• Petrol only, no hybrids or diesels
• 1.5-litre petrol is a great all-rounder
• Four-wheel drive models thirstier

What are the running costs?

Since the end of 2023, diesels and 2.0-litre petrols have been dropped from the range. That’s a shame because diesel-powered Atecas offered appealing fuel economy. However, the Ateca’s 150hp 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol is excellent at delivering the good, with more than 40mpg easily achievable. In our real-world testing, we averaged 38.5mpg in a mix of city and motorway driving.

The petrol engine is lifted from Volkswagen’s parts bin and features a cylinder deactivation system that shuts down two cylinders under light loads to save fuel. This technology is also used in the entry-level 110hp three-cylinder petrol version, which struggled to better the 1.5’s mpg figures, mainly on account of needing to be worked harder to keep up with the flow.

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According to our figures, you’ll get 4.8 - 7.5 mpp (miles per pound) from an Ateca – good, if not at the top end of the class.

Servicing and warranty

SEAT can’t match the likes of Kia and Hyundai for warranty. New Atecas come with a three-year or 60,000-mile manufacturer warranty as standard, although buyers can pay extra to have that extended to four years/75,000 miles or five years/90,000 miles.

Servicing intervals are once a year (or every 20,000 miles) – and you shouldn’t have many surprises when you take the Ateca to the garage, as it’s based on rock-solid Volkswagen mechanicals. SEAT also offers a servicing plan to cover the cost of the car’s first and second services.

Reliability

• Little to be concerned about
• Leon has a strong reliability record…
• So the Ateca should, too

As we’ve already mentioned, the Ateca was pieced together from the Volkswagen Group parts bin, sharing its chassis and engines with cars such as the Volkswagen Tiguan, Skoda Karoq and SEAT Leon, all of which have strong reliability records.

In short, we don’t think you’ll have many problems with your SEAT Ateca. There were two recalls in 2019 relating to a cracked front seat frame and the engine producing too little torque. The former affected a small amount of vehicles – and you can easily check if your potential purchase has had these issues remedied if you plan to buy used.

Our observations on the Ateca’s reliability are backed up by real buyers from our owners reviews section. The results for the car are overwhelmingly positive, with just a handful of readers reporting some minor electrical gremlins.