AFTER some time in the automotive wilderness, estate cars are now big business.
Far from being the utilitarian, van-with-windows poor relation of their swankier hatchback and saloon siblings, the 2015 estate car has been recast as a sleek, bang on-trend, lifestyle wagon.
The brochures show healthy-looking families taking to the great outdoors, pulling mountain bikes from the luxuriously carpeted boots of their shiny new estate car or lashing surfboards to its roof. And have you seen how much space children's pushchairs and bikes take up these days?
In keeping with their lifestyle aspirations, few companies are brave enough to actually call these cars 'estates' - thus, the slew of Avants, Sportswagons, Tourers, Tourings, SWs and STs.
A Nissan Qashqai-style crossover or a good SUV will do a similar job, of course, but there are obviously enough people for whom only an estate car will do to make it worth the manufacturers' while to pour money into reworking their humble hatchbacks; in my experience, a lot of these punters tend to be men - fathers, specifically - of a, shall we say, certain age...
Two estate car sub-genres are guaranteed to raise the pulse rate of a middle aged man even further: those fitted with running spikes, like Volkswagen's hot Golf R estate; and those wearing hiking boots, exemplified by Audi's A4 and A6 Allroad models.
As we have previously reported in Drive, Seat's Leon estate - which it calls ST - is one of the very best on sale today.
Good to drive, value for money, comfortable, stylish, well built and with acres of stowage space, the Leon ST should be on the shortlist of anyone looking for an estate car.
Seat has now made the ST even more desirable, adding to the top of the range a high performance Cupra variant and an Audi Allroad-style four-wheel-drive 'soft-roader' which it brands X-Perience.
Despite being lumbered with an unpromising name - Seat would prefer this to be styled in block capitals, but we don't do that sort of thing in the Irish News... - the X-Perience is a rather fine effort.
It follows to perfection the template defined by Audi, one of its many Volkswagen Group stablemates, with its Allroad models. That means four-wheel-drive, raised ride height, and lots of strategically-placed chunky trim, such as wheelarch extensions and skidplates.
It certainly looks the part, adding a dose of butch to the ST's svelte lines, as if the standard car has been working out a lot. The so-called 'adventure brown' paintwork of the test car drew harsh criticism from the car park experts, however, mostly along the lines of 'Who wants to drive a brown car?'; other colours are available...
Inside, the X-Perience also gets an upgrade, with the test car's Alcantara-trimmed seats, resplendent with orange stitching, proving particularly satisfying.
Otherwise, it is pretty much standard Leon ST fare - which, as already mentioned, is no bad thing.
Boot volume remains a healthy 587 litres, expanding into a 1,470 litres cavern when the seats are dropped - figures which mean it is among the largest in its class, bested by the likes of its in-house rivals the Volkswagen Golf and Skoda Octavia. The seats fold flat at the tug of a lever, which is handy.
On the road, the 28mm raise in the suspension doesn't negatively affect the Leon's handling or ride comfort, and the 2.0-litre diesel and six-speed manual gearbox combination goes about its business in an acceptably fuss-free and accomplished manner.
The X-Perience comes loaded with equipment - DAB radio, Bluetooth, alloy wheels, roof rails and climate control is standard, while stepping up to SE Technology buys an upgraded media system, LED headlamps and sports seats.
The heavily tinted rear windows get a thick black mark, though - my son and his back seat co-conspirators reckoned it made the X-Perience a "dark" car to travel in, a state of affairs amplified by an interior colour scheme which majors on blacks, greys and browns.
The 2.0-litre diesel is the only engine available, and served up in two states of tune - 148bhp and 182bhp. A manual gearbox is only available with the 148bhp unit, and a double-clutch automatic is the only choice with the more powerful engine.
The four-wheel-drive system is off the sort that generally sends torque to the front wheels, but sends it to the rear as required.
Don't expect a low-ratio gearbox or gadgets such as hill descent control or locking differentials - as is the way with its ilk, the X-Perience isn't a full-fat off-roader - but the Seat will likely be more than up to the demands placed upon it by the target audience.
Compared to its rivals, the X-Perience even looks like reasonable value for this sort of vehicle. Prices start at just under £25,000, with the SE Technology model tested the £27k sweet spot of the range. However, the 182bhp model with the automatic gearbox is within touching distance of £30,000, at which point the value-for-money case looks less secure.
If an Audi A4 Allroad is a financial step too far, the X-Perience's key competitors include the Volkswagen Golf Alltrack and Skoda Octavia Scout, while for 4x4 authenticity Subaru's Outback and new Levorg are strong contenders.
All this choice is, of course, good news for dads, with the Seat Leon X-Perience giving families another excuse to pursue an active lifestyle.
