What colour?

Mark GF Smith

Active Member
Aug 25, 2014
23
0
Derby
Mark, very nice, I picked them up off the email. I like myself how the metallic paint plays games with the car's colour. If you examine closely you can see the particles. My rhodium grey turns green when covered in condensation, bright day it's blue, towards green on an overcast day.

I see your posted pictures fell foul of Photobucket extortion racket for money. I moved over to Imgur photo website when it blocked all my posted photos for being visited too much..

There is no truth in the rumour that the Ateca gives you a hard ride. No different from a usual Seat ride. I'm on 19" - slow down for ramps thou. I see the other Ateca English board, "the misery board", is having more misery than normal ;).

Yes Tell, I find SEAT's have a good balance between handling and firm ride. The Ateca has a good ride on the 18's. I would have had the 19's but it was pushing my budget. I've seen your posts regarding the legroom in the front passenger side. I was actually surprised by how much room there was compared to the Leon. I prefer being in the Ateca as a passenger because the seat is higher. I feel my 6'3" frame fits reasonably well though I'm not sure about a long journeys.
 
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CyberGene

Active Member
Apr 26, 2008
306
1
Sofia, Bulgaria
Thanks for the opinion Mark, sounds promising regarding the ride and the passenger space. I was afraid about the ride quality but also coming from 5 (almost) hot hatches before that I really need no sacrifices on the handling so Ateca sounds like a nice middle ground.
 

Tell

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I prefer being in the Ateca as a passenger because the seat is higher. I feel my 6'3" frame fits reasonably well though I'm not sure about a long journeys.

Mark, yes my problems revolves around what Honest John said recently that SUVs can have less cabin comfort than MPVs, so the Altea to the Ateca as a front passenger chunks out the front legroom in comparison. Leon to Ateca gives you the height, I had it but lost the legroom. One solution is to get drunk before a journey or to be in a good mood. Hoping to fix it with that new car. The closeness of ones legs to the glove box in the Ateca is just a joke. Relaxing down in the seat now I can't straighten my leg out since it hits the glove box... I would have been happy if Seat had skipped the Ateca and had gone straight to the Kodiaq one, rebel as I am. Their like the Leon, you will like the Ateca marketing early on was right.
 

Tell

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CyberGene

Active Member
Apr 26, 2008
306
1
Sofia, Bulgaria
On seat.com for Arona, the design page, there are color names, it's desire red, not velvet, so must be different. I believe velvet red is a Skoda color, it's available on Kodiaq so I'll go to a Skoda showroom to check
 

Tell

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Velvet Red (K1K1) is also a Skoda colour so I think you are best placed to look for that colour in your home country at a Skoda dealer. In the UK velvet red isn't being sold on the Ateca neither on the Kodiaq so I think VAG has a company policy not to sell that colour in the UK although it's available in Ireland which is also RHD so nothing to do with production runs. Desire Red from the Irish Seat configurator since the UK was down is paint code E1E1.

I see Desire Red is available on a Kodiaq model car and a bit brighter than one may have thought

http://www.obautodily.cz/skoda-kodiaq-1-43-norev-red-velvet-9688cz2386/

I think it's this colour

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=k...Q7AkIKQ&biw=768&bih=892#imgrc=y_VhocCiSCAj1M:

So if you do visit a Skoda dealer and can't find it on a showroom car start flicking over the Skoda paint test balls and look for K1K1.

These people make the tester balls where the image above appears

http://www.4showroom.com/velvet-red---k1k1-i161.html

This link gives a range of images for it on the Ateca (described as Farbe rot ((Velvet Rot(K1K1))) metallic)

https://www.autos-erleben.de/fahrze...ara-p-nav-gsd-winter-p-fracht-bes_935798.html

Oh what fun.
 

CyberGene

Active Member
Apr 26, 2008
306
1
Sofia, Bulgaria
I'm still thinking whether I should change the order to the Samoa Orange instead. My wife was the driving force behind the choice of Velvet Red, however on Internet pictures it's too difficult to know whether it looks the same way in flesh. And there's a Samoa Orange Ateca in the showroom that we both like.
 

Tell

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I think with the orange paint you are making a statement. I've seen one cruise round a supermarket car park, very bright. Not so sure whether one would get tired of it thou. If velvet red had hints of dark red in it I think it would be nice. Had a magenta car once, that attracted too much heat. Went to Seat silver one car back, was quite bronze in colour. Rejected the current bright silver so went for rhodium but if there had been a metallic red with hints of dark red in it would have considered it.

I would see if you can find that colour on a Skoda or on one of the test balls. People who bought Samoa last year on pre order didn't know what colour they were actually buying. Tricky is the colour especially if you can't see it on the car. I did see the rhodium grey on the car in May 2016 but indoors and then sort out other Seats in that colour outdoors to check with the partner but until I got it I didn't really know how it would look outside. Under artificial light it doesn't look the same. Those testers need to be taken into daylight.
 

camelspyyder

2 SEAT-er
Jun 26, 2014
1,305
175
Wierdly, the same colour can look very different on 2 near identical cars. The Skoda Rapid looks fine in Race Blue, but the same shade (Ocean Blue) on a Toledo makes it look umm, awkward.
Rhodium grey looks a lot different outside than in pictures or the showroom. It looks reasonable on a Toledo but utterly dull on the Ateca, whereas a black Ateca looks great but the colour hides the Toledos shape completely.
 

Tell

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I quite like the understated colour of rhodium grey for the urban area but I reckon in a rural area where you want to be seen on country lanes velvet red would be nice. There are some very nice metallic dark reds about on other cars but since Seat and Skoda don't offer this colour at the minute in the UK I don't have a clue what it looks like apart from what I think it is which is like those nice dark metallic reds you see on other models. CyberGene I wouldn't have any stick on strips on the lower sides either they are for getting dirty and taking scuffs from hedgerow low down not for sticking go faster strips of plastic on. Each to their own thou..... I saw the Samoa again yesterday in the same seaside supermarket car park. Think that's a seaside colour.
 

Tell

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I think CyberGene is back thinking about orange. It is an appealing colour in sunshine, you probably need the correct mindset for it. I quite liked all the rhodium grey like coloured cars in a Holiday Inn yesterday although I did walk past mine not seeing it from the rest.

I'm torn between having the bigger one assuming all things are equal in rhodium grey so it matches on the drive or if there was the velvet red in the UK and it was the colour I think it is have that. I'm going to check out dealers in Germany in December as part of forward planning. :).
 

CyberGene

Active Member
Apr 26, 2008
306
1
Sofia, Bulgaria
Yep, I've actually decided already that I will order XCellence instead of FR and it will be in Samoa Orange instead of Velvet Red :) Reason being that Velvet Red is not exactly what we like, we checked this color today in a Skoda dealership, which makes us want the Samoa Orange, however not sure it sits well with the FR and the colored bumpers and underside panels. Which makes us switch to XCellence :) There's a demo Ateca XCellence in orange and we loved it.

And to make thing even more complicated, I think that I will order DSG too, not the manual. Looking for opinions on that too :D What do you think? It will be 4Drive, because all XC and FR Atecas in Bulgaria are 4Drive only. I've heard DSG-s have their problems in the past, so I'm a bit scared...
 

Tell

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Welcome to the Xcellence club. I've been driving a DSG for 13 years now, the old car and the new one and I've never had a problem. It's the wet / dry issue. Somewhere along the line the VAG group introduced an unreliable gear box. I think it was the DQ200 looking at this thread

https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/416082-7-speed-dsg-gearbox-wet-or-dry-clutch/

Wet is good, dry is bad. They were suppose to have changed the spec of the oil to synthetic in the dry which was the problem so they went for mineral oil which fixed it...

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/askhj/...-dry-clutch-7-speed-dsg-gearbox-reliable-now-

Although I note that HJ is saying he preferred the manual to the DSG on that model tested. Golf SV 1.4 TSI.

Bit more on wet / dry

https://www.motoringassist.com/motoring-advice/car-maintenance/dsg-gearbox-tips/

I can only comment on the 4Drive 190 TDI where it works very well. You have to be light footed pulling away else it will be snatchy coming off the electric handbrake then going threw the gears so you will feel the 1st / 2nd change. Gentle take off and it's smooth. I know one poster on the other board with the petrol DSG not 4Drive finds the electric handbrake snatchy, my feeling is that they should have had that adjusted or adjusted it themselves via Obdeleven / VCDS rather than moaning about it - it's software adjustable.

All things being equal you should make good progress with a DSG. The gear changes are very rapid much faster than a manual. There are many modes that you can drive it in and customisation plus the paddles or the stick in manual. I never over ride automatic since there is no requirement too, in my view. Obviously for Clarkson type if driving you have the paddles to flip. You can get your hand on a paddle by accident on roundabouts say as you feed the wheel around your hand and a finger catches a paddle, the emergency process to get out of it is to pull the stick into sport. Only done it twice but disconcerting when it happens, may be if I used the paddles more.... my old Ateca DSG didn't have paddles.

I will never go back to a manual gearbox. Servicing, my DSG old one was serviced to Seat spec and never gave me a problem. I know on boards manual drivers like to frighten DSG owners about their boxes mainly since they can't afford the extra expense and just want to stir the box in a manly way. You can always get ahead of manual drivers with a DSG if you wish since it instantly changes, sometimes following a manual driver the car starts to feel like a manual as the car replicate their gear changes which can become annoying. Saying all this a vast number of VAG drivers are DSG owners these days, least outside of the Seat group. So I wouldn't be scared. All the problems with DSG are now history.
 
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CyberGene

Active Member
Apr 26, 2008
306
1
Sofia, Bulgaria
Seems I am decided on DSG too. Will sleep it over and will go ordering tomorrow. So far the final spec is: XCellence 1.4 TSI DSG 4Drive in Samoa Orange, XCellence package (panoramic roof, SEAT Sound, machined 18"-s 36/2), 360-deg cameras, Park Assist, ACC, Blind spot + Rear cross alerts, Full Link.

I was considering other options like Lane Assist (not using it on my Leon) + Auto Main Beam (useful but rarely using it on my Leon), Satnav (not using it on my Leon), Traffic Jam (can't be used in the city and we don't have jams on our highways in Bulgaria, so not needed), electric tailgate (some people get bruises from it not stopping on resistance), 19-s (too many potholes here), wireless charger (don't think it's worth it and I don't currently have such a smartphone), heated front glass (elements visible, glass can be difficult/expensive to replace if cracked), DCC (makes the car firmer for sporty driving, not softer for comfort).

So, it was a painful process of considering all options, XC vs FR, Red vs Orange, manual vs DSG but it seems it's all settled now :rolleyes:
 

Tell

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I think you have selected the best bits. Outside your list I would put the Virtual Pedal in next but I do note people have said about trapping children's fingers etc. Think if you have children not a good idea if they are likely to put their hands and fingers in as it closes. I haven't tried to prevent it from closing myself but Thomas' video says about it putting down a lot of force till it stops, more than other electric tailgates.
 
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shiretzicu

Active Member
Sep 26, 2017
13
0
Go for the 1.4 DSG 4Drive. The DSG on the 4Drive is a DQ250 wet clutch. This is the model I went for :D Also great choice with Samoa Orange!
 
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