Never ever dismiss the Dacia Duster unless status is worth paying an extra £5k - £7k for an equivalent car. Dan Powell drove the Ateca 2.0TDI. I drove the Ateca 1.0TSI. VAG has improved its diesels enormously since the NOx disaster, but if you won't be doing at least 15k miles a year, don't get a diesel. A new alternative is the Toyota C-HR hybrid that seems slow in comparison to the 1.2 petrol manual, but in reality we were pulling high speeds from it and the handling beats any other Crossover, including the Ateca: www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/toyota/toyota-c-hr.../

The Ateca 2.0TDI has VAG's new seven-speed dual WET CLUTCH DSG that overcomes the problems of the old seven-speed dual dry clutch DSG and the hesitations of the old six-speed dual wet clutch DSG, so it should be okay. No problems yet reported with the EA288 diesel. No reports of AdBlue consumption, which might be as good as 5000 per 10 litre container that retails at around £16. No reason to put you off the Ateca.