SEAT Ateca review – Reliability & safety

The Ateca is based on the same MQB platform that sits underneath such cars as the Skoda Octavia, Audi TT and the Volkswagen Tiguan. This means many of its parts are tried-and-tested and found in many other cars from a range of brands – especially the SEAT Leon hatchback, cars which have good reliability records and excellent safety ratings.

SEAT Ateca reliability

The SEAT Ateca has taken a bit of a tumble down the Driver Power rankings in recent years. While it finished in a very impressive 10th place out of the top 75 models in our 2021 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, in 2023 it had dropped down to 63rd position, only 12 spots away from the bottom. SEAT itself only fares a little better in the manufacturer ranking, finishing in 23rd place from 32 brands in 2023. Owners praised their cars for their value (coming in third place here), with a respectable 17th for running costs. We’ve heard reports of glitches with the screens, which is something to watch out for – nearly half of all reported issues were electrical.

Exterior style and fit-and-finish weren’t cause for celebration, though, and owners weren't especially impressed with the running costs of their cars either. Fuel consumption and servicing fees were rated as being rather more expensive than owners would like. Around 18% of those who participated in our survey reported one or more faults in the first year of ownership.

Safety

The SEAT Ateca was awarded the full five stars after independent Euro NCAP crash-testing, which is an excellent result. Specific ratings include 93% for adult protection and 84% for child occupant protection, only falling to 71% for pedestrian protection.

The Ateca has a number of supplementary systems fitted either as standard, or available as options. Key safety systems include lane-departure warning, autonomous emergency braking and active cruise control, plus Pre-Crash Assist which is standard on the range-topping model. All systems are slick to use, plus it’s easy to deactivate some of the more nagging settings easily using the menus on the touchscreen display.