RE: SEAT? SNAFU...
Thursday 31st October 2013
“Full details on the most extreme production SEAT Leon ever” screamed the press release in the PH news folder this morning! What, the Spaniards have raided the VW parts bin, nicked the Golf R’s 300hp engine and made a true successor to the mad, bad Cupras, Supercopas and K1s we once knew and loved? Just imagine a cut price combination of Golf R power and front-driven GTI flickability, tamed with the nifty VAQ active differential experienced recently on the Golf GTI Performance.
Expensive, slow, diesel - not what we wantedOh, hang on, this is in fact the Leon Ecomotive and instead the “most extreme environmental performer ever”. So it’s a white goods Leon with a 1.6 diesel that does 85.6mpg and 87g/km thanks to low rolling resistance tyres and a blanked off radiator grille. Still, must be cheap, right? Um, actually it starts at £19,360.
SEAT? SNAFU...
Holding out for a new generation of fast Leons? SEAT is playing with your auto emocions...
Yum, where do we sign?
Expensive, slow, diesel - not what we wanted
Given SEAT’s proven ability to plunder the best bits of the Golf family’s go faster bits and stir into a more feisty and affordable dish it’s gutting to see there’s still no news of a properly PH-worthy car in either the Ibiza or new Leon ranges. Sure, you can have a 180hp Cupra version of the former but why would you when you can have a Fiesta ST, upgrade to 200hp Mountune spec to go chasing Clio 200s and still have £165 in change over the base price of the SEAT? Same story in the Leon range, where the lukewarm 180hp 1.8 FR is nearly £2,000 more than the 204hp and considerably more exciting looking Kia Pro_Ceed GT. SEATs used to be fast and affordable – now they’re looking pricey and off the pace.
Still, according to Autocar there are hotter versions of the Leon on the way and they can’t come soon enough. We’ll be more wary of superlative laden press releases in the immediate term though.
[Sources: Autocar]
Discussion
VW have lost their direction with the seat brand. What was once an easy lineup of brands:
Audi: high class exec cars
VW: well built classless cars
Skoda: budget brand offering great value for money
Seat: seat of your pants everyday sporty cars.
Since then Audi have stayed where they are, VW have tried to move into Audi space. Skoda are now of a build quality and design where VW used to be BUT with a vRS range and Seat is left out in the cold, unable to compete on price with the likes of Kia et al and seemingly not allowed to make a sporty car lest they bloody the nose of the golf (like they did before!)
Sounds like Seat as a brand will continue to go down before it's eventually sidelined and then I wouldn't be suprised if VW brought it back as their new budget brand to compete with Dacia and the like.
All just my thoughts of course!
Audi: high class exec cars
VW: well built classless cars
Skoda: budget brand offering great value for money
Seat: seat of your pants everyday sporty cars.
Since then Audi have stayed where they are, VW have tried to move into Audi space. Skoda are now of a build quality and design where VW used to be BUT with a vRS range and Seat is left out in the cold, unable to compete on price with the likes of Kia et al and seemingly not allowed to make a sporty car lest they bloody the nose of the golf (like they did before!)
Sounds like Seat as a brand will continue to go down before it's eventually sidelined and then I wouldn't be suprised if VW brought it back as their new budget brand to compete with Dacia and the like.
All just my thoughts of course!
I think Seat's have always been percieved as sporty or aimed at younger people. But they lack the polish that some of their rivals have. My old Cupra was a great car i loved it but it was severly flawed in that the suspension was crap on our roads. Fine on a smooth twisty blacktop in scotland but lacked finesse and flair that in hindsight left it feeling a little unfinished despite the sachs dampers and AP brakes. An MG zs would run rings around it in handling stakes With what budget available to the designers.
Anyway as for this leon how could people justify spending that much on a leon because they think they'll save it back with fuel. No doubt they'll offer some attractive finance deals as Seat like to do. The only thing i see going for Seat at the moment is theyre styling which is at least sharp and not quite as bloaty as other stuff.
Anyway as for this leon how could people justify spending that much on a leon because they think they'll save it back with fuel. No doubt they'll offer some attractive finance deals as Seat like to do. The only thing i see going for Seat at the moment is theyre styling which is at least sharp and not quite as bloaty as other stuff.
Andy ap said:
...smooth twisty blacktop in scotland...
The what? I live here and I've yet to see a stretch of road that all those adjectives could apply to...Anyway, I've got a mk1 Leon Cupra R and I still love it but I agree with your point about the suspension, as standard it's too harsh and under-damped. I changed it for Weitec springs and shocks, ride height is 20mm lower but yet it's more refined. Go figure.
As an ownership proposition I just couldn't feel the same about a mk2 Cupra, much less the Cupra R - as far as I could see it was just a Cupra with some fancy seats and a little extra bling. It needed to be 10% more of everything than the Cupra and had to stand out from the equivalent models in the other VAG brands and it just didn't on any count.
At least the mk3 Leon has a decent interior now, hopefully SEAT get approval from VAG to make the range-toppers on par in terms of spec and performance with the S3 and Golf R - somehow I doubt it though. I have to say it but I suspect SEAT have had their day...
KMB said:
But have Seat ever made a 'seat of your pants everyday sporty car'? Not really...
Fair enough, was just trying to distinguish between brands. My point about previous cupras embarrassing the golf counterparts holds true though. My only seat ownership consisted of a cupra R that'd been wound up to nearly 300 bhp, that WAS seat of your pants, certainly kept my URQ of similar power honest!I was looking at one of the new Leon's in a garage I was surveying the other day - very nice indeed. Full LED headlights, DAB radio, bluetooth, climate etc. I think it's a really great looking little car too, it stands out rather nicely; has a unique style to it (the SEAT Ibiza/Leon range that is).
I would love to take the SC FR for a test drive. I'm really happy with my 18 month old Ibiza 1.2TSi SC FR. It's an absolutely cracking little car, it really is. 20k trouble free miles, would definitely be interested in it's bigger brother in 2015 when I change company cars again. I would be perfectly happy with the 2.0 184bhp diesel, especially mated to the auto box. It's got to the point these days that the roads are so congested that the automatic 2.0 diesel is the perfect balance of mid-range grunt, economy and ease of use - at least, for me it is anyway.
I would love to take the SC FR for a test drive. I'm really happy with my 18 month old Ibiza 1.2TSi SC FR. It's an absolutely cracking little car, it really is. 20k trouble free miles, would definitely be interested in it's bigger brother in 2015 when I change company cars again. I would be perfectly happy with the 2.0 184bhp diesel, especially mated to the auto box. It's got to the point these days that the roads are so congested that the automatic 2.0 diesel is the perfect balance of mid-range grunt, economy and ease of use - at least, for me it is anyway.
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