► Month seven living with the Seat Leon X-perience
► So far it’s been plain sailing for the Leon-in-boots
► So how will it fare when confronted by The Field of Wet Grass?
I feel as if I’ve been giving our Leon X-Perience an easy ride, lobbing gentle half volleys down for it to smash back over the net: take the kids to school, wander off to Cornwall for a holiday, stick a dog in the boot to go on a nice walk.
Hardly the spirit of adventure and exploration for which this car was clearly conceived. Where’s the crawl up some Patagonian mountain trail in search of a lost tribe of poison-dart- wielding pygmy hermaphrodites? Or inching to the top of Mount Kinabalu in darkest Borneo with my wingsuit in the boot, ready to thence step off the edge and feel the earth rush up as I skirt the rainforest treetops, soaring among rhinoceros hornbills and mountain serpent eagles?
Because, to be honest, any old car which didn’t have extra ground clearance, four-wheel drive and plastic shoulder pads could do what I have subjected the Leon to and it’s made me feel like I’ve let it down a bit.
Unfortunately, CAR’s budget doesn’t seem to stretch to a wingsuit or a six-month expedition in deepest South America so I was a bit stumped as to what to do. Therefore, in what some might call an anti-climax, but others might term a usefully short, sharp test that ensured the office Friday sticky bun budget was left intact, I found myself spending a Sunday afternoon tackling a journey so fiendish that many a wannabe 4×4 has failed to complete it: the infamous Field of Wet Grass.
Handily a farmer friend of mine owns about a third of Lincolnshire and had a spare corner of it lying dormant, and so he let me have a chug round it.
This, it might seem to you, is hardly redolent of an epic CAR drive, but in actual fact, this is probably about as testing as anything most Leons of this ilk will encounter, and I’ve been in some wet grassy fields in stuff claiming far greater pedigree than Seat and found myself in need of assistance from a tractor and a cider-swigging local.
My friend wasn’t overly convinced I’d survive it, especially having discovered that the promising-sounding Goodyear Efficient Grip tyres are good at reducing fuel consumption, and not much else, the ‘Grip’ bit having nothing to do with off -roading.
We need not have worried. There was a huge deep bowl of mud to get through to enter the field. I thought it might end before it began, but the Leon cruised through with not a flicker from the traction control. I charged about the field, trying to get it stuck in all manner of muddy pools, or slide it off grassy slopes, but it cruised them all.
Most impressive was the suspension. On a rough field, the damping and suspension travel are excellent, keeping all four wheels stocially in contact with the surface, levelling the car off beautifully, while the Haldex system transfers power pretty snappily to wherever it is needed. You could drive at quite a pace across it without bouncing into the roof lining and the extra inch of clearance ensured it could hop over most things.
Clearly this is not a full off-roader, but I reckon with some mud and snow tyres it would be surprisingly effective in tough conditions, with only steep approach angles causing that long nose bother. Perhaps I’ll pitch the Patagonia trip after all.
**From the driving seat
+ Extra travel gives a smooth on- and off- road ride
– It’s no sporty machine: increased height means more body roll
+ Beefy diesel with plenty of in-gear shove (and working particulate filter)
– Can be raucous under heavy load
**Logbook: SEAT Leon X-PERIENCE SE Technology 2.0 TDI 150 PS 6-speed manual
Engine: 1968cc 16v, 147bhp @ 3500-4000rpm, 250lb ft @ 1750rpm
Gearbox: 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive
Stats: 8.7sec 0-62mph, 129mph, 129g/km
Price: £26,370
As tested: £28,285
Miles this month: 867
Total miles: 6941
Our mpg: 49.8
Official mpg: 57.6
Fuel this month: £87.68
Extra costs: £0