At first glance, the new Seat Toledo looks very like the brand's other recent car, the Altea small MPV. All styling elements of the latter car are there, many evolved from the original Salsa concept.
The shared cues include what Seat calls its "dynamic line", from forward of the front wheel arch to the rear arch. The teardrop lights have the same look, while the wipers parked in the A pillars are another Altea "signature".
But the Toledo is a full medium family car, with the comforts and the spaciousness of that segment. It breaks from the outgoing model in its monospace design and will likely win friends because it's significantly roomier.
It also has a rear door with a vestigial saloon "bustle" rather like Renault's Vel Satis, which gives a strong style focus from the rear.
Seat's people call it "a new saloon concept", but it's really a hatchback, as was the first Toledo launched some 13 years ago.
Certainly the Toledo and the smaller Altea are out front in the flair stakes. There's no denying the attractiveness of the new car.
It's well equipped. All Toledos come with six airbags, ABS and a traction control system, as well as brake assist. Isofix fittings in the rear seats, pre-tensioners in the front seatbelt systems, and what the company calls its Agile Chassis complete the major part of the safety systems. Other safety elements include a collapsing pedal setup and a footrest that is claimed to actively cut down on ankle injuries in a crash.
Pedestrian safety includes a bonnet with enough space between it and the engine to allow significant impact-absorbing deformation. Parking the windscreen wipers in the A-pillars is also for pedestrian protection - the scuttle line where they are usually parked is where most pedestrians hit by a car end up. The designers have also incorporated a "soft" material where knees and shins usually impact.
The Toledo engine range is similar to the Altea - a pair of petrols and a brace of diesels. Most powerful is a 150bhp 2-litre direct injection petrol engine, followed by a 140bhp 2-litre TDI, then a 109bhp 1.9-litre diesel. Least punchy of the range is a 1.2bhp 1.6-litre petrol.
The 2-litre models come as standard with a six-speed manual gearbox, the FSI petrol one also having available a six-speed Tiptronic sequential box. The TDI can be had with the excellent dual-clutch automated manual DSG unit. The smaller engines have five-speed cog sets.
The 2-litre petrol can bring the Toledo to 100 km/h in a decent 9.7 seconds, while the 1.6-litre takes a more leisurely 12.9. The 2-litre TDI is only marginally slower in the sprint than its petrol cousin, at 10 seconds. But it really scores in the 80-120 km/h band, handsomely outperforming the FSI.
Toledo comes with Bluetooth communications technology. This connects with any Bluetooth-enabled phone to make it as automatic as any hands-free system, and Seat has incorporated controls in the steering wheel to allow answering and ending calls. Voice-actuation can also initiate calls.
In the current negotiations position for Irish specifications, there "may be" air-conditioning in the entry-level car. Pricing is not yet decided for this country, but in Spain the Toledo will be "around a thousand euros" more expensive than the Altea. The difference will probably be a fair bit more here.
With the same engine range as Altea, albeit in a larger car, Toledo may be too close to its companion in many respects. If it comes to a choice in the Irish showroom, many will plump for saving the euro difference and scrimping on the rear knee-room.
Also, the entry-level 1.6-litre runs out of puff early on in the acceleration game. What is actually needed, if this car is to successfully straddle the small family and middle executive segments as hoped, is a 1.8-litre petrol engine with, say, around 120bhp.
VW Group doesn't have an engine like that. In Ireland, where the VRT steps up costs significantly at the 1.9-litre point, this is a serious difficulty.