The debut of the Seat Altea was held in the spring of 2004 at the Geneva International Motor Show. In the Volkswagen Group, only one SEAT dared to extraordinary projects. At least, Altea is the brightest novelty in the concern. Seat decided to make a practical kampaktven in sports spirit. The Seat Altea design is a solid emotion — a rounded, but very aggressive silhouette with a smoothly falling line of the rear pillars, large front “headlights-lenses” with round light elements, a pointed hood and a waist line that starts from the front wheel wing, runs smoothly along doors and goes down to the rear wheel.
In order to maintain the overall avant-garde style and the back, the designers tailored the taillights in the shape of a flower, and how original the brushes look, which when idle, hide in special niches on the front struts! They work towards each other, clearing the area of the windshield in the form of a butterfly spread out its wings. The appearance of the car turned out expressive and easily recognizable. One can feel the hand of the great master Walter De Silva in everything, it was he who designed the Seat Altea design. In fact, Altea is a car for active family people who want to get both practical and sporty in one car.
Altea is C-class in size, but it has a one-volume body and most experts attribute it to kompaktvenam. Seat engineers call Altea - MSV (Multi Sports Vehicle). With such a designation, they clearly want to emphasize that, being a monocab, Altea has a sporty character, like the “hot” hatchbacks Ibiza or Leon. The front seats have a good profile and developed lateral support. There are enough adjustment ranges for passengers of any height. In addition, both seats are adjustable in height. The sports steering wheel, trimmed with leather, has an adjustment in two planes. Ergonomics is excellent, everything is at hand, you can reach all the controls without taking your back from the seat.
Interior design harmoniously combines practicality and sporty features. Instruments in the "wells", a tachometer in the place of honor - in the center, red illumination, the front panel is trimmed with textured plastic. The two small handrails located under the center console fit perfectly into the overall entourage of the cockpit.
Rear passengers SEAT Altea will be pleasantly surprised by the spaciousness. The width of the back of the sofa is more than enough for three. The interior of the car provides ample opportunities for the transformation of the cabin. The rear seats not only recline in the proportion of 60:40, but also provide an opportunity to fix the angle of the backrest. Next to the seats there are pockets for small things, and under the passenger seat is a fairly spacious box.
Basic equipment includes: electro-mechanical power steering, ABS, two frontal, side airbags and inflatable curtains - there are six of them, air conditioning, remotely controlled central locking, tinted windows, front electric windows, CD player and six speakers. In addition, elements such as armrests, separately folding rear seat, steering wheel adjustment, driver's seat, etc. in the car already in the standard. In the Sport version, the suspension has other settings, the interior is trimmed to a sporty style, and the steering wheel and gearshift lever are in the leather, from the outside it can be recognized by the cast disks.
In the configuration Stylance wheels already with seven spokes, climate control with separate zones, electrically controlled exterior mirrors, fog lights, trip computer, cruise control. To passive safety on SEAT approached very thoroughly. Altea already in the basic configuration has six airbags, a rigid frame around the cabin and deformable during the impact zone. The front airbags are controlled by advanced electronics, which assess the impact force and only then give the command to activate the protection. It goes without saying here safety belts with pretensioners, adaptation for installation of Isofix child seats, safety steering. The trunk in the car volume of 409 liters.
Here the formation of the luggage space approached thoroughly. Under the shelf, traditional for hatchbacks, placed one more shelf where the tool will easily fit. In which case, you do not need to disassemble the entire trunk. Increase the amount of luggage is possible by opening the flap, folding the rear seat backs and so on to 1320 liters. Altea is equipped with the following engines: a range of petrol engines is represented by 150-hp (110 kV) 2.0 FSi with direct injection and 102-hp (75 kV) 1.6, while a number of diesel engines is represented by 140-hp (103 kV) 2.0 16V TDi and 105-strong (77 kV) 1.9 TDi versions.
Gasoline engines are paired with a 5-step "mechanics", optionally offered 6-speed Tiptronic. The 2.0 liter turbodiesel can be ordered with a 6-speed semi-automatic DSG gearbox. For movement in the urban crush of the 1.6 engine is enough. But for a dynamic ride out of town would be more powerful versions. At low revs, the SEAT Altea 1.6 demonstrates a rather sluggish acceleration, and only when the tachometer needle crosses over 3,000 rpm does the pickup occur.
The five-speed transmission is characterized by clear shifting. In sports, the sharp steering allows you to clearly keep the trajectory and correct it as quickly as possible. The developers were able to find a good compromise between comfort and handling. The tramway pavers and small irregularities are swallowed well, but it’s better to go around the holes.
The high level of comfort did not actually affect the handling. SEAT Altea willingly takes turns with minimal rolls. Very transparent and clear handling. Brakes are effective. Thanks to the informative pedal, dispense effort is no difficulty. De Silva created a magnificent car in a bright, dynamic way, and Seat engineers endowed him with a sporty character and high comfort.
