This morning, Seat president Erich Schmitt was in charge of presenting the new Altea freetrack in SEAT’s exclusive pavilion at the Barcelona Motor Show. This model combines the Altea XL’s amazing roominess and loading space with the capabilities of a true crossover vehicle with four wheel drive. 

Mr. Schmitt says “the Altea freetrack is the company’s first crossover, and signals our entry into a market segment with roughly half a million potential customers.” 

Using the Altea XL as a base, the new freetrack differs on the outside with protective plastic moulding around the wheel arches and special plastic front and rear bumpers. These elements lend the new model an adventurous, robust look, and double as added body protection when the car is taken off the tarmac roads. Still on the outside, the Altea freetrack features exclusively designed 17 inch rims and larger diameter tyres. It also has 40 mm more ground clearance than the Altea XL, giving it better all-road performance. The dual tone interior reveals a black and soothing brown colour scheme on doors, dashboard and steering wheel. Standard elements include storage compartments on the ceiling and a rope net separator between the rear Seat and cargo area. Four wheel drive and top-notch engines

The freetrack’s off-road looks match its all-road performance thanks to its Haldex transmission system. Under normal driving conditions the engine’s power is transmitted to the front wheels, while up to 50% can also be transferred to the rear wheels if the going gets rough. Another factor that weighs heavily in favour of the Altea freetrack is its choice of high performance engines. Selling will begin with the 200 hp 2.0 TSI petrol and 170 hp 2.0 TDI engines, making it one of the most dynamic crossovers on the market, as well as the most powerful diesel option. 

And as Mr. Schmitt said, “in order to reach all our customers, we will be adding a front-wheel drive variation with a 140 hp 2.0 TDI engine to the ones shown here.” 

Equipped with the 2.0 TSI, top speed is 214 km/h, 0 to 100 km/h acceleration is possible in 7.5 seconds and the combined fuel consumption is 9.4 litres. Performance figures for the freetrack 2.0 TDI are 204 km/h top speed, 0 to 100 km/h acceleration in 8.7 seconds and 6.8 litres average fuel consumption for every 100 km of driving. 

Geared to family fun and leisure 
The Altea freetrack is not just a compact, sporty all-roader; it is also a family car with the same interior roominess and flexibility as the Altea XL. It features up to 593 litres of loading space while maintaining five seats. This capacity is possible when the rear seats are pushed forward up to 16 centimetres. When the rear seats are completely folded, cargo space on the freetrack increases to 1,562 litres. Family entertainment on board the new freetrack is provided by a standard fit, novel multimedia system including a 7 inch TFT screen embedded in the ceiling and an RCA plug for connecting portable DVD players, videoconsoles and MP3 players, among many others. 

Other standard elements found on the Altea freetrack include dual climatiser, light sensor, rain sensing wipers, parking sensor, cruise control, trip computer and CD MP3 radio with steering wheel mounted controls. Safety elements feature standard ESP electronic stability control, six airbags, electro-mechanical steering system and tyres pressure control, among others.