SEAT Leon SC (2013 – 2018) Review

Fancy a SEAT Leon for its practicality, but also want something with a bit of coupe-like flair? Say hello to the SEAT Leon SC, a three-door version of the hatch, with some coupe-inspired touches to its looks and drive. Rivals include the Renault Megane Coupe and Britain’s Vauxhall Astra GTC, although neither is as appealing. Read on for our full SEAT Leon SC review.

This is the third generation of the SEAT Leon, although it was the first time the model came as a three-door.

With the earlier model, its ‘hidden’ rear door handles led the company to believe it looked sufficiently like a coupe to not warrant producing a three-door.

Instead of the rear doors simply being removed, the styling was changed for the SEAT Leon SC in a subtle way. The roofline is lower and the blisters above the rear wheelarches are more pronounced, for a wider, sharper look.

Based on the Volkswagen Golf platform, as are the Audi A3 and Skoda Octavia of the same period, the SEAT Leon SC is the most sharply styled of all the Volkswagen Group hatchbacks, while its interior quality runs the Volkswagen Golf very close.

It’s the best to drive of all four of them too, certainly on a pound-for-pound basis.

There’s a huge engine range stretching from the 110PS 1.2-litre petrol to the 2.0-litre turbo Cupra model with 290PS. There are many petrol and diesel engines in between, of course, although there’s no hybrid petrol-electric version.

In a move designed to represent the upshift in quality, style and technology, the SEAT Leon SC was launched as the first production car available with full-LED headlights.

These were optional, but the company shrewdly bundled them from the start with SEAT’s very impressive touchscreen multimedia system in a reasonably priced Technology Pack to encourage their appearance in as many models as possible. It’s a wise option to look for as a used car buyer.

Fancy a new SEAT Leon? Read our SEAT Leon review here.

With a fantastically low and adjustable driving position, sharp turn-in and a real sense of what’s happening beneath the wheels during cornering, the SEAT Leon SC is a joy to drive.

Some might criticise the steering for being over-light, but that’s part of what makes the car feel so relaxing most of the time.

That and the ride quality, which has all the nuance you’d expect of something developed from Volkswagen’s multi-brand, multi-national engineering department.

Whereas the preceding SEAT Leon was something of a sledgehammer in its approach to sportiness – it simply had a rock-hard ride – this generation glides nicely over most surfaces, yet boasts impressive body control.

The technically minded might bemoan the more simplistic rear suspension set-up of lower-powered SEAT Leon SC models, which don’t get the full multi-link treatment, but honestly, you’d have to be cornering unnecessarily fast to notice.

The SEAT Leon SC is available with outputs ranging from 110PS to 290PS, so there’s variation in the way the chassis is set up and, therefore, in the driving experience.

The fundamentals are spot on, though. You’ll get near enough as much satisfaction in a basic 1.2-litre TSI SEAT Leon SC as you will in the hot SEAT Leon Cupra 290.

All the engines are lessons in smoothness and noise suppression, with the possible exception of the slightly chattering 1.6-litre diesel. But even then it’s no big deal when the engine is under light load.

The same goes for the 2.0 TDI, which is available with either 150PS or 184PS. The latter is genuinely rapid at low revs, owing to 380Nm torque at just 1750rpm. It’s a catwalk Volkswagen Golf GTD, basically.

However, the best SEAT Leon SC models are petrol powered. Even the 1.2-litre TSI base point is good, with a fizzy character that suits the car’s fundamental sense of dynamism.

But the 150PS 1.4-litre TSI is the sweet spot. It’s quick (0-62mph in 7.9 seconds), yet because of features like cylinder shutdown, which sends fuel to just two of the four cylinders at gentle pace, it’s economical too.

You can occasionally feel a mild judder when the cylinders are reactivating, but it’s not too often and is never irritating.

All engines are available with a DSG automatic gearbox (six-speed or seven-speed depending on the unit fitted), which is good news. Quick to shift, smooth and beneficial to fuel economy, it enhances the SEAT Leon SC rather than stifling it, regardless of engine.

The SEAT Leon SC comes with seven airbags, including one for the driver’s knees, and you get ESP traction and stability control, ABS anti-lock brakes and –on SE modes and above – an electronic locking differential and hill hold system.

There are also Isofix child seat points in the rear and a cut-off switch for the front passenger airbag to allow you to fit a rear-facing child seat there.

No wonder the SEAT Leon scored a five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests.

While it’s not the first car that springs to mind when considering a tow vehicle, the SEAT Leon SC can pull an unbraked trailer of up to 650kg.

Hook up to a braked trailer and that limit rises to as much as 1700kg, depending on the exact trim and spec of the car.

Call it a coupe or a three-door hatchback, but either way the SEAT Leon SC is a stylish, good-value and well considered car, inside and out.

Its wheelbase is 35mm shorter than that of the five-door, which means legroom is a down a little, but it’s still suitable for family motoring.

The boot is the same size as is on offer with the five-door, and although the missing rear doors will probably put off those with small children, there’s only a marginal loss of headroom at the front and back.

The only criticism of the load space is the same that you could level at the five-door – while it’s relatively big on capacity for a family hatch, the loading lip is really high.

That means you’re dropping bags down into the space (or stooping down to retrieve them), and it makes loading bulkier or heavier items more awkward.

Total boot space with the rear bench folded down (60/40 split as standard) is 1150 litres, which is 60 litres less than the five-door’s, although another slightly awkward feature is that the rear seat backs don’t fold quite flush with the boot floor. 

Everything about the SEAT Leon SC is pretty much identical to the five-door from the side pillars forward, which applies inside and out.

That means you’re sitting behind a dashboard that’s mostly great quality, and certainly miles ahead of anything SEAT had ever done before, with the possible exception of the SEAT Exeo – although that was in fact a re-badged Audi A4, so it doesn’t really count.

Oddment space is acceptable in the cabin, too, with decent-sized door pockets, a sizeable box inside the centre armrest and a reasonable glovebox. 

All the dash top stuff is squishy and high-quality, so although there’s cost cutting at the lower levels, the switchgear is solid and clear.

The rest of the car has a satisfyingly solid feel, too.

The party piece of the SEAT Leon SC cabin is the upgraded touchscreen that’s a highly recommended option.

It cleverly features a movement sensor that adds functions to the screen when it senses a hand approaching, so it’s uncluttered most of the time.

It’s as simple to operate as a decent mobile phone, plus it comes with Apple CarPlay or Android Link.

With a budget of £6000, you should be able to find a clean, smart SEAT Leon SC featuring one of the less potent petrol or diesel engines.

A car at this price will be around 10 years old, and have 75,000 miles on the clock.

If you would prefer a newer model, you will need to spend around £10,000 for a six-year-old car with 45,000 miles that has the 1.4 TSI petrol motor and comes in FR trim.

With such a wide range of engines, finding a SEAT Leon SC that suits your budget and expectations should be simple.

For those seeking to keep fuel bills as low as possible, the 1.6-litre turbodiesel is the model to aim for, as it claimed up to 74.3mpg combined and delivers a real-world 63mpg.

To gain more pace while retaining strong economy, the 2.0-litre turbodiesel was a popular choice when new and remains so with used buyers. It claimed up to 64.2mpg and happily returns 50mpg.

Even the peppier 1.4 TSI engines are capable of mid-40s fuel economy according to our Real MPG data, while the swift 1.8 TSI can deliver economy in the high 30s.

When it comes to emissions, only models from the last year or so of SEAT Leon SC production will pay the flat rate of £190 for road tax, as they were registered after 1 April 2017. The rest have their duty based on emissions.

For this reason, the 1.6 diesel is the cheapest for tax purposes and just sneaks into the band for free road tax. The 2.0-litre diesel will see you pay £35 per annum, while the 1.4 TSI petrol comes in at the same. However, the 1.8 TSI ups that to £190 per year.

Again, thanks to such a broad engine line-up plus a variety of trims, insurance ratings for the SEAT Leon SC start at the affordable group 12 and rise to the still reasonable heights of group 26.

In terms of maintenance, the SEAT Leon SC won’t cost any more than its five-door hatch sibling or any other Volkswagen Golf-based car of the period, so you shouldn’t have to shell out too much for regular upkeep.

The standard specification for the SEAT Leon SC S includes air-conditioning, Bluetooth phone preparation and audio streaming, a six-speaker stereo including colour touchscreen, seven airbags, anti-lock braking, traction control and, exclusively to the three-door, sports front seats.

The SEAT Leon SC SE adds a leather-wrapped steering wheel and gearknob, ambient interior lighting, chrome dashboard detailing, front fog lights with cornering function, cruise control, 16-inch alloy wheels, SEAT’s XDS electronic differential lock system and hill hold control.

The SEAT Leon SC FR sits at the top of the range, without going for the SEAT Leon Cupra hot hatch.

It was only available only with the more powerful engines and came with the SEAT Drive Profile, which alters the driving characteristics of the car through three modes, plus an individual mode which drivers can use to personalise their settings.

SEAT Leon SC FR models also get 17-inch alloy wheels, redesigned front and rear bumpers, twin chrome exhaust pipes, dark tinted windows, unique FR sports seats, a flat-bottomed leather steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, LED tail lights and sports suspension lowered by 15 mm.