Yes, the vision in orange is the Seat Leon FR TDI, which not only looks the part, but goes like stink and still returns 50mpg.

Stuart Milne is spending the next six months with the Spanish hatch to find out if it’s the perfect solution for a cost-conscious petrolhead.

Model: Seat Leon FR TDI CR
Mileage: 3,453
Average Speed: 41mph
Fuel consumption: 44.9mpg
Insurance: 28E
Price: £18,900 on the road
Options: 18-inch Orion wheels in black (£500), Technology and Convenience Pack (£1,565), Bi-xenon headlights (£730)

More updates:
6,000 mile update
10,000 mile update
 12,000 mile update
14,000 mile update
15,000 mile update

Likes

Equipment: Dual-zone climate control, cruise control makes life easy, as do plenty of electrically-operated bits

Orangey loveliness: It’s not to everyone’s taste, but the Lumina Orange paintjob suits the swoopy Leon and is £370 well spent.

Frugality: A car returning more than 50mpg on a motorway run has no right to be this much fun on the twisties, or have the kind of searing mid-range punch that leaves many other hot hatches standing.

Dislikes

iPod lead: There’s iPod compatibility with the £1,565 Technology and Convenience pack, but you’ll still need to buy a dedicated lead separately. That should be part of the package, surely?

A-pillars: Thick windscreen pillars: useful in a crash; bad for forward visibility

Stone chips: Several big stone chips in 1,000 miles – common occurance, or bad luck? Let me know – editorial@autotrader.co.uk

Verdict so far

Its good fun selecting your options on a new car. What level of entertainment system should I go for? Do I need bright xenon headlamps?

One thing I knew I had to have was Seat’s Lumina Orange paint, and a set of lovely 18-inch alloys – in black.

The Jaffa Cake, as it’s become known, certainly turns heads. Kids love it – they reckon all cars should be this colour – and positive comments in the supermarket car park are unusual with a car in any other hue.

And that’s a good thing. Sometimes cars in bright colours get the wrong reaction from other road users; they expect you to be a larger than life character and drive accordingly. But in the handsome Seat Leon, it’s not the case.

But it doesn’t just impress those who look at it. Passengers have been praiseworthy about the interior. Most know Seat is owned by Volkswagen, and several expected it to be a low-rent version of a VW Golf.

Wrong. There’s real flair in the design of the cabin; from the chequered-effect plastics on top of the dash to the comfort offered by the seats. And the quality of the fit and finish is first rate too.

Go-faster

I opted for the FR version of the Leon for several reasons. Firstly it’s the only sporty Leon offered with a diesel engine; and secondly, I’m a sucker for all kinds of go-faster bits.

The standard car comes with a lot of gear. Electric folding mirrors, air-con, sports seats, 17-inch alloys and ESP all come as standard; but I added a few options. The stunning 18-inch “Orion” wheels look great, and as a £500 option are far cheaper than buying an aftermarket set of wheels and tyres.

But specifying the Technology and Convenience Pack was my dearest option. At more than £1,500 it’s a bit of an extravagance, but well worth the money (and adding a couple of pound onto your monthly HP payment shouldn’t break the bank).

It combines sat-nav, Bluetooth, a radio/CD player, USB and auxiliary sockets and a visual display for the front and rear park sensors; themselves worth the asking price alone. The sat-nav hasn’t missed a beat so far, although by only allowing partial postcode entry, some confusion has been caused; and it’s surprising you still need to buy a separate Seat Ipod lead if you want to listen to your music library.

The single-slot CD player offers a choice between listening to an audio CD or following the sat-nav, which requires the disc to be loaded at all times.

The dark, dreary nights recently have been reason enough to justify the £730 xenon headlights. They’re bright, but angle themselves well enough not to irritate other drivers.

Rapid and economical

One of the reasons for choosing a diesel hot hatch was to find out if something could be fast, frugal and easy to live with. And over the past 3,000 miles, it would seem the answer is yes.

It’s certainly fast. It’ll pass 62mph in 8.2 seconds, before hitting 133mph, but feels faster. The real fun is the in-gear acceleration, once the car is rolling, third, fourth and fifth gears provide huge ability to cover ground quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if the FR TDI wasn’t able to keep up with the more powerful Seat Leon Cupra on a winding road thanks to its huge torque figures.

So far I’ve not had many opportunities to put the handling to the test, but there’s lots of feedback through the steering wheel which is nicely weighted once you pass a tiny vague spot around the dead ahead.

On faster bends the car remains stable, particularly at the front, where the additional weight of the diesel engine pushes the wheels onto the road. The suspension is hot hatch firm, but only crashes over the worst of the UK’s potholes. I’m planning a series of motorway runs soon, which will be a good test of the car’s long-distance cruising ability.

It’s proved easy to live with so far. There’s enough space in the front and rear for average-sized adults – a 5’9” passenger can sit behind a similar-sized driver in comfort – and the boot is a good size.

In fact the only real problems have been a fair few stone chips and a very slow puncture in one of the rear Pirelli P Zeros, which will be replaced by next month’s update.