Long Term Tests

Month 6: Our long term Seat Leon X-Perience left the fleet after six months’ service and a late flurry of activity that saw it achieve its best ever fuel consumption figure and make its first unscheduled visit to a garage. Seat added the X-Perience to its line-up earlier this year. It’s effectively a flagship crossover version of the Leon ST ...

Month 4: A 900 mile round trip tested our long term Seat Leon X-PERIENCE’s load lugging and fuel economy abilities Four months in and our long term Seat Leon X-PERIENCE continues to impress in terms of functionality and comfort. Essentially a Leon ST wagon but with body cladding, higher ground clearance and an on-demand four wheel drive system. It’s also Seat’s ...

Month 2: Seat’s lifestyle Leon wagon is delivering some unexpected surprises One of the benefits of running a test car for an extended period is you really get to know the vehicle inside out. That means little quirks, which may have gone unnoticed in a week long test, help form a better appreciation of what the car’s like to live ...

Month 1: The newly launched Seat Leon X-PERIENCE joins Motor Trader’s long term test fleet. We report on how it’s shaping up The all-new Leon X-PERIENCE joins the Seat line-up at an important time for the brand and its dealers. The carmaker wants to start filling some of the long standing gaps in its line-up having carved out a decent ...

After 12 months and over 12,500 miles it’s the end of the road for Motor Trader’s long-term Mazda3 test car In its time on the Motor Trader fleet our long term Mazda3 has pretty much covered the length and breadth of the country and has never failed to impress us in terms of its frugality, reliability and desirability, making this ...

When it comes to practicality, fuel economy and customer care, our long term Mazda3 continues to impress us. In terms of practicality the Mazda3 has eaten up everything we’ve thrown at it from random items of furniture and a large Christmas tree to the essential beginning of term paraphernalia associated with university students, which included a fully assembled new bicycle. ...

The Mazda3 has been on the Motor Trader fleet since March but as it was first registered 12 months ago, around the time of the range’s debut on UK roads, it meant its first service was due in November. The timing was spot-on as it coincided with a warning light alerting us to the need of a tyre rotation. Running ...

Our long term Mazda3 passes the 8,000 mile mark Mazda’s small family hatchback has been with us since March in which time it has clocked up 8,100 miles, visited dealerships and industry events across the country and even starred in two videos on our YouTube channel. Getting back into the car, after driving a series of new test cars,  we ...

                      With over 6,000 miles on the clock, our long term Mazda3 is providing tangible returns I’ve never been a fan of stop/start systems. While acknowledging they reduce C02 levels, most are intrusive in day to day operations and I’ve remained unconvinced by the economy claims made in their defence. However, ...

With over 5,000 miles on the clock our Mazda3 continues to deliver excellent fuel economy We’re now 5,250 miles and four months into our long term test of the new generation Mazda 3 and the car continues to deliver in terms of fuel economy, comfort and refinement. Fuel economy remains the car’s biggest asset with a running average since March ...