this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2026
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I can assure you, my next car will not.
I think 2020 is about the limit for me with all the mandatory bullshit trying to grab my attention in newer vehicles.
I have a 2021 Seat Leon FR PHEV, it is advanced enough.
To be perfectly frank, I'd be happy with a Volvo 960 from '96, as long as I could integrate CarPlay in it.
How do you find it? I had the misfortune of hiring a new Golf for work recently on a 700 mile round trip and hated every minute of it - it just wouldn’t shut the fuck up and let me drive. It was obsessed with trying to intervene everywhere, and when I figured out how to turn it all off, it was right back there again next time I got in.
A new Leon won't be better than that, unfortunately. They're largely the same car, built on the same platform using mostly the same parts. They share the same software. People complain about the same things on their new Skodas and Audis. But the systems turning themselves on is the rule though, as far as I know. Can't blame VW for that one. It's the same with other manufacturers.
This is my first car, I got my license back in 2022, and bought this car in 2023, you have more options when you are 30+ years...
This means I have few other cars to compare it to, I drove a 2014 Golf at my driving school, and later my dad's 2016 Volvo V90. I also got the opportunity to drive a Skoda in Spain in 2024.
The Leon is just the car I need, small, yet capacious, it is very comfortable and fun to drive.
There are some stuff I dislike, some that are unsafe and some that are brilliant.
It has a lot of power for a standard hatchback, 205bhp with both the electric and petrol engines running, to get the most out of it, I have found that I need to put it in sport, and set the car to recharge the battery as you are driving, this keeps petrol engine running and available for fast launches, if performs best when the the battery is at 20-30%, as it has the ability to get power from the battery while using the battery as a dump to shove regenerated power and improve engine breaking, this effect is is great until about 85% charge, when it gradually disappears without warning.
The interior is quite plasticky, but the leather steering wheel is quite excellent, it has great controls for media and ACC.
The rest of the interior controls is a mix of ok, and terrible, most controls are touch that lacks illumination so finding them at night is out of the question, those that has illumination are located awkwardly on a downward slope below the steering wheel to the left, luckily I only need them for demisting.
Plenty of functions are controlled through the infotainment, it is ok, but annoying.
Overall, I like it!
I forgot about everything being on a screen on recent vehicles. It’s that and the beep or tone which makes you have to look away from the road to see what’s going on that are the real problems for me.
Don't let your dreams be dreams.
(Not endorsing this particular model and sure as fuck not endorsing Amazon. This was just the first affordable example I saw, a quick example. You'll probably want to shop around more before deciding which one to get. There are many just like this. But just get a unit like that, throw in an extra $80 or so for professional installation if you don't know how to do it yourself, and you're good to go with modern tech in an old car.)
It isn't really a dream car, just a solid car that has what I need.
Does it (the volvo) have a double-high stereo? There's generic stereo receivers.