Seat newborn conservative but classy

FIRST DRIVE SEAT TOLEDO:FOR YEARS SEAT has had to make do with hand-me-downs from within the VW Group. Take the Seat Exeo: it’s effectively an old Audi A4. But times are changing for the loss-making brand, with a new product line-up on the way that promises to bestow a new identity.

Having a range of new cars is certainly a progressive step, but these need to be backed up with investment to increase brand awareness among consumers. Seat Ireland has promised to spend €20 million doing just that over the next five years.

Seat has publicly laid out its ambitions in Ireland: a 3.5 per cent market share by the end of 2013, to grow to 4 per cent by 2016. That might seem pretty paltry considering the sales held by its sister brands in the VW Group, such as Volkswagen and Skoda, but you have to remember it’s starting from a low base of 1.8 per cent.

First up in the range may have been the little Mii city car, but it’s really only a Seat take on the VW Up! The new look for the brand really comes with this fourth-generation Toledo, due to go on sale at the end of November. From launch there will be two petrol and one diesel version on offer, with prices starting at €17,995.

The petrol model line-up consists of a 1.2-litre TSI with two power outputs, 85hp and 105hp, with the former seated in tax band A, while the 105hp model is in tax band B.

These two models will only contribute to about 10 per cent of total sales with the diesel-powered variants becoming the key sellers. Initially the volume-seller will be the 105hp 1.6-litre TDI variant, with a 90hp version arriving in June 2013. Both diesel-powered Toledos fall into the lowest tax bands.

For a new look model designed to revitalise the brand, the styling of the new Toledo is conservative. Unless you drive around in a bright fluorescent one I doubt many will detect you’re in a new model, apart from seeing the date on the registration plate.

But its interior is a key ingredient that differentiates it from its closest competitors, which include, yet again, a sibling from the VW ranks in the form of the new Skoda Rapid.

It has a higher-class feel inside, with a subtle mix of plastics and chrome. As such it’s a more upmarket environment to be seated in than its competitors, including the Renault Fluence, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus, with the latter coming closest in terms of refinement.