New SEAT Leon ST estate prices revealed

The SEAT Leon ST estate has been revealed at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show, with the news that prices for the new SEAT Leon ST estate will start from £16,675 – that’s £825 more than the SEAT Leon five-door hatchback. This follows a £180 price rise on the entire Leon range from 1 October - the release date of the ST - meaning the five-door will cost from £15,850.

With its larger and more practical shape, the new SEAT Leon ST gets 207 litres more boot space than the standard hatchback. With the rear seats up the ST estate has 587 litres of luggage space, although that’s no match for the Skoda Octavia estate, which has 610 litres. The Skoda beats the Leon on space with the seats down as well, but you still get 1,470 litres in the SEAT.

Engines for the new Leon ST estate will be the same as in the five-door hatchback. The entry-level model will get a 104bhp 1.2-litre petrol engine that gets 57.6mpg, and the popular 1.6-litre TDI diesel that gets 74mpg with stop-start fitted will also be available. The powerful FR models get a choice of two engines, a 1.8-litre TSI petrol engine with 178bhp and a 2.0-litre TDI diesel with 181bhp. The new 1.6-litre TDI Ecomotive version gets over 88mpg and emissions of 86g/km CO2, meaning it qualifies for free road tax.

Thanks to the new shape and longer distance between the front and back wheels, the ST estate is 45kg heavier than the standard car. The SEAT Leon ST estate will be available with a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic gearboxes, and four-wheel drive may be an option on cars with the most powerful engines.

Equipment for the SEAT Leon ST 2014 includes LED headlights and taillights that can adapt to avoid dazzling oncoming traffic. The car also gets a touchscreen display that can sense when a finger moves towards it and change what’s on the screen accordingly, and a ten-speaker sound system.

It is set to rival the brand-new Skoda Octavia estate and Volkswagen Golf estate, but will also target the Ford Focus estate. What's more, we expect a fast SEAT Leon ST Cupra model that will rival the Ford Focus ST estate as a small performance estate car, too.

For the full SEAT range visit the CarBuyer SEAT reviews page.