Managed to blag one of these for a week.

Looks ok. Engine is an absolute peach. For anyone who's not driven a car with this engine, try one. It's a cracker. Really smooth, not much lag and pulls cleanly from just over idle to the redline

Ride is good, not much tyre or wind noise, plenty of grip and not much roll.

The seats are properly comfortable too:

Driving position is nicely adjustable, easy to get comfortable. All the controls are easily accessible and fairly logically laid out, didn't like the cruise control though.

One thing that surprised me though, the quality of the plastics is pretty poor, especially the door cards.

The dash fascia is nasty:

Dials are clear and easy to read but they've tried too hard to make the point that this is a performance car by putting the rev counter in the centre, it just looks wrong if you ask me.

Economy was pretty decent, despite driving like a bit of a div sometimes - around 50mpg over the 300 miles I drove so not too bad.

I liked the dynamics of the car, it looked ok but just little details let it down in my opinon.

Has anyone with an Octavia vRS 170 diesel driven one of these? How do they compare....? I'd like to know as I've not managed to blag an Octy yet. hahaha

Edited 2 May, 201115 yr by Dave_G

Good Review

I've had a few Rental cars Leons ( with work abroard ) and I agree that the build quality and plastic is not up to Skoda standard

Funny nearly all the Octy 2 vRS's I see around are oil burners

But almost every FR I see is a TSi

C'est la vie

My Mrs has one of these (diesel FR) and it is very nice. I love the way it corners - it does not roll at all and despite being a harder ride than the fabia it is also more comfortable. Engine nice too.

Same engine as the CR vRS. Interior is horrible though

An absolute flippin bone shaker...

Nice review

All reviews say suspension is rock hard. Interior always gets a bashing too. Your review seems to match the general feeling towards this car from journalist reviewers.

Maxidot on the left seems odd as well

I had one of these from new for about a fortnight until some plonker in a Sprinter van decided he could pull out of a side turning at 20mph into the fast lane of a dual carriageway!

I have to say that all the airbags were fantastic! All I have left of it is the rear parcel shelf which I'm giving away elsewhere on the freebee thread as it was a complete loss with only 1,000 miles on the clock :'(

The paramedics were very suprised I escaped with only a slight burn to my right hand. They were fully expecting to cart me away in a long box by the looks of what was left of the car.

But on a more serious note you can tell the car is made to a specific price point. The plastics are a bit tacky and the dashboard on mine 'squeaked' upon a slight prod. The stereo for me was a big disappointment - loud but harsh and sounded very tinny.

The handling was also pretty good, but I found it to be a little bit twitchy close to the edge, doing the same bends in my current A3 at the same speed I found to be much more surefooted.

But the engine... that was a complete peach!

Cheers

Trilogy

Bad luck mate :(

I also found the stereo to be hopeless, same as the Exeo I had a while back.

Got a Cupra R coming in a few weeks...

But on a more serious note you can tell the car is made to a specific price point. The plastics are a bit tacky and the dashboard on mine 'squeaked' upon a slight prod. The stereo for me was a big disappointment - loud but harsh and sounded very tinny.

Cheers

Trilogy

You say that but when I was looking i looked at this, the A3 and the Golf and the Octy was the cheapest and compared to the Leon the quality inside is like day and night.

Cupra R arriving tomorrow, just in time for the bank holiday weekend mint

The community expects a review! :p

I'll do a review, don't worry

I'm surprised they didn't improve the interior plastics on the slight facelift they did 2009/2010, like most others here I was surprised at how cheap they felt particularly given the Leon is more expensive than the Octavia. Coming from a Toledo Sport I liked the Leon's bone jarring ride but the poor boot was a deal breaker hence the Octavia estate plus I think the dog prefers the softer ride.

John

I test drove a Leon FR PD170 before I got my previous vRS estate and I was so convinced I'd like it, that I'd already chosen the colour and options.

Had the car for an extended test drive and almost instantly dismissed it! It certainly feels quicler than the vRS but I couldn't work out why it had no susupension as such. I drove it down some roads I regularly use and in a couple of places I had to slow down as the ride was so bad and I feared I was going to be bounced in to the hedge or oncoming traffic.

Apart from the seats (which are nicer than the vRS ones) the interior is decidedly low rent, as others have said.

Immediately after the Leon drive I went and drove a Golf GTD and that was much nicer, but much more expensive. In the end the vRS was a nice compromise and I'm now on my second one.

Collected mine on Friday (PD170) and loved it.

Suspension is a bit harsh, but only 23yrs old so...