Seat Altea XL is a star performer

Fuel economy and drivability are the big selling points for the Seat Altea XL

I didn’t really like the Seat Altea XL when I first sat into it because nothing really leapt out at me as being ‘special’ about it.

To be honest it wasn’t until I ventured onto the winding ‘made for one car only’ back roads of Limerick in a pique of annoyance at a traffic jam in Adare that the car really came into its own.

Unfortunately the model I was driving didn’t come with a Sat Nav so while the car got a chance to show me what it was made of, my ‘off-roading’ didn’t really save me very much time.

Design-wise, the car is very pleasant. On the outside, the XL is a large, roomy looking car. Inside, it’s clean and simple, very spacious both back and front with a handy arm rest in the back as well.

Storage is great in this car – it has a massive boot, with a quirky slide-back boot cover. Rear seats can also be folded to give extra boot space.

The Seat Altea XL is a roomy looking car with a clean and simple interior

One thing I didn’t like about it though is the position of the hazard lights button beside the gear box as it was out of your eyeline and hard to find by touch.

Despite being quite low down, the driving position is really nice in this car.

While its roominess is a definite plus for this car, there are two real selling points – its fuel economy and its drivability.

The five gear manual diesel Eco version of the car I was driving has stop/start technology, which I felt was a little slow to restart the car and would work better in an automatic.

There’s also a recommended gear display to help you to save fuel and fuel economy is excellent. I travelled from Dublin to Limerick, Cork, Kerry and back again on a single tank – which I estimate cost in the region of €35 to fill.

Drivability was also excellent. It was very impressive on the windey Munster backroads, confidently gripping the road.

Overall, I found the XL to be a nice spacious economical family car which neither you nor your kids would be embarrassed to be seen in.

The Seat Altea XL is available from €20,430 for a 1.2l petrol engine. The 1.6l diesel engine version I was driving costs from €21,805, to €27,740 for the top of the range vehicle.

Tech Spec
Engine: 1.6 TDI CR
Combined fuel consumption: 4.5l/100km
Annual road tax: €104 (Band A)

Visit Seat.ie or the Seat Ireland Facebook page for further information.

A version of this article first appeared in Metro Herald