First drive: the new Seat Toledo

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward

Wow, this looks interesting...

We hope you're being sarcastic. This is the new Seat Toledo, and interesting isn't a word we'd use to describe it. It's a stretched version of the Ibiza and has been designed to fit into the Seat range between the Ibiza and Leon. It's also very heavily based on the Skoda Rapid. And when we say ‘heavily', we mean identical - the two cars are the same underneath.

So what does it have going for it?

Price. And space. The range starts from about £12,500 and tops out at £17,840, but for this you get an enormous amount of room inside. The wheelbase is longer than most cars from the class above - things like the Skoda Octavia - so rear legroom is very impressive. And the boot is huge as well. At 550 litres, it's got more capacity than a Mazda6.

Is that all the good stuff?

Not quite. The engines are borrowed from other parts of the VW Group, and they're impressive. There are two petrols and one diesel, and the ones we drove (1.2-litre TSI and 1.6 TDI) were refined and just about quick enough. Certainly nothing scorching - both produce 104bhp - but they've got enough punch so that motorway work isn't strenous. Coupled with a comfy ride, it's an easy car to relax in.

That's all sounding positive...

Yes, but the Seat is missing any sort of clever touches. There is simply no reason to go out and buy this Toledo over any other rival out there - it doesn't have an amazing warranty, or outstanding driving dynamics, or a brilliantly clever interior. It feels like a car which has been built to a budget, with no effort to try and distinguish it from other offerings. It's cheap, but then so are other cars.

Piers Ward