As its name suggests, the XL is a Seat Altea, only bigger. That extra space means there’s lots of room for passengers, as well as a generous 532-litre boot. Our practicality testers found room for all but one item of holiday luggage.

The price is keen, and official combined economy of 52.3mpg means low fuel bills, too.

Yet while the 1.9-litre diesel is economical, it’s rather noisy with it. Low-down pull is disappointing, and the engine has to be worked hard to reach 60mph into a headwind. It took a full 22.4 seconds to go from 30-60mph.

The Altea XL is very stable once up to speed, but the flipside of that is an over-firm ride when driving solo. The thick windscreen pillars are an irritation, too, obscuring the view at junctions.

The handbrake held firm on our test hill, and the Altea XL tackled the slope reasonably well for a front-wheel-drive car. All in all, a solid performance, but let down by the weak and noisy engine.