Sunday Drive: Seat Ateca FR 4Drive

Friday, 26 March 2021

Seat has given the Ateca SUV a refresh for 2021. The hot Cupra gets one too!

SEAT ATECA FR 4DRIVE
Base price: $52,990
Powertrain and economy: 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, 140kW/320Nm, 7-speed dual clutch transmission, AWD, combined economy 6.9L/100km, CO2 158g/km (source: RightCar).

It’s easy to say the Seat Ateca FR 4Drive is just a cut-price Tiguan, but that would be doing it a disservice.

Vital statistics:4363mm long, 1841mm wide, 1625mm high, 2638mm wheelbase, luggage capacity 510 litres, 19-inch alloy wheels.
Safety: Untested (ANCAP), five stars (EuroNCAP, 2016).

The rear end looks a little Skoda-like, with a Porsche-inspired script beneath the number plate.

At a glance: A medium SUV that’s essentially a Volkswagen with same reliability, all-wheel drive, more interesting looks and a smaller price tag
Who should consider it: Small families that want the extra capabilities of all-wheel drive.

The Seat Ateca FR 4Drive has always been high on our list of recommended crossover SUVs. This year, Seat has given the Ateca an update, consisting of a new face, more equipment and a redesigned interior. However, the price has crept up too, with the FR 4Drive version now starting at $52,990, a grand more than before.

There’s a new infotainment system (with off-road displays) that, frustratingly, ditches the physical volume control knob.

ON THE OUTSIDE

Seat has tweaked the exterior of the Ateca a bit for 2021, with the new model getting the same facial styling as the larger Tarraco. That means a new grille, intakes, headlight clusters and lower fascia.

**READ MORE:

That’s a familiar sight – Volkswagen’s 2.0-litre turbocharger four-cylinder.

* First drive review: Seat Ateca and Cupra Ateca

* Road test review: Seat Ateca FR 4Drive

* How Volkswagen has turned the Golf into an SUV

The Ateca FR 4Drive has good towing capability, all-wheel drive, and a really rather good steering/suspension set-up.

Around the back ‘Ateca’ is written out in a swoopy new font while the exhaust is now hidden behind the bumper. It seems Seat was going for a sort of Porsche vibe with the model’s text but, to me, it looks a little cheap.

The rest of the Ateca is the same as last year’s model. There are cool, angular headlights with LED DRLs, big 19-inch wheels, sculpted wheel arches, a small roof spoiler and LED rear lights in a similar shape to the headlights.

ON THE INSIDE

The best do-it-all-for-the-money offering on the market? It’s hard to beat, that’s for sure.

The 2021 Ateca gets a new infotainment display which replaces the old, ‘menu-buttons-in-the-corners’ unit for a more conventional ‘icons-at-the-bottom-like-an-iPad’ screen. That’s nice, but Seat also seems to have accidentally thrown out the physical volume control knob too.

There are two touchpads for volume now, which are objectively worse to use than a knob, although if you’re driving there’s still the wheel on the, er, steering wheel.

This particular model had the optional Urban Pack applied, which adds adaptive cruise control, a top-view 360-degree camera, park assist and a wireless phone charger.

All versions of the Ateca get active safety stuff like city emergency braking and pedestrian protection, side assist and exit assist, while the infotainment system now supports wireless Apple CarPlay (Android Auto is also included, but isn’t wireless) and embedded satellite navigation with three years of free Mapcare updates. There’s also keyless entry and start, four USB-C ports and a sports leather steering wheel.

Aside from those changes, this is a decidedly Volkswagen interior, for better or worse.

UNDER THE BONNET

There’s no change here – it’s the tried-and-true 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder from Volkswagen powering both axles. It makes respectable power, 140kW/320Nm, enough to get the Ateca out of the gates faster than you might expect.

In FR 4Drive trim, the accompanying transmission is another Volkswagen Group standard, the seven-speed DSG. It’s about as well refined as a transmission can get, the only hint of dual-clutch-ness being an occasionally lurchy launch or a rough gear engagement. But those are few and far between.

Fuel consumption is reasonable, considering the all-wheel drive system, with 6.9L/100km combined.

ON THE ROAD

Seat says the 4Drive-equipped Ateca can hit 100km/h in 7.1 seconds but, arguably more importantly, it can tow 750kg unbraked. That means it can tow pretty much anything you might need for a camping trip away, while also having a nicer ride than most utes at the same price.

Honestly though, this is broadly identical to the other medium SUVs from the Volkswagen Group in its driving dynamics. The Ateca does feel sportier than something like the Skoda Karoq but that’s probably due to the fact the Skoda makes do with the 1.3-litre turbo engine and front-wheel drive.

Volkswagen has just updated the Tiguan, with the Style 4Motion all-wheel drive version due to land in July, so I’ll reserve comparisons with that for now. I will mention the Style 4WD starts at $59,990 and offers the same powertrain as the Ateca FR 4Drive.

The steering is surprisingly sharp, as is the suspension tune (without being too firm), which lets the Ateca really get through the bends. That transmission is lightning quick to change, particularly noticeable when using the paddles behind the wheel.

VERDICT

So is this a Tiguan on the cheap? It’s easy to say that it is, which isn't entirely untrue, given how similar the two are under the skin. However, Seat’s styling sets the Ateca comfortably apart and its own tune on the MQB platform means it feels better to drive fast as well.

The Ateca sits between the Tiguan Comfortline 2WD and R Line 2WD in terms of price, but to get AWD you have to jump up to the $58,990 Highline that still has less power (132kW) than the Ateca FR.

However, if you do want that 140kW powertrain with a VW badge, you’ll need to be happy with dropping some internal storage capacity and 10kg off the towing limit because the only close model to the Seat is the T-Roc R-Line, for $53,990.