In a rather chilly February earlier this year (which seems like a long time ago now), I ventured out to the wilds of Bassett, a suburb of Southampton, to have a look at a second generation Seat Toledo. Of course, this was, yet again, to assess its suitability for taking to the Santa Pod Run What Ya Brung event scheduled for the end of March. The second generation Toledo, based on the Mk4 Golf (all Toledos have been based on a Volkswagen Golf platform of various generations), was released in 1999, and ended production six years later. The third generation was considerably uglier than the second...
Unlike all other Toledos, this second generation model was a saloon, not a hatchback (the first generation Leon was its hatchback cousin), and it was aimed much more upmarket than before. This meant it sorted of competed with the Audi A4, Mercedes C-Class and BMW 3-series at a much cheaper price, although it had nowhere near the badge prestige of these premium rivals.
This particular example was five speed manual 1.8 20v version with 99,000 miles on the clock, and during the test drive it certainly proved its worth. At 125 bhp, it is probably the most powerful car I have ever considered taking to Santa Pod, and still pulled really well. The owner had had her from around six months old, when he had bought her from a dealer where she had been a demonstrator, and so he had looked after her for well over ten years. It was testament to his care that he was still on the original clutch, had kept all the service history (including cambelt changes) and had the original optional roof bars.
The car handled very much like a Leon with more power, and still felt fresh, minus the fact that the clutch seemed to have an unusual length of travel. In the end, due to uncertainties about the clutch, which could have been mashed at Santa Pod, and the fact that someone turned up within five minutes of my arrival to view the car too, I decided to leave it. The new arrival ended up buying the car for the full asking price. Compared with what we had in mind for it, I think it was best it went to a good home, as it was far too good to be wrecked at Santa Pod.
Toledos of all generations are very underrated cars, and worth much less money than other equivalent Volkswagen Group products, but are definitely worth a look on the secondhand market, whether one is going drag racing or not!
