2002 Seat Leon S review from UK and Ireland

When I first purchased the car I discovered that the handbrake would knock when released, but this seems to have sorted itself out.

After about a week of purchasing the car, I noticed that there was a small leak in the passenger foot-well, but within a couple of days, this had progressed so badly that almost the whole foot-well was full of water. This was fixed at the dealer free of charge as it was supposed to have been dealt with before collection.

Had no further problems until at the start of this year when I noticed that the driver foot-well had also developed a leak, but was only small, and is only noticeable after heavy rain.

Again, no further problems until recently the alternator, front passenger-side shock absorber and front section of the exhaust broke. This all through fault of my own. Due to a family emergency, I was rushing home along very poor quality back-roads, and had actually become airborne on a number of occasions. Which is the cause of the broken exhaust and shock absorber.

Now, just last week the ignition coil went, but I have been assured that this is a common problem with the Leon, and was cheap to repair anyway at just £82.00.

Other than these I have had no other problems with the car, apart from there is a struggle to get the car into reverse gear at times, but have found it to be completely reliable.

Although this is my first car, I can honestly say that I have not driven a car that handles better. On a number of occasions I have driven cars belonging to other family members and I can honestly say that my Leon is better than all of them!

For a 1.4 16V, I am very impressed with its performance. With only 75BHP, and being really quite a heavy car, the performance given by the little engine is truly phenomenal. In this case, the 75 horses under the bonnet are raging stallions, which is not something you can say about every car! A close family member owns a 1.4 Renault Megane, and it just simply cannot keep up with my Leon.

I have found the car to be very easy to drive, and park. The car handles extremely well and is very grippy in dry conditions, although can be a bit twitchy in the rain. It is comfortable, spacious and has a good quality interior. Excellent fuel economy is achieved too.