• Plenty of space inside for passengers
• Generous boot capacity at 510 litres
• Lots of storage bins and cubbies

How much space is there?

Ample. There’s more than enough room for four passengers inside the SEAT Ateca – and the cabin has been designed in such a way that you don’t need to compromise on rear-seat leg room if you’ve got two tall people up front. The middle seat on the rear bench is a bit cramped due to the shape of the central tunnel, but the same is said of most family SUVs.

Every door gets a deep storage pocket, while the bin in the centre console is almost big enough to hold everything you might have with you in your car. Wallet, phone, house keys, small pets – it’ll all fit. You even get a sunglasses holder above the rear-view mirror and storage trays under the front seats, which helps keep the cabin clutter-free.

Boot space and storage

The Ateca has a seats-up capacity of 510 litres – but if you fold the rear bench flat, that figure swells to 1,604 litres. Lowering the seats is easy, too, as the handles are located in the boot. If you’re like us, it’s probably difficult to visualise what all those litre figures mean in real life. Basically, it’s almost the best in class, falling behind the Skoda Karoq for not having as many features (such as its Varioflex rear seats), and ahead of the next best, which is the Peugeot 3008).

You do get 60:40 split folding which adds to its flexibility, but we’d have like to have seen 40:20:40 as you’re seeing in an increasing number of rivals. The boot floor can be set at two heights to either liberate a little extra space or make it easier to haul items into the boot.

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Is it easy to park?

Considering how vast the Ateca’s interior feels, it’s a surprisingly easy car to manoeuvre. There’s plenty of glass, so visibility is good – and you get some extra assistance in the shape of standard-fit front and rear parking sensors. Spend a bit more money on the Xperience variant, and you’ll get a rear-view camera too.

Rather strangely, the Ateca also features park assist as standard, which can automatically steer the car into both parallel and end-on parking spaces. Normally, this sort of technology only arrives on models near the top of a car’s pecking order.

Safety

• Getting on, but lots of safety equipment as standard
• Older Five-star Euro NCAP safety rating
• Extra driver assistance tech optional

Euro NCAP awarded the SEAT Ateca a full five-star safety rating when tested way back in 2016 – and it’s easy to see why. You get seven airbags, seat belt reminders, electronic stability control, an electronic differential lock (called XDS), hill-hold control and a tyre-pressure monitor all as standard.

All cars come with Front Assist with City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Protection, Tiredness Recognition and a Multi-Collision Brake system as standard. Every model has cameras and sensors to detect an impending collision and take evasive action if required.

SEAT also offers a range of optional driver assistance technology packages, which add features like traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and traffic jam assist, which can take control of the steering brakes and throttle at low speeds. You have to pay extra for these, though. Expect the next VW Tiguan-based Ateca to take a leap forward in safety tech.

Watch: SEAT Ateca Euro NCAP crash test