The Seat Ateca Is Here To Give The Nissan Qashqai A Crossover-Shaped Punch In The Face

If you’re in the business of making cars these days, it’s pretty foolish not to make a crossover. So, it’s no surprise to see that Seat has now jumped on the jacked-up hatchback bandwagon - albeit belatedly - with this: the Ateca.

It sits on VW Group’s MQB chassis - something it shares with the Leon hatchback, along with much of the car’s styling and its interior. We’ve always found the Leon’s interior a little drab, but we don’t mind the Ateca pinching some styling cues from the car, as it’s resulted in a handsome thing.

Engine-wise, you’ve a choice between a dinky 113bhp 1.0-litre petrol, a 1.4-litre with 148bhp, a 1.6-litre TDI with 113bhp, or a 2.0-litre TDI with 148bhp or 187bhp. Both manual and twin-clutch DSG gearboxes are available, and you can have your Ateca in either front or four-wheel drive flavours.

There are some interesting technical highlights, including Traffic Jam Assist, which takes care of the accelerating, braking and steering at speeds of up to 37mph to make ‘progress in heavy stop-start traffic far more bearable.’ There’s also Emergency Assist which - if it calls for it - can gently slow the car down if the driver is ‘inactive’ for too long. Oh, and it also has special LED lights that project the car’s name onto the ground; a bit like a similar feature found on the Range Rover Sport, which is a potential source for hideous embarrassment.

Want one? It’ll be in showrooms from this September, and given that it’s taking on cars like the Nissan Qashqai, you can expect a starting price of around £15,000. It’ll make its public debut at the Geneva motor show.