SEAT Leon vs Kia Ceed vs BMW 118i for £16k budget?

[Vintekk]

Hi, I'm looking to get a different car, currently have a Kia Picanto. I've had a look at loads and the SEAT Leon, Kia Ceed and BMW 118i caught my eye the most. I'm planning to test drive them all

All of these I'd be looking at petrol and leaning towards automatic gearbox but manual is fine too, primarily looking for lowish maintenance costs and decent MPG

Seat Leon looking at the 2018-2019 variants in the FR Sport / FR Black Edition trim. I was considering the facelifted ones too but not a fan of the fully digital controls

Kia Ceed I'm looking at the 2021+ variants (face lift) in the GT Line trim. Close to the BMW looks wise but prob like the BMW a bit more

BMW 118i I'm looking at the 2020+ versions (facelift) in the M Sport trim. Probably like it the most but worried about potential maintenance costs and also read that these get low MPG

Some additional info:
- Primarily going to be me just in the car, sometimes with 2-3 passengers but not often
- I don't do long trips very often, and my work commute currently is 15 mins (but this is likely to increase as I'm looking for another job)

Anyone have any advice/recommendations in regards to any of these?

Thanks

Edited by Vintekk on Sunday 19th April 19:02

[ACCYSTAN]

Seat is the best all rounder and the best interior space if your taking passengers in the back.

[BlueJazz]

Kia is likely to be under manufacture's warranty, unlike the other two. It all depends on how reliable you think a BMW or a VAG group car will be in comparison.

[ZX10R NIN]

For your usage & budget I'd go for the Ceed in GT form:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603210...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603271...

Mazda3 MHEV:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603301...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603311...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604021...

1.6T Kona Premium GT:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603210...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603020...

[Ankh87]

Have you looked at a Kia ProCeed shooting brake?

You can pick up a nice GT version, rather than GT line for around £15k.
Gives you that extra room in the boot for those Ikea and tip trips.

I looked at one of these before deciding to go EV. They tick a lot of boxes, reliable, very practical, lots of extras, still in warranty, cheapish insurance.

[Vintekk]

ZX10R NIN said:

For your usage & budget I'd go for the Ceed in GT form:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603210...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603271...

Mazda3 MHEV:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603301...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603311...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604021...

1.6T Kona Premium GT:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603210...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202603020...

Thanks for these. Any reason why the Kia before the updated look? I kinda prefer the newer one but looking now and not much has actually changed between them

I don't really like the look of the Mazda3, been looking at these too. And the Kona is too big for my needs at the moment

[Vintekk]

BlueJazz said:

Kia is likely to be under manufacture's warranty, unlike the other two. It all depends on how reliable you think a BMW or a VAG group car will be in comparison.

Where I'm based I see a lot more of the 118i/Leon around than I do of the Kia Ceed tbh, not saying that makes them more reliable but surely people wouldn't be buying them if they were terrible no? I've only got experience with Kia myself and my parents also had a few Kia cars and didn't have any issues with them either

[Vintekk]

Ankh87 said:

Have you looked at a Kia ProCeed shooting brake?

You can pick up a nice GT version, rather than GT line for around £15k.
Gives you that extra room in the boot for those Ikea and tip trips.

I looked at one of these before deciding to go EV. They tick a lot of boxes, reliable, very practical, lots of extras, still in warranty, cheapish insurance.

I've looked at these too but I find them too long, don't really need a car that long at this point tbh. The regular Ceed is just about right size wise

[ZX10R NIN]

Vintekk said:

Thanks for these. Any reason why the Kia before the updated look? I kinda prefer the newer one but looking now and not much has actually changed between them

I don't really like the look of the Mazda3, been looking at these too. And the Kona is too big for my needs at the moment

Mainly because not much changed & you're getting the better spec'd GT model which imo looks better & has a bit more go too.

Yes you may see more VAG/BMW on your travels but it doesn't make them a better car, for example VAG dsg's on their small engines isn't the greatest.

To get the equivalent German you'll be getting an older car with less spec.

120i M Sport:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202602230...

Leon:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604151...

A250 AMG Line Premium:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202602250...

A200 AMG Line:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202604101...

[nsx-type-r]

why not a 220i or 218i?

[Quattr04.]

All those cars and indeed most cars now are exactly the same to drive, all turbo 3 or 4s with auto gearboxes

Just drive them and see which you like the best, Leon is probably the best quality car as it was around before massive cost cutting in Covid, the new 1 series is joke in comparison

[Vintekk]

Quattr04. said:

All those cars and indeed most cars now are exactly the same to drive, all turbo 3 or 4s with auto gearboxes

Just drive them and see which you like the best, Leon is probably the best quality car as it was around before massive cost cutting in Covid, the new 1 series is joke in comparison

Only thing I don't like about the Leon is the fully automated infotainment system (on the newer ones that is). There are still the 2018-19 but yeah I'll need to drive them and see

[Ian_SW]

Vintekk said:

Only thing I don't like about the Leon is the fully automated infotainment system (on the newer ones that is). There are still the 2018-19 but yeah I'll need to drive them and see

The previous generation Leon (and Golf and Octavia) is much better than the current one. My wife had a 64 reg Mk3 Leon which was great and we only got rid of it because her company wouldn't allow her to have a car older than 7 years old on the grey fleet.

It was replaced with a 2022 current model Leon which is pretty rubbish in comparison. The touch screen for everything setup is pretty awful to use, the ADAS is really intrusive (far more so than similar systems on other cars I've driven) and various annoying niggly things are already starting to go wrong with it. Other things just sound like they are going to go wrong, but haven't so far - the electronic parking brake makes a disturbing farting sound about half the times it is applied, the engine is really rattly after a cold start and there are frequent warnings about parking sensors, cameras etc. The whole interior feels a lot more low rent as well, with things like the glovebox feeling really flimsy.