Seat’s faux 4×4 (2007)

Updated: 26 January 2015

A Seat off-roader… is there no stopping the 4×4 trend?

It seems not. Seat has sold all-wheel drive models on the Continent before, but they’ve never made it to the UK. Next month we’ll see the Spanish firm’s vision of a crossover, based on the super-sized Altea, the XL. Word is, it’ll get the full gamut of crossover styling tweaks; expect little innovation, just a pumped-up ride height, body cladding, under-body protection and the VW group’s Haldex part-time four-wheel drive system. So, no, this won’t be a proper SUV to take you across a bog, but it should be fine for occasional excursions off the bitumen. It’s interesting that Seat has chosen the Altea XL for this crossover treatment; this is the car that has confused many obsevers – many of whom were already confused by the similarity between the Leon, Altea and Toledo. The XL adds a slight increase in length for a bigger boot capacity.

By Tim Pollard

Group digital editorial director, car news magnet, crafter of words

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