SEAT altea test drive since 2009 minivan
The cross -over minivan Seat Altea Freetrack has been updated
The hot Spanish cross -over minivan Seat Altea Freetrack has been updated and received a DSG assault rifle. I understand the Spaniards. But the role of the Germans in this story is puzzling ... I drove up to the traffic light and stood to the right of Subaru Impreza Sti.
It is no coincidence: I have long noticed this nervous student who rushed ahead, and deliberately chose the moment to be with him on the same start line.
God, what am I doing?
Red burned long enough to evaluate prospects. The tram tracks loomed ahead, but it was not worth being afraid of them, the entrance to them was made by a smooth asphalt slope, and the rails were hidden in rubber mats. They looked not an obstacle, but a springboard for a small but breathtaking jump. Red still reigned at a traffic light, but according to his inner sensations, it was already beating with a small tremor in anticipation of yellow. I put my left leg on the brake, and the right hand brought the tachometer to three thousand. The middle section of the traffic light flashed yellow. The new Seat motor roared and jerked all its 211 horses. Zel ... I throw the brake and at the same time I beat my right foot on the floor, ... a signal. Crossroads behind your back. Springboard! I fly up with all four wheels. Neither from the side, nor even more ahead of anyone. The student is far behind. I land. This is victory. After a hundred meters, I effectively brake I in front of the next intersection. God, what am I doing? What nonsense. To get involved in dragrasing among white days! Jump through the rails! Awareness of one’s own stupidity with its heavy obviousness poured a post -fact. I turned to the side of the road. Do you think you are prepared for some more honorable role? The mission of a noble racer? No need to deceive yourself. When buying such a car, you can only count on one thing: you will blush for your antics 18 times a day. The manufacturer does not guarantee anything else.
Non -evidence.
Parnish design is very outdated today
Information through the nose
After a few days of driving on the updated Seat Altea Freetrack, someone will speak in your head: calm down, everything is fine, we turn into the right row, we go in the stream. Do not be scared, these are your guardian angels. I also heard them and heeded the warnings. The test drive went into the phase of everyday life. But the feeling that I still had not moved off the racing track, because the box lever habitually was in the sport position. In this mode, Altea Freetrack yells like a cut, even if he goes with the speed of democratization of Russian society. I return the automatic transmission selector to a regular drive, finally relax and I can appreciate the charms of restyling.
ESPECT.
In the sports mode, Seat Altea Freetrack eats 16.5 l, in a calm little more than 11
Yes, Seat updated the motor. Now he gives out 211 horsepower instead of the old 200. Thus, the engineers managed to literally transform the accelerated characteristics. The former Freetrack got to hundreds in 7.5 seconds, the current one for 7.6. Added one tenth. Wait, shouldn't it be the other way around? No. On the scales of modern European restyling, in addition to small racing weights, there are two more. One environmental, the other economic: CA emissions and fuel consumption.
Ergonomics. The front panel has a convenient slope
But the main thing is that Seat finally proposed a complete set with automatic transmission. More precisely, with a Volkswagen DSG robot on double clutch. The robot is six -speed and quite quickly begins to smell on the off -road during slipping. However, the manufacturer does not bother the manufacturer, I hope that contrary to the information that is in the nose, the resource of the unit is sufficient.
Dangerous telly
Seat also changed the front panel and interior finish. I'm afraid to seem a bore, but it seems to me that the three glasses containing five pairs of glasses are a bit too much. Unless, of course, we are talking about people whose trips always end with broken glasses. Regularly jumping through the tram tracks and humiliating the suckers on the Subaru Impreza, you will gradually grow up with appropriate acquaintances, and your Altea Freetrack will be full of inadequate people and there are not far from broken glasses. Moreover, the first will be smashed to you when to put a disk with a terminator to a request from the rear sofa, you will answer: a portable DVD player needs to be connected to this telly. Have you taken it with you?
Russia. National features force to put a full -fledged spare
Spain is far from the country whose products can be approached with ordinary standards. People who do not work for most of the day, because it is hot outside, have the right to originality. They came up with a siesta, and they constructed the central glove compartment, in which only the iPod and its cord are placed. A large plastic design looks like an ordinary box, but inside it is only a cradle for a matchbox. It makes us concentrate on annoying thought about the size of hidden cavities and their true purpose.
We will continue in winter
The quality is lame in places. For example, the lid of the lower trunk compartment. She does not have a beautiful handle, but there is a hole with raw edges. The upholstery of the driver's door buzzes like an annoying bee, Zzhzzhzzhzzhz. The central glove compartment begins to stagger if you press. I would not pay attention to these little things, but actually VW stands for the Seat. For the Germans, this is too much.
We take off. Stand more conveniently, now you will beat your head on the tables
How is the off -road? You should not go far into the fields on the novelty. The front end is too low, and the smell from the dashing DSG is nasty. How the introduction of a fourth -generation Haldex has affected cross -country ability, it is best to check in shallow snow. At the first opportunity, we will organize it. In the meantime, the Spanish SUV with five pairs of sunglasses, a useless TV and buzzing upholstery is at your service. Rides slower than the previous one and makes you use iPod instead of gloves. In my opinion, not bad.
Silicon. As many as 11 horsepower was added to the motor and now it is 0.1 seconds slower
CAREFULLY! Technical details.
The updated SEAT ALTEA Freetrack crossover differs from the Seat Altea XL passenger compactTrack, with an increased road clearance by the presence of a multi -disk Haldex with electronic control, which is responsible for the rear wheel drive, and a plastic body kit for protecting tapes when driving on lifting roads. The line of the engines includes a two -liter gasoline TSI (with direct injection and turbocharged) with a capacity of 211 liters. With. and two two -liter turbodiesel with a capacity of 140 and 170 liters. With. The gasoline engine works in a pair with a 7-speed DSG robotic box with two clutches, which allows you to serve the torque to the wheels continuously, and diesel are aggregated with a six-speed manual gearbox.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
Source: Magazine 4x4 [October/2012]
