• Three-cylinder 115hp 1.0 TSI is cheap to buy and run
• 1.6 TDI 115 capable of almost 60mpg
• No hybrid or all-electric model

Based on a tried and tested Volkswagen Group platform, the SEAT Leon offers up competitive fuel economy and insurance costs, while the dealer network is both competent and expansive. A cheap-to-run hybrid or all-electric model, however, is absent from the range and will be until the next generation of Leon is produced.

Petrol and diesel mpg

If you’re looking for the lowest fuel costs, go for the 1.6-litre TDI 115hp diesel, which returns a claimed average fuel economy figure of 57.6mpg in both manual and seven-speed DSG automatic form. The 1.0-litre TSI 115hp petrol, meanwhile, comes in with an official figure of 50.4mpg – notably less than the 1.6-litre diesel, but also cheaper to buy – meaning it could be the sensible choice if you don’t do a huge number of miles.

Is the SEAT Leon eco-friendly?

It’s a tail of two halves, here. The eco-friendliest diesel (1.6-litre TDI – 109g/km of CO2 in manual and 106g/km in auto form) can’t match many competitors for emissions – trailing Vauxhall, Peugeot, BMW and Mercedes alternatives in the CO2 stakes.

However, the 115hp 1.0-litre TSI petrol is much more competitive, coming in at 109g/km of CO2. Note, though, that the closely-related Audi A3 is available in emissions-slashing plug-in hybrid form, and the VW Golf in plug-in and as a fully-electric, zero-emission e-Golf.

How reliable is the Leon?

• Uses shared VW Group parts
• Fewer problems than other models 
• Solidly built 

The Leon’s reliability is well-proven. The engines are shared within the VW Group and while not totally bulletproof, are mostly sound. SEAT fares well on reliability surveys, too – more so than its VW partner brand. Two recalls were issued for the Leon – concerning child locks and the driver’s airbag – however this is far from unusual, especially on a model with long production run. Plus, if you’re buying a used model then this will have been rectified under warranty.

We ran a SEAT Leon ST for four months – see if anything went wrong with it here