The Seat Altea lasted 12 years, was it that good?

2003 is the year in which Seat entered the MPVqueso no longer eat the bread. The design is certainly something special. This is also apparent when the editor Glazenburg drives the first meters: “In the Spanish seaside resort of Altea (where else?) Before driving, we first had to give away a group of tourists and summon an elderly but very vital man on roller skates behind the crush barriers.” But then the track is finally clear and we must make a positive note about the handling.

‘Of those vans…’

For a first test duel we drive a Ford Focus C-Max to Spain ourselves. Both the Ford and the Seat score with unexpectedly good driving characteristics. “The Spanish BMW driver doesn’t know how he has it. He is being chased by two ‘of those vans’. He even has to let the Altea pass!” We believe that the Ford scores better on a practical level. The Seat is very successful with its finish and driving pleasure. You also get a little more equipment: “That ensures that he has the most trump cards.”

The sporty picture is further colored with the arrival of the FR version. We think this is a successful compromise between fun and practicality. “You can transport wife and children silky smooth. Once you drop them off, you can unleash all your aggression and enthusiasm on the tarmac.” Yet it is not all good news. The diesel is raw. As said: it’s a compromise…

Endurance tester was an Altea 2.0 FSI

It drives an aid convoy to Ukraine, we commute thousands of miles with it, put it through multi-tests, take it to the icy peaks and put it on a 24-hour drive; The Night of Weesp. In short, the Altea is one of the cars that has made it into a real AutoWeek Duration Tester. The ‘our’ is a Ferrari-red 2.0 FSI that can show its skills during 2006 and therefore also entered a comparison test with the Mercedes B-class and the Chrysler PT Cruiser. After that, the Altea career is far from over. The less sporty XL makes its appearance (we will not consider it as a separate type here), just like the roughened Freetrack. The Seat will pass in various tests, the last time in 2010. It will then compete against three smaller B-segmenters. With its price, the Seat is close to the then new Meriva and Opel also claims that its MPV can handle a segment higher. So the old-timer Spaniard joins in again. Make no mistake, the Seat does keep up with the times. The appearance has been slightly facelifted and more importantly: in the front is a downsize power source of a new generation: the 1.4 TSI. And that turbo makes the sporty family carrier even more spicy. “Seat has the driving characteristics well done and the TSI is a very nice engine: smooth and powerful.” The Meriva is the winner, but the Seat is still convincing. The Altea never got a successor, the Ateca took its place. But don’t worry: the car that debuted twenty years ago is still amply represented in the used car range. As a new car, the Altea had a long breath anyway because it was delivered new until 2015. As befits a real top athlete.

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