SEAT Altea Prototipo

Start with what the SEAT Altea Prototipo is: a 5-door 2+2 seater with 2.0 L FSI, built from 2003, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Walter de Silva.

The background

The SEAT Altea Prototipo is a 2+2 seater concept car presented by SEAT for the first time at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, the first SEAT model to be produced inside the Audi brand group, which was unveiled with the aim to give a preview of the SEAT Altea's definitive road version, which was meant to be launched a year later in 2004. Designed by Walter de Silva and belonging to what the Spanish car maker claims to be a 'Multi Sport Vehicle' (MSV) class denomination for a sporty single-volume people carrier, it has been named after the city of Altea in the Alicante province of Spain.

The Altea Prototipo incorporates the new SEAT's design direction trend reflecting the 'SEAT auto emoción' philosophy, which was shown for the first time in the 2000 SEAT Salsa concept car, moreover featuring the characteristic for the brand lateral curved descending lines as well as the new front radiator grille. Other interesting points are the windscreen wipers resting at vertical position, the non visible exterior rear door handles, and the Agile Chassis or Dynamic steering response (DSR) system meaning special suspension settings and fittings combined with an electronic programme that regulates power steering response according to driving and steering speed.

The engineering

The engine is 2.0 L FSI. Drive goes through a 6-speed Tiptronic. The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Bentley Continental GT, the Mazda RX-8, the Mazda Mazda3. Its SEAT stablemates include the SEAT 124 and the SEAT 133.