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SEAT Ateca review - strong start from sporty Spanish SUV - SEAT Ateca interior and tech

SEAT's first SUV is among the better cars of its type, but you'll have to wait for the Cupra for any real excitement

Evo rating
RRP
from £17,990
  • Good value, well-equipped, neat handling
  • Little to enthral or excite until the Cupra arrives

If you’re at all familiar with the current generation SEAT Leon then you’ll quickly adapt to the Ateca, whose dashboard and general ambience are pretty much identical. There’s a raised driving position of course, though this is relatively subtle - no Range Rover-style commanding view here, and you sit little higher in relation to the dashboard then you do in a Leon. The slightly raised position does give you a better view of the road however, which some drivers may prefer.

SEAT has made in-car technology one of its primary missions over the last few years - a situation not unrelated to it having one of the youngest ownership pools of any mainstream manufacturer - and the Ateca is reasonably well-equipped as a result. A 5-inch Media System Touch with MP3 and USB is standard from the S model, but trading up to SE improves that to an 8-inch Media System Plus setup adding Bluetooth and voice control, eight speakers rather than four and Full Link connectivity - compatible with MirrorLink, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

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