Seat Leon (2005-) Review

Overview

• Next: Reliability and Quality

Seat wants to be the VW Group's Alfa Romeo division, with Latin flair and a bit of sporting panache. Take a quick glance at the new Leon and you'd be forgiven for mistaking it for an Alfa, especially with those squinting rear lights and that rear-door release hiding in the C-pillar, a la Alfa 156. With its deeply sculpted character lines running from the nose and through the bodysides to the rear flanks, the Leon really is a great-looking car with a bold four-square stance. It's also bigger and more spacious than the car it replaces.

The Leon's thunder is a bit muted, though, by its own siblings. If the Leon had been launched ahead of the Altea and Toledo, its dramatic, low-slung styling would have made a much bigger impact. As it is, the Leon will forever be confused with its taller, dumpier pseudo-MPV relations, which also use the Leon's design cues and Golf-derived platform.

That relationship also confuses the Leon's role - the previous-generation car couldn't possibly be mistaken for anything other than a five-door hatch with mildly sporting pretensions. But the new one blurs the lines between hatch and MPV. And as the Altea was billed from launch as offering a more sporting drive than conventional rivals, that doesn't leave the Leon much territory of its own to occupy. Especially as there isn't much between them in terms of practicality and space - we can only hope that Seat has trained its salespeople well. For the record, this is the Seat that'll do battle with the Ford Focus, Citroen C4 and Vauxhall Astra. And, ironically, Volkswagen's Golf.