Just ordered Ateca FR 1.4 TSI manual...

[pubsinger]

...and as expected delivery not expected till 2018.

I've seen the FR publicity photos of the red FR and really fancied it in that colour, still no sign of it on the configurator but it does appear in the Ateca brochure as velvet red. Currently have a 2013 Leon in Emocion Red and really fancied an Ateca in similar metallic colour which the brochure appears to show.

However, velvet red is nothing like the brochure or publicity images, our dealer had a swatch on a model car about 20cm long and the colour is burgundy, much like the 'passion red' that they had on an Alhambra in the showroom. I asked if they had any orders coming in for an Ateca in velvet red, not in the near future however they'll let me know when one is coming in so I can see it in the flesh, have gone with black magic for now.

Seems the colour can be changed right up to the last minute, almost, so some comfort there.

This will be the 4th new car we've had with our local dealer, went in with the CarWow offers and they beat the best by £100, have fixed the price for the Leon and, as it won't be turning up till sometime in Jan at the earliest, said we could delay till 1st March for the new plate.

Have gone for heated screen, winter pack, electric tailgate, Seat Sound, double boot and top view camera.

All the best

Pub

 

[weasley]

When I enquired about the Ateca FR I was told they wouldn't be taking orders until at least October. And expect a 3 month wait for the TSi engine. I might wait and see what the spec/price comparisons with the Skoda Koraq look like.

 

[Tell]

Red's my favourite colour... but I didn't go for it in the Ateca at the time since it wasn't metallic. Have you checked whether the paint code appears on any of the current Skoda's or is it a bit like the Samoa Orange which was unique.

Pubsinger you might want to think about adding Park Assist which brings in full ultrasound, without it you get it at the back but not anywhere else. It nicely complements Top View working together. There have been a lot of people ordering Top View and finding they don't have full ultrasound. Since it's a high car what the front sides are actually doing can be tricky as you snuggle up against parked cars when you turn in to a row of them. For top view you need light to see what's happening and the sides can get a bit distorted in the image. Thus I find the ultrasound handy when it's squealing at me in some circumstances. I've never used the park assist as in parking the car thou. I do love top view, minimises flapping around in parking in grid marked areas, against walls etc.

 

[pubsinger]

Pubsinger you might want to think about adding Park Assist which brings in full ultrasound, without it you get it at the back but not anywhere else....

Top tip! £330 option so it's not stupidly expensive.

However what is 'Front Assist, City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Protection' which is standard across the range?

Pub

 

[pubsinger]

However what is 'Front Assist, City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Protection' which is standard across the range?

Never mind, found it...

Extra help is always welcome, especially in your day-to-day. That’s why Front Assist will warn you if the distance between your car and the one in front is reduced. If there's no reaction from the driver, the Front Assist system will slow the vehicle down. Pedestrian protection detects crossing pedestrians and automatically activates the brakes.

Pub

 

[Tell]

Top tip! £330 option so it's not stupidly expensive.

However what is 'Front Assist, City Emergency Braking and Pedestrian Protection' which is standard across the range?

Pub

That's the front looking radar behind the S badge. Will do an emergency stop or give you a warning a fraction of a second before doing that.

It can't be switched off, just toggled off at the start of each journey. It has two settings, normal and late. Some people find it an issue. If you drive too close in an aggressive style it will break and warn so you can set it too late.

I have never had it jam on the brakes needlessly. Once on a mini roundabout when I was checking for traffic from the right but un be known to me a tailback had built up across the roundabout so it slammed the brake on. Normally when you get the warning which is the MFD showing completely red with a car icon and a loud siren pitch you hit the brakes before it. False positives can be generated by tall hedgerow, bendy roads, rock walls, single track passing and lorries spinning around off the side of the road. Some people say metallic rubbish blowing on the road.

If it becomes troubling you set it to late. I've kept mine on normal. The other thing that effects it's use is road spray when it turns itself off and warns you with an icon that you are on your own. It eventually dries out, the warning icon goes and you have full protection.

There is another warning I have never seen but thats when you are high speed tailgating. I don't do that. It shows two cars together.

They were first fitted to Golf mk7s from circa 2012 so you can read about all the niggles on boards since then... they are on Skoda now. It does actually reduce insurance and wins points on NCAP safety.

Blind spot is another useful add-on. So you get an orange flash in the mirrors on cars creeping up in the blind spots, this option gives you rear assist so if you are reversing the rear radars pickup passing cars ahead of them appearing, you get a beep and a red graphic marking in the reversing camera image on the side the car is approaching from. So the rear radars in this option get used for two functions.

 

[pubsinger]

Blind spot is another useful add-on. So you get an orange flash in the mirrors on cars creeping up in the blind spots...

Yeah had it on the Excellence we test drove, however as it only comes in Advanced driving packs costing either £805 or £995 I can do without it.

I'll think about the front sensors over the weekend, not sure they're going to give me anything the top view camera doesn't.

Pub

 

[barnybullet]

Just ordered a 1.4TSI FR manual in black today to replace my little 1.2 Leon. Might not be as nippy as the wife's Ibiza FR edition but will be a lot more posh and comfortable!!

Also been told to expect around 6 months build time due to the demand for the 1.4 engine (would have been longer if i went for the 19 Inch wheels!) but that doesn't bother me as i plan to have this car for a long time so can cope with a few months.

Would have likes the 190 petrol engine but couldn't justify the extra cost just for the slight performance increase.

 

[Tell]

Is that with the lovely alcantara seats they wouldn't offer in the UK on Xcellences. One of my two beefs on the car although you do get use to leather in the end.

 

[barnybullet]

I went for the leather seat upgrade, mainly as they will be easier to clean with 3 young kids!!

 

[Tell]

I changed my mind of leather after I had a wobble with a mug of coffee looking for somewhere to put it down. I note chocolate pieces also stick on the leather. Now I know where to put the mug in the car (on a tray on the dash), I'll go for alcantara if it's in the sister bigger car.

 

[CyberGene]

After we've recently got a baby, I am considering upgrading my Leon SC FR since it's a major pain in the ass with the two doors, plus the ride is kind of harsh. Not in a real hurry but should definitely do that. My eyes are currently on the Ateca FR 1.4 TSI 4DRIVE manual and I've prepared an (unsubmitted) configuration with the bare minimum:

- Top View 360-degree camera
- Park assist with all-side parking sensors
- Full-link (Apple CarPlay)
- Adaptive cruise control

Not sure if there are any equipment differences between FR standard in Bulgaria and UK but do you think there's some really cool extra I should consider adding too? The FR in Bulgaria comes with LED lights, 18" wheels, drive profiles.

I really don't need sat-nav because I don't use the one in my Leon (there are no updates and it's very slow and silly). Google Maps, Waze and even Apple Maps are light years ahead in terms of usability. The FR comes as standard with the 8" Media System so should be good with the CarPlay connectivity and Apple Maps I think. What bothers me is that without the satnav the dashboard display will be the monochrome one and I am really used to the eye candy of the color one in my Leon so might go for the sat-nav just to get the color dashboard display. Does anyone have the monochrome dashboard display in his Ateca and willing to make a few pictures for me to see whether it's too low res?

Any other extras you've got and think they are really worth it?

They told me 6-8 months would be needed though.

I test drove a Honda Civic Hatchback 1.5 Sport manual and I was really fascinated with it. It's about the same price as the Ateca FR and we can have our preferred red color delivered in a month or have black, white, gray or silver right away. What I'm concerned it it's a bit too sporty and probably low-riding and might not be good for our roads here in Bulgaria.

Also, for slightly less money I can have a Golf Highline 1.5 TSI EVO manual with equivalent equipment and it's a pretty serious contender too, although not too much of an upgrade from my SC FR besides the 4 doors but on the other hand it's a VW quality...

What would you recommend me?

 

[Tell]

I think your list of four extras is good, I would add the satnav as well which you sort of said you would latter. For the standard satnav you can now frig the files to give yourself an update, see

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/showthread.php?t=388586&page=27

You preserve the original copy of your OVERALL.NDS by taking a copy of it. Take a copy of all of the SD card. You then delete / reformat the SD card then copy the latest release back onto it, then overwrite the new OVERALL.NDS with your old one. It's an unofficial workaround for where mapcare isn't provided. It works with the Ateca standard unit. I have the Plus unit so I'm still looking into this issue.

When you download the map files from the Navigation site you need to do that on a PC rather than a Mac since extraneous files can get download altough people into Macs know which files to delete by extension. All of the MIB2 devices in the VAG group split into the standard or the Pro (Plus), you can use any download as long as it's the correct one. On a thread on here I name which ones to use. Sometimes the Skoda ones come out ahead of the VW ones etc. The files are multi VAG, nothing special as long as you pick whether it's the standard or Pro (Plus).

Pass on how it looks in monochrome. The vast number of Ateca's supplied in the UK were the Xcellence with the built in standard satnav. As far as presentation they look identical to the plus unit since the box is in the glove compartment. The plus is faster, but in the UK most people short of a bob or two went for the standard unit.

On extras, suggestions. The spare wheel with the Seat sound system is good to have. You get the extra centre mid bass speaker and the subwoofer in the boot plus the security of having a spare (skinny). Related to this there is the discussion on the two level boot, pass on that, having 4Drive you get two levels but not variable. On the spare Seat don't sell Ateca skinnies after purchase / supply - can't be post ordered, you buy a Leon one which is the same, but you can't buy the foam moulding that the 4drive has supplied with the skinny. Some people move their Leon skinny over, also the boot under carpet which is lacking in the Ateca. So there are few wrinkles in the boot on what's supplied, what can be supplied after purchase.

I love the 360 cameras and the full round ultrasound. The latter is handy for slithering in between parked cars in a row where the 360 is good on road markings, well lit front walls etc, but not so good on the side.

At this point I normally pile it in and recommend blind spot with rear cross. That I find good so you get a warning in car parks if someone is about to cut across the back. It uses the same rear pointing radar for both giving you the symbol in the mirrors of a car in your blind spot.

The electric tailgate is good when your hands are full or / and it's an effort to reach up to close the tailgate. I love that feature as well.

I tend not to use the ACC although I have it. Close following cars throwing up stones with windscreen cracks isn't good since replacing the windscreen also requires the camera in the windscreen to be re-calibrated. This equipment is in short supply although the cost is covered in the insurance repair but has been known to lead to weeks of delay. Garages don't have the kit. There is also an issue on wheel alignment where VAG equipment is required. These are the downsides of having the level of automation built into the car.

I am happy with the car except I came from an Altea which had more room, coming from a Leon I don't think you will notice my pet hate of the lack of front passenger legroom. It's TDI190 I've got it's proved to be reliable apart from four or so build issues I had to get fixed after delivery. Heated wing mirror wire not attached, tailgate control unit one of the duff ones shipped in week 37 or thereabouts. When I remember the other two build issues I'll type them in... ah no wireless charger, Xcellences in the UK have them in the spec but their build tables were not sorted out so when I ordered the Ateca with the Plus Infotainment system they never built it in since the factory were not building the cars to the advertised spec.

 

[CyberGene]

Thanks mate, that was really helpful!

As for the monochrome display, I meant the display between the speedometer and tachometer. In Bulgaria SEAT cars with no satnav (media only) come with a monochrome display. I've seen a coworker with a monochrome in his Leon and it looked a bit low-res and wondered if it's the same for Ateca too. But purchasing satnav to only get this tiny display in color seems overkill so I'd probably skip it.

Still wondering if a Civic is a good family car. Looked like more roomy than my SC but apparently very different concept compared to a SUV such as the Ateca. I've never considered SUV before to be honest but having a kid now and thinking a higher riding car might be better for kids than a (rather sporty) hatchback.

 

[Tell]

Ah Panoramic roof for the kid then. They are suppose to like it in the back with the blind open as the world flashes by. I just use it as a treat when waiting ferries, to get some air in. I like the high riding position and ease of getting in and out. You get a big tall boot as well.

 

[barnybullet]

heard from my dealer today and i have a build week of 41 (8th of oct?) hopefully that will lock in at the end of next week once its 4 weeks away and i should be due my car at he start of november. That would be just over 3 months which is not bad. Looks like they may have brought some Fr models forward to get them out on the streets.

 

[CyberGene]

That would be just over 3 months which is not bad. Looks like they may have brought some Fr models forward to get them out on the streets.

Exactly my speculative theory I've expressed on the other forum So glad to hear that for you! Hopefully I will have the same good luck. They told me I was the first customer to order a FR in Bulgaria

 

[Tell]

heard from my dealer today and i have a build week of 41 (8th of oct?) hopefully that will lock in at the end of next week once its 4 weeks away and i should be due my car at he start of november. That would be just over 3 months which is not bad. Looks like they may have brought some Fr models forward to get them out on the streets.

That's good news. I reckon if you get in early with a model you do get it ahead. Your date, build and delivery are similar to mine last year on my Xcellence. July, September, November. Also reckon the build quality is better on early production although some people say otherwise.

Think CyberGene was the red one on order, so unless there are the same orange paint shortages in that colour you may be ok. Seat UK management do a good job of getting build volumes to the UK, have a theory that it might be related to VW finance that VW secure loans against the financial commitments of UK drivers. That's only a theory, but I can't see why otherwise the UK does well unless if it isn't good management by Seat UK to get volumes. The ongoing question of why Europe waits longer for Ateca's than the UK.