I have not taken leave of my senses and I do realise that Briskoda is a forum for Skoda owners. However I have spent months now trying to find a used used Mark Three Fabia estate at a price I can afford and I have drawn a complete blank. A used Volkswagen Golf estate is even more expensive  and I have started thinking about the Seat Leon estate.  Prices seem OK and I like little features including a variable height boot floor as standard.  However I realise there are many more important things to think about  like reliability and running costs to name but two.

       

           I have had a lot of grief with a Skoda main dealer which I posted about in March of this year. I lost that argument completely  and   it has made me very anti Skoda dealer but I do not want to "throw the baby out with the bathwater" so to speak and I do want to continue to   own a medium estate car and there are very few manufacturers who make one now Peugeot do but their prices are even dearer than the Volkswagen Golf So I am thinking of the Seat Leon and would welcome any advice from Briskoda readers.

          

            Thanks for reading.

I think that SEAT Leon is fine, just be aware that prices drop like a stone though that means if you buy used you should be getting a lot of car for not too much money, or if you are buying new and keep it for maybe 8 years, no cares what the loss in value is wrt other cars.  It is too big for my wife or our use as a second car though, older daughter might be buying one to replace her 9 year old Ibiza and wife's friends run a couple of Leons, a basic 4 door TDI for all the rough use and a FR TDI 4 door for the wife and longer journeys, they have run Leons for about 10 years now.

Yes the SEAT Leon Estate (ST) is worth considering IMO.

 

Lots of different engines available & manual or DSG though, and different suspension at the rear, tyre / wheel sizes etc so research is needed. 

 

As to Dealerships and Technicians.  you would need to be aware the cars have the same mechanicals as a Skoda, VW. Audi and the same equipment for diagnostics etc and maybe even the same trained techs working on them in the same workshops with UK Motor Groups.

 

SEAT Leon running costs will be much the same as a Octavia, A3, Golf and even a Fabia, Polo, A1, Ibiza or any other VW Group Petrol or Diesel.

Maybe bigger tyres more expensive and otherwise consumables are pretty much the same cost as is fuel consumption from the same engines.

 

The VED might be different depending on the cars age.

 

Plenty manufacturers do Mid Size Estates.

Kia / Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Citroen / Peugeot / Renault, Fiat, Vauxhall, Volvo, Mazda, Ford.

Edited 20 December, 20187 yr by Skoffski

We had a Seat Leon 1.4 TSi 140PS for almost 4 years between 2013 and 2017. It was not the ST which was probably why we swapped it for the Superb. A great car, brilliant to drive and very economical. Did not have a single problem with it. Earlier this year we actually considered another Leon for the wife, there were great deals on the 1.2 TSi at the time but the deals on the Fabia were better and in truth the Fabia was a better match for our needs.

 

But buying a Leon was possibly the worst experience of my car buying life (since 1974). We tried our local dealer first (Friday morning) and he simply said they did not sell petrols thus could not let us drive one. Saturday morning went to the next closest dealer who by some strange bit of luck had exactly the car we wanted in stock and he took us out for a 40 mile test drive. Loved it after the first couple of minutes, decided it was the car for us. I had done my research about PX values and broker deals thus had a figure in mind. The salesman was a mile out. He kept pretending to go and see his manager and kept coming back with the same figure and could not understand why we did not wish to buy the car. After 3 hours we gave up and said he would call us with a better offer if he could do one.

 

When we got home I e-mailed a broker.

 

Sunday the dealer rang back with the same figure he gave us on Saturday and again could not understand why I would not buy the car, he was £2000 more than I was willing to pay. He said he would speak to his manager on the Monday and call back.

 

Monday morning Broker rang at about 9 am. By 10 am the dealer had been in contact and made me a PX offer, the deal was £2800 less than the local dealer wanted. Rang back at lunch and paid deposit, car was in stock, collected Friday am. The other dealer never rang back.

 

Soon found out the brokers dealer was an idiot with his admin but after some time Seat Customer Services sorted his paperwork and gave us £200 compensation.The broker stopped using that dealer at about that time.

 

Then there was servicing.

 

Took the car to our local dealer (the one who did not sell petrols) for its first service and they were still idiots, did not tighten the sump plug, oil all over the drive. AA came and sorted it, no damage done and eventually they compensated me for the mess, never went back.

 

Took it to the 2nd dealer we visited for its 2nd and subsequent services and they were actually fine for servicing but the idiot salesman kept trying to sell me a used Leon the same age as mine for more money while I was waiting. Do they not have a brain cell between them, why would I want to swap a 2013 Leon for an identical car with more miles on and give them about £4000.

 

What I will say is the Leon hatch is definitely a class above the Fabia hatch thus I would expect the ST to be better than the Fabia estate.

 

As for depreciation since we bought at a good price we did not do bad at all. If we had bought the supposedly lower depreciating Golf from the same broker it would have been worth about £2000 more as a PX but it would have cost us £5000 more to buy initially.

 

But just one thing to be aware of, earlier this year I was checking insurance before buying and found that the Leon was 50% more than the Fabia to insure. Both had the 110 PS TSI engines (Fabia 1.0, Leon 1.2). When we swapped from the Leon to the Superb there was no difference but it seems that in those 12 months Leon rates had gone skyward.

 

We are more than happy with our Fabia 3 hatch and I am sure you will be happy with a Leon ST if you buy one.

 

Just pray there is a good local dealer, its not a given.

 

In comparison Rainworth Skoda have been brilliant when we bought both the Superb and Fabia (via Carfile) and the Superbs first service went without a hitch as well.

 

All brands have good and bad, we just happened to find 3 Seat dealers who had issues.

I can add that I've also had a warranty problem which even though it was eventually sorted, left me in no doubt that some dealers plainly practiced their contempt on me, the customer.

The car, being a VAG vehicle, is absolutely fine though. 

As to the in-sewer-ants thing, well Seat is VAG's "sporty brand", which may affect things?

Are you looking at petrol or diesel?

 

Given the original requirement was for a Fabia, why was the Ibiza ST missed in lieu of a Leon?

 

Appreciate it'll be older technology / engines than the MkIII Fabia but assuming the budget is being stretched, the Ibiza ST offers good value for money...

 

 

 

Not a huge jump to the newer Leon though I guess, seems the Ibiza ST's hold their money, relatively...

 

The 1.2 TSI engines that are Euro 6 in the SEAT or Skoda are the same technology then discontinued and replaced with Euro 6 1.0 TSI.