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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2001. - 2005.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2000. - 2005.
C - Small family car
hatchback, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4377 mm
1696 mm
1386 mm
370 liters
720 liters
55 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4184 mm
1742 mm
1457 mm
340 liters
340 liters
55 liters
2001 MG ZS
2000 Seat Leon

Engine

Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1796 cc
117 hp
160 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Audi / Volkswagen
1.8 5V
Petrol
4 - Inline, 5 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1781 cc
125 hp
173 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1130 kg
9.7 s
197 km/h
9.7 l/100km
5.8 l/100km
7.3 l/100km
174 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1221 kg
10.3 s
200 km/h
11.8 l/100km
6.4 l/100km
8.4 l/100km
190 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

cvt - 1 gears
1130 kg
9.9 s
185 km/h
11.9 l/100km
6.5 l/100km
8.5 l/100km
174 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
automatic - 4 gears
1234 kg
12.5 s
197 km/h
13.4 l/100km
6.9 l/100km
9.3 l/100km
220 g/km

Expenses

1250 EUR
Price from
1200 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the small family car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Rover-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 117hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 20-valves 125hp engine designed by Audi.

Safety

Unfortunatelly, neither of the two vehicles was submitted to the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) testing. This makes it virtually impossible for me to pick one over the other and I'm generally against buying such cars as the safety should really always come first. Still, apart from the official crash test results there are other things we need to be aware of. Both vehicles belong to the small family car segment, which is generally classifying them somewhere in the middle safety-wise, but it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two. On the other hand, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the Spanish car offers a marginal difference of 8% more metal.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Seat does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of MG with an average rating of , and models under the Seat badge with 4.4 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the British car rank it on average as 4.6, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.8 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

MG is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.6 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 197 kilometers per hour, 3km/h less than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the British car, averaging around 7.3 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (39 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 15% difference compared to the Spanish car.


Verdict

Seat appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Spanish car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. From there things take a different direction, with MG offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! I believe that, when we take all into account, we have only one winner here - the MG. Nevertheless, let's not forget that people have different preferences and needs, so what really counts is your personal feel. I'm only here to help. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.

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