Reader Rental Review: Seat Altea XL

This review comes from reader Nicholas Naylor, who rented a Seat Altea XL for a recent trip to Spain.

My wife and I attended a wedding in southern Spain recently, along with another couple who are close friends of ours. We’re all taller than average, and being that we’re attending a wedding, the luggage load was heavy. So my idea of renting something small and Euro chic was out of the question; it had to be a wagon. Enter the Seat Altea XL.

Built off the same platform as the VW Jetta, although with a lesser wheelbase, it’s a tall wagon that manages to be pretty attractive from most angles. It was designed by Walter de’Silva, he of the Alfa 159 and Audi A5. Thus, the lines are clean and the front three-quarters view quite handsome for a wagony-vanish thing. Ours was a base model, however, so the 15″ plastic hubcaps accentuated the sheet metal over the rear of the vehicle, which along with the raked rear end and grey color gave the Altea a slight resemblance from some angles to a bloated whale, or a small Lincoln MKT. Given the vehicle’s purpose, however, I liked the styling, and nicer wheels fix the issue. This was the holy grail of the US-based Euro enthusiast: diesel, stick shift wagon.

The overall size is a few inches short of a Mazda CX-5, so the Altea is Euro-parking friendly. Speaking of parking… due to the lack of parking availability and our downtown apartment location in a major city, we parked illegally every single day, just like the locals do, and jammed the Seat into the tightest of spots. This would be maddening to have to do regularly. We never got a ticket. In fact, I never saw a parking ticket on any car. Isn’t this a country that could use some easy revenue sources?

Despite the relative smallness of the vehicle, this American group fit just fine. Honey-boo shaped Americans would have trouble with the well bolstered front seats…but they supported and coddled my hungover, slightly spasming back on a 2 hour ride to Grenada the day after the wedding. I could definitely live with them.

The configurator at Seat.es notes that the Altea XL 1.6 TDI gets a combined 4.8L per 100km, which equates to about 49mpg. 90hp is what this thing puts out, and it feels like it. 0-100kph (60mph) supposedly comes in 14 seconds. I spun the tires once, entering a freeway from a dead stop, dropping the clutch, while in a puddle. Not having to fill up at any point, I didn’t have an exact fuel economy reference, however, I did go about 500 kilometers of mixed urban and freeway on half a tank of diesel, meaning a 1000km/600mile+ range. So those who look fondly overseas for their frugal commuting utopia must realize that this car will get smoked at a stoplight by a misfiring Chevette. Once finally up to speed, steering, handling, and ride are all quite good. So the car is spacious, yet easy to park in the miserable inner-city European parking spots.

The interior is simply designed, dark (all black with red lighting, like a… Pontiac), with cheap plastics that have a somewhat solid feel and nice textures to them. The main touch points, such as the steering wheel and stick shift, feel like quality pieces. So it seems a good VW recipe—good style, high economy, spacious, practical, and quality on the main touch points. However, the Pontiac similarities keep coming — at 140kph (80mph) the steering wheel started to vibrate, and this car had 46k on the odo (less than 30k miles). Cranking up the defroster to high caused some trim plastic by the vents to come loose and rattle. There were a couple small niggling rattles here and there.

The Altea was basically appointed; with no cruise control, Bluetooth, or USB/Aux input, even. Power windows only up front, roll them down in the rear (ala Ford Tempo). It’s got a diesel and AC; that’s about it. Still…there’s something refreshing about such simplicity. The configurator puts it at 20,423 Euros. That may very well be $26k, however, a Ford Focus starts at $16k in the US, and €16k in Spain, so my guess is that this car could sell for $20k here, given proper effort. Don’t hold your breath.

A few years back I had the pleasure of spending a week in the Balkans (Croatia/Bosnia/Montenegro), where my rental was the ever-popular Skoda Fabia, another VAG sub-brand product. The feel of the car, from design, equipment level, materials quality, etc., was strikingly similar to this Seat. Indeed, Seat and Skoda seem to compete for the same customer, and Skoda seems to be winning the battle, with a better footprint in the healthier markets of Europe, more unique models (such as the Yeti and Rapid), access to important export markets such as India, and a smarter reputation. Thankfully for Seat, the master VAG is strong.

If VW were in the same financial position as Fiat, Opel, or Peugeot, then there is no way the survival of this brand would be justified. Even still, if it is to survive, then it will likely need more compelling and unique product. The Altea, arguably the most unique Seat, and a perfectly fine Euro-wagon, just doesn’t seem to be enough.