Leon Ranger
SEAT has made a comeback to our shores. The Volkswagen-managed Spanish company brought us the likes of the Cordoba and Ibiza more than ten years ago. We tried out the LEON recently, and found that after all these years, the Spaniards have not lost their flair.
The 1.2 TSI engine in this car is built for fuel savings, and the LEON, according to the guys at SEAT, boasts the ability to do 20.4km/L. Range is the key here guys.
The 6-speed manual is slick-shifting, and reverse works the VW way of pushing down, left past first and second gates and then upward. Drivers who may be all too familiar with the Japanese standard “H” format will find themselves pushing the car into sixth gear initially. The automatic version of this car gets the all familiar 7-speed DSG gearbox.
Acceleration for the LEON is brisk, with pretty good steering feel. Noise dampening in the car is good and would easily compare with most Japanese makes for the same market segment. At speeds, there is minimal wind noise, though you will encounter a little bit of road noise from the tyres intruding into the cabin when braking hard.
While power is a respectable 109bhp, which is comparable to some of the Japanese competition, maximum torque is a good 175Nm, and made available at as low as 1,400rpm, and keeps it on till 4,000rpm. Plenty of torque band to use for the small engine. Centrury spint timings for the SEAT stands at 9.9 seconds, propelling all 1,335kg of the LEON. Quite nimble, if you do consider that the similar-in-price Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost does this in 12 seconds flat (oh yes, right-sized 1.0, a little bit of a disadvantage here).
Driving off from a hill, the LEON comes equipped with “Hill Hold Control” which holds on to the brakes for about 3 seconds, before releasing them, giving you enough time to smoothly release the clutch and feed in the power.
Cornering ability for this car was quite decent, with minimal roll and tyre squeal when pushing it hard around the bends. Understeer is manageable, and at a minimal. (Well there isn’t too much grunt form the 1.2).
Maybe, just another Euro compact hatch offering with a right-sized engine, albeit a 1.2 4-cylinder. The quality of the build is really very good, and it certainly is value for money. We liked how pleasing the styling of the car is. Bruce Lee once said, “Don’t think… Feel.” For he felt that emotional content was the key. The guys at SEAT might have just taken a leaf from him when designing this car. The similarly-priced German cousin, Volkswagen Golf 1.2TSI on the other hand, presents a very good arguement.
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