Test Drive Seat Altea since 2009 Minivan
Test Drive Seat Altea Freetrack: Bright and Indempted
SEAT car sales in Europe are noticeably better than Kia, Chevrolet, Honda or, say, Mazda. But in Russia, the Spanish brand did not score and one and a half thousand who wish to buy their cars. Using an example of an unusual cocktail from a powerful engine, a full drive and family body Kolesa.ru is trying to understand what is not so with Seat in Russia. At the first year, the test drive Kolesa.ru turned out to be the top seat Altea Freetrack (Seat Altea Fretek) with a full-wheel drive, a 2.0-liter 211-strong motor, preselative automatic DSG transmission all together costs 1,149,990 rubles.
This is half the compactment, half a crossover; In favor of the first, there is a high streamlined single-vocabulary body, in favor of the second clearance above the average and additional plastic body kit in the off-roud style.
Breakfast is dark gray lining from painted (!) Plastic. They will be useful not only when tapping into the forest, but also in the city: you see that it will be cheaper to replace the plastic dye on the arch cheaper than the wing, and the traces of body repair (in the form of traces from the outdated bolts on which wings) will not remain. The trouble is just that the gray protective body kit still will have to paint.
Compactan Outside - compacttvan and inside. In the SEAT Altea Freetrack salon, there is a space for almost anywhere: and in front and rear. And on the right, and on the left. Moreover, the rear passengers will appreciate not only the expanse above the head and in front of the knees, but also the ability to move the rear sofa back and forth: the range of adjustment of the sofa is 16 cm.
I sit behind the steering wheel. Landing the driver in a minivan vertical; If you sit so that the hands lying on the steering wheel were almost straight, the knees will be bent the middle growth driver has to be placed as vertically as possible. Not very convenient, however, useful for posture.
At first glance, the interior of Seat Altea Freetrack is very stylish and not even a minivan sports. The three-spoke steering wheel with thickens under grike perfectly lies in his hands. The seats are tightly held in turns, and even the 450-kilometer path that I did the day after the first landing in the car, I absolutely did not respond to the fatigue of the back.
On the central console, only the most needed: the consoles of radio tape recorders and climate control. It is noteworthy that in order to get to any of the keys of both devices, you do not need to stretch at all.
Under the top of the rim of the steering wheel, the usual three wells of the dashboard are blocked, but their content is not the most traditional. The right large circle speedometer, the average small tachometer, but in the left, several devices are getting around: the level of fuel, the coolant temperature scale in the engine and in the middle of the on-board computer. Managing testimony on the latter screen on the right steering wheel. Usually, on the left there is a speedometer or tachometer, and only at the end of the test week I used to such arrangement. Most of all upset plastic in the cabin. No, nothing threatened and did not crush all the panels fit perfectly, it is not frightened to the quality of the assembly. But how hard! Touching the knuckles of fingers and panels was reflected in the stuff that in the doorway, which is in the torpedo. But this is the top version on the other hand, beat your head about the details of the cabin in my plans it was not, and even if you were fastened, then such a contact is not destined to take place at all.
How is Seat Altea Freetrack in the case? Fine. And what can be expected from the 211-strong TSI engine tested on many models and lightning DSG?! Not even a motormark, I knew that if you press the pedal in the trigger, surprised passengers would be nice to splash in the chairs.
A much greater revelation for me was the excellent handling of Frotek. Anglo-speaking colleagues will probably call it fun-to-drive, which is translated into Russian not quite accurate fun in control. Seat Altea Freetrack inciterates in the eyes of the family man's fighter lights, especially on the winter road. A four-wheel drive even with a sketching system disabled (ESP stabilization control is not turned off) allows you to quickly enter the icing turns, enjoying the controlled slides and controlled slip.
Pushed out that tires. First, Bridgestone Ice Cruiser 5000 is somewhere 70 km / h begin to resonate strongly, giving rise to a loud annoying hum. Tires are forced to draw attention to the snow-icy mix when they allow the front of the car to unexpectedly sculpt the outward rotation.
The four-wheel drive of the Haldex electromagnetic clutch is arranged here as, for example, in the Land Rover Freelander or Volkswagen Tiguan. Jeeper-extremals will probably pierce and say that it is never a four-wheel drive, and so advanced front. The reaction of the electronics to slip and the extra moment on the wheel is a bit late, but it is very difficult to get down from the trajectory at low speed. The nature of the car for the most part front-wheel drive, but in sharp turns, the connection of the rear axle helps to enter, narrowing the radius. And in a long road on the highway, this type of actuator saves fuel. For example, on the Murmansk highway at an average speed of 90 km / h (taking into account the settlements, overtaking and several congestion), an average of 8.5 liters per hundred not bad for 211-strong 2.0 with a full drive, right? It is difficult, probably to be a PR specialist in the company SEAT. To develop a Spanish brand in Russia, you need to be at the highest stage with an optimist; How else to bring to the market (on which the flew solaries, Logan and other viburnum flying out), line of cars, where the cheapest basic SEAT Ibiza costs 545,000 rubles
SEAT ALTEA FREETRACK PRICES
The most affordable car can be bought for 863,000 rubles. This is Seat Altea Freterek with a 1.4-liter 125-strong turbo engine, front-wheel drive and 6-speed mechanical automatic transmission. The base car is equipped with 6 airbags, ABS, anti-slip TCS system, climate control, casting R17 discs, cruise control - in other words, from the maximum configuration. The standard Freetrack is distinguished. Wheel disks.
The next version costs 1,049,990 rubles, but has 2.0-liter 211-strong TSI and automatic gearbox.
That in the end
The reasons to love Seat Altea Freetrack I have plenty after the test. Engine, chassis, transmission with civil, but still full-wheel drive, impressive equipment basic equipment, unusual appearance, spacious interior and protective moldings throughout the body. The shortcomings are less, but they outweigh. First, Seat Altea Freetrack looks like a minivan, and the Russians have a single application that is not in width. We love crossovers. Secondly, the Volkswagen concern is still to work on the introduction of a Spanish brand on a separate marketing regiment, which is still not. Seats are not cheaper than the Germans, and the prestige of these brands so far cannot be compared ...
Competitors Seat Altea Freetrack on the Russian market:
Toyota Verso (Test Drive)
Nissan Qashqai + 2 (test drive)
A source: Magazine "Wheels" [January 2012]
