SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015) Review

SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015) At A Glance

Roomy cabin with a decent boot. Distinctive styling. Excellent crash test rating.

The ride quality isn't forgiving enough. Overall a Ford C-MAX does it better. Poor treatment of owners over ABS/ESP module failures.

Real MPG average for a SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015)

Real MPG was created following thousands of readers telling us that their cars could not match the official figures.

Real MPG gives real world data from drivers like you to show how much fuel a vehicle really uses.

Diesel or petrol? If you're unsure whether to go for a petrol or diesel (or even an electric model if it's available), then you need our Petrol or Diesel? calculator. It does the maths on petrols, diesels and electric cars to show which is best suited to you.

Satisfaction Index

Reviews for SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015)'s top 3 rivals

Ford C-MAX

Best entry and egress of any car anywhere. Excellent front seat comfort.

Mercedes-Benz B-Class

Raised driving position, lots of interior room, decent diesel engines, good ride quality on smaller wheels.

Volkswagen Golf

Decent fuel economy across the range. Excellent standard and optional equipment including a self-park...

Ask Honest John

Which is the best used family saloon?

"We need to replace our SEAT Altea. We have a £4500 budget and two growing children, but only a small commute. I'm taken with the idea of a Volkswagen Passat, SEAT Exeo, Honda Accord or Toyota Avensis. I know the Avensis is probably the sensible choice, but can't help feeling the driving experience itself may be lacking compared to the others. Also, what's your experience concerning the auto boxes in each? Many thanks."

The Honda Accord and Toyota Avensis are the sensible choices. Both have a good reputation for reliability. The auto box in the Honda isn't particularly refined, but we have received very few complaints in regards to reliability. The Avensis uses a CVT which again is reliable but occasionally noisy under heavy loads. Avoid diesel is your commute is less than 15-miles, a modern diesel engine is not designed for low-mileage runs.

Answered by Dan Powell

What the best car with a big boot for around £6000?

"I'm looking for a medium size hatchback with a big boot, up to seven years old and about £6k. You seem to rate the Civic which would appear to tick all the boxes, but how does the Golf Plus or SEAT Altea compare? Also, would I be better off with petrol? Reliability is important."

The Golf Plus and the Altea are more upright cars with more vertical space but are not as reliable. See http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar. The Civic 1.8 i-VTEC is more reliable than the 2.2 i-CDTI. Both are chain cam engines which saves a £500 timing belt replacement every 4 years.

Answered by Honest John

Replacing a Seat Altea - what would you recommend?

"I need to replace our 2011 Seat Altea 1.4 TSI as it was written off by another driver in an accident. There aren't any petrol Altea for sale in our area so I'm looking for alternatives - what would you recommend used for up to £8.5k? It will be our second car, used mainly for short journeys and needs to be able to accommodate our two young children and a buggy. "

You might find a Renault Scenic 1.4T, Vauxhall Meriva 1.4T. You are thinking sensibly to avoid diesel.

Answered by Honest John

Seat Altea 1.6 cr tdi Ecomotive se 103 bhp

"Hi, Happy Xmas any way, Have put a deposit of £40 on Seat 1.6 Altea that has done 890000 miles at a price of £4,900 not to bad a scuff or two. will give MOT & change oil and filter, came from VW Finance warranty of 3 months/or 3000 miles> Went for this one as has Ecomotive A is it worth getting a AA/RAC or some one do a check? B is it worth putting in a can of something to do good to engine if so what? Any other points please to watch for in time.!!!!! Regards & Thanks "

This EA189 engine will be recalled next year for modifications to the air intake and the software. It needed a new timing belt, tensioner and waterpump and if this has not been done it needs them now (a £500 job). Run it on Shell V-Power Nitro Plus diesel. You don't need anything else.

Answered by Honest John

More Questions

Inside of the SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015)

• Boot space is 409–1320 litres

The body is upright rather than low like a SEAT Leon. So it's a sort of hatchback/MPV cross, in the manner of a Ford C-Max. SEAT optimistically call it a ‘Multi Sports Vehicle', trying to create a niche within a niche. There's bags of room for bags. Storage areas above and below the luggage compartment. Places to put things in the sides of the seats. But no multitude of lidded cubbyholes as in the Renault Scenic. The 60/40 split rear seats slide and fold giving a high but fairly flat luggage area. There is chef's hat headroom.

You have an excellent view forwards but, like the VW Touran, two severe blind spots at the base of the front screen pillars. SEAT has tried to reduce these by fitting fairly small elliptical door mirrors, however you have to do a double-take to be sure when emerging from side roads.

Child seats that fit a SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015)

Our unique Car Seat Chooser shows you which child car seats will fit this car and which seat positions that they will fit, so that you don't have to check every car seat manufacturer's website for compatibility.

Which car seat will suit you?

Driving SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015)

• Engines range from 1.2 TSI to 2.0 TSI FR
• Readers report Real MPG to be between 28–59 mpg

I worked out a useful little route from The Grove Hotel to Grove Lock on the Herts/Beds border via Ivinghoe, along undulating roads that are an excellent test of any car's suspension system. (I believe you can also get from Grove to Grove more slowly and smoothly by canal.)

But first I had a good look over the car. It's certainly different, designed by the same Walter d'Silva, who created the timeless beauty of the Alfa 156. The sculpted oriental headlights are very nice. There's a look to the car unlike anything else in the VAG stable, or anything else for that matter. Clever touches abound, like clap-hands wipers which park themselves vertically, tucked inside the A pillars, ensuring the sides of the screen are properly wiped and a completely uncluttered forward view. Like the Grove hotel, the art of the Altea is readily appreciated.

Engines in the cars on test were VAG's 140PS 2.0 16v TDI coupled to a six-speed box, VAG's 105PS 1.9 TDI with a five-speed box, and VAG's 102PS 1.6 16v petrol also with five-speeds to help it along. MPH per 1,000 rpm in top corresponded to roughly 32.5, 30 and 20 respectively.

First, the 140PS TDI Sport, which came with body-hugging seats you have to get into rather than slide onto and, while these hold you in place very well, they mitigate against one advantage of tall cars which is ease of entry and exit for the elderly.

Unlike the progressive feel of the 2.0 TDI and 6-speeder in the A3 and Golf V, this one tends to lunge in second. And it's all too easy to clumsily bang in the clutch at the peak of the all or nothing torque curve leaving rubber all over the road when pulling into a traffic stream. But it certainly picks up speed very rapidly and is never embarrassed by lack of power.

To keep the show on the road, SEAT has fitted fairly stiff suspension and the downside is ride quality which I'd be generous to describe as "below average". It doesn't jar sharply, but you feel you're being bounced up and down like a basketball. It hangs on well through corners for a tall car though the rubbery way it does this is neither precise nor pleasant. It does the job, yet isn't inspiring like a Leon 20VT.

Probably better to save between £1,650 and £2,700 by going for the more basic 1.9 TDI 105 Reference model. You don't get alloy wheels or wraparound seats, or six speeds or 35 extra PS. But you do get flatter, more accessible chairs and a slightly softer ride without sacrificing too much performance punch or handling. So you can still find yourself scuttling round bends far more quickly than you're used to from the height you are sitting.

Lastly, the least expensive Altea: the 1.6 102PS petrol powered Reference model. This is much smoother and more linear to drive than the diesels without any sudden peaks to its power. But it's so low geared that to make the same sort of progress you have to rev the nuts off the thing.

So what's the verdict?

Buy an Altea and you will certainly be making a style statement. It's reasonably practical, too. But it doesn't do anything that the Ford Focus C-Max doesn't do considerably better. And, sorry SEAT, I have to say I don't expect its list prices to hold up for long. After all, with Citroen Picasso 1.6s starting at well under £10,000 in the real world, and Focus C-Max 1.6s at under £11,000, you'd need a lot of spare cash to fork out a mimimum £12,800 for the sake of driving a work of art.

SEAT Altea (2004 – 2015) Models and Specs

On sale until May 2017

On sale until October 2015

On sale until November 2013

On sale until June 2013

On sale until December 2012

On sale until November 2010

On sale until March 2010

On sale until May 2009

On sale until June 2007

On sale until May 2007

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What to watch out for

Model History

• January 0001
• September 2009
• November 2013
• August 2014