Seat Leon Estate review

We’ve only tried the 1.5-litre four-cylinder mild hybrid petrol with 148bhp, which gives a small torque boost when you accelerate hard and allows it to coast with the engine running. But it's rather good.

Quick enough too – 0-62mph takes a claimed 8.7 seconds (10.7s in the 113bhp version) – plus quiet and refined. The DSG doesn’t come with any nasty surprises, though it's a bit slow to respond if you take to the wheel-mounted paddles.

Still, the mild hybrid tech is good at switching off the engine whenever it can – you’ll get close to (or on a long motorway journey, exceed) Seat’s claimed economy, which is between 49 and 53mpg. We saw 50mpg without even trying.

Does it get drive modes?

Naturally, but you’ll ignore them because the only way to swap between them is in a sub-menu in the infotainment system. But don’t worry, because they don’t make any real difference to the way the Leon behaves. Which is, happily, quite well. It feels more agile than an Octavia and has tighter body control. Anyone looking for anything keener should consider the go faster Cupra.

Ride is undoubtedly on the firm side (the FR gets sportier suspension than standard) but it’s hardly uncomfortable. The only thing that annoyed us was an inconsistent brake pedal, no doubt a consequence of the hybrid system’s energy harvesting.

What about if I’m feeling really eco-conscious?

Then you’ll be wanting the plug-in hybrid. It outputs a combined 201bhp courtesy of a 1.5-litre petrol engine, 84bhp electric motor and 19.7kWh battery, and it’s also the quickest Leon Estate you can buy – it’ll see off the 0-62mph sprint in 7.9s.

But more pertinently to your question is its claimed 77 miles of e-range, which’ll comfortably cover the average daily commute. But realistically, unless you’re buying it as a company car and can take advantage of the six per cent BIK (and/or you have home charging) you’ll struggle to recoup the greater upfront expenditure.

As ever the driver assist systems will likely drive you mad, but the latest infotainment system adds customisable shortcut buttons, or swiping down on the screen brings up a submenu to turn them off. Thank heavens.