SEAT Altea

Overall Average Rating - 86.17%
Position in the Top 100 cars - 36th

A new entry for the 2009 survey is SEAT’s Altea. The sporty, compact people carrier has unique appeal, but is it meeting your expectations?

One thing drivers aren’t happy with is the rock-hard ride quality – at least comfortable seats offer some compensation. Other ratings reflect the Altea’s reasonably good Driver Power position.

WINNER OF CLASS - MPV

Here is SEAT’s first-ever Driver Power champ: the Altea has more than lived up to owners’ expectations. Second and third are occupied by two models that have been named Best MPV in the Auto Express New Car Honours: the 2007 winner was Citroen’s C4 Picasso, while in 2008 it was Ford’s S-MAX. Want a smaller package than the latter? That’s where the Focus-based C-MAX comes in. However,don’t be fooled by the presence of the blue oval’s compact MPV and Renault’s Scenic/Grand Scenic in the top five: there are only five people carriers in total in the Top 100, so the 85th-placed Ford and 91st-position Renault qualify by default.

Ratings

Position in the Top 100 cars
Reliability: 44th
Build Quality: 67th
Running Costs: 44th
Performance: 36th
Braking: 35th
Ride Quality: 77th
Handling: 38th
Practicality: 46th
Comfort: 24th
Ease of Driving: 40th

Manufacturer Verdict (Position - 22nd)

Sporty image helps and hinders SEAT. It leads to decent results for driver appeal, but the trade-off is a poor ranking for ride quality. It was 33rd out of 35 in the latter, so owners want more focus on comfort.