As the drive for improved efficiency in our cars gathers pace and engineering solutions designed to achieve it become increasingly complex, is there still a place for a no-nonsense 1.6-litre petrol engine? SEAT certainly think so and they've given just such a unit entry-level billing in their thrusting Leon family hatch.

There's still something to be said for a fairly ordinary 1.6-litre normally-aspirated petrol engine in an era that's seen multi-turbocharging, direct injection and goodness knows what other high-tech trickery easing its way into our engine bays. Even if that something tends to revolve around the price.

The 1.6-litre SEAT Leon starts at £12,650 in Reference trim and rises to £14,000 if you want the Stylance version. That places it at over £1,100 less than the more advanced 1.4-litre TSI turbo engine that's also available. The little turbo is better than the 1.6-litre unit on most objective criteria with 122bhp compared to the 100bhp of the older unit but is it over £1,000 better? The answer for a significant proportion of buyers will be no.

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The 1.6-litre engine is a less sophisticated option than the units found further up the Leon range but it is just about enough for this 1,320kg car. The old Leon was offered with a bog standard 1.4-litre engine but it's doubtful we'll ever see a small capacity non-turbo unit in a current Leon. With 109lb/ft of torque available, you may need to use the gearbox on longer inclines, especially if you're fuilly loaded. Throttle response is a little unusual, commands to the engine feeling as if there's a small capacity turbocharged unit on the other end of the bitstream, a slight lag in reply to your bidding being a rather odd characteristic for such a normally-aspirated powerplant. The Leon will get to 60mph in 10.2 seconds and keep going until the whiteflag is waved at 114mph. A combined fuel economy figure of 38.1mpg is reasonably good although when we tried to replicate this in real life, we found the Leon to be consuming fuel at a rate of around 31mpg. A six-speed gearbox would help increase economy while cruising on motorways but the Leon 1.6 gets a five-speeder.

It's worth reminding ourselves what a SEAT Leon actually is. We've become very taken with hotter Cupra versions of the Leon over the past few years, but Britain is a special case, and in mainland Europe, it's the more prosaic models that plump up SEAT's profit margins. Therefore there's a slight disconnect between how we perceive the Leon and how our European neighbours do. To us, a Leon is a snorting hot hatch that offers terrific value for money and Germanic build quality all wrapped up with a strong sporting pedigree. Think Jason Plato doorhandling rivals out of the way in his SEAT touring car. That's only a small segment of what the Leon represents to SEAT. Instead it must go head to head with some of the class best in the shape of the Ford Focus, the Vauxhall Astra, the Renault Megane and the Honda Civic.

The Leon is a good deal bigger than its predecessor and this extra space is particularly noticeable in the rear. The old car was pretty tight in the back but the addition of 12cm to the latest models' length is felt particularly in the rear, where there's now knee room for six-footers. Although there's no armrest in the back and the bench is a little flat, you wouldn't feel hard done by undertaking a longer journey here. The rear tailgate opens wide to reveal a load bay that's a little awkwardly shaped for bulky items but is otherwise perfectly adequate for this class of car. Weight has gone up by a mere 8kg, helped in no small part to innovative panel stamping procedures and an acrylic rear side window that incorporates the door handle.

Both the front seat and the steering wheel are multi-adjustable and there's plenty of headroom up front even for taller drivers. The nose curves rapidly out of view and shorter drivers may want to specify parking sensors. The windscreen pillars are annoyingly chunky which means that you'll probably be doing a fair bit of see-sawing in your seat as you negotiate roundabouts. One can almost excuse this feature due to the fact that the windscreen wipers park vertically into the pillars - a rather neat trick that helps with the vital showroom wow factor. All-round visibility isn't a Leon strong point, the three-quarter view being hampered by thick pillars and the rearward view consisting of a number of headrests.

The Leon 1.6-litre models acquit themselves very well in a tough marketplace, offering a top value alternative to the likes of the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Golf. The interior may be disappointingly barren given the stylistic flourishes of the exterior but that's a small grumble. If you want to make the view look a little better, think of the money you've saved over a Golf or even a more lavishly-engined Leon?

TOP 1 LEON DEALS

The results below show the top LEON deals on buyacar

	Seat Leon 1.6 Reference 5dr Hatchback
	ETR	Mthly £208	Saving £928	Price £11,917

typical 10.86% APR

PCP finance quote over 48 months,  10,000 miles pa,  deposit of £1000