Skip advert
Advertisement

SEAT Ateca review - strong start from sporty Spanish SUV - SEAT Ateca MPG and running costs

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

Most frugal of all Atecas is the 1.6 TDI, with combined economy of 65.7mpg and a CO2 figure of 113g/km. Not that you should expect to replicate such numbers in the real world of course, and particularly not if you start loading the car with people and objects. In fact, we’d expect the larger 2-litre TDI versions to get closer to their quoted figures in regular driving (55.4mpg for the 150PS car, 53.3mpg for the 190PS) and if driven gently, the 2.0 TDIs won’t be a great deal thirstier than the 1.6.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Similar on paper is the 1.0 TSI, with a 54.3mpg combined number and 119g/km of CO2. Perhaps most impressive is the 1.4 EcoTSI, at 53.3mpg combined with as little as 120g/km of CO2 escaping from its exhaust pipe. The 60.1mpg “extra urban” figure, little more than 1mpg worse than the 1.0 TSI, hints at the benefits of cylinder deactivation while running at light throttle loads and constant speeds.

Typical Ateca driving is unlikely to chew through brakes or tyres at a significant rate and with insurance groups as low as 9E (for the 1.6 TDI) the Ateca probably won’t be too expensive to run in other ways either.

Skip advert
Advertisement
Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 review – the best hot Golf in years, and the fastest hot hatch we’ve tested
Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50
Reviews

Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 review – the best hot Golf in years, and the fastest hot hatch we’ve tested

With the Edition 50, Volkswagen has produced the most hardcore road-going Golf since the Clubsport S. It’s the best Mk8 yet, and the fastest hot hatch…
24 Jul 2026
The supercar concept cars that were too extreme even for the 1970s
Ferrari Modulo Concept
Features

The supercar concept cars that were too extreme even for the 1970s

The 1970s were a time of wild styling expression, but these concepts were too much even for the decade that style forgot
27 Jul 2026
The Mercedes A45 hot hatch is (almost) dead: this is the Final Edition
Mercedes A45 S Final Edition
News

The Mercedes A45 hot hatch is (almost) dead: this is the Final Edition

Regulatory pressure has pushed Mercedes-AMG’s hot hatch to the end of its production run, and this special marks the occasion
27 Jul 2026