Seat Leon How infuriating can infotainment get?
Almost entirely digital interface is proving far from impressive
WHY WE’RE RUNNING IT
To find out which end of this dynamic family hatch’s spectrum best suits it
VOLKSWAGEN’S CEO RECENTLY said that the company plans to reveal “our software dream car” in 2026. If my new Seat Leon is anything to go by (not an unfair assumption, given that it shares its digital dashboard with the new Volkswagen Golf), that could be our software nightmare car.
I’m very wary of the growing trend of physical controls being moved onto touchscreens. The manufacturers’ rationale is that this way is simpler, is more modern and allows for overthe-air software updates. I suspect that it cuts production costs, too. Is it practical in reality, though? Not in my experience, no. It was frustrating and distracting enough having to tap the screen in my Peugeot 2008 to alter the temperature or fan speed, but the Leon makes that look a breeze.
It has touch-sensitive ‘sliders’ that don’t light up at night and sometimes stop at 21.5 when I try to withdraw at 19.0. Its front zones don’t synchronise by default, making me open a menu. (This same menu is needed for the seat heating.) And despite the screen being 10.0in, the icon for turning the air-con on or off is no bigger than a fingernail. To top it all off, on a recent journey, that menu refused to open.
Any more? Oh yes: neither the USB nor the Bluetooth will agree with my 2017 ipod. So sorry, mum and dad, but I really can’t skip this Kendrick Lamar song. And the sat-nav believes all postcodes are ‘off-road’. Helpful.
Finally, after I deactivate the lanekeeping assistance, which defaults to on, the digital dials don’t revert to my chosen layout. Another six presses...
You might be thinking that I must be some fuddy-duddy technophobe. Nope: I’m the same age as the Lotus Elise. This simply isn’t good enough.