spec'. Since they are essentially sold like a new car with full dealer warranty etc they can command prices surprisingly close to a brand new car. Especially if it's a fairly new model.

[Toaster Pilot]

Claudia Skies said:

Quite often those cars come off the manufacturer's own fleet and are used to supply to customers who "want a car right now" and don't want to wait for a brand new model in that spec'. Since they are essentially sold like a new car with full dealer warranty etc they can command prices surprisingly close to a brand new car. Especially if it's a fairly new model.

He said a 14 plate with 10k miles... so ex rental most likely

[essayer]

Toaster Pilot said:

He said a 14 plate with 10k miles... so ex rental most likely

Yeah a 64 plate with delivery miles I could understand, but to me there is a huge difference.

And this isn't a luxury performance car with a six month waiting list, this is a shopping trolley family car..

[Dolf Stoppard]

I think the bottom line is that Seat clearly price high but there's lots of discounts to be had if you push hard. In other words ignore list price. Plenty of people though will walk in, see a car with 10k on the clock and think it's a good deal as its £3k / 34k off list. I'd therefore say that unless there's a very decent discount to be had on the used that new is the way to go.

Carwow worked really well for my Dad but I suspect that walking into a dealer with Carwow offers will also get you a very similar price. I don't think this works for all brands the way some people make out but I think with Seat you've got a good chance.

£17.5k was the amount my Dad paid including metallic, tech pack etc.

[essayer]

I'm amazed if people really do think that, a 1yo car has at least depreciated by its VAT (3k) plus the other wear and tear - it would surely have been bought in at something closer to the £10k WBAC quoted.

Interestingly I don't see the same disparity with 1.2 S/SE prices; these seem far more realistic and I see higher mileage examples at car supermarkets etc.

Do Seat buy up all the good used examples for their own stocks?

[va1o]

You need to be careful here as most Mk7 Golf 1.4 TSI models are using the lesser powered 122PS unit, only the GT gets the 140PS (now 150PS) unit. SEAT on the other hand don't bother with the 122PS in the UK and only offer the higher output unit. Its the same story with the 1.2 TSI with most Mk7 Golf using the 85PS unit whereas SEAT is 105PS.

Both models are popular as rental cars so a big proportion of 6 - 12 month old stock will be ex-daily hire. For nearly-new/ pre-reg cars you would expect to pay about the same as it would cost for a brand new model via a broker. The VAT element is still applicable on both.

[JackReacher]

Having just been through a similar process, I couldn't make the numbers work for buying a nearly new one given incentives to buy new, so ended up with a new Leon 1.4 FR ACT, local dealer got to about £150 more than drivethedeal broker price, so £17,700 before I added a few options.

As mentioned above, a lot of second hand ones are ex rental, on the Leon at least it's easy to tell as they don't have the tech pack, and you would want that anyway.

I think the Mk 7 golf has only ever had the 122bhp engine in SE and Match spec, and the 150bhp ACT in GT spec only. The Leon is a bit more complicated, it only had a 140bhp version (non ACT) until middle of this year in both SE and FR spec, but now the SE only comes with the 122bhp engine and the FR with the 150bhp ACT engine.

This are broker prices through drivethedeal, but I found with the Leon you could get very close to that price at a dealer, not sure about the Golf

Leon SE with tech 122bhp £15,600
Golf Match 122bhp £17,300
Leon FR with tech 150bhp £17,500
Golf GT 150bhp £20,200

If you are happy with the 122bhp engine and don't want the extra kit on the Leon, then the Match is probably a better option than the Leon SE. Otherwise get the Leon FR, the FR is almost £3k less than the GT and better equipped, plus Seat have lower PCP rates.

The Leon is mostly my girlfriends car, she was a bit apprehensive about Seat coming from an Audi, but she loves it so far.