SEAT Altea
Generations Timeline, Specs and Pictures
At the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, the Spanish car-maker SEAT introduced a facelifted version for its Altea MPV.
But the minivan revolution was over and the car sales dropped.
The SEAT Altea was introduced in 2004 and it was an MPV based on the same platform with its sibling, the SEAT Leon. Its front styling resembled its brother’s front-end, with curved headlights and angular corners. It was a tall car and built for families who enjoyed long journeys. The practicality and the comfort offered by the Altea were its main attributes, along with a fuel-efficient engine range.
The 2009 Altea design was better, with a bigger grille and cornering lights function for the fog-lights. On its sides, the sculptured doors induced a dynamic view of the car, even though it wasn’t that sporty. In the back, the big tailgate opened the access to a big trunk space of 409 liters (14.4 cu-ft), which could have been extended to up to 1481 liters (52.3 cu-ft) with the rear seats folded
Inside, the car featured more storage compartments in the doors, center console, and center stack. The dashboard was curved and tall, with an instrument cluster that featured three individual dials. There were two grab-handles at the base of the center stack that looked unusual for an MPV. The high driving position left big space behind the front seats, leading to loads of legroom and, due to the high roof, the headroom was not a problem even for tall people.
For the drivetrain, the Altea was fitted with a choice of gasoline and diesel engines, mated to 5- or 6-speed manual transmissions, depending on the engine. The car was offered with few options for automatic transmissions, depending on the engine option.
Introduced at the 2006 Paris Motor Show, the Altea Freetrack went through a facelift just three years later.
Volkswagen tried to see if it can create a mix between an SUV and a minivan, but it didn’t want to do that under its badge. So, it turned toward one of its brands, the Spanish SEAT, which built the car. It was based on the same platform as the MPV Altea XL, which featured a long wheel drive. But then, it had some other tricks in its sleeves.
Maybe the exterior design was not the strongest point of the Alteea Freetrack, but it sure impressed with its black plastic bumpers wrapped-around the bodywork. Moreover, SEAT decided to extend the plastic moldings over the wheel arches both front and rear. Suddenly, the black elements didn’t look cheap anymore. They looked to be there with a purpose. The tall MPV with its rounded lines over the bodywork and the silver plastic underbody protection looked like the car could conquer real off-road tracks. Starting with the facelifted version, the Alteea Freetrack featured cornering fog lights.
Inside, due to the higher seating position, all the passengers had plenty of room. While the interior materials were not a top priority for the SEAT, there were more hard plastic surfaces than most of the VW Group cars. But that was not an issue as long as the car offered attractive standard amenities such as the air-conditioning, buttons on the steering wheel, and a good sound system, which could have been enhanced with a DVD-player for the rear seat passengers.
Under the hood, SEAT offered the Altea Freetrack a choice of five engines, and most of them were fitted with all-wheel-drive systems. An automatic (dual-clutch) gearbox was on the options list.
The Altea XL was the extended version of the Spanish MPV Seat Altea, and it was unveiled at the 2006 Paris Motor Show.
Three years later, in 2009, Seat introduced a facelifted version for their 7-seat compact-sized MPV, but the timing couldn’t be worse than that due to the world economic crisis that started in 2008. Seat built the Altea XL on the extended version of the PQ35 platform, shared with many other cars in the Volkswagen group.
Adding 18.7 cm (7.4”) to the wheelbase didn’t destroy the overall design. Au the contrary! Its wave-sculptured body panels seemed smoother and enhanced the look of the vehicle. At the front, it used the same front fascia as the regular Altea, a compact, 5-seat, MPV, and its headlights resembled those installed on the second generation of the Seat Leon. In the back, the facelifted version of the Altea XL featured two big taillights that were extended from the rear quarter panels to the tailgate.
Inside, Seat offered the Altea XL with a 5-seat layout on the base level and up to seven seats as an option or standard for specific trim levels. The CD-radio with Bluetooth connectivity became a standard feature of the car. From the safety point of view, the Altea XL featured standard active headrests for the front seats.
In September 2009, carmakers started introducing the Euro 5 engines, and the Volkswagen group rushed to fill the applications. As a result, the entire engine lineup of the Altea XL was revised and updated. The base version received a 1.2-liter turbocharged engine paired to a 6-speed manual, while the full version received a 170 hp turbodiesel.
The SEAT Altea Freetrack is a special variant of the base Altea model which was introduced by the Spanish car manufacturer in 2007.
The Freeback is larger and longer than the Altea and comes in multiple engine configurations, ranging between 1.4-liter diesel and 2.0-liter TDi. In addition, except the 2.0 TDI two-wheel drive version, all the versions of the car come with a four-wheel drive to improve the performance of the car and the off-road abilities. The Altea Freetrack came with unpainted bumpers and wheel arches for clients that like to drive on unpaved roads and concern about damaging the paint.
The European MPV segment was not completely dead in 2004 when the Seat Altea was introduced to the market.
It offered a lot of room and a proven Volkswagen platform.
The Spanish brand Seat was under the Volkswagen umbrella for a few years already when it was decided to take a “family-approach” with the Altea. It was built on the same basis as the second generation of the Seat Leon, which was a compact hatchback built on the same platform as the Volkswagen Golf.
The front fascia looked like the one found on a Seat Leon, with its trapezoidal small grille and curved headlights. On the sides, the Altea featured a sculptured profile, with a wave-like line across the bodywork from the front to the rear fenders. It wasn’t the usual design for that time. The rear though spoiled most of the car design due to its small, up-mounted, taillights.
Inside, there was room for five adult passengers and a decent trunk compartment. Since the car was built taller than other Seat vehicles, it offered a good headroom. The rear seats were folded to expand the trunk-space.
For the engine compartment, Seat installed most of the engines available for the Leon, both gasoline and diesel units. It featured a wide choice of engines between 1.4-liter and 2.0-liter, with naturally aspirated or turbocharged units. It was mated with either manual or automatic gearboxes.
Even though the MPV segment was almost dead in 2006 in Europe, SEAT tried its luck introducing the Altea XL, a minivan with car-like handling.
As its name suggested, it was the XL version of its smaller sibling, the Altea MPV. SEAT built both vehicles on the same platform as the Volkswagen Golf MKV but with extended overhangs. On top of that, the carmaker developed a taller bodywork, resulting in a roomy interior.
From the front, the Altea XL showed the same front fascia as its Altea sibling. Its SEAT-specific headlights with feline-eye shape followed the new-edge design concept with flowing lines and sharp angles. Walter da Silva sketched the car, and he continued their profile with a waved line sculptured on the door panels. The XL version was 187 mm (7.4”) longer than the Altea.
At the front, the high seating position and the curved dashboard looked like SEAT carried it over from the Leon compact hatchback. Its specific instrument panel layout, with a center-mounted tachometer, was unusual for an MPV. The Altea XL offered room for five, like its smaller sibling, but with a generous trunk space that provided 532 liters (18.8 cu-ft) with all the seats in place and 1,604 liters (56.6 cu-ft) with the rear seats folded. A significant improvement for the car was the sliding rear bench, which allowed more legroom or trunk space, depending on the situation.
There were not too many surprises under the hood as the Altea XL carried over the same drivetrains from its shorter brother, although it was also available with an all-wheel-drive system, which made it better on loose surfaces.