Formentor vs Seat Ateca

[thepiman]

I went to test drive a Seat Ateca today and ended up also test driving a Cupra Formentor. I tested both in a manual transmission, 1.5 petrol engine. If I get the Ateca it will be the top Experience Lux version, whereas if I get the Formentor it will be the entry level or the next one

As far as I can tell, the main differences (apart from the aesthetics/styling), on this particular engine are at follows:

0-62 is 8.9sec in the Formentor and 9.3sec in the Seat Ateca.

Formentor is 2mm wider and 70mm longer

Seat Ateca has old school buttons for the air con, whereas Formentor does this digitally.

Sound system in Formentor is Beats Audio, so marginally better than the standard sound system in the Ateca.

Bucket seats in the Formentor aren’t that comfy: I found the side bits weren’t set apart quite wide enough, for my slightly broad shoulders - this is a potential deal breaker for me, not sure whether I would get used to them.

The Driving position (and the car overall) is lower in the Formentor

My main questions are:

1) are the lack of physical buttons for key functions, like the climate control, annoying in the Formentor, or do you quickly get used to it?

2) are the bucket seats comfortable? I’m 6’1” and have a 43” chest

3) is the sound system in the Formentor noticeably better than in the Ateca?

 

[Tmat]

1) I haven't found it annoying. You can tap the - or the + , use hand gestures, slide on the bottom of the screen or as someone on another thread said you can just tap Auto and you'll not have to touch or adjust Climate.

 

[oldgitdave]

1) I haven't found it annoying. You can tap the - or the + , use hand gestures, slide on the bottom of the screen or as someone on another thread said you can just tap Auto and you'll not have to touch or adjust Climate.

And use voice control too

 

[thepiman]

And use voice control too

But in practice how does this work? I presume there is dual zone climate control. Is the command “Hola, Hola, turn up heating in driver zone”. Just seems likely to be inaccurate and difficult to dial in micro adjustments.

 

[TheUkWizard]

1) The whole Infotainment system is a bit rubbish on the formentor. Unlit buttons, fairly frequent freezing, glitches, Bluetooth stops working, seat heating stops working. Slow reaction to touch. Not sure if it's better in later models as mine is from may 21.

2) I find them to be really comfortable on mine, I have the vz2. If it's the same seats, work great for me and I do long motorway drives.

3) Cannot comment on this, beats was not available when I got mine. But my standard speaker system is pretty good.

Hope that helps. My main issue with the car is #1. Build quality is good though.

 

[pkaps]

I went to test drive a Seat Ateca today and ended up also test driving a Cupra Formentor. I tested both in a manual transmission, 1.5 petrol engine. If I get the Ateca it will be the top Experience Lux version, whereas if I get the Formentor it will be the entry level or the next one

As far as I can tell, the main differences (apart from the aesthetics/styling), on this particular engine are at follows:

0-62 is 8.9sec in the Formentor and 9.3sec in the Seat Ateca.

Formentor is 2mm wider and 70mm longer

Seat Ateca has old school buttons for the air con, whereas Formentor does this digitally.

Sound system in Formentor is Beats Audio, so marginally better than the standard sound system in the Ateca.

Bucket seats in the Formentor aren’t that comfy: I found the side bits weren’t set apart quite wide enough, for my slightly broad shoulders - this is a potential deal breaker for me, not sure whether I would get used to them.

The Driving position (and the car overall) is lower in the Formentor

My main questions are:

1) are the lack of physical buttons for key functions, like the climate control, annoying in the Formentor, or do you quickly get used to it?

2) are the bucket seats comfortable? I’m 6’1” and have a 43” chest

3) is the sound system in the Formentor noticeably better than in the Ateca?

Of all the above the only deal breaker would be the seats, because if now they don't feel comfy or wide enough for you, in time it will only get worse. I have the vz310 seats that are really great, (the 1.5 ones are different, they look wider) comfortable for long trips and at the same time very supportive, if they weren't I wouldn't have bought the car, simple as that.. Everything else doesn't really matter, you will get used to touch only controls, Beats audio is good enough, not great, don't expect a loud bass thumping, the sub size is limited, but its all and more of what you may need. And I'm saying that coming from cars that I had always upgraded stereo systems no matter what. If you can deal with the seating the Formentor wins in every aspect.

 

[thepiman]

1) The whole Infotainment system is a bit rubbish on the formentor. Unlit buttons, fairly frequent freezing, glitches, Bluetooth stops working, seat heating stops working. Slow reaction to touch. Not sure if it's better in later models as mine is from may 21.

2) I find them to be really comfortable on mine, I have the vz2. If it's the same seats, work great for me and I do long motorway drives.

3) Cannot comment on this, beats was not available when I got mine. But my standard speaker system is pretty good.

Hope that helps. My main issue with the car is #1. Build quality is good though.

Thanks @TheUkWizard. Re bucket seats, what size chest and height are you?

 

[oldgitdave]

But in practice how does this work? I presume there is dual zone climate control. Is the command “Hola, Hola, turn up heating in driver zone”. Just seems likely to be inaccurate and difficult to dial in micro adjustments.

As you've summised it's not that accurate tbh, it doesnt respond well to asking for an exact temperature but it's fun to use. The touch controls are very quick and easy to use now I'm used to them. I've switched off the voice activation and use the 'speak' button on the steering wheel else the assistant randomly pops up which was a pain.

With regards to 2) I find the bucket seats are great for me but I'm only 5'8" and 40" chest.

 

[JAG]

I'm 6'2 and have 42inch chest and I find the bucket seats comfortable, then again, I quite like the feeling of being "hugged" by the seats, gives me a warm fuzzy feeling when driving, expeditiously.

As for the controls, or lack of in the formentor, yes you do get used to them eventually, however to note, the temperature adjustment dials are not illuminated so can get fiddly, as the voice control I found wasnt of much use, takes ages to respond and carries out the request that by that point I've already changed it myself.

 

[Peyton]

1) I haven't found it annoying. You can tap the - or the + , use hand gestures, slide on the bottom of the screen or as someone on another thread said you can just tap Auto and you'll not have to touch or adjust Climate.

Do you know which hand gestures work for that?

For the OP:
Regarding the differences. I think that Ateca is a facelifted previous gen car - this probably means that the engine and the rest of the drivetrain is slightly older (using an older MQB platform variant). Not sure how significant that is but something to keep in mind. This is why it does not have the same infotainment as the Formentor - it's an older version. Maybe look into differences there (does Ateca get auto park functionality?)

Another thing to consider is whether Formentor or Ateca have dynamic chassis control (adjustable suspension) - I find this quite good and makes the car more enjoyable to drive. I am not sure if 1.5 Formentor gets that.

 

[rafletcher]

Touch screens are fine if you don’t wear gloves (mine are leather), which I do 5 months of the year, but I guess if you have a heated steering wheel that would obviate the need.

 

[Tmat]

Do you know which hand gestures work for that?

So I read on this thread that you can use hand gestures but it seems to be on the 10" screens and is a bit temperamental. Basically you can swipe left to right or right to left so if it did work for the climate controls I guess that's how one would increase or decrease the temp.

Things I have discovered about the car.

Android auto won't launch for me. Found this thread https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/community/details/Android-Auto-issue-Mate-20-Pro/topicId_37227/That all sounds like a support person who can't be bothered! I have android auto working perfectly. One thing I found is make sure it is not...

www.seatcupra.net

 

[ozzrahog]

If you buy the ateca every time you look at it you will wish you bought the formentor.

If you buy the formentor every the infotainment system glitches out you will wish you bought the ateca

 

[LetsForment]

Between the infotainment glitches, there will be a big smile on your face as you enjoy the Formentor.

 

[ozzrahog]

Between the infotainment glitches, there will be a big smile on your face as you enjoy the Formentor.

Between the infotainment glitches - you means those sweet short minutes where you are wondering what's going to go wrong on this drive

 

[thepiman]

If you buy the ateca every time you look at it you will wish you bought the formentor.

If you buy the formentor every the infotainment system glitches out you will wish you bought the ateca

This is very true! But more seriously, are there known glitches with the infotainment system on the Formentor? Or is it just a question of getting used to its controls?

 

[thepiman]

Another two areas of potential differentiation between the two cars is:

1) In the Formentor, the only way to get blind spot monitoring is to get an auto. No idea why this cannot be an option in the manual. We want a manual

2) an electrically heated front windshield (sometimes called Climacoat) is only available in the Seat Ateca (and only in the Excellence Lux trim) and, from what I can see, not available at all in any Formentor trim.

I can live with the absence of blind spot monitoring, as I’ve only ever had it on rental cars. But the absence of an electrically heated windscreen such that you can demist it silently - and without impacting the internal climate - would take some getting used to as I’ve had it on our current car (a 2012 Ford Fiesta that we’ve had for 8 years).

Is demisting the front windscreen in a Formentor painless?

 

[oldgitdave]

Is demisting the front windscreen in a Formentor painless?

It is in the hybrid. I simply set the windows to clear in the Connect app 5 or 10 minutes before I leave. Works great in my experience. The interior inc heated seats can be activated that way too if required. All are up to a maximum of 30 minutes then it switches off. I can't say if this option is available in non hybrids though.

 

[Tmat]

I'm excited to report that hand gestures work on the 12" infortainment screen too. It takes a lot of tries but you will see a flash of red light on the left or right side of the screen at the bottom and as you wave your hand from left to right or right to left there will be a sound and the screen will swipe in the direction your hand went.


I noticed when my hand goes near the screen the left and right arrows of my media are highlighted so I figured hand gestures must work. I tried on the temperature but it didn't do anything. I'll try again when I have more patience to see what happens.


And another thing...I waved my fingers where the blue and red lines are on the bottom left and it brought up the voice control symbol and level the volume is set to on the screen.

 

[marky]

If you buy the ateca every time you look at it you will wish you bought the formentor.

If you buy the formentor every the infotainment system glitches out you will wish you bought the ateca

I bought the formentor and wished I had kept my ateca