Thanks for excellent, thorough review, Rene. Tested a similar GTE back-to-back with the T-Roc. Found the PHEV much the same as you. Bit complicated, fussy. Felt a little underpowered and, tbh, wonder whether the battery was uncharged in my one as well. Most of all, found it too lumpy over poor roads so, given that improved ride is main reason for changing, went for the smoother T-Roc.
Cheers, yeah, it’s a bit complicated and requires “more supervision” compared to our Ateca or in fact the ID3, which both are “set and forget”, and just drive. With the GTE you do have to think a little more in regards to where you want to recuperate etc to get the most out of the (comparatively) dinky battery. It’s definitely not as convenient/slick as a “single propulsion” car.
In regards to being underpowered, once we had some charge and the car in GTE mode/”S”, it genuinely went like the clappers. Definitely more shove than the ID3 (and of course our 150hp Ateca). I certainly do believe the acceleration figure (around 6.5 sec from memory, or thereabouts). Though that does come with quite a bit of torque steer, which i thought was surprising considering that it was supposed to have an electric diff to sort that out. Albeit, the car we drove was used, might’ve been not working correctly (also popped up a warning for oil change constantly). Without charge though, well.. It’s 150hp, with a generator running, at weighing two tons. So yeah, it’s a bit on the lazy side. And by that, i mean slow.
In regards to suspension, yeah. It’s quite firm (it’s a “sports car”/hot hatch after all, and PHEV on top), but at least where we drove it, it wasn’t to an uncomfortable level. That said: the roads were pretty good, unlike the roads where we live – hence us asking for a drive home because i know we might change our minds rather quickly on that. The jury is still out on that one – on mostly smooth roads, we did find it very comfortable, the seats did their part in that too. The Ateca isn’t as comfortable (on the same roads, actually), but the ID3 is softer from what my bum tells me.
If comfort is the key though, i’d agree – the GTE is pretty certainly not the winner in that category.
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.