Hi Bill
We've had a Seat Altea 1.9 TDi for nearly 12 months, replacing a Petrol Freelander, power wise the Diesel engines power is better and very smooth, the turbo is small on this model which strangely is an advantage as there doesn't appear to be any turbo lag yet there is plenty of power , we live in west Yorkshire and have towed our caravan (Bailey Discovery) to several sites, Beamer being the furthest. The down side is that the max towing weight 1400kg which is good for this size of car, this means unlike the Freelander, you are aware the caravan is on the back.
Regarding non towing, the car is great, not the fastest in it's class, but to be honest I don't do racing, the cars handling is excellent and you get good MPG (including when towing).
Hope this helps with your choice
Matthew
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