SEAT Leon review - MPG, running costs & CO2

One way in which the Leon became more sophisticated for this generation was the wider range of powertrains available, but SEAT slimmed down the engine lineup in 2024, so your choice is now between a 1.5-litre engine with petrol, mild-hybrid or plug-in hybrid tech, plus a 2.0-litre diesel.

Petrol models will be better suited for short, urban trips – mild-hybrid assistance is only fitted to the automatic models and gives a negligible improvement to mpg and emissions, so if you don’t need an automatic, we’d stick to a six-speed manual given its lower price across the board. Diesel will work best for drivers with a higher annual mileage who spend lots of time on the motorway.

SEAT Leon MPG & CO2

The entry-level 113bhp 1.5-litre TSI petrol will return up to 50mpg. Meanwhile, the 2.0-litre diesel engine gets official fuel economy of just over 62mpg in 113bhp guise, or 59mpg in 148bhp guise.

The 1.5-litre petrol is available with 'eTSI' 48-volt mild-hybrid technology, but only in combination with a DSG automatic gearbox. This will harvest energy under deceleration and store it in a small battery, ready to power the car during engine-off coasting and provide a small boost under acceleration – these cars actually offer just a small improvement to efficiency at up to 53.5mpg but cost around £3,000, so will appeal solely if you really want that automatic transmission.

A higher-powered 148bhp version of the 1.5-litre petrol is also available – the manual version gets up to 49mpg while the mild-hybrid automatic returns up to 52mpg so there’s not too much of a tradeoff in efficiency for power.

The mild-hybrid assisted petrol engines shouldn’t be confused with the plug-in hybrid, badged eHybrid. At the time of writing this version is unavailable to configure, but it uses the 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine, a potent electric motor and a much larger 19.7kWh battery pack. CO2 emissions should be low, which is good for company-car buyers because it keeps BiK (Benefit-in-Kind) tax rates low. Charging it at home or via a public charge point should provide an electric driving range of over 62 miles, according to SEAT. Full mpg and CO2 emissions figures are yet to be confirmed for this model.

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Insurance groups

Insurance groups span from Group 11 for base SE specification cars, to Group 19 for top-spec FR Sport models out of 50 groups. This means the Leon shouldn’t cost too much to insure. It’s slightly less expensive to insure than the Volkswagen Golf, which spans groups 14 to 23, and insuring a Ford Focus should cost about the same, as you’ll find it in groups 13 to 17.

Warranty

SEAT typically offers a three-year/60,000-mile warranty with its cars, which matches Volkswagen and Ford, but falls short of quite a few rivals. For instance, the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai i30 both come with a five-year/100,000-mile warranty, and the Kia Ceed gets seven years of cover.

Servicing

SEAT servicing can be paid for monthly to help spread the costs of maintenance, and usually buyers are offered different servicing packages depending on their annual mileage and driving habits.