CUPRA’s cheeky model is a bold buy [Video]

When SEAT decided to make a stand alone boutique brand with a sporty swagger out of CUPRA, the Ateca was the first to get the treatment.

Because it still is available in SEAT livery too, though, albeit with pedestrian performance and a slightly more limpid look, the Ateca VZ might seem like something of a hard sell, when ostensibly all you’re paying for is a different badge.

Oh, how wrong you would be. This is Rhasidat Adeleke to the SEAT’s Rob Heffernan, an absolute belter that, in CUPRA launch mode, can hit 100kph from a standing start in just 4.9 seconds. That’s just one of the drive modes, with Comfort, Sport, Individual, Offroad and Snow also at your fingertips.

The 2.0-litre engine can pump out 300 horsepower with almost casual ease, an insouciance that at time feels almost blasé. The VZ represents veloz, the Spanish for fast, and in this case than …