Used test: Volkswagen T-Roc R vs Cupra Ateca costs

Buying and owning

Costs, equipment, reliability, safety

You'll need to pay a fair bit more to get a Volkswagen T-Roc R than you would a Cupra Ateca. Also, you'll need to be careful that the one you're thinking of buying isn't a highly-optioned one with a fancy Akrapovic sports exhaust.

The Ateca was the cheaper of this pair to buy new and remains so at two years old, by a margin of around £1000. We’d expect them to continue to shed value at a similar rate over the next few years.

That optional exhaust on our T-Roc pushed its original price over the £40,000 barrier, meaning its owner will be liable for an extra £355 a year in road tax (from years two to six), on top of the standard flat rate of £165 a year. Both cars cost a similar amount to insure and service. However, the T-Roc is likely to cost slightly less to run overall, mainly because it uses less fuel, returning 29.4mpg in our test to the Ateca ’s 28.1mpg.

Both cars come equipped with 19in alloy wheels, front and rear parking sensors and dual-zone climate control. The Ateca also comes with metallic paint, keyless entry and a rear-view camera – all options on the T-Roc when it was new. The T-Roc compensates by including adaptive (rather than regular) cruise control, which automatically keeps you at a safe distance from the car in front. Plus, the T-Roc is the only one with lane-keeping assistance and scored slightly better for adult, child and pedestrian protection when it was assessed for safety by Euro NCAP.

In the 2022 What Car? Reliability Survey, the regular Seat Ateca finished 25th out of 39 models in its class, while the T-Roc was 11th out of 25 cars in the small SUV class. Seat ranked 15th out of 32 brands, while Volkswagen was 22nd.

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