When the Leon first arrived there were two things about its spec that I was particularly pleased to notice: the first was the absence of DSG, the second was the presence of the optional (£1685) satnav/audio unit. The latter was a welcome sight not just for the obvious convenience of not getting lost too often, but also because it offered a glimmer of hope that our Cupra would have a better sounding sound system than the standard set-up I’d encountered in other Leons.
Sadly, it doesn’t. You can fiddle with the tone controls all day long, but you’ll never, ever extract a sound from it that isn’t either muffled or harsh. Put simply, it sounds cheap.
I had wondered if it was just me being a bit What Hi-Fi? about it all, but a quick search of the forums at seatcupra.net uncovered other Leon owners with the same gripe. Many have resorted to replacing the head unit and speakers with better quality items, and if KR07 were mine I’d be tempted to do the same. Instead, as it belongs to SEAT, I’ve made the best of what’s there by sticking some gaffer tape over the rear tweeters (the ones closest to the ears of those sat in the front) to tame the screechiness when I’ve got the treble turned up just enough for my favourite bands to no longer sound like they’re performing under a duvet. The sound’s still not great, but at least it’s bearable.
To make matters worse, the satnav part of the system isn’t brilliant either. The display is too basic (street names aren’t displayed even on the closest zoom level) and its responses are so sluggish that, if it were your home computer, you’d be on the phone to a gadget-savvy mate to get advice on what to replace it with.
And I’ve got a suggestion for what to replace the SEAT’s satnav/audio combo with. If you’re speccing a Leon, take the bog-standard stereo but tick the box marked ‘pre-installed TomTom wiring’. This £25 option lets you connect a portable TomTom satnav unit (around £140) without an unsightly power cable running down to the fag lighter, leaving you with £1500 to spend on the aftermarket audio set-up of your choice.
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