Let's not beat about the bush: if you're looking for a more user-friendly alternative to some of the hulking great SUVs that lumber up and down Britain's high streets every day, then you could do a lot worse than consider the newly refurbished Seat Ateca. 

Attractively priced and sharply styled, thanks to the addition of a newly fashioned bumpers and grille treatment, and flavoured with a dash of Spanish driving zip, it's hard to think of too many reasons why you wouldn't.

The subtle facelift also brings a gaggle of retuned engines, most updated with the latest RDE2 emissions regime in mind. 

Choices include a 1.0 three-cylinder unit, 1.5 and two 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engines, and a 2.0-litre diesel engine. 

While most of the engines can be specified with either a six-speed manual gearbox or seven-speed DSG automatic, the more powerful examples also come with a multi-link rear suspension set-up and the option of all-wheel drive. 

For our money though, the sweet point of the range lies more towards the budget end of the spectrum. This is something Seat is also clearly aware of, as our test drive featured the entry-level SE Tech 115hp 1.0-litre three-cylinder-engined model and the Xperience 150hp 1.5-litre four-cylinder version, which is predicted to be the bestselling Ateca.

Despite being underpinned by near identical chassis hardware, and tuned to reflect Seat's preferred sporting bent, it's striking just how different the two cars are to drive. 

While it will come as no surprise to anyone that the Xperience's exceptionally smooth and responsive 1.5-litre engine and slick-shifting seven-speed automatic ensure it feels more alert and significantly more refined than the thrummy three-cylinder version, this really doesn't explain the dynamic divide between the two.

While both suffer from a slightly chastening rear-end shudder over coarser surfaces, body movements in the Xperience version are better controlled, both vertically and laterally, ensuring it has the sporting goods to spear through challenging bends with the type of reassuring control associated with many a hot hatch. 

By contrast, the three-cylinder car's credentials are undermined by notably more side-to-side shimmy when encountering changes in road camber and significantly higher levels of body lean in corners. 

To be fair, the cheaper motor's lighter frontal load helps deliver more fluid steering responses, but throw in a harsher, more combustive engine note and a cabin less well insulated from the elements and the Xperience's premium begins to look like money well spent.

Inside, everything in every Ateca is logically laid out and solidly constructed, including the slick operating switchgear and large rotary dials for the climate control.