I'm in Spain and I understand why Seat choose the name of this city for its model. What a beautyfull place.
We are here for the all new Seat Toledo and you might think: "I recognize that car."
No wonder, because earlier, we drove the Skoda Rapid, which is the same car.
It has a different front and back, but in the inside it's completely the same. Only the logos are different.
But it's not the first time Seat plays tricks with the Toledo. That's why I am going to take you on a tour de Toledo in Toledo. I am going to show what kind of cars its predecessors were.
I have found one. A Toledo one. Let's have a look.
Not a very nice car to look at. It was the first car developed under supervision of Volkswagen. It came in 1991 and was based on the Golf Mark2. A very spacious car.
Finding a second Toledo is easy. There are a lot of them still driving. It arrived in 1998 and it's nice compact sedan.
Unbelievable. I expected it to be easier to find Toledo's in Toledo. Now I am looking for the fourth generation.
There's one. The last Toledo.
An Altea with something on its back. The first time I saw the third Toledo I could not believe my eyes.
It was not very succesfull, and when the Altea XL was introduced, the Toledo disappeared.
So now you can see what different kind of cars the former Toledos were. But there is one similarity between all generations. They all offered much value for money. And that sounds a bit like...Skoda.
It's a Seat but that does not mean it's sportier than the Skoda Rapid. Typically middle of the road.
It does not hang much in corners, the steering is a little bit vague and not extremely direct. This car is as predictable as the weather forecast in the Sahara desert.
I drive a 1.6 TDI. Nice engine, mated to a fivespeed manual gearbox with long gears. In the Netherlands it will be available only as E-Ecomotive with a very low CO2-emission. 104 grams per kilometer.
You might think it's a fourdoor sedan but it's a fivedoor liftback. Very spacious in the back, it is situated between an Ibiza and a Leon but offers more space in the backseat than a lot of midsize sedans.
And it offers 550 liters of loading space. Going on a holiday with four persons? You can leave the roofbox at home, because everything fits in this car.
Yes, the latest Toledo is Toledo like the first generation was in 1991.
In between lot has changed at Seat. This is a Skoda, not a Seat.
And when you think a Mii is a VW Up, an Exeo is an old Audi A4 and the Alhambra is a VW Sharan, you might ask: does Seat still have it's own identy?
That's why the Leon must be a typical Spanish Seat with charactre. Otherwise, I fear Seat is losing identy.