SEAT is putting great store in its new Cordoba. Its British designer, Steve Lewis, was keen to tell everyone it represented a “bridge” between the present generation of cars from the Spanish manufacturer and its future range, which will achieve “new values of sportiness and styling”.

Under the overall guidance of Walter da Silva, who was poached from Alfa Romeo, the team has set about trying to create a Mediterranean feel to the new four-door saloon. So, any reader who thinks the Cordoba looks remarkably similar to the Alfa Romeo 156 from the back can be forgiven for the confusion on a number of counts as Da Silva’s design heritage has clearly been transferred from Italy to Spain. There are clear echoes of the Italian sporting saloon around the Cordoba’s rear lights and haunches, with the same wedgy aspect to the profile.

The problem with the car’s overall shape is its high waistline and the pinched look to the glass house and cabin. It is also susceptible to colour: fire-engine red suits it, primer grey makes the car about as exciting as a certain former Prime Minister.

If the exterior is underwhelming, sadly the interior is unremarkable. A collection of black plastics — grey if you are lucky, in some variants — and cloth trims give the interior a funereal atmosphere. Lewis promised things would improve and they need to.

Are there, then, any redeeming features for the new Cordoba? Of course. It is as well built as any car from the VAG empire, sharing its platform with the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo, as well as its engines.

When launched next May, three engines will, initially, be offered: 1.4-litre, 75bhp petrol and two diesels, both 1.9-litres — a 100bhp and a potent 130bhp, which is the most powerful oil-burner in this class.

Of the three, Seat believes the two lower-powered cars will prove the most popular here in the UK, but if you want to add some sparkle to the car, go for the 130bhp diesel, not so much for its 130mph top speed, but the wide spread of torque that will leapfrog the car past slower traffic almost irrespective of what gear you are in at the time.

The Cordoba’s ride is composed and well damped; only on occasions was it upset by poor surfaces and even then it was not a dramatic deterioration in the car’s dynamics. Of course, that was on the smooth tarmac of southern Spain. What the Cordoba will behave like here on the UK’s frostbitten, gnarled B roads and country lanes is less certain, but I suspect some of that composure will be absent.

Despite Seat’s sporting ambitions, their engineers have not imbued the Cordoba with terrific handling. It is good, safe, competent in a conservative way, but once you start to ask serious questions of it as you plunge into high-speed corners, the steering starts to feel anaesthetised and plough-on understeer takes over as you try to hustle the car through quicker bends.

You sense a degree of frustration among some senior management within Seat. Here is a brand that is desperately trying to throw off the shackles of its past and reinvent itself as an Alfa Romeo rival. Yet, such ambitions are being constrained by a seeming lack of willingness to invest an extra few euros in making the interior more attractive, and handling that, while safe and predictable, does not have an Alfa’s sharpness.

Nor do the tweaked VW-sourced engines have an Alfa’s timbre.

Seat has a long way to go before it achieves the ambitious target of challenging Alfa. There is nothing wrong with the Cordoba, just that it is, well, unremarkable.