Retrospective: Seat Altea - perfect shapes?
What Bulgaria wrote 20 years ag Pivot Swag.
According to Seat, the family cars of the future will look like the futuristic Altea at the front and have a pronounced bang at the back of the body.
The automotive tastes of the modern clientele are constantly changing and create serious problems for designers who have to either (accidentally) create some new stylistic direction for development or (less accidentally) copy something familiar. Judging by the company's latest models, Seat's designers fall into both categories...
Last autumn, the Altea boldly declared a qualitative leap in the design line of the Spanish "daughter" of VW with its futuristic rounded forms, which seem to embody the concentrated power of the new design beginning born under the leadership of Walter de Silva. Contrary to this expressive suggestion, the new Toledo seems to be trying to bring some restraint and, by going back in time, to intrigue more conservative-minded potential customers. The main highlight of the new model's layout is the stepped rear section, which the official press release claims… “redefines the attractive mid-size sedan! with a sporty and elegant character".
The design of the rear is reminiscent of the style of Renault
Quite a twisted explanation... In any case, at least as much as the "add-on" in the rear, extending the body of the Altea by 18 cm and strikingly similar to its Renault Vel Satis counterpart. From this point of view, in no case can it be argued that the Toledo does not look original. On the contrary – the tailgate is so cleverly twisted and curved that it allows a trunk to be formed behind the whimsical curves, which with its 500 liters holds just as much as that of the two-centimeter shorter previous version of the Toledo and is 91 liters more larger than the Altea's boot space.
The Toledo has also inherited from the Altea the clever possibilities for flexible changes in the rear. For example, the asymmetrically divided rear seats can be folded down completely into the floor with just a few movements and without the need to dismantle the headrests.
An easier way than this can hardly be invented... The only problem is the wider part of the rear seat on the left - in countries with right-hand traffic, the rear passenger would certainly prefer it to be on the right, so that he does not have to gets on and off the sail side.
Like the Altea, the Toledo is based on the technical platform of the VW Golf V, distinguished by its front-wheel drive. The choice of engines for the new model includes two petrols (75 kW/102 hp and 110 kW/150 hp) and two diesels (77 kW/105 hp and 103 kW/140 hp) the unit, with the two "weaker" motors being serially combined with five-speed gearboxes, and the two "stronger" ones - with six-speed mechanical transmissions. Optionally, the powerful gasoline engine is also available with a six-speed automatic transmission with Tiptronic manual shift function, and the diesel can even be equipped with the sporty six-speed wonder DSG.
Considering that all the essential technical components and details of the new Spaniard arrive from the warehouses in Wolfsburg, the risk of the Toledo causing unpleasant surprises in terms of road behavior tends to zero. All versions of the model have the ESP electronic stabilization program as standard and guarantee stability and lack of negative emotions even in the limit modes arising from an ambitious driving style.
It is normal, with the current fuel prices, that the interest is directed primarily to the diesel versions, which, however, will be equipped with particulate filters only in the coming year. According to the official statement of Seat, the delay is due to the general policy of the concern in this matter.
At current fuel prices, diesel is the best choice
It's a pity, because the version with a diesel engine and a power of 140 hp. c. delivers incredible pleasure not only because of the relatively low fuel consumption, but above all thanks to the dynamics based on the high torque. Compared to it, the gasoline alternatives in the Toledo are reminiscent of nervous racehorses, in constant need of spurring and high revs, which in turn find their logical consequence in fuel consumption indicators.
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