Car reviews

Introduction

The new generation of Toledo hatchback moved away from its roots by quite a distance. The original Toledo is a ligtback sedan with quite a conventional appearance. In less than seven years, the recognisable format was transformed into something that you cannot really classify, however, SEAT’s new-found young and hip target audience seemed to take to the car with a great deal of enthusiasm.

Exterior & Interior

This car, as many others in the current SEAT range, has been designed by the famous Walter de’Silva. If he wasn’t restricted by the conventional design standards, his cars would have no smooth surfaces at all as he loved the rounded surfaces and shapes.

The car’s appearance and layout is mind-boggling. It comes with pretence to being a mini MPV, but considering the seating arrangement, it isn’t one. Although the ceiling and the door rim are higher than in a normal sedan, the laid-back seating position and the conventionally positioned steering column suggests that it is after all a 5-seater sedan, no matter what it tries to look like.

And theoretically it can be called a sedan because of the short yet still visible ’3rd box’ at the back. The backside of the car is executed in a manner resembling the mid-90s experiments with Renault Vel-Satis and the Megane, only the SEAT’s version is not as radical. If anything, the abrupt and bulky rear fits the general message of the car.

The Toledo is built on the common Volkswagen platform that is used by Golf, Touran, SEAT Leon and Audi A3. Its interior is modern, but slightly cheaper than in similarly positioned VW or Audi cars. The flashy central column boasting a large LCD screen and a hoard of buttons and controls does catch the eye, but you cannot be sure that it’s for all the right reasons. It somehow resembles a 90s home audio system that has been shrunk and fitted into a car.

Drive

It is a cool car. It looks good and thanks to the superb suspension it is great to drive. If you want its sporty image to flourish, choose one of the manual gearbox options. The auto gearbox is old-fashioned, it takes extra time to ’think’ about the next switch and it will eat up an unreasonable amount of fuel. The Toledo handles particularly well, the steering system is responsive (although the steering wheel has a rather small diameter) and the high-performance brake assembly borrowed from the Golf, makes this car a joy to ride.

Driving a Toledo you will come to appreciate the generous size of the cabin. Although its wheelbase is quite short, mainly thanks to the cabin height, it seats 5 adults with comfort and ease.

Faults & Repairs

The 3rd generation Toledo is much more reliable than the first two. The good news is that you won’t have to spend a fortune on keeping this car. The older Toledos are sometimes plagued by small electrical faults; although there have been reports on faulty power steering mechanisms, it is rare and will not often occur.