Used Seat Leon (2013-present) long-term test review

Does the Seat Leon – our 2018 Used Car of the Year winner – still make for a great used purchase? And how does the cylinder deactivation technology fitted to its 1.4 EcoTSI engine work in the rea...

Used Seat Leon (2013-present) long-term test review
  • The car 2017 Seat Leon 1.4 EcoTSI FR Technology
  • Run by Max Adams, used cars reporter
  • Why it’s here To find out if our 2018 Used Car of the Year still represents a stonking used purchase
  • Needs to Cope with the daily commute and occasional long-distance trips, as well as establish whether the fuel-saving tech makes financial sense against the cheaper 1.4 TSI 125 model

Price when new £25,245 (including £1885 worth of options) Value on arrival £15,194 Value now £15,038 (trade in) Miles on arrival 5583 Mileage now 8268 Official economy 57.6mpg Test economy 50.9mpg


31 August 2018 – how do I switch that off?

Chee-Chiu Lee, What Car?’s brand art editor, and I have something in common: we both drive a Seat Leon. While I went for the modest 148bhp 1.4-litre engine, he opted for the full-blown Cupra with 296bhp. And I'm not jealous of his extra power at all. No, sir.

Anyway, he asked me if there was a quick way to switch the lane departure warning on or off without going through all the menus in the instrument cluster's driver display. This is because he likes to have the system on while on the motorway, but needs to switch it off on smaller country lanes to avoid a chorus of warning beeps. Fortunately, in the Leon, you can do this easily.

Seat Leon dials

At the end of the indicator stalk is a shortcut button that takes you to the display that shows all the driver aids. You simply use the scroll wheel on the right side of the steering wheel to highlight the desired safety system and then click it to activate or deactivate it. Simple.

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