SEAT has always been proud of its role as the sporty brand in the parent VW Group, showcasing Spanish flair with German practicality.

The sporty image has been cemented with an impressive history within international motorsport and major success World Touring Car Championship and British Touring car Championship.

So it comes as a bit of a surprise that the latest Toledo looks more German than Spanish.

The sporty design has given way to a hugely functional, economical motor, but lacks styling panache, despite the sharp angles and creases, raked windscreen and neat light clusters.

It is a clever design however, a hatchback which looks like a saloon and it still has many other excellent features including a massive boot area, perfect for the small family.

Sitting between the Ibiza and Leon models, it is a big, small car with excellent head and legroom, a choice of economical engines and good levels of equipment at tempting starting price of £12,505. It is also cheap to run.

The functional design is pretty much the same inside with a neat, logical layout of dials and switches all neatly placed and easy to use.

The fit and finish is good, but perhaps lacking the overall quality of other VW models. The steering wheel is fully adjustable as are the comfortable seats and there is bags of head and legroom.

The hatchback offers a huge 550 litres of boot space which can be increased by folding down the rear seats for a massive load area for this size of car. There are other cupholders and oddment holders dotted around the cabin.

With four engine choices, the focus is on greenness and economy with a three cylinder 1.2 litre petrol, plus a 1.2 and 1.4 litre TSI petrol and the 1.6 Ecomotive diesel on this model.

Claimed economy on the diesel is 70.6mpg with carbon dioxide emissions of 106g/km making it cheap to run with both road tax and benefit in kind taxation for business users.

The 105ps of power seems modest, but it pulls well through all the gears although diesel clatter is noisy when idling.

Acceleration is brisk enough, propelling the vehicle from 0-60mph in 10.6 seconds and then on to a top speed of 118mph.

It is more than capable on the motorway, overtaking comfortably at high speeds while being equally at home on suburban roads. Wind and road noise are both reasonably muted.

Ride comfort is generally good with the suspension geared to the ferrying of famiiles around, as is the handling with the car sitting well on bends. But this is not a sports car and won't be that much of a factor to the average buyer.

What perhaps is more important is that  five people can be accommodated with relative comfort, but four is much more comfortable.

Standard quipment includes body coloured door handles and door mirrors, which are also heated, electric windows and  heated electrically adjustable door mirrors, sound system with MP3 connectivity, but does not include air conditioning and alloy wheels.

Move up the range and the goodies get better, with Bluetooth, air con, parking sensors and  the range topper including  climate control, cruise control and parking sensors.

Safety equipment levels includes stability control, anti-lock braking active head restraints and a full range of airbags.