Two significantly similar cars, no doubt about that. Still, each one has something different to offer. Having both cars powered by diesel engines and utilizing the 5-door MPV body style within the same 'MPV' segment, the only major difference here really is their wheel drive configuration (front for the Seat and rear in the case of the Mercedes Benz). The first one has a Volkswagen-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 105hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 190hp engine designed by Mercedes Benz.

The fact that the Seat got tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), while the other contender didn't, puts it sky-high safety-wise, in my eyes at least. Moving further on, let's take a closer look at some additional safety-related facts. Both vehicles belong to the mpv segment, which is generally a good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. On the other hand, taking kerb weight as an important factor into account, the German car offers a self-explainatory difference of 52% more metal.

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Seat does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Seat with an average rating of 4.5, and models under the Mercedes Benz badge with 4.3 out of 5. The same official information place Altea as average reliability-wise, and R is more or less at the same level.Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the Spanish car rank it on average as 4.3, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.4 out of 5.

Mercedes Benz is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 2.9 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 210 kilometers per hour, 27km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the Spanish car, averaging around 5.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (52 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 67% difference compared to the German car!

Seat appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Spanish car offers significantly better overall protection, taking the lead here. From there things take a different direction, with Mercedes Benz outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... It's not difficult to say then that if I'd need to make a choice, it would definitely be the Seat. Anyway, that's the most objective conclusion I could've came up with and it's based solely on the information found on this website. Aspects such as design, practicality, brand value and driving experience are there for you to measure them out. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, out of 12.000+ vehicles we currently have in our database.