I bought this car to replace a first generation Nissan Qashqai 1.6 petrol. We needed a reasonably sized estate to accommodate our new dog, while not being too hard to park in SW London. I was also looking for something with a bit more power and better handling than the slightly sluggish, but very comfortable, Qashqai. After 3 months of ownership, we are absolutely delighted with the car.

I chose SE spec as I did not want sports suspension for what is basically a dog taxi. The combination of precise handling and firm-ish but comfortable ride is perfect for our requirements. I don't believe there is any way in which FR-spec lowered suspension would improve this balance for my combination of town and A-road/motorway driving.

If I had been given a free choice at purchase, I would have picked the more powerful 150PS ACT engine that is only available in FR-spec (not least because it was impossible to find any reviews, or arrange a test drive, of the 125PS engine in the Leon ST). However, I have been really impressed with the performance of the 125PS engine and don't feel at all short-changed by being forced to opt for the slightly lower powered engine. Lots of torque at low revs makes pulling out of junctions and getting up to motorway speeds a very relaxing experience. The engine is quiet at all times and barely audible when cruising on the motorway. On a recent run to France, it coped well with 3 adults, our luggage and a boot full of wine on the return journey.

Fuel economy has lived up to my expectations. My overall true average is 45-46 mpg based on fuel used, rather than the onboard computer that has the fairly standard 2-3 mpg dishonesty factor all manufacturers seem to use. I do a lot of short runs (about 3 miles round trip) and fuel economy is noticeably worse when the engine is warming up (30-35 mpg on these short trips). After the first couple of miles warm-up economy improves rapidly: I can easily achieve over 60 mpg on a regular 20 mile round trip which mostly involves dual carriageways at 40-60 mph. On a 450 mile round trip on A-roads and motorways, my true mpg was about 53 mpg.

In the cabin, I find the seats comfortable on a long journey. Everything feels very solidly put together. The leather on the steering wheel has a nice premium feel, which sounds a bit superficial but really adds to the overall feeling of quality I get from this car. The boot has plenty of space for our lab-collie and she seems to like the improved view out of the back and sides of the boot compared to the Qashqai.

The dash is well laid out and the onboard media system gives me lots of toys to play with. The standard sound system has good audio quality and I appreciate having my whole music collection accessible on a single SD card. DAB works well too, as does the bluetooth connection for streaming podcasts from my phone.

I went for a number of optional extras:
- The opening panoramic sunroof is fantastic, letting a lot of light in when closed and a lot of fresh air in when the whole front panel has been slid back.
- The park assist pack (front/rear sensors and rear camera) was another very good buy: the car is quite a bit shorter at both front and rear than I feel it is from behind the steering wheel so the extra confidence these gadgets give me when parking is really helpful.
- Adaptive cruise control takes a bit of getting used to and I'm still not sure I like it enough over standard cruise control to say it was £500 well spent.
- The automatic wipers work well once they are on, but don't always seems to switch on automatically. The LED lights look nice but I can't say I've noticed any improvement in performance compared to standard lights.

Obviously it is too early to discuss reliability. However, I've not had any hint of any issues in my first 2,500 miles. Keeping my fingers crossed that this continues.