Seat Toledo 2.0TDI - Diesel Road Tests

Seat Toledo 2.0TDI

The name is familiar enough but the new SEAT Toledo really bears no resemblance to its predecessor - because it's really just a larger version of the existing Altea hatchback.

Yes, if Ford welded 20cms more metal onto the back of the new Focus and suddenly announced the new Mondeo you might understand the point even better.

While branding the latest Toledo a saloon, the car is actually a hatchback and even comes with five doors and a rear wiper to prove the point.

You can understand SEAT for doing this. Traditional saloon cars are yesterday's news and, across Europe, drivers are abandoning them wholesale in favour of SUVs, MPV and all manner of hybrids. Given the approving noises being made about the Altea, it makes lots of sense for the Volkswagen Group to save cash on R&D and simply adapt SEAT's smaller car.

While the Altea has a certain homogenous and balanced appeal, the Toledo, doesn't. Ex-Alfa designer Walter de-Silva's flair for curves is spoilt by the afterthought glued on the back. It looks like a catwalk model slogging a hod of bricks.

Inside, things are much better. There are loads of places to stash oddments and it feels spacious and solidly put together. Space itself is not great in the back - thanks to the way they're moulded, you get two and half seats, so avoid the middle position. Still, unlike the back-seat amenities found in Peugeot's new 407, you will, at least, not be punished for having long legs.

Like the Altea, the rear seats fold with a neatly pivoting all-in-one action, the base bits dropping down and the backs tumbling over them. But they don't lie dead flat and the rear hatch sill stands a bit proud of the load floor - a gaffe if ever there was one.

Two diesel versions will be available - VW's salt-of-the-earth 105bhp 1.9 TDI and the far more peppery 2.0Tdi, with 138bhp and, as tested here, optional auto DSG direct shift gearing.

It was competent enough, but about as spot-on at fulfilling SEAT's 'sporty' image. It feels a touch under-powered unless you thrash it, the only compensation being that it's less disappointing than its 2.0 petrol counterpart.