Leon looks Korean? If you said Ford Focus looks Korean, I'd understand but Leon? I think all European manufacturers would be in trouble if Koreans actually made cars that look like the Leon ST, but of course - eye of beholder and all that.

I think that it is the "pinched wasteline" on the Leon which reminds me of the Hyundai i40, Hyundai Sports Coupe and possibly a bit of Fiat Coupe mixed in (the latter is no bad thing). The front and back look pretty tidy, but whenever I see a side profile of the Leon it just looks Korean to my eyes.

Precisely, but I'm just not sure if presumption that Leon ST will use SWB platform version of a Golf/Leon hatch (2637mm)and not LWB of Octavia (2686mm) is correct though? All aforementioned MQB based cars have longer wheelbase than O2 (which was 2578mm) and thus cabin length differs by well placed 6cm and it's not like traveling in O2 was particularly unbearable.

 

Cargo space with seats folded ( 1470litres ) is the big giveaway!

 

The Seat is SWB.

Edited 13 September, 201312 yr by dc5r666

Seat are supposed to be launching the Leon Cupra at some point, that'll have the 220ps TSi engine if the press are to be believed. Supposedly available in ST format too.

Im not a fan of the new Leon, wheel choices do nothing for me and I think it tries to hard too be good looking in an edgy Alfa-esque way and doesnt pull it off; looks damn right awful at certain angles IMO. Also I struggle to believe it will match even the Octavia for perceived quality if past history is anything to go by.

The car to really look out for is the Golf GTD estate, this is apparently coming and if the hatch is anything to go by has the potential to be a very nice wagon indeed, and comparable to the vRS estate CR in terms of space and likely also price given the hike in vRS base pricing.

Edited 13 September, 201312 yr by pipsyp

Cupra or Cupra R will be 265BHP TSi is the main established rumour

Edited 13 September, 201312 yr by Dope007

Cupra or Cupra R will be 265BHP TSi is the main established rumour

There will probably be a Cupra R at some point with the 300ps S3 motor in it, bound to be better equipped but bet it'll almost match the Audi on price too. If it doesnt get 4wd better get a proper e-diff otherwise it'll be terrible!

Wait and see job on that one. Back to the Mk3. As an owner of an older vRS I personally think Skoda have lost the plot with the new Octavia. Far too big, and extremely bland to look at, with an ugly rear end. 

 

They have essentially replaced the Superb with it and brought the Rapid in underneath it, and I am not to sure any of that was a good idea. Such a shame they haven't done a Rapid vRS, as it is about the right size, despite that ugly rear end!!

The Rapid VRS is probably in the works, as it has been hinted at by Skoda themselves. To me, the most striking difference between the Rapid and Octavia is the width. The Rapid seems so much narrower, especially when it just goes by in traffic. Almost looks like toy-ish proportions to me. A lot of it is optical illusion, but I can't help but feel it will fall over on its side in strong wind.

 

Also, one of the main reasons I went for an estate is that I don't like the rear-end of the Octavia 3 hatch as opposed to the estate. It was the other way around for me for the Octavia 2.

Agree with all that. Decent set of wheels should stop the rapid falling over, and a decent engine and suspension and the Octy 3 estate looks well but the hatch with that rear end, yuk. Same rear end as the Rapid but bigger!!!

 

I note the Fabia vRS got assassinated today by Skoda :(

Edited 13 September, 201312 yr by Dope007

Haven't all 4 MQB platform cars that are on sale now been different dimensionally? (As in track &/or wheelbase as well as external dimensions.)

Just a thunk.............

DC

Such a shame they haven't done a Rapid vRS, as it is about the right size, despite that ugly rear end!!

They haven't done Rapid vRS because they recon smaller engined vRS's don't sell and Rapid was designed to accommodate only the smaller engines (1.2 and 1.4 etc). In recent interview with head of Skoda he said that they sold so few vRS Fabias on mainland continent that they just decided to pull the plug on re-developing small engines into high output sport versions indefinitely. But what they discovered in the process of making the last Fabia vRS is that what sells among young people is special editions, Monte Carlo version was very popular, so we might see that kind of "makeover" on Rapid.

Monte Carlo version was very popular, so we might see that kind of "makeover" on Rapid.

 

Already teased at Frankfurt:

 

that rapid with a sports interior and 1.4 engine could be cheaper fun!

That looks spot on. The right size, but needs 200 horses under the hood

Cargo space with seats folded ( 1470litres ) is the big giveaway!

 

The Seat is SWB.

Just to put the Leon ST part of conversation to bed. Leon ST is definitely LWB version of the platform and the rear legroom gain as observed in Octavia 3 is present in ST. The answer comes from Dr.Michael Hinz, Director of Technical Project Management at Seat at IAA 2013 as it cropped up in press/bloggers conference.

Just to put the Leon ST part of conversation to bed. Leon ST is definitely LWB version of the platform and the rear legroom gain as observed in Octavia 3 is present in ST. The answer comes from Dr.Michael Hinz, Director of Technical Project Management at Seat at IAA 2013 as it cropped up in press/bloggers conference.

 

Then the 1470 litres figure must be a typo of 1740!

 

I doubt you'll scratch around the web and find proof of that though.

Then the 1470 litres figure must be a typo of 1740!

 

I doubt you'll scratch around the web and find proof of that though.

Actually, 1470 litres seem to be correct and oddly - I know of a video that has both answers - Google hangout with international fan club forum admins at IAA (does Skoda do similar things btw, could be interesting watch?) - this link should take you straight to correct timecode (about 40m05s) where guys from research centre answer the question from Spanish forumite and across 30 second actually say it's LWB and boot is 1470 litres.

I think this discrepancy has probably more to do with Skoda taking liberties with their measurements again, because when you look closely O3 figures make no sense:

- O3 hatch has 590 litres of space with seats up and 1580 litres of space with seats down

- O3 estate has 610 litres of space with seats up and 1740 litres of space with seats down

The seats on Octavia platform are in the same mounting point on the floor, and the shape of the hatch with rear seats up only accounts for just 20 litre difference, but by the time rear seats go down, the cabin magically expands between hatch and estate and the difference is now 160 litres (20 litres of which is the same hatch shape from seats up measurements, and the remaining 140 litres of out thin air). If the internal measurements of the cabin in hatch and estate are identical then such thing just would not be possible, unless hatchback was a coupe and the roof started sloping right above the front seats instead of rear seats or if the roof of the estate version was much higher than the hatch, which is not the case.

Edited 14 September, 201312 yr by v0n

Surely the squared off roof/hatch on the estate would add lots more?

I was wrong...

 

...you did scratch around lol 

Surely the squared off roof/hatch on the estate would add lots more?

Not according to "seats up" numbers, just a jerry can worth of air difference. It's an odd one, I agree, but we had this thread earlier on where we verified the length numbers from manual as they were equally odd. Hilarity ensued, I went to measure the boot of a hatch at the dealers and took pictures, someone else measured estate demo car, and we confirmed that the O3 hatchback is marginally longer inside than the estate, which is probably why the "seats up" volume difference is so small, despite obvious volume gain you would expect after visual comparison of the roof line. But I'm struggling to find a reason why estate volume numbers shoot up by 140 litres the moment you fold rear seats, discrepancy is too high to be just the roof line, so maybe the seats in some european version they measured fold in a different way or something. Or they just did some maths by hand and one team made an error.

Not according to "seats up" numbers, just a jerry can worth of air difference. It's an odd one, I agree, but we had this thread earlier on where we verified the length numbers from manual as they were equally odd. Hilarity ensued, I went to measure the boot of a hatch at the dealers and took pictures, someone else measured estate demo car, and we confirmed that the O3 hatchback is marginally longer inside than the estate, which is probably why the "seats up" volume difference is so small, despite obvious volume gain you would expect after visual comparison of the roof line. But I'm struggling to find a reason why estate volume numbers shoot up by 140 litres the moment you fold rear seats, discrepancy is too high to be just the roof line, so maybe the seats in some european version they measured fold in a different way or something. Or they just did some maths by hand and one team made an error.

SO you are suggesting that the Leon Hatch uses the 'swb' and the Leon ST uses the 'LWB' version as used by the Octavia Hatch and Estate?

SO you are suggesting that the Leon Hatch uses the 'swb' and the Leon ST uses the 'LWB' version as used by the Octavia Hatch and Estate?

The article in Autocar this week states that the ST is on the same wheelbase as the Leon 5 door which has the same wheelbase as the Golf GTi which is shorter the the Octavia. That extra length makes all the difference in the back seat space.

The article in Autocar this week states that the ST is on the same wheelbase as the Leon 5 door which has the same wheelbase as the Golf GTi which is shorter the the Octavia. That extra length makes all the difference in the back seat space.

exactly as I understood things byte above post suggests otherwise, doesn't it?

Well I test drove a petrol manual combi this morning, and I was mightily impressed. Yes the interior doesn't scream luxury but the ride and performance was excellent. Coming from a diesel Scout I would say the ride is better than that car over typical London area scruffy roads, and it was very refined too. I started off driving like a diesel, which you can do because the engine is so torquey, but then flooring it through (empty) roundabouts was awesome - serious acceleration and very assured roadholding. I'm going to order for a '14' plate...

SO you are suggesting that the Leon Hatch uses the 'swb' and the Leon ST uses the 'LWB' version as used by the Octavia Hatch and Estate?

  

The article in Autocar this week states that the ST is on the same wheelbase as the Leon 5 door which has the same wheelbase as the Golf GTi which is shorter the the Octavia. That extra length makes all the difference in the back seat space.

I posted link to a video in post #216, if you chose to click it you will hear the guy responsible for design of Leon ST say that they increased wheel base on ST vs Leon hatch to give more interior space.

I posted link to a video in post #216, if you chose to click it you will hear the guy responsible for design of Leon ST say that they increased wheel base on ST vs Leon hatch to give more interior space.

To be fair, the commentator does say that the ST has a longer wheelbase.

However, he does not state that it has a longer wheelbase than the regular Leon.

He may just be spouting that the new Leon has a longer wheelbase compared to the old model for all we know.

In any case, I don't like the ST and wouldn't pick it over the Octy. The ST interior looks awful and I don't like the exterior styling. I don't think the Golf looks good as an estate either.

I'm not a Skoda brand stalwart as the car in my sig is my first of the brand.

I need a load carrying estate, not a hatch or a tourer. Out of a large, varied choice of estates within my budget, the Octy has the right recipe for me, here and now.