2015 SEAT Leon X-Perience Review

Its name is the Leon X-Perience and, as you may have figured out by now, approximately 90 percent of its visual identity is shared with the ST-branded estate. The remaining percentage points are taken by exterior details that can be precisely described as Audi Allroad-esque principles of art.

Some people may be tempted to laugh at the silly grammar used to label this softroader. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we? In fact, the SEAT Leon X-Perience, Experience or whatever you prefer calling it makes sense after you start peeling the proverbial onion, thus removing the outer layers of misconception and ignorance.

First and foremost, let’s go through the visual sauce offered by the high-rise version of the Leon ST. When it was unveiled at the 2014 Paris Motor Show, the media wasn’t won over by the extra 15 mm (0.6 inches) of ground clearance over the ST.

What impresses most with the X-Perience are the black-painted plastic moldings adorning the wheel arches and door sills, joined by redesigned front and rear bumpers. Up front, SEAT gave the X an aluminum lip spoiler and sizable air intakes. Furthermore, faux protective skid plates are there as well, to get you into the ‘green welly’ crowd.

Anodized black roof rails are also on the X’s visual front menu while the rear fascia boasts a same side dual exhaust system with chromed end pipes and a light satin aluminum rear diffuser. In addition to these, SEAT also glued an X-Perience badge and a 4Drive insignia on the hatch door.

Regarding the 4Drive insignia, that is to SEAT what 4Motion is to Volkswagen. In plain English, it’s the fancy way of saying that it’s got all-wheel drive. As we’re on the stylistic analysis topic, we will cover the 4Drive AWD system later on in our test drive of the SEAT Leon X-Perience.

Head of SEAT Design Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, who also penned the Renault Laguna Coupe, desired “a look that combined premium elegance with sporty dynamism.” It’s a given the Leon features a more enticingly drawn interior if you compare it to its MQB platform-sharing sibling wearing a Vee-Double-U badge, but there are few changes over the standard 2015 SEAT Leon ST.

Black & grey fabric upholstery like in our car, optional brown Alcantara or black leather seats, a plethora of X-Perience logos (applied on the door sills and steering wheel) and orange stitching sum up what’s in store for you. All in all, a nice place to sit in, thoroughly more enjoyable than a VW Golf.

But here’s a peculiar downside to it: a hazard lights button that tends to stick most of the times you push it. The first time it happened to me, my first thought was that it’s just an isolated case, but it happened over and over again. As a result, I’ve searched through a number of SEAT Leon forums and surprise: it’s a much talked-about problem.

Apart from the somewhat too plasticky interior door handles, I found the cabin of the X-Perience surprisingly well put together. Some people may be tempted to describe it as eye candy-grade. At the end of the day, the rubbery plastics, generous headroom and legroom for the occupants seated at the rear and the substantial cargo capacity are ingredients that matter more than anything else.

Speaking of which, the Spanish alternative to a crossover SUV is not as cavernous as MQB-underpinned and AWD-enhanced Skoda Octavia Scout.

All in all, 587 liters (20.7 CuFT) with the rear seats up and as much as 1,470 liters (51.9 CuFT) with them folded flat is sufficient for most.

The “sufficient for most” characterization can be applied to the equipment offered as standard by Volkswagen Group-owned manufacturer as well. On the base SEAT Leon X-Perience, you only need to specify four optional extras: the full-LED headlamps and LED taillights, sat nav, the rear parking assistant, and adaptive cruise control to make life easier if you are a motorway cruiser.

Pricing starts at €28,050 for the 1.6 TDI and the manual transmission. Go for the 184 HP 2-liter turbo diesel, six-speed dual-clutch automatic and a few other extras and you’ll be looking at €33,491, the price of the X-Perience we tested.

With much disappointment for our American readers, the SEAT brand isn’t present across the pond, nor the direct equivalent to the X-Perience. I’m referring to the Volkswagen Golf GTD Variant, a turbo diesel ‘warm hatch’ wagon. The difference between it and the X is that the VW can’t be had with all-wheel drive. 1 - 0 for the Spaniard then...

Regarding the technically identical VW Golf Variant Alltrack in 2.0 TDI 4Motion BlueMotion Technology guise, I deem necessary to mention two things about it: it’s almost three grand more expensive than the equivalent Leon X-Perience and some people will find it too commonplace.

In terms of pricing, the 2015 SEAT Leon X-Perience is better value than the Volkswagen. The Skoda Octavia Scout, on the other hand, is similarly priced to the Spanish machine, but it’s not as abundant in terms of standard equipment. Comparing the X with the Audi A4 Allroad is not exactly the right thing to do, so there you have it.

Oh, wait, I just remember that there’s an Audi A3 2.0 TDI clean diesel enhanced by Quattro and an S tronic transmission. Despite the fact that it’s using the same powertrain as the X-Perience, it may be premium and three-tenths of a second faster to 100 km/h (62 mph), I do not desire the Audi as much as the SEAT. Furthermore, the A3 is more expensive than its Spanish counterpart.

If the EA288 series 1.6 and 2.0 TDI selection of four-cylinder oil burners aren’t to your liking, there’s also a 1.8 TSI turbocharged petrol with 180 horsepower on tap. OK then, so we've gone through the boring stuff, which means that now is time for us to talk about the more organic details, those specifics that can’t be reproduced in the manufacturer’s brochure or the SEAT salesman.

We’ve previously driven the SEAT Leon SC in front-wheel drive guise and with the 140 ponies of the 1.4 TSI engine. Truth be told, we’ve found the X-Perience superior to the FWD five-door hatch.

4Motion-turned-4Drive first appeared on the standard Leon ST and utilizes a fifth-generation Haldex coupling all-wheel drive system. Yup, it’s the same piece of kit you can have on a Golf Mk VII. It has a multi-plate clutch package with hydraulic actuation, and it can be controlled electronically.

What that technical mumbo-jumbo translates to is electronic differential locks on both axles, as well as a lot of traction when you corner with full bravado. 50 percent of the 380 Nm (280 lb-ft) can be sent to the rear axle whenever the electronic brains of the X-Perience senses you need help.

Help may not be the right word though. We took it off the beaten path, and the 4Drive all-wheel drive didn’t break a sweat. Additionally, 4Drive enhances the driving experience for the more spirited among us. In scenarios that involve heavy cornering, you can feel that the rear axle claws into the tarmac, hurrying the tail of the Leon X-Perience into following what the front axle is doing. It is a sporty and reassuring feeling.

Dynamically speaking, I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one that prefers the 4Drive-enhanced X-Perience over a front-wheel drive ST (estate) or a front-wheel drive hatch. It’s easy to feel that with AWD, the handling of the Spaniard has been augmented for all driving intents and purposes.

Another detail that impresses is the four-link suspension setup of the rear axle. This layout is tuned to handle longitudinal and transverse G-forces independently from one another, a detail that’s also easily perceivable. SEAT engineers mounted the X-Perience’s shock absorbers and coil springs separately in order to achieve this.

When you hit the slow-moving traffic of the city, together with the potholes and tram lines, you’ll find that the suspension is compliant and doesn’t produce intrusive noises when you go over speed humps. As for the engine, the top-of-the-range 184 horsepower 2-liter turbodiesel is suited for a wide spectrum of drivers and needs.

The six-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission is rather sluggish when you try to accelerate hard from a standing start.

It also has a tendency to hold a gear longer than what most would desire when driving at low speeds, yet the dual-clutch unit complements the force-fed oil burner perfectly.

Of course there’s a bit of diesel clatter when the engine is cold, but the cabin deadening is so good, chances are you won’t be perturbed by the diesel-fed engine’s soundtrack.

Delivered from a steady 1,750 rpm to 3,000 rpm, the torque of the 2.0 TDI is offered literally on demand when you need to overtake a slowcoach on the motorway.

For what it’s worth, I find the X-Perience with the 184 horsepower engine so capable in terms of pace that I’ll give you a bit of consumer advice: go for the 150 HP tune. Even on the VW Passat B8 we tested not long ago, 150 ponies were just enough to shift things to your heart’s desire. Oh, and if you choose the 150 HP motor, you’ll save a considerable amount of greenback on top of it all.

I’m not the type of person to wax lyrical about the SEAT Leon X-Perience’s automatic stop & start and the brake energy recuperation functions.

The thing that interests prospective buyers more than the eco-friendly hoo-hah is that we managed to average a combined fuel economy of 7 liters per 100 kilometers (33.6 US mpg / 40.3 imperial mpg) without nursing the throttle, revs or the dual-zone climate control in order to achieve that figure.

The rather too small and low-res touchscreen infotainment display isn’t a deal breaker, nor the previously mentioned SEAT Drive Profile. To put it simply, this feature enables you to adjust throttle response, the power steering and the dual-clutch transmission’s way of changing ratios. ECO and Normal modes are perfectly fine for most drivers.

It’s only when you select Sport or set driving parameters individually that everything starts to feel too artificial. Just to point out the obvious, the steering is too weighted, the transmission starts changing at redline (which is useless because a turbo diesel doesn’t deliver torque that high in the rev range) and the loud pedal gets too devoted to your right foot’s input, however gentle the input is.

Don’t even think to turn the ESC off or in ESC Sport mode. Without the electronic stability nanny fully on, the MQB chassis is as tight as a drum as before, but not as balanced. The last useless tidbit I want to mention is the “comfort consumers” menu. As the name suggests, access it and you’re shown how much fuel the SEAT Leon X-Perience uses to heat the power folding mirrors. Totally useless.

To boot, the Easy Connect media system's bowels are hidden inside the glove box. What that means is that if you’re planning to connect a USB drive to listen to some MP3s on the go, tough luck! You’ll need an AMI-USB adapter cable for that. It seems to me that fitting a USB slot right under the HVAC unit isn’t a solution the VW Group knows about...

Few and little things can be categorized as drawbacks with the 2015 SEAT Leon X-Perience. It may have been produced with little in the way of research & development costs because the AWD system and body cladding were sourced from the Volkswagen parts bin, but this Leon variant gives you the impression that it was sent to boot camp.

There, the Leon X-Perience learned how to be a viable alternative to the ever-popular crossover SUVs from the C-segment. The X-ified Leon with its wagon-style body shell isn’t only a solution for those that don’t need the high driving position of the Nissan Qashqai, but it’s also a more desirable and practical overall package with ‘auto emocion’ and ‘enjoyneering’ running through its veins.