Not Short Of A Few Kids

The Seat Ateca is an award-winning used family SUV, but can a fully loaded example tempt you away from a more upmarket Volkswagen Tiguan for the same money?

BADGE SNOBBERY IN the car world is a wicked thing, but we can all be seduced by it. Take the two cars we have here. The Seat Ateca is one of our favourite family SUVs, with a spacious interior, class-leading handling and immense practicality. It went straight to the top of its class when it was launched in 2016.

It’s actually heavily based on the other car we’re lining up here, the Volkswagen Tiguan, which has been around in its current form for a similar length of time. However, some would say the Tiguan is classier and wears a more desirable badge, and you’d certainly have paid a premium for it when these cars were new.

Here, though, we’re pitting a two-year-old, top-of-the-range Ateca, the 2.0 TDI 190 4Drive Xcellence, against a Tiguan of a similar age in 2.0 TDI 150 4Motion SE Nav trim, because they’ll now cost you about the same to buy, at around £21,000. Both come with four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox, and it’s the Ateca that scores here by being more powerful and better equipped. So, badges aside, which one makes more sense?

DRIVING

Performance, ride, handling, refinement

Both cars’ engines are well insulated. Sure, there’s a little diesel clatter at idle and they’re clearly audible when worked hard, but neither is intrusive in city driving or at a steady cruise. However, the Ateca’s bigger tyres create more road roar and you hear more wind noise. The