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Just how badly does SEAT want to sell you a Toledo?

Toledo above
The limited choice of engines will restrict the Toledo's appeal, but find the right one and it's hard to beat for quality and space

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24 September 2012

SEAT Toledo hatchback
We like the Toledo, but wish SEAT would offer business car buyers more options – especially a lower priced diesel

Story: DAVID WILKINS

The smart, practical and roomy SEAT Toledo looks like just the car for recession-battered businesses. SEAT reckons half of all sales will go to company car drivers – but you could be forgiven for wondering just how badly SEAT wants you to buy one.

The bottom rung of the Toledo ladder is within easy reach at just £12,500 but after that it’s quite a steep step up to the next model in the Toledo range – over £1600.

If you want the lowest-CO2 engine option to keep company car tax in check, the 104g/km 105 PS 1.6 diesel with stop-start is the obvious choice, you have to go for the mid-range S trim as well, and you’ll end up paying £16,640.

(Although there are two further petrol options with S trim that cost less, and also with 14% company car tax bands.)

And if you like the idea of the self-shifting dual-clutch DSG gearbox – a common option across the Volkswagen-owned brands – you can only get it with the 1.4-litre petrol engine and luxurious SE trim at a price of £17,780.

Not the diesel that many SME company car drivers would prefer.

There’s only going to be one body style – and don’t get your hopes up about a possible sporty FR version either. They’re not even giving the Toledo the new SEAT logo, already announced back in July – that’s going to make its debut on the grille of the new Leon at the Paris Motor Show.

And it’s the Leon hatchback, which SEAT expects to outsell the Toledo five to one, that really holds the key to SEAT’s future with SMEs and company car drivers.

Unlike the Toledo, a sister car to the Skoda Rapid built in the Czech Republic, the Leon is SEAT’s baby, the one that advertises the company’s new design direction and will keep the production lines going at its own Spanish factory if sales go well.

It just means business car managers are being limited in their choice of a usefully sized and good value company car for small fleets.

New SEAT Toledo range prices and company car tax bands

•   E 1.2 12V, 75 PS, 137g/km CO2, 18% company car tax band, 46.3mpg, £12,500 (TBC)

•   S 1.2 TSI, 86 PS, 119g/km CO2, 14% company car tax band, 55.4mpg, £14,120

•   S 1.2 TSI, 105 PS, 116g/km CO2*, 14% company car tax band, 56.5mpg, £15,150

•   S 1.6 TDI, 105 PS, 104g/km CO2*, 14% company car tax band, 72.4mpg, £16,640

•   SE 1.2 TSI, 105 PS, 118g/km CO2, 14% company car tax band, 55.4mpg, £16,350

•   SE 1.4 TSI DSG, 122 PS, 146g/km CO2, 20% company car tax band, 45.6mpg, £17,780

•   SE 1.6 TDI, 105 PS, 106g/km CO2, 15% company car tax band, 70.6mpg, £17,840

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Matt Morton

Matt Morton

Matt Morton is an automotive content writer for Business Car Manager

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