SEAT ATECA FR
A FIRST-TIME contender for the New Zealandcompanyvehicle COTY and a deserving one at that. SEAT has only been in the New Zealand market for a short space of time, but it has already delivered a brace of very capable SUVS, with more to come from the born in Barcelona brand.
The Arona was our first introduction to the SEAT brand, but it was the bigger brother – the Ateca, driven a few weeks after the Arona’s debut – that won the hearts and motoring minds of our judging panel.
With its high levels of build quality, exceptional equipment levels, solid safety specification and above all, five-by-five fun factor, the Ateca delivered a roundhouse kick/tick for all our boxes.
It’s a practical and desirable SUV/CUV with the added attraction of delivering a thoroughly engaging drive at a very reasonable price point.
We appreciated the level of sophistication embodied in the appointment of the Ateca and that same sophistication carries through to the hero engine, the two-litre, turbocharged petrol, with its 140kw of power and 320Nm of torque, smoothly delivered through a very slick seven-speed transmission.
Add to this a level of road-holding via the Ateca’s multi-terrain, dial-up, all-wheel- drive system and point-and-shoot response which you wouldn’t expect to find on many SUVS.
In addition, SEAT vehicles carry a host of features we would expect to find on vehicles whose brand’s have a longer standing history in New Zealand. To have the out- of-nowhere Ateca come into our market fully loaded, so to speak, how could we not give it the recognition it deserves?
With an impressive build pedigree linking through to the Volkswagen family, the SEAT is easily comparable and is in fact very similar to other SUVS from the parent group’s multibrand offerings, but in terms of this size of SUV, the Ateca carries it off with a style all its own, appealing to the fresh, fun and chic buyer’s market.
This might lead some to suspect that
Ateca is geared more towards the private buyer than the corporate or small to medium business fleet, but that’s not necessarily the case.
As far as a being an SUV to suit a company fleet, the Ateca cries out “individuality’’ among the ordinary and that too, is part of the reason the two-litre, five-seater which looks hauntingly familiar, but very distinctive in the same glance, is worthy of our award.