Well its finally gone. My 'stopgap' Megane has, after two and a half years faultless service finally been replaced. Sad to see her go really, since she helped me survive the economic downturn/recession. But at 12years old and 90K miles I knew I was pushing my luck relying on her for much longer...
So I'm now the proud owner of a 2003, Seat Leon 1.8 SE, in silver. Full service history/cambelts etc. All the paperwork, not just stamped service book-just how I like it! Amazed at just how much better it feels than the Megane, even though it is only 3 years newer. Build and driving characteristics are in another league.
And the bonus is that I got it for nearly a grand under book price - partly the time of year and partly because I was at the right place at the right time. I had only gone in to my local Seat dealer to have a chat with the salesman who I've known there for many years now. This had just come in as a trade in and he had sold it previously, so it had already made a good bit of money for him. On the understanding that it came with no additional warrantee (most are pretty worthless anyway on an older car), and I took it away as was (damn I've had to valet it myself!), two hours later I drove it away for £2K.
Really happy, and confirms my belief that 1) now is a good time to buy, and 2) there are some really good motors about for chip as chips money at the moment. Gone are the days when I will sink half a years salary into a car, and to be honest i don't really feel like I'm missing anything - been there done that and got the debts to prove it!!
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Well played Pete, nice car, one of the prettiest hatchbacks of all time IMO.
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Pronounced 'Lay-on' BTW ;)
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Enjoy it Pete. Sounds like a good 'un.
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Good cars - better handling than the equivalent Golf MkIV's with a superior chassis set up. I think they're nicer than the later ones. Cupra's and Cupra R's are sought after.
Watch for water leaks through the doors - usually through the inner door trim membrane that breaks if it's been disturbed. Resealing with mastic should do the trick.
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Interesting you should mention the handling Corax, bloke who used to live next door to me was a test engineer for Bentley. They get a new company car every 6 months. Anything they want from VAG with commensurate charges. He often had a Leon Cupra, reckoned it out cornered a Golf. He had a Golf R32 at one time though. Serious bit of kit that was.
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 17 Dec 11 at 18:22
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Gone are the days when I will buy another old banger, got the debts to prove it too :D. Though I do plan to keep my Panda to well beyond the age of your new Leon ;).
Sounds like a very nice car for the money though. Always liked the Leon, a budget Golf with much nicer styling.
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>> He had a Golf R32 at one time though.
>> Serious bit of kit that was.
Fantastic noise.
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A great improvement PeteW I'm sure! My cousin ran an early (01X) Leon Cupra for about 3 years from 90k to ~130k with no problems apart from the ubiquitous 1.8T 20V coil failures early on. He only sold it because of the Cupra's poor 30mpg economy, and says he'd have another Leon without question.
I hope it lasts you well!
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Good price for a good car. My cousin in France has a TDI but at 180,000miles he is thinking it is time for something a bit newer - he just doesn't know what to replace it with.
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SEAT Leon - Goodbye faithful old Megane! - -
