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SEAT Toledo (1999 - 2004) (Classics Reviews)
Sure, it could've done with being a bit lower (a fact prevented by a tall ride caused by a tall engine) but it quick the quicker rack from the sportier Leon and uprated brakes. Seat actually put the 1.8-litre turbo into the British Touring Car Championship with Jason Plato at the wheel, which was about as good as it got for the Toledo. By the mid-2000s, the VW Group had talked itself into a problem with SEAT - the whole sporty brand wasn't working out (more inside the company than outside), sales were slow, and Seat was shunted into some weird family car crossover hell, which only made sales slower. -
SEAT Arosa (1997 - 2005) (Classics Reviews)
When the time came to replace the Seat Marbella, parent firm Volkswagen had a pretty clear idea about what kind of car Seat’s super compact city car should be. Out went the Panda-based Marbs, and in came a badge-engineered version of the Volkswagen Lupo. -
SEAT Toledo (1991 - 1999) (Classics Reviews)
The Mk1 Toledo was the first Seat vehicle developed entirely under the Volkswagen Group. Based on the Mk2 Volkswagen Golf platform, it was actually larger than the equivalent Jetta with a 550-litre boot (complete with tailgate). Available in the UK from 1991, it was initally only availble with petrol engines, although Volkswagen's class-leading diesels were available towards the ends of the 1990s. -
SEAT Marbella (1986 - 1998) (Classics Reviews)
The SEAT Marbella was little more than a facelifted Fiat Panda. The Spanish company built its own version of the small Fiat at its ex-Authi factory in Pamplona, between 1980 and '86 - but following the separation of the two companies, SEAT found itself with the need to built its own cars, sufficiently different from those of its former Italian bedmate. -
SEAT Ibiza (1985 - 1993) (Classics Reviews)
The SEAT Ibiza wasn't the first car designed by in-house, but it was a ground-breaker for SEAT by being the first to start with a clean sheet of paper following its independence from Fiat. Whereas the Sport used Fiat underpinnings and drivetrain, the Ibiza shared very little with what went before - the floorpan was a highly modified version of the Ronda's (nee Fiat Strada), but the engine was all new, developed in parallel with Porsche. -
SEAT 133 (1974 - 1980) (Classics Reviews)
The SEAT 133 was possibly one of the most pointless cars sold by Fiat dealers in the UK during the 1970s. It was a confusing product, too, because it was a strange mixture of old and new - the floorpan, engine and gearbox were taken from the SEAT 850, but the body styling was all-new, and looked like a cross between the Fiat 126 and 127. -
SEAT 600 (1957 - 1973) (Classics Reviews)
Powered by a rear-mounted 633cc engine, the first cars were imported from Italy (as part of a joint venture), but within months a new factory in Barcelona was mass-producing them in large quantities. During its 16-year production run, more than 800,000 examples of the Seat 600 were built. -
SEAT 1200 and 1430 Sport (1975 - 1980) (Classics Reviews)
There’s no doubting the Seat 1200 Sport’s good looks, but its creation was a hard-nosed business one. The Spanish carmaker concluded that it wasn’t going to licence-build the Fiat 128 3P, and decided to build its own, based on the locally-built SEAT 124 instead.It was SEAT's first home-developed car, even if it did use Fiat underpinnings and drivertrain and combined them with the body of the NSU Nergal concept car, dating back to 1970.