SEAT ALTEATiming chain or Belt?

The Seat Altea is a compact multipurpose vehicle or MPV (C-segment in Europe) by the Spanish brand Seat and manufactured by Volkswagen Group. It was launched at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show and production lasted until 2015, when VAG decided that its MPVs should be replaced by SUVs. The Altea had only one generation, although it had a redesign in 2009.

The Altea was produced on the Volkswagen Group A5 platform (PQ35), so it shares many elements with the Audi A3 Mk2 or the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 to name a few. However, it shares the most components with the Seat Leon and Seat Toledo.

The Seat Altea was launched in a market where the MPV was king. Even VAG itself was not aware of the success of this MPV, which far exceeded its sales estimates. The vehicle stood out for its interior space as well as its safety.

Parallel to the Altea, Seat launched a longer car in 2006. This was called the Seat Altea XL. It was 7.36 inches (18.7 cm) longer than the standard Altea. A variant called Seat Altea Freetrack would also be launched, identical to the Altea XL, but focused more on the crossover segment, with more height to slightly enter the SUV market.

The Seat Altea had no shortage of rival vehicles. It mainly competed against the Renault Scénic / Renault Grand Scénic, Citroën Xsara Picasso, Citroen C4 Picasso / Grand Picasso, Ford C-Max, Opel Zafira, Toyota Verso, Kia Carens, Peugeot 3008 I / Peugeot 5008 I and Chevrolet Orlando among many others.