With oodles of boot space, impressive build quality and a great driving experience, our new SEAT Ateca test car was a much-appreciated early Christmas arrival on our long-term fleet.

First launched in 2016, the Ateca was the brand’s inaugural SUV. It was targeted at Leon customers looking to gain more space and SUV attributes, along with drivers exiting the D-segment. A little late at the time, the midsize SUV more than made up for its tardiness. It’s now flanked by the smaller Arona, which arrived in 2017 and larger Tarraco – launched 2018. Between them, the trio account for around half of the brand’s global sales.

The Ateca is a familiar sight on UK roads and it could have been a case of déjà vu for our test fleet. The SEAT is based on the same on the same MQB platform as the Škoda Karoq that we tested a year ago – and the usual VW Group parts sharing means some of it looks familiar. But by no means all – and there’s actually a surprisingly high level of differentiation.

Ours comes in SE Technology guise – sitting above the £28,385 entry SE trim and typically aimed at business drivers due to its levels of equipment, including connected technology and the 9.2-inch colour touchscreen. The grade line-up also includes the brand’s usual FR (‘Formula Racing’) and FR Sport with more sporty features and equipment, plus the range-topping Xperience and Xperience Lux.

There is a famous quote that says that no winter lasts forever. I’m certainly hoping that’s the case for my Mazda CX-60 plug-in hybrid. After the initial cold snap of late November when the EV-only range dropped as low as 26 miles, the milder, if wetter, weather has now seen that rise slightly to 29-30 miles. My occasional commute to the station on chilly mornings, when I’m pounding the heater and heated seats and steering wheel, has meant an essential charge on my return in the evening.

The good news is that that regular charging and lack of any long journeys has seen my average fuel economy rise to 100mpg. The bad news is that the winter weather is making itself felt in other ways.

First, there’s the colour. As I mentioned in my first report, the optional Rhodium White may not have been my first choice, but I thought it worked with the black alloy wheels. Unsurprisingly with all the rain, it hasn’t taken long before the CX-60 has started to look grubbier than editor Challen’s joke book, but interestingly the dirt seems to have plateaued somewhat. It feels like it’s not getting any grimier, which sounds an odd thing to say, but it seems to be true – or maybe I’m just becoming more accepting of the filth.

The prolonged cold weather over the last month or so has done little to improve the efficiency of the otherwise excellent iX1 – despite it still reading 3.5mpkwh in its overall time with us – and whilst this is true of all electric vehicles, the iX1 has a solution to mitigate this a little. And it comes in the form of the iX1 xDrive20 (vs our xDrive30), available from late last year, which utilises the same 67kWh battery but has a single electric motor on the front axle compared to our xDrive30’s dual-motor powertrain.

Having not driven the lighter, cheaper (£6k less in our xLine trim) and more efficient xDrive20 model, I can’t say for certain but I imagine that, for someone like me, it would represent a better company vehicle choice. Granted, it would mean missing out on around 100hp (204hp vs 308hp) and also half the torque (247Nm vs the 494Nm we currently have at our disposal) but for everyday driving, the xDrive20 will prove more than enough for most and offers a healthy 25-30 extra miles per charge too. Of course, there will always be a ready market for a low-tax, high-performance company car, with excellent driving dynamics, so with the iX1 xDrive20 and xDrive30, BMW seems to have most bases covered.

The looks have polarised opinions though in our time with the car. I think the slightly aggressive front-end looks terrific – and the Sapphire Black metallic paintwork certainly suits the iX1 – but there are those who would welcome a friendlier face. Of course, this is obviously very subjective, but most company car drivers would want to drive a vehicle – irrespective of badge – that looks appealing.