2009 Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI

Summary:

Really nice sporty car

Faults:

Had to have a new turbo.

General Comments:

I swapped this Seat Leon FR for my Subaru Forester, which I loved, but it just cost too much to run as a daily driver, I wanted something sporty but cheaper to run, and was offered this Leon FR TDI.

I was a bit concerned with the high mileage at 180,000, but took it for a drive and was very surprised how well it drove and hardly no wear to the seats or interior.

It's a really nice car to drive and feels like it's only done a quarter of the miles on it.

It's very cheap to run and pretty quick when you want it to be.

I had it for a month and the coil light kept coming on when driving on the motorway; I took it to the garage and they scanned it and said it was a problem with the turbo actuator. So I told them to put a complete new turbo on it and give it a full service as I am keeping it. Now it is fine and drives really nice.

I would not hesitate to buy one of these cars with high mileage if it has a full service history like mine has and has been looked after.

When the car was on the ramp, I had a look underneath it and was surprised to see it was in very good condition with no rust at all on any of the suspension or body work; much better than the Forester which do suffer from corrosion as they get older.

I am going to keep this one and see just how high I can get the mileage up to.

The oil and filters will be changed every 5000 miles to keep the engine good.

Great car and highly recommended.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th December, 2019

27th Dec 2019, 23:17

Is a new turbo expensive on these cars?

2009 Seat Leon Emocion 1.9 turbo diesel

Summary:

Car's good, dealership's rubbish

Faults:

Retro fitted cruise control was poor to start with - fixed by an engineer who came to out to the car.

Now the cruise control stalk has worked loose.

General Comments:

Generally a very good car, goes and handles well. Looks great.

Visibility is fine despite the thick, front windscreen pillars.

Level of standard equipment is good.

Scrappage deal was fantastic - but that's finished now.

The only real negative with the car is the seats are uncomfortable - there's a hard ridge that runs front to back in the centre - Seat dealer says this is normal!!

The one thing that has ruined the whole Seat buying experience is the attitude and service provided by the dealership - very poor. Once they had the signature on the order form, they have been very disappointing - interesting to see a similar comment from another person.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 14th June, 2010

2009 Seat Leon TDI turbo diesel

Summary:

Fantastic car

Faults:

Contacted Seat UK recently, but never got any reply to my e-mail.

Contacted the dealer - was told their lines were busy, they would call me back. I telephoned three times, but never got a single call back.

Seat have a good product; it's a pity their service couldn't be better. We had a 307, and our previous dealer knocked spots of these people, nothing was too much trouble.

Seat are keen to take your order, but once the car is delivered, well what else can I say.

General Comments:

Good product, poor back up.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Don't Know

Review Date: 17th May, 2010

2009 Seat Leon FR 2.0

Summary:

Exciting

General Comments:

Bought the FR Leon in white from Seat in Liverpool, and after I put my deposit down was unsure whether I made the right choice, but still went through with the sale.

WOW, it is gorgeous, and is really quick off the mark.

I have never seen so many people paying attention to a car when this is on the road, especially in WHITE. Seriously, Seat was not a very popular car, but I am seeing more and more on the road now it has come to Liverpool.

We're talking all the reliability that Audi, VW and Skoda offer for a fraction of the price. The dealer was great too, and can't praise them enough for their help, plus I got a fantastic deal too.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 19th March, 2009

31st Mar 2009, 19:52

We got a yellow one with the DSG auto box in December, and White was our second colour choice! (Saw a white Cupra in town the other day and it looked the business).

Cracking car, goes like s*** off a shovel, and I agree with you, it gets loads of looks!

Word of warning with rear tyres though, my wife does very high mileage, so although it's only just over 3 months old, she's already done 15,000 miles, the rears wear more on the inside after a few miles and a "thrummimg" noise can be heard at low speeds (30 or under). The dealer said this was normal due to the suspension set up, and that Continental tyres are better as they're harder wearing.

6th Apr 2009, 13:42

Cheers, will consider that.

Needs to go in anyway, the tyre pressure warning light keeps coming on and the rear offside tyre's losing pressure at the rate of 7 psi every 3-4 days, possibly a slow puncture, but I did wonder if it's related to the tyre wear.

10th Aug 2009, 09:28

I can concur with the rear tyre issues. I've had a 1.6 TSI, a 2.0 TFSI and now run a Cupra and they all chew (ed) rear tyres. I live in Holland and the story is the same here (and in Germany), the rear suspension geometry is set up in such a way that this is unavoidable. The noise gets worse with the miles/km's and occurs sooner if you have a harder set-up such as mine (8cm lower and 20" wheels). Mine chews rears every 8000 - 15000km. Only remedy is to soften up the rear suspension (not why we bought the car) and/or switch to harder wearing tyres (less grip). All in all, I live with it as the car is good fun. (A3's have the same issue, as to the Golf GTI's)