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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2006. - 2010.
M - MPV
MPV, 5 door
rear
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
2004. - 2009.
M - MPV
MPV, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4922 mm
1922 mm
1659 mm
244 liters
1950 liters
80 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
4280 mm
1768 mm
1568 mm
409 liters
1320 liters
55 liters
2006 Mercedes Benz R
2004 Seat Altea

Engine

Mercedes Benz
3.0 OM642 DE30 LA HP
Diesel
6 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
2987 cc
224 hp
510 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
2.0 TDI BMN
Diesel
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Turbo
1968 cc
170 hp
350 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 6 gears
1446 kg
8.6 s
208 km/h
8.0 l/100km
5.2 l/100km
6.2 l/100km
167 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

automatic - 7 gears
kg
8.7 s
222 km/h
l/100km
l/100km
8.7 l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

6400 EUR
Price from
2100 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

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 (rear for the Mercedes Benz and front in the case of the Seat). The first one has a Mercedes Benz-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 6-cylinder, 24-valves 224hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 170hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

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 it doesn't do much to help us decide between the two.

Reliability

I don't like generalizing things when it comes to reliability, although it does seem that Seat does have a slight advantage, all the models observed together. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of Mercedes Benz, as well as Seat, with the same average rating of 4.4 out of 5. The same official information place R as average reliability-wise, and Altea is more or less at the same level.That apart, owners of different cars powered by the same engine as the German car rank it on average as 4.5, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 4.2 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

Seat is a bit more agile, reaching 100km/h in 0.1 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 208 kilometers per hour, 14km/h less than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the Spanish car, averaging around 6.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (46 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 40% difference compared to the German car!


Verdict

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 beats the other contender by far, making it the best choice without even considering other things. It all continues in the same direction, with Seat offering somewhat better performance, just enough to call it quicker. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but Seat. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. Also, you could use the oportunity to find out which car, everything taken into account, would be the perfect choice for you in the eyes of the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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