Cupra Ateca - TopCarNews

Cupra Ateca (2018 – present) | Expert Rating [hide]

Summary

The Cupra Ateca is a performance version of the regular SEAT Ateca, and the first car to be branded as a stand-alone Cupra model. It is still sold and serviced from selected SEAT dealerships, but the performance is far superior to the regular SEAT versions.

Fundamentally, this is still a SEAT Ateca underneath, so size and interior layout are identical – as are the safety systems and overall Euro NCAP safety rating. Sales, servicing and warranty matters are also handled through the SEAT dealer network. Future Cupra models are expected to diverge more visibly from the SEAT range, although it may be a while before stand-alone Cupra dealerships start popping up.

The Cupra Ateca has received generally good reviews from performance-oriented motoring sources, which have praised its impressive performance for the money and for its rather unique proposition in the marketplace. The main criticisms are its almost unknown brand name and rather uninvolving driving experience compared to similarly-priced hot hatches.

A facelifted model was announced in summer 2020, in line with an update to the sister SEAT model. This included some minor styling tweaks and upgrades, and the revised Cupra Ateca arrived in the UK at the end of the year.

As of October 2021, the Cupra Ateca holds an Expert Rating of 65%, based on a total of 19 reviews published by the UK media.

Key specifications

Body style: Medium SUV/crossoverEngines: petrol
Price: From £39,075 on-road

Launched: Summer 2018Last updated: Autumn 2020
Replacement due: TBA

Image gallery

Cupra Ateca (2020 onwards)

Cupra Ateca (2018 – 2020)

Media reviews

Reviews, road test and comparisons from across the UK automotive media. Click any of the boxes to view.

The Car Expert

“The Cupra Ateca may be expensive, but it’s an attractive under-the-radar performance SUV. It’s practical, well-made and it goes like the clappers too.”
Read review

Auto Express

Score: 7 / 10“The Cupra Ateca is a talented performance SUV that offers tremendous pace, hot hatch-rivalling handling and loads of kit.”
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Auto Trader

Model reviewed: Score: 8.4 / 10“The Cupra Ateca is unique at this price point as a practical and comfortable family SUV that also offers plenty of excitement behind the wheel, and speed to match. To get close to it would require something like a Porsche Macan, which is several thousand pounds more expensive.”
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Autocar

Model reviewed: facelift rangeScore: 7 / 10“Despite dynamic foibles, there’s a fundamentally capable car here. The ride certainly isn’t deal-breakingly hard, and although ultimate dynamic appeal is lacking, the Cupra Ateca is a convincing enough fast daily driver.”
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Score: 7 / 10“As an affordable family-oriented driver’s car, it evades most attempts at serious objective criticism – but not all.”
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Car

Score: 8 / 10“Does the Ateca work as a Cupra model in its own right? In all honesty, this could well get away with still having a SEAT badge on the front, and with Cupra logos dotted about like they are currently.”
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Car Keys

Score: 8 / 10“The Cupra Ateca is a hugely attractive proposition. It ticks plenty of boxes and is both great to drive and also impressively useful and practical. Sure, some might find it too closely aligned to Seat still, but the Ateca is a hugely promising start for Cupra.”
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Carbuyer

Score: 7.6 / 10“The Cupra Ateca is an accomplished performance SUV at a tempting price but it’s a little short on character.”
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Carwow

Score: 7 / 10“The Cupra Ateca SUV is a brilliant family car that’s fast and great to drive, but you’ll have to accept its gloomy interior and boy racer exterior complete with tuner-esque branding.”
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Daily Mirror

Score: 6 / 10“SUV is fast, but it’s no sports car.”
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Evo

Model reviewed: 2020 faceliftScore: 6 / 10“Cupra’s performance SUV has been spruced up, but it’s not enough to keep it competitive in a very crowded segment.”
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Honest John

Model reviewed: Special EditionScore: 8 / 10“The fastest crossover SUV on sale for (vaguely) sensible money.”
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Motoring Research

Model reviewed: Range overviewScore: 8 / 10“It would be easy to dismiss the Cupra Ateca as a badge-engineered folly. Cast your cynicism aside: this is a credible fast SUV”
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Parkers

Score: 7.8 / 10“SEAT’s Cupra brand debuts with a sporty SUV”
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The Sun

“The Cupra Ateca is ahead of the SUV game with quick steering and good balance.”
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The Telegraph

Score: 8 / 10“SEAT’s… sorry, Cupra’s Golf R on stilts is a surprisingly effective hot hatch substitute, and retains all the good points that make the cooking Ateca such a winner. It’s not as involving as some hot hatches, but it’s still plenty of fun – and it offers something unique.”
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Top Gear

Score: 7 / 10“There’s not much else like it for the money, so long as you can get your head around the badge… and the price.”
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What Car?

Score: 8 / 10“The Cupra Ateca gives you huge performance and impressive practicality for a reasonable price. However, the closely related Volkswagen T-Roc R costs similar money and is even more fun.”
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Which?

Score: 6.9 / 10“The Cupra Ateca is a relatively unusual proposition in the mid-size SUV class, as high-performance off-roaders tend to sit in the upper echelons of the large SUV market. As such this Ateca has few natural rivals, the closest being the vastly more expensive Audi RS Q3.”
Read review

Safety rating

Overall rating: 5 stars
Date tested: June 2016

93%

ADULT OCCUPANT

84%

CHILD OCCUPANT

71%

VULNERABLE ROAD USERS

60%

SAFETY ASSIST

Read full Euro NCAP review

Eco rating

No eco rating

The Cupra Ateca has not yet been lab tested by Green NCAP. This is a new initiative, launched in 2018 as a sister organisation to Euro NCAP. As yet, very few new cars have been tested for environmental impact by Green NCAP, and inevitably the testing programme was halted in early 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic.

Awards

Trophies, prizes and awards that the Cupra Ateca has received

2019

What Car? Awards – Best Sports SUV
Scottish Car of the Year Awards – Sports Car of the Year

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Keyword: Cupra Ateca