REVIEW:
It was a long time coming but SEAT finally has a crossover - the ATECA. With styling inspired by the popular Leon, it's a good looking if not especially daring design, but what the Ateca majors on is practicality, space and comfort.
The Ateca also represents good value for money. It may use the same base as the Volkswagen Tiguan, but it has a much more affordable list price compared to its counterpart. For example, the entry-level version gets a good amount of standard kit yet is cheaper and more economical than even the most basic Hyundai Tucson.
The mid-level SE is the best choice if you want plenty of equipment without breaking the bank as it comes with dual-zone climate control, an eight-inch colour touchscreen, heated door mirrors, cruise control and 17-inch alloys.
Easy to drive and quiet on the move, the Ateca ticks all the right boxes as family transport helped by a big and user-friendly boot, rear seats with lots of leg room plus wide opening doors. It certainly feels more spacious than a Nissan Qashqai.
It drives well too with well weighted steering and good stability through corners. It's not the kind of car designed to be thrown into bends, but it copes admirably and feels stable and reassuring. It should also be cheap to run, particularly if you go for the 1.6 TDI which can average more than 65mpg according to the official figures at least.
For those that don't need diesel-power, the 1.4 TSI with 150PS provides smooth and brisk performance, making it ideal if you aren't covering long distances.
The SEAT Ateca is an easy crossover to recommend - helped by the fact it represents a lot of car for the money. Inside it feels more spacious than the competition yet is impressively refined and easy to drive. If you want a good quality crossover - look no further.
The Ateca’s interior will be familiar to anyone who has sat in a Leon hatchback. You get a largely grey dashboard with some stylishly ‘carved’ soft-touch plastics, a touchscreen infotainment screen and logically laid out air-con controls that appear in a host of other Volkswagen Group products including the Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Golf.
All-round visibility is good for a car in this class – and after driving it through Barcelona’s scooter-ridden rush hour traffic twice we really appreciated its high driving position, which gives a great view of the road ahead. Unusually for a modern car, the A-pillars are relatively thin – making it easier to see cyclists.
SEAT has fitted the Ateca with an eight-inch colour touchscreen display which has colourful graphics to liven up the cabin a little. It’s easy to use and responds well to swipe and pinch gestures for navigating through menus and around maps. This screen is standard on SE and Xcellence models, although just the latter gets sat-nav. Entry-level S models get a smaller five-inch monochrome screen which doesn’t feel right in such a cool-looking car.
You get cloth seats as standard, and top-spec Xcellence models come with reddish-brown suede-effect seats or black leather. They feel plenty comfortable for long journeys, and even keep you in place reasonably well if the driver starts throwing the Ateca into corners like a hot hatch…
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