Cupra Ateca review

• For: Performance, practicality, handling
• Against: It’s a Seat with a fancy badge, bronze detailing
• Verdict: Cast your cynicism aside: this is a credible fast SUV

It would be easy to dismiss the Cupra Ateca as a marketing exercise. It is, after all, little more than a pumped-up Seat Ateca with some bronze badges.

Leave your cynicism at the door, however, because the Cupra is a performance SUV of some merit. In fact, when viewed in the context of rivals like the Porsche Macan and Audi SQ5, it’s quite a bargain.

Let’s remember that power is sourced from the same 300hp 2.0-litre turbocharged engine found in the previous Volkswagen Golf R, while four-wheel drive keeps the Cupra on the straight and narrow.

It’ll hit 62mph in just 4.9 seconds, plus a limited top speed of 155mph. The only downside is 32.5mpg economy – or considerably less if you get carried away.

You also get the same practicality as the regular Ateca, a long list of standard equipment and a pair of hip-hugging bucket seats.

Put the Cupra Ateca down as a guilty pleasure, then. It isn’t as convincing as the smaller and newer Cupra Formentor – the Spanish brand’s first standalone car – but it appeals to both heart and head.

KEY INFO

• Launched: 2018
• Facelifted: 2020
• Due for replacement: TBC