SEAT Leon X-Perience is a high-riding Leon ST Crossover

The SEAT Leon X-Perience has been revealed as an ‘Allroad’ version of the Leon ST with raised ride height, plastic cladding and four-wheel-drive.

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SEAT seems to be launching the Leon X-Perience as a precursor to the arrival of a proper SEAT SUV in a year or two to get buyers used to the idea that SEAT can produce butch crossovers.

That said, the SEAT Leon X-Perience is a valid standalone model – much in the mould of cars like Audi’s Allroad, the Citroen C5 CrossTourer and VW Passat Alltrack – as a butched-up estate car with some off-road pretensions and better equipped to deal with the urban jungle too.

That means new bumpers front and back, skid plates to intimate an ability to cope with rough terrain, some additional plastic cladding on the wheel arches and sills for damage limitations and a ride height increased by 15mm for easier negotiation of obstacles.

Engine options are set to be a 178bhp 1.8 litre petrol, 108bhp 1.6 litre diesel and a 2.0 litre diesel with either 148bhp or 181bhp all with a standard six-speed manual ‘box or optional six-speed dual-clutch automatic, both with stop-start and brake energy recuperation.

All X-Perience models will come with four-wheel-drive using a Haldex multi-plate clutch  with diff lock systems and tweaking of the ESC to suit rougher terrain.

Specifications for the X-Perience are expected to be comprehensive – including orange detailing for the interior – and will arrive in SEAT showrooms in October ahead of first customer cars in January 2015. SEAT will reveal prices for the Leon X-Perience closer to launch.