We can’t all afford shiny new cars. With that in mind Bob Flavin begins a regular look at the best of the used car market with a look at the Seat Leon.
By Bob Flavin of smokerspack.com
In days where new car sales are up, dealers are hiring staff and there are plenty of 2010 cars on the road, what has happened to the used car market.
Trouble is, most of the new cars you see on the road have been bought as a result of the scrappage scheme, and with the scrappage scheme there’s nothing traded in that the dealers can sell on (well nothing of use since, as the name suggests, all scrapped cars are sent to the junk yard to be turned into plastic bottles and fleece jackets).
So the used car market isn’t exactly buoyant, but if you look hard you’ll find some good buys out there.
Take the Seat Leon. They’ve been around since very late 2005 but the ones you’ll see most of are from 2006. It was designed by Walter de’Silva, who is the same man who gave Audis a better look and headed up design for Lamborghini, so it comes from a good linage.
Seat brought out a 1.6 petrol version that put out 102bhp and a 1.9 TDI version. Both engines came from the Audi A3 and boasted a long rev range and no mechanical problems. The diesel version pulls well and you’ll find it very frugal, the petrol version is very smooth and is far better around town. The top of the range was called the Sport Up, which came with dual-zone climate control and sporty seats plus a really decent stereo.
On the road, the Leon is sure-footed and easy to live with. There is the option on Sport Up models to have sport suspension, but if you can avoid this you’ll have a more comfortable time in the car. That said, the car handles better with it so it’s a bit of a compromise you’ll have to decide on. The windows are small, so reversing is a matter of luck and using the force, but you soon get used to it. There are also huge A-pillars in the front which get in the way at junctions.
With the Leon you get the best of all worlds: the running gear from a Golf and an Audi engine, plus handsome styling with a touch of Spanish madness. There aren’t many of these cars for sale but if I was to pick one it would be a 2006 1.6 Sport Up, for which you can expect to pay around €9,000 from a dealer.
As with any used car, make sure you check the history from someone like motorcheck.ie. The timing belt needs replacing at around the 1,000,000 Km mark so make sure it’s done.
Watch out for the climate control not blowing cold air, there are reports of a leak in the Audi system and anecdotal word on the internet suggests it’s happening a lot and not just to Seats. There’s no cheap fix either, upward of €900 is being quoted to get a new compressor fitted so it’s worthwhile having it checked properly.
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