Thanks to RKenny above pointing out the Silverstone event I became a fleet operator for today. Operate a small fleet of one car.
There were three Seat people on the stand. The only car on the stand was the
Ateca. They were all friendly enough and did not bother about my fleet being a bit on the small side.
The model on show was the
Ateca Xcellence, 4 wheel drive manual, panoramic roof, 8" sound with the sub woofer in the spare (? may be not - will post the picture up), electric tailgate, but cloth seats since it was in the European spec, left hand drive, not leather which is what the Xcellence is in for the UK which we all know that I'm sure. Colour Rodium Grey.
Lower power engine TDI spec than we get.
This is what I gleaned, as for colours we know what they are re the
brochure. Matt was kind enough to tell me the new colours that are not in the Seat range as yet, these are
Samoa Orange
Mato Brown
Jungle Green
The other colours are as per what you will see on other Seats in a
dealership.
Boot space with the 4 wheel drive, I measured that you would be able to get an item of at least 50 cms in height into the boot without removing the parcel shelf on top of the base speaker cover / spare wheel e.g. normal loading space. Not too sure whether you could get something heavy on there, the materiel looked like hardboard to me rather than ABS plastic. Had heavy weight wide screen glass TVs in my Altea in the past, not sure whether you would want to put something that heavy on the space. Will let others comment or consider the materiel that the
Leon Mk3 subwoofer / spare shelf is made off. 50cms height looked good to me since I'll be able to get my chiller box in. The Kadjar doesn't have the height for this.
As for space around the spare wheel. There seemed to be a few holes where you could put stuff in that you might already house around an Altea two level boot with a spare. The space is down a bit on that
lower level. It doesn't have the storage area under the parcel shelf that earlier Altea's had. Triangle, yellow jacket, breath test stuff all have to go underneath. So, some loss of space to put stuff at the back is apparent - possibly time to prune down what one carries about. 4 wheel drive takes out a slice of space in the rear
lower area which isn't an issue for those that don't go for this.
Sound system / head end, 8" screen. It had a CD drive in the glove compartment with two SD slots, assume one spare for music - that's what the guy said, the other one map. Plus two USB ports under the headend as you see in
brochure photos. The charging area is directly below where the USB connections are, so you can place your normal small smartphone there. There is another cubby hole in the glove compartment, spare space - that's what Matt called it. Guess that space is used for something else. To the right of the CD / SD navigation unit in the glove box. That hole isn't for the 10 speaker amp set up is it ?. I'm not convinced it was the Navigation System Plus on this car and that space to the left of the unit in the glove box might be where that amp goes that people talk about for other Seats with this set up ?. & is that just a CD drive... suspect a DVD.
Maps covered Europe, East Europe, excludes Cyprus and Crete. No beep for speed camera as we already know on VW systems although you are suppose to be able to upload the POIs and work out your own method for the beep via a smartphone app. Copy these onto the SD card and use a spare POI or something. There is information on a VW site, I'm sure I will be doing this and running my existing co-pilot as well for the bleeps and warnings but satnav for directions.
Didn't have a conversation on the bi-colour alloy wheels. Probably not a fleet thing.
Electric parking break this works different to a Merc which you do via pressing down the foot break hard to trigger on. The
Ateca one sounded a bit complicated for manual gear box, but since I will be getting a DSG you can just press the the button up and down just like a hand break. The back end of the switch does something else, an auto mode, not too sure how useful for a DSG. I'm sure the
Ateca threads will be discussing the parking break when the car comes out. Suppose to be similar set up as VWs so will let others fill in the dots as to how this is activated on Golf, manual and DSG.
Had a bad experience with a rental Megane that rolled between taking off the brake and putting it in gear. I use to have to choc the wheel to save damage to the vehicle and parked taxis. I think electric parking breaks are really designed for automatics not manuals.
OK, from the UK VW site with video on electronic parking brake use. The backend of the button is auto still hold, front end as per on and off electronic break. Mark mentioned you need your seat belt on else it won't engage and you won't be going anywhere, not mentioned in the video. The video is more about use with an automatic.
http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/technology/parking-and-manoeuvring/electronic-parking-brake
Think the Megane rolled before finding the biting point, so didn't have the hold still function or not turned on.
Problem with rentals you don't get the manuals these days.
On
Ateca leg room, this is all important to me being 6'1". That was totally OK and so was the headroom with the panoramic roof. Didn't try out the back. Seats, your normal comfortable bucket ones with an upright position like the Altea, so no backache inducing seating.
I can't say in Rodium Grey the car doesn't stand out too well. Told it's better in silver to catch the lines. You could walk past it and not notice it, which I did. Blended in with the grey exhibition carpets. It looked solid enough and was projecting
Ateca on either side of the door mirrors. A more solid build to the Kadjar.
The word now seems to be orders taken in July, so may have slipped back another month - reason for the June slippage not known - did ask. They will show it at car shows in the UK (?) plus select dealers leading up to September.
I think I've covered everything. Enjoy the wide angle photos and keep the discount sites coming.