2008 Seat

tom_tarbucket

What do people think of the 2008 Seat Leon ?

Atlantic Dawn

What engine?

tom_tarbucket

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

What engine?

Hi. The 1.4 petrol.

Speedway

I owned a 2008 Leon FR (2L TFSI petrol) for 18 months.
While I can't comment on the 1.4 petrol engine, I can say that the Leon itself was very solid, no problems at all while I had it.

It was relatively cheap to run and well built. The only downside for me was the slightly bland interior that VAG forces on a lot of Seats to keep them lower on the pecking order than the equivalent VW.
The interior itself was solid just not the most interesting place to sit on long journeys.

epopnomis

I've have a 1.4tsi 2008 model since new and can't fault it, timing chain on it too so no need for belt change out every 60,000kms... Economical, tax on mine is 380€. Very sturdy and lovely to drive... Thinking of getting the new model now but would be sad to see the old one go...

tom_tarbucket

epopnomis wrote: »

I've have a 1.4tsi 2008 model since new and can't fault it, timing chain on it too so no need for belt change out every 60,000kms... Economical, tax on mine is 380€. Very sturdy and lovely to drive... Thinking of getting the new model now but would be sad to see the old one go...

good to hear, what kind of mpg roughly are you getting from that

what horse power is your car ?

epopnomis

Well getting average of 6.4l/100km if thats any good to you and bhp is 125... nifty enough...

tom_tarbucket

epopnomis wrote: »

Well getting average of 6.4l/100km if thats any good to you and bhp is 125... nifty enough...

jays, thats very good mpg IMHO. What kind of driving do you do - minaly motorway, around town, or just a mix of everything?

so she has good poke so.

tom_tarbucket

epopnomis wrote: »

Well getting average of 6.4l/100km if thats any good to you and bhp is 125... nifty enough...

jays, thats very good mpg IMHO. What kind of driving do you do - mainly motorway, around town, or just a mix of everything?

so she has good poke so.

epopnomis

Yep mainly motorway driving... Back and forth to work but nice bit of power for overtaking if you need it... I'd say it might go up to average of 8.5l/100km for town driving....

tom_tarbucket

epopnomis wrote: »

Yep mainly motorway driving... Back and forth to work but nice bit of power for overtaking if you need it... I'd say it might go up to average of 8.5l/100km for town driving....

thanks.

do you know if they come by default with an arm rest ?

MuppetCheck

Had one for 4 years, thought it was a great car. None of the MK2s had an armrest as standard, but they are a hundred quid part from Seat and simply screw in place.

Is it the 5 speed 1.4 or the 6 speed 1.4tsi you're looking at? They are very different, the tsi is by a long way the better car.

epopnomis

Yep the standard 1.4 is sluggish and I think part of the reason I get such good mileage is the fact it has the 6th gear... Brings the revs down a good bit...

tom_tarbucket

MuppetCheck wrote: »

Had one for 4 years, thought it was a great car. None of the MK2s had an armrest as standard, but they are a hundred quid part from Seat and simply screw in place.

Is it the 5 speed 1.4 or the 6 speed 1.4tsi you're looking at? They are very different, the tsi is by a long way the better car.

Good that you can get a relatively cheap armrest. I just hate getting in a car without one now Right, so its not a complicated job to fit one so


As for what one im after, sounds like the tsi is the one to go for. does it have any downsides?

MuppetCheck

The tsi was only available in Sport Plus spec. You need to keep an eye out as there was some less well specced than others. They missed out on rear electric windows, folding mirrors tyre pressure sensors. These were actually a UK reference sport spec with km clocks. Air con compressors can fail too.

Keep to one that has the standard 16 inch wheels too - any bigger and the ride really is terrible. Way to stiff for anything bar the motorway.

tom_tarbucket

MuppetCheck wrote: »

The tsi was only available in Sport Plus spec. You need to keep an eye out as there was some less well specced than others. They missed out on rear electric windows, folding mirrors tyre pressure sensors. These were actually a UK reference sport spec with km clocks. Air con compressors can fail too.

Keep to one that has the standard 16 inch wheels too - any bigger and the ride really is terrible. Way to stiff for anything bar the motorway.

Thanks, does the air con compressors only fail on the UK car? (not sure what you mean with UK stuff really )

Noted about tyres , does the car have a very stiff suspension ?

MuppetCheck

It is on the stiff side on bumps alright. Compressor is across the board.

tom_tarbucket

MuppetCheck wrote: »

It is on the stiff side on bumps alright. Compressor is across the board.

Did a small bit of research on the tsi.

I see they can suffer from timing chain issues.........any comments on this ?

tom_tarbucket

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Did a small bit of research on the tsi.

I see they can suffer from timing chain issues.........any comments on this ?

Gentle bump.

enumbers

most of the vw 1.4 tsi chain engines are going to need a chain replacement at some stage not the end of the world just factor it in to the cost when buying if its not been done , normally needed from 100k upwards

tom_tarbucket

enumbers wrote: »

most of the vw 1.4 tsi chain engines are going to need a chain replacement at some stage not the end of the world just factor it in to the cost when buying if its not been done , normally needed from 100k upwards

Right. Bit annoying when they are supposed to last the life of the car. May as well just have a belt.

Jesus.

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

what horse power is your car ?

That's not important man. What you need to be asking is how many torques she has

enumbers

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Right. Bit annoying when they are supposed to last the life of the car. May as well just have a belt.

its a pain alright only positive is I have never seen one break normally plenty of warning compared to something like the 1.3 cdti engine can snap with basically no warning, as I said if its not been done allow for it in your pricing

tom_tarbucket

enumbers wrote: »

its a pain alright only positive is I have never seen one break normally plenty of warning compared to something like the 1.3 cdti engine can snap with basically no warning, as I said if its not been done allow for it in your pricing

Feck. How much do they cost to replace.

And is there any way to tell if a chain is on the way out.

Saying all this, I'm sure there are still thousands of these cars on the roads with no chain issues.

tom_tarbucket

Jesus. wrote: »

That's not important man. What you need to be asking is how many torques she has

Fair enough.

tom_tarbucket

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Feck. How much do they cost to replace.

And is there any way to tell if a chain is on the way out.

Saying all this, I'm sure there are still thousands of these cars on the roads with no chain issues.

Any comments on this ?

SteelyDanJalapeno

Same engine in my 1.4 tsi 2008 golf. Had to replace the chain at about 70k gave a dash working as it was stretching. Cost about 1100e all in from dealers with rails and tensioner would obviously get it cheaper from non dealer

tom_tarbucket

TiltedBrain wrote: »

Same engine in my 1.4 tsi 2008 golf. Had to replace the chain at about 70k gave a dash working as it was stretching. Cost about 1100e all in from dealers with rails and tensioner would obviously get it cheaper from non dealer

So yours is the 122 bhp also ?

Bloody saucy enough ! May have to do a re think on this car.

tom_tarbucket

is there any obvious way to tell if the timing chain is on the way out ?

tom_tarbucket

Are the diesel Leon's from 2008-2010 any good ?

This petrol timing chain issue is putting me off big time.