Sean O'Grady
Seat Altea XL Specifications
Price:
£14 995 (about R211 000).
Engine:
1.9-litre turbodiesel with 77kW at 4000rpm; two-litre diesel and 1.6, 1.8 and two-litre petrol available.
Transmission:
Six-speed manual gearbox.
Performance:
200km/h top speed; 0-100km/h in 9.9sec.
What is a Seat Altea XL? The short answer is that it's an extra-long people carrier, the sort of car that will comfortably carry five people and their luggage.
It's good news, because most five-seater people carriers don't have enough room for five people's luggage - or they do have enough room for five people's luggage but only for two or three people, if you follow my drift.
This is a problem in the whole people-carrier/multi-purpose vehicle concept that surprisingly few people seem to have noticed. Very possibly, I imagine, this is because the vehicles are very rarely used to carry lots of people and their luggage around.
They are, often enough, a "lifestyle statement " and not half as roomy, flexible or useful as their owners imagine them to be. They are usually disappointing to drive, but that is supposed to be beside the point (though I don't see why).
The Seat Altea XL is the antidote to this basic design flaw achieved by the simple expedient of making their existing Altea hatch some 187mm longer. (The Altea is itself a stretched and heightened version of the Seat Leon, but that's another story.)
The XL's space dividend can be taken either as extra legroom in the rear or as more boot space, depending on the nature of your familial expedition. Adjustment is easy, courtesy of a sliding rear bench.
In all, you get some 532 litres of boot space, against the 409 litres of the standard Altea. This increases to 635 litres with the rear seats pushed forwards, and to 1604 with the rear seats folded flat (though not flat into the floor, like the very best designs in the class, such as the seven-seater Ford S-Max.
In fact, you could just buy an S-Max and leave the rear seats unused as an alternative to the Altea XL and, indeed, most other five-seater MPVs).
Like the Altea, it is also quite a tall design, which is always helpful if some of your extended family have mobility problems. There are all the usual MPV storage cubby-holes around the cabin and fold-up tables in the seats, and you get an iPod connection too.
The only dodgy bit of the interior is the plastic panel on which the cheap but effective Tom Tom satnav is mounted. Apart from that, it's the usual VW job - solid and high quality.
'Auto emocion'
So the car works, and quite stylishly too. VW wants to position Seat as a brand that is sporting and exciting-looking - hence the "auto emocion" tagline on its advertising. I think it deserves to succeed in this.
After all, so many MPVs are crushingly dull-looking and completely lacking in character, that it's refreshing to find a manufacturer willing to offer something distinctive and dynamic-looking in what is basically a market dominated by utilitarian considerations.
VW's Touran and Ford's C-Max, for example, are two of the most boring-looking cars on sale now, relegating the car to the status of an appliance, devoid of personality or emotional appeal. At least Seat has tried.
There are limits, though, because whatever the Altea XL is - MPV-plus, estate/people carrier cross, a niche within a niche - it is not sporting. I enjoyed hassling the 1.9-litre diesel version of the Altea XL along country roads in Northamptonshire, but only in the way cruel schoolchildren enjoy watching their most overweight and unfit compatriots being forced on to a cross-country run by sadistic teachers (and yes, I was one of those kids).
The XL is pretty roly-poly, as it happens, and it evidently doesn't enjoy that sort of aggressive treatment. Go for the Opel Zafira VXR if you want that sort of fun.
Determined plodder
Maybe the extra rear space and weight don't help things. It's not that it's a great problem with the Seat Altea XL, but it just seems odd that a brand that emphasises sportiness and passion as selling points has in its range such a determinedly plodding machine.
On the other hand, the supposedly plodding value-for-money Skoda brand has some cracking sporting saloons and estates in the showrooms. So the confused brand values are not confined to this branch of the VW empire.
Still, that's all for the VW and Seat marketeers to sort out. People I mention Seat to are quite receptive to it, and the younger they are, the more well-disposed to the marque they seem to be.
They know that solid VW mechanicals lie underneath those Latin looks, and they know that, along with Skoda, Seat is more of a value-for-money brand.
Thus there's nothing to be ashamed of in being seen in a Seat. If the company works at it, it might even succeed in becoming one of those " I'm an individual" makes - like Saab - that appeal to a loyal cadre of enthusiasts.
It's possible. Seat as a brand doesn't come with much baggage - unlike, no doubt, most Altea XL drivers. - The Independent, London
The rivals
Renault Scenic 1.9 CDI
£17 915 (SA price R213 000)
The original compact people carrier. Stylish and refined but pricier and less spacious than the new Seat. Longer Grand Scenic version seats seven.
Opel Signum 1.9 CDTi Elegant
£20 685 (R291 000)
Prices quite a bit higher than the Seat's, but real-world deals bring it much more into range. Unfairly ignored MPV/estate based on the Vectra.
Skoda Octavia Estate 1.9 TDI
£14 305 (R201 000)
Similar VW Group mechanicals to the Seat, and arguably just as much useful space, but laid out in a rather more traditional fashion. Good value.
- It would seem Seat SA can't make up its corporate mind about this one. On August 22, 2006 it was merely "looking at" the Altea XL for local release - but the following day it sent out a general news release saying it would be here early in 2007.
As of January 24, 2007, it says it has no plans to release the Altea XL in South Africa.
We'll keep you posted...