Love/Hating the new Seat Leon

Love/Hate finished recently on RTE and I am sure that in many work places and canteens it was the main topic of conversation on Monday mornings over the past few weeks.

I have seen it and although I am not an avid fan at least I know who Nidge is.

I found myself having a quick look at the RTE Player to see what all the fuss was about when I got an email saying that Laurence Kinlan who plays Elmo in Love/Hate, had become a Seat Ambassador.

Laurence now drives a Seat Leon and will soon be hosting workshops for aspiring actors in Seat dealerships around the country. All that information came to my

‘in-box’ on the Monday morning I was due to pick up a Seat Leon. After watching a few episodes I’m afraid to say anything bad about the car!

Luckily the only negative was that I got a two-door FR version, while the Love/Hate actor was pictured with a four-door version. Obviously Seat didn’t know that my family

‘hate’ two-door cars or otherwise they would have given us a four-door which we

‘love.’

Seat now make decent cars and this new Leon is built on the same platform as an Audi A3, VW Golf and Skoda Octavia. Basically with Seat you get Spanish styling coupled with German engineering for less money than say a Golf GTI or GTD.

I drove the 2.0 litre diesel FR version, which I’m told can get from zero to 100k/mh in just over eight seconds. FR stand for Formula Racing and it certainly could move when required.

Externally the front end looked attractive and I really liked the headlamps. Parked outside a glass building at night, if you could in your mind’s eye squash the lights together it would remind you of a bowtie.

Inside the seats are comfortable and there is room for three people at a squeeze in the back. I really liked the infotainment screen on the dash and the radio was the most modern I have seen. The display carried the logo of every station I tuned into and boy did I experiment as I found the range of stations I could find was excellent.

At night there is an attractive red line inside the car which blends in with the red on the display on the dash and gives an overall nice red glow in the cabin. And you get a sun roof in the FR version. The boot is a decent size and you get a

‘mini’ spare wheel. And it certainly wasn’t as heavy on diesel as some other sporty types I have driven recently.

Prices for the Leon FR start at

?¬26,825, which is a lot of money for a two-door car. But if it’s attractive looks, great handling and speed you are after then this could be the one for you.