BIGGER ALTEA SHOWS IT CAN XL These days everything is supposed to be slimmer, smaller, neater. But does that make it any better? Not at all. Look at Fern Britton. She’s got bigger and better over the years and proved that having big hips is a really hip thing to do. In the 80s, the smaller Fern had already started filling in on This Morning in its embryonic days. I reckon she was still hiding much of her star quality. Richard and Judy made the show their own until Fern and Philip Scofield showed they are better, he shedding a Technicolor Dreamcoat and her leaving behind the Ready Steady Cook kitchen. What a recipe for success that was for Fern. Batman and Robin as the Dynamic Duo? You’ve got to be having a laugh. Phil and Fern would wipe the floor with them. Zap! Now Richard and Judy have become just the people who fill in when Paul O’Grady isn’t on Channel 4 of a weekday teatime. Transfer this to the motoring world, and it’s the Seat Altea that’s rapidly becoming the car at risk of being forgotten. Why? Because there’s a new model called the Altea XL. It has a big rump (sorry, Fern), big character, and even bigger ability. And, like Fern, it is going to be much in demand. Now that SUVs are becoming increasingly discredited, cars like the Altea XL will take over instead. All I want to know is why Seat made the slimline Altea in the first place when the XL is so much better and obviously what the model should have been from the outset. Seat says it has created one of the most stylish estate cars on the market, so cunningly styled in fact that it doesn’t look like one at all in the recognised sense. Adding another 18.7 cms to the length of the Altea has brought a 30 per cent increase in boot space with the XL when compared with the original Altea. If you carry loads of stuff and Seat’s sporty pedigree, dreamed up to make it different from other VW cars on the back of its Latin background, appeals then the XL has to be your first stop in the nearest Seat showroom. Not that carrying stuff is necessarily what this car is all about. It carries people very efficiently, too, and will take them over long distances in superb comfort and expending minimal effort while it does so. The test car was the 1.9 litre TDI Stylance, top model for trim but with the poverty diesel engine. You can also have 2.0 litre diesels giving almost 140 or 170 bhp but why bother? This car is about practicality rather than the adrenalin pumping nature of other Seat models so the lesser, 104 bhp diesel is enough. Don’t get me wrong, though. It’s still gutsy and will whisk you around with more than enough speed. Equally as important, it will do so with excellent economy and if this car / engine combination does not give you 50 mpg then it’s you who has the problem, not the car. It does this even though Seat only gives it a five speed gearbox and not the six speeder of the beefier diesels. One of the options is the Tom Tom GO170 sat nav system, which the test car had. The beauty of Tom Tom is that you can take it out of the car and use it to navigate while you walk about. Delivery drivers who bring me cars use it frequently and one reckons it saves him 1.5 hours a day. Buy it. At &¢163;14,995, the Stylance 1.9 TDI is second cheapest Altea XL. You can save two grand by having the 1.6 litre petrol Reference model. Pay the extra and enjoy the better-equipped diesel which also has the best benefit in kind rating for business users. Maurice Hardy Annette's View Seat has come to rely a bit too heavily on a single body style with various adaptations as the mainstay of its range. But the Altea XL shows that the Spanish arm of Volkswagen is more than a one trick pony. Even though the kids have long flown the nest and we might be natural targets for smaller, more sporty models I still rate cars like the Altea XL highly. Unless you are totally without friends, in which case you probably don’t go out and won’t want a car anyway, then it’s nice to drive something that accommodates other people. For those of us who are older, the appeal of the Altea XL is that it will carry five proper-sized humans in comfort. The rear seat slides to give whatever combination of passenger / luggage space you want and even with the seats right back the boot is huge. Stuff at the front can be quite a stretch to reach. Sitting high up, as you do in the XL, also gives a great view out and oldies or people stowing children in seats will appreciate that you don’t have to stoop as you gain access to this car. Despite the height, it also handles, too, so is fun to drive. Car: Seat Altea XL Stylance 1.9 TDI PD Does it fit your ego?... 0-62 mph: 12.3 secs Top speed: 114 mph Bhp: 104 @ 4000 rpm Torque: 184 lb ft @ 1900 rpm ...and your wallet?... Price: £14,995 Urban: 40.9 mpg Extra urban: 62.8 mpg CO2 emissions: 146 g/km Insurance Group: 5 Best bits: big where it counts; great value; great economy.