SOTW: Seat Leon 20VT
It might not have the cachet of later Cupras, but this humble SEAT could show a contemporary Golf a clean pair of heels
And even then VW frankly cocked it up. Among the more dreadful marketing decisions of the past 20 years has to be the decision to offer a version of the Golf GTI with a wheezing, naturally-aspirated 115hp 2.0-litre engine. There were, of course, 150hp 1.8T versions as well, but these were hardly the last word in B-road brilliance.
Which is where SEAT, the perennial poor relation of the VW Group, comes in. It presented the world with the Leon 20VT, a car based largely on the Mk4 Golf, but with an extra 30hp, and quietly out-hot hatched anything VW had to offer at the time.
Subsequent hot SEAT Leons have become ever more lairy in both bodykit and power, but the original 20VT was quite a fine car in its own way. Okay, so it wasn't as nice as inside as the golf, and its ride and handling lacked a certain amount of finesse, but it was a solid, straightforward and actually quite subtle hot hatch. A Q-car, almost.
This particular model perhaps isn't quite so 'Q', resplendent as it is in its look-at-me yellow, but it's still a lot of poke and practicality for the money (challenge to all PHers: find shed a contemporary - or newer - hot hatch for the same price with more power).
It's also seen better days from the sounds of it. 136,000 miles isn't astronomical, but they've obviously been pretty hard miles, as the vendor admits to the car being 'in tatty condition', with a leaky door and a leaky turbo. Which makes it sound like a bit of a pup. Then again, it has plenty of tax and MOT left on it, and those tatty edges could prove an excellent bargaining tool in driving down the £900 asking price ... even if the vendor does say that "the price is firm no offers its probably the cheapest on here and is far from being a dog."
Thanks to PHer only1ian for the spot...
Advert is reproduced below
Seat 20V T 180hp (2001)
136,000 miles £900
Here i have forsale my Seat, its the 20v turbo model version it has 136k and is abit rough around the edges. The car starts runs and drives has mot until october and 5 months tax it has some history. I bought it as a shopping trolly and child transporter however since splitting with the g/f i have no use for it anymore and in the 6 months i have owned it i'd be shocked if i have covered a thousand miles.
the car itself is in tatty condition with a few scratches/dents i it also splutters some mornings but never fails to start and never smokes knocks ect i have plugged in vag com and it shows a boost leak which is highly common on these. It also has the common door leak along with a few missing bits of trim
however it is what it is a quick car for not alot of money if someone spends a little bit of time and effot they could have a real bargain
the price is firm no offers its probably the cheapest on here and is far from being a dog
http://www2.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...
Some one on here was asking for a Golf GTI alternative as a commuter, surprised no one suggested one of these.
2 years ago my sister was looking for something to replace her 180k mile Civic & a customer had a Leon, albeit 1.6SE in stock for £2000, 2001 40k miles - she agreed to have it only for her husband to get arsy because it wasn't a Golf - some people just can't see past the Seat badge yet the Octavia VRS gets quite a following.
Hell of alot of car for £900, it would break up for more than that
but the price doesn't reflect it. Should be 500. With a leaky Turbo
und rough edges.
The style of the rims doesn't go with the yellow at all. They were
not delivered like that on Cupra models in the UK., were they?
Martin 480 Turbo
Best thing about the Leon always was that it reminded one of the
Alfasud, but that was its worst feature at the same time. Like
Penelope Cruz reminds me of Salma Hayek...
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