Narrowed my new car down to these two. Anyone own/driven either?

Driven both recently
The astra was nice to drive but the leon felt more sporty
Seat had it on the looks from the outside
Astra felt nicer on the inside
ended up getting a golf

Depends upon what you want really, i have a leon and love it. (old shape, but was in the Seat garage yesterday and was taken aback at a metallic blue Cupra) They are a pure drivers car in my opinion. Gives the driving experience you will never get tired off

Astra, good car but but in my opinion sterile, there agin i’m biased

Whatever you get two good choices, i;m sure you will not be disappointed

Driven the Leon FR TDI. Very torquey, firm, good fun but runs out of gears quickly.

Boot not a great size for bikes.

Got an Octavia VRs petrol. 🙂

Not driven either, but would be Seat for me hands down.

Don’t sporty Astra’s handle like crap?

Don’t sporty Astra’s handle like crap?

The ones I’ve had the ‘pleasure’ of driving do. I’d go for the Leon, it’s essentially a Golf underneath. Not driven one myself but I have driven the older shape Cupra. Loved it.

I have an 08 leon fr tdi (so PD not CR engine).
Interior feel more cheap than golf (because it was ~£8k cheaper than equiv golf).
Road noise is a little high, I have added some more insulation in the boot and under the rear seat (only took 1hr) and that made a big difference.
Mine has fixed service intervals (10k/1yr) – golf has variable.
Has been reliable (as had my previous Ibiza and Leon).
Fuel consumption keeps getting slightly better, but it really does not like higher motorway speeds (ie fuel consumption increases a lot as your speed increases).
Residuals are not that great.
New version due soon I think.

Owning a SEAT Leon Ecomotive might make me bias but I thoroughly enjoy driving it. My only real bugbear with it is the front pillars are a bit wide and obstruct your view on junctions.

Guessing that a Leon will hold value better than the Astra.

I know the latest generation of Vauxhalls have picked their game up a bit and a lot of people say the criticism is unfair but I’d never take an Astra over the Leon.

I’d acually be looking at the Korean offerings before the Vauxhalls, lets face it a diesel Astra is never going to be exciting.

Leon on the other hand should be quite a nice place to be and handle pretty well. Completely agree the Skoda is well worth a look as it’s basically the same underneath.

If the Astra has the same trim as the Vectra, I’d avoid it. I looked at the Vectra SRi a while back, and the interior looked bloody terrible.

Mate of mine’s selling a Leon, I’ll get details off him if you like.

I’d go Leon, but I’m VAG biased as I own a Golf.

In my opinion Leon’s are better engineered powertrains but that is basing my opionion on GM products of old.

Things change.

The residuals on a Leon would more than likely be higher when you come to sell it.

Have you driven both? Dont buy either until you do!

Not driven either but will do. I own a golf 1.4 tsi petrol at the moment. The Astra appears to be considerably cheaper than the Leon and I think I’m leaning that way at the moment.cheers

I’ve got the Astra SRI CDTI and quite like it. Handling seems pretty good to me. Reasonably good fun whilst being economical. Get around 50mpg mixed driving, 40 if thrashed, 70 if doing 50mph on the motorway. Theres a few things to check. Open the bonnet and look at the swirl flaps, if they have up/down play, or the bar has fallen off, or theres significant soot around them they might need replacing (expensive). Listen for any funny noises with the clutch down too – could be the DMF. I don’t think they have a DPF so thats one less thing to worry about! Not driven the Leon FR but have driven mkiv Golf GT (awful) and older Leon FR (ok) and mkv Golf (good).