The steering has a particularly clever type of electric power assistance which automatically compensates for road cambers and crosswinds by sensing sideways forces, but like most electric systems it replaces a true feel of the road with kind of digital, synthetic resistance. Seat is meant to be a “sporty” brand within the Volkswagen Group pantheon, so it is a bit of a worry that its mainstream saloon, what might once have been its core model, is so, well, lofty. A dashboard finished in an expansive swathe of shamelessly fake carbonfibre lends a kind of engineered-for-action feel, the Sport version (others are Reference and – yes – Stylance, but UK buyers are denied the Sport) has lively red accents in the seat trim, and the steering wheel is chunky and pleasing to hold. But you cannot really see a World Rally Championship Toledo in the offing.In fact there will not be any proper sporty versions, despite the company’s pledge to provide Auto Emoci?nd its positioning, with Lamborghini and Audi, in Volkswagen’s sporty stable.

The easy-cruising 2.0 diesel, a 16-valve unit with ladlefuls of pulling power, is the engine of choice with either of its six-speed gearboxes.The more interesting of these is the DSC double-clutch transmission, a two-pedal system superficially similar to a robotised manual such as a Selespeed or a Sensodrive, but using two clutches to release one gear as the next comes into play. You sit quite high in a cabin full of hard surfaces – there is Seat’s relatively lowly position in the VW hierarchy to consider – but the vantage point is of little help when reverse-parking. Like the Altea, the Toledo has a poor view aft thanks to its rising waistline and thick rear pillars.Engines? The usual VW Group suspects, including a 1.6-litre petrol (not the livelier, more frugal FSI version with direct injection, strangely), a 1.9-litre turbodiesel and 2.0-litre versions of both combustion systems (this time the petrol unit does have direct injection). The plastics used score well on quality and texture, the seats (in a fetchingly bold red fabric supplied as standard in the sport model) are comfortable and supportive, and the detailing is superb.Take the ashtray for example (I was sorely tempted), it’s cool enough to sit on your lounge coffee table and the translucent dials complete the understatedly cool finish (they also glow an eerie alien green at night).Underway, there’s not much to complain about and much to praise. There will be no Toledo Cupra, no Toledo V6: “That would be too extreme,” says Seat’s marketing chief.

Thus do the disparate notions of saloons and MPVs, of assuming a Renault M?ne Sport Sedan and a Renault Sc?c are really almost the same, collide. (Oh, no, they are not, the marketing people will cry, because some Toledos have built-in Bluetooth and an MP3 player, and the information display is slightly different Fair point). Will the obviously very different buyers of the two cars, buyers whose tastes are cleft by the shape of the tailgate and rear-quarter pressings, notice that their cars’ interiors are the same? Or will the twain never meet, making it not an issue? Will there be a dividing wall between Alteas and Toledos in the showroom?Now, here is another thought. An extra 180mm of tail, and a hatchback with a built-in bottom, and suddenly the entire sales pitch is rewritten.The Altea and the Toledo are even identical inside, right down to those rear seats that only let the backrests fold on to the cushion but which do not do the next forward flip. But is that not an MPV? How can a saloon be so like an MPV? Stop being so logical: you will have no future in marketing if you think like that Besides, the Altea is not an MPV. Pauline needs space for shopping and suitcases but is free from pets and grandchildren. Pity, as ever, that those with brutal automotive hi-fis always appear so innocent of their abhorrent taste in music And so to Brighton.