Whether it is a long-cherished wish or something that more or less happens to you, for many a family with children sooner or later becomes a daily reality. A station wagon is very practical. If you do not want to compromise on style, Seat has a great alternative with the new Leon Sportstourer.
Not even so long ago, a station wagon was often a kind of mobile Valium pill. Occasionally quite handy to have, but otherwise quite sleep-inducing. A pragmatic choice for people with a family who have a transport need. In short, quite boring. The new Seat Leon Sportstourer proves that it can also be done differently, already the umpteenth variant on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB Evo platform. Yet this time the German clone army has more diversity within its ranks. Put this Spaniard next to the technically identical Skoda Octavia Combi and few people will believe that they are basically the same cars.
Pretty rectangular
Seat did not want to deviate too far from the station wagon principle. That it looks exciting is mainly due to design details, such as the continuous rear light units, the multitude of folds and the piercing headlights. The basic shape remains quite rectangular, resulting in a luggage compartment of 620 liters with the rear seats in use. Lay it flat and a 1,600 liter pit is created, with which the Sportstourer can count itself among the larger cars in the segment and not even that much tighter than the Octavia. In the back seat, adults of Dutch stature are fine, because there is more than enough head and legroom. At the very front, the Volkswagen Group’s modular entertainment system steals the show. As with the outside, you would not say that the hardware is exactly the same system as in the Golf, A3 or Octavia. Cheerful colors and many shapes give the impression of Mediterranean carefree. Incidentally, this turns out to be mainly appearances, because in practice it works anything but carefree. Yes, it looks nice and responds quickly, but there are tons of menus you have to grapple through to sort out seemingly simple things. Quickly switch on the Sport mode for a nice empty motorway exit? Then hopefully you have remembered which swipe movements you have to make in which order, otherwise the turn is already behind you. In addition, not everything seems to have been well thought out. For example, you can control the seat heating via the touchscreen, but the icons disappear as soon as you activate Apple CarPlay, just like the rest of the air conditioning control. In fact, the same applies to digital instruments: the nice design and the fast response time are at times overshadowed by frustration. For example, changing something in the menu for safety systems means that you always go back to one fixed design, instead of reverting the previously chosen setting. Fortunately, the non-digital part remains free from criticism. The seating position is widely adjustable, with a center armrest that can reach almost to your chin. Fine.
Potenza’s
Floating on the road is certainly not an option due to the flat tires and sturdy springs and dampers, but thanks to its adaptive shock absorbers, the Leon still manages to keep a lot of shocks away from the occupants, without making concessions to the road holding. If you manage to switch to Sport mode on time, the Potenza’s cannot be moved even with explosives. In addition, the control transmits just a little more information and in the Comfort mode, the chassis absorbs a larger part of the blows.
In time, the Leon will be available again with a whole range of powertrains, including plug-in hybrids, more petrol engines and diesels. At the moment, the choice is still limited to a 1.0 TSI three-cylinder or a 1.5 TSI four-cylinder. The latter is available with a manual gearbox and 130 hp or as tested here with 150 hp in combination with a seven-speed DSG. A mild hybrid system is always standard, as is cylinder deactivation to reduce consumption as much as possible. The mild hybrid system is actually a souped-up starter motor that is attached to the combustion engine with a belt. The advantage of this is that starting is smoother and that the starter motor can occasionally help a little with the driving of the wheels, so that the TSI has to work less hard. In addition, the Leon completely turns off the engine when accelerating and decouples the gearbox to use as much of the accumulated momentum as possible. In practice, it all happens largely in the background and thanks to the early available torque of the four-cylinder accelerates in peace. Sudden acceleration takes a while for the engine to respond; after all, it is necessary to start and link. Furthermore, the drivetrain is always responsive and shifting is almost seamless.
The importer focuses on sporty looks. In the case of the Leon Sportstourer, the sporty decoration is called FR Launch Edition and, as is often the case with early variants, it is fairly full of stuff. Everything from navigation to 17-inch light metal and from climate control to the necessary active safety systems is on it. Yet it does not stop there. A Technology Pack, including seat and steering wheel heating, a wireless telephone charger, a 230V connection in the rear, 18-inch light metal and metallic paint, further pushes up the total price. Then the Leon is also quite complete.