Despite being a mid-sized MPV, the Altea isn't being pitched as a competitor for the segment's more utilitarian, seven-seat offerings. It's a resolute five-seater, intended to combine a reasonable amount of space with a rewarding driving experience.
The design is certainly distinctive. The Altea bears a close visual relationship with the Leon and Toledo, sharing its sibling's front-end treatment and heavily contoured flanks. Inside the cabin it is far more conventional, and although the quality of some of the plastic trim doesn't feel that great, it's well constructed and spacious for both front and rear seat occupants. The standard car offers a decently sized boot, while the slightly stretched Altea XL has a massive amount of luggage space. And, if you want to venture a little further afield, there's even the choice of a four-wheel drive model, the Freetrack. True, it's no Land Rover rival, but it does give the car some extra versatility, although the prices are high, as it only comes with the most powerful engines in the range.
On the road it's immediately clear that the Altea drives differently from the majority of people carriers. The firmly-sprung suspension gives tenacious roadholding with plenty of grip and good manners as the limits approach. The flipside is a bumpy ride over rougher road surfaces, although the Altea copes with the demands of motorway crusing well enough.
Three petrol and three diesel engines are available. Of these, the entry-level 1.6 litre petrol unit lacks urge beyond derestriction signs, but the others all provide strong performance: the range-topping 2.0 litre turbocharged petrol motor particularly so. Of the diesels, the 1.9 TDI lacks much in the way of punch but the 2.0 TDI 140 is excellent - far better than the expensive and barely-faster TDI 170, in fact.