Just to let people know a few more thoughts on
Cupra Ateca ownership. After the best part of two months, what is the
Cupra Ateca like to live with?
Coming from a pre-facelift Leon I felt immediately at home in the
Ateca. A number of
reviews that I have read criticise the interior for not being more 'special' than the SEAT version. I don't think that it is necessarily a bad thing. It was good to know where everything is without having to go through a laborious learning process. That being said, diving into the options on the touchscreen does give access to a lot more options than I previously had. The
Ateca does feel like a much bigger car than the Leon both inside and when trying to place it on the road. It's good to have the performance when needed, but the
Ateca makes a surprisingly good long distance cruiser. It is quiet at the legal limit, and considering the performance available is reasonably economical when it needs to be (although as one
review commented, if you do regularly access all the available performance, it's thirst for fuel is prodigious!)
I've just returned from a weeks holiday in Devon - for the geographically challenged, that's a fair hike from Darlington! On the way down, detouring via Bath I got over 35mpg and on the way back (averaging 65mph) I got 37.4mpg. My anxiety about range was completely unfounded - having filled up on leaving the B+B I still had over 100 miles range left when I got home (should have been good for about 450 miles in total).
Other than finding it a little thirsty on my daily commute (due to the nature of the journey it's difficult to crack 25mpg on the way to work! Coming home is a bit better) I've found very little to criticise about the car. It's facing it's next big challenge tomorrow with what I hope is going to be the first blitz on the garden this year - let's see just how much we can get in the boot!
The only worrying thing is a couple of noises that have started in the past couple of weeks. What initially sounded like some kind of fluid sloshing around has crystallised into some sort of suspension creak (I think). In the past couple of days the power steering has started joining in as well. A trip to the dealer very shortly is going to be in order. Given the level of service I've had in the past I'm not looking forward to it!