New Seat Toledo on the way
By Padraic Deane
The new Toledo is coming. It is described by Seat as a saloon with a dynamic modern design, driven by highly-efficient engines, with outstanding practicality and excellent workmanship.
Seat says that the new generation Toledo offers generous space, a high degree of flexibility, outstanding efficiency and excellent value-for-money, the new Toledo appeals to customers seeking a practical, top-quality, and affordable saloon car for the whole family – without missing out on elegant design and dynamic driving fun.
“The new Toledo will write a whole new success story with its clear Seat identity, its high quality standard and its extraordinary value-for-money,” says James Muir, president of Seat, SA. “The Toledo combines great design with amazing practicality, dynamic driving fun with excellent efficiency. This is how we envisage the perfect saloon. Our customers will say: ‘That is a great car at a great price!’”
The all-new Toledo will come to Ireland before year-end and Seat Ireland’s brand director Adam Chamberlain told the Advertiser that it will be a great addition to the newly revitalised Seat range in Ireland. “By the time the new Toledo arrives we will have seen a new Ibiza joined by the new Seat Mii. The Toledo is a key product for the Irish market and we are confident that the new model’s extraordinary value twinned with its practicality and good looks will make it a firm favourite with shrewd Irish buyers.”
With a length of 4.48 metres, the new Toledo is four centimetres longer than its predecessor from 2004. In contrast to the Toledo II, which was equipped with a conventional boot lid, the latest version of the model line comes with a large, wide-opening, rear hatch. The comparatively long wheelbase of 2,602 millimetres (80 millimetres longer than the Toledo II) delivers a generous feeling of space and plenty of legroom for all passengers.
The new Seat Toledo has a powerful and solid stance, with clear and precisely defined surfaces, lines and edges. The broad, angular, headlamps are a feature of the brand’s current design DNA. Together with the trapezoidal, extremely slender grille, the lower air intake and the horizontal rear light clusters, they bring added visual breadth to the car.
“The new Toledo is a timeless personality. It combines classically modern lines with understated sporting character and a high level of everyday practicality. It is the Seat among saloon cars, with excellent design quality in every detail,”says Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, head of Seat design.
As a completely new model, the Toledo makes use of the very latest Volkswagen Group engines. For Ireland there will be a petrol offering in the form of the 1.2-litre 75bhp petrol engine but there will be a focus on the 1.6-litre common-rail TDI unit. The TDI diesel engine – which produces 105hp from a displacement of 1.6 litres – also offers low emissions of 114g/km placing it in the lowest motor tax band for Ireland, Band A. During 2013, SEAT will expand the Toledo diesel line-up with a 90 hp TDI variant.
Seat Ireland promises that the new Toledo will offer great standard equipment levels. And the standard safety package for all new Toledos includes driver and passenger airbags, front side airbags and head/thorax airbags. The car will also come with a three-year warranty.
