Seat Arona: reviewed

Can Seat make it an SUV double-top with the Ateca’s smaller sibling, the Arona?

1/5

18 October 2017

Seat is making up for lost time with its SUV range. After years of not having a contender in the booming crossover sector, Seat hit the ground running with its Nissan Qashqai-rivalling Ateca – a car that didn’t only take on the best-selling Nissan, but which has also managed to beat it.

The firm’s also planning a large seven-seat SUV next year, but ahead of that, we have the Ateca’s baby brother, the Arona. Instead of being derived from the Leon family hatch, this one uses the Ibiza supermini’s underpinnings, so is perfectly sized to take on the Nissan Juke and Renault Captur.

In terms of pricing, Seat is ambitious: it starts from around £16,500, which pitches it above the Juke. But it’s still cheaper than its posh VW Group brand sibling, the Audi Q2, and even the base cars come with punchy turbocharged engines – no version is thus left lagging.

With a broad range of engines, it’s easy to spend more: you can have an Arona with almost 150bhp, if you’re prepared to shell out well over £20,000. That’s treading into Ateca money; we expect lesser Aronas to be more popular.

Besides, out on the road, even the cheaper cars prove fun to drive. The Ateca excels here and Seat’s carried through this sportiness to the littler Arona. It’s agile through corners, and easily more fun to drive than its rather humdrum and sloppy direct rivals. In some models, you can even select a ‘Seat Drive Profile’ to tailor the weight of the steering and sensitivity of the accelerator.

We concentrated on the FR Sport during out test, a sporty trim that has standard switchable suspension – you can alter it between standard and sport settings, and in its most relaxed setting, it seemed to ride a bit better than the standard cars we also drove. However, all versions are a little bit firmer than the softer Renault; the 114bhp 1.0-litre and 148bhp 1.5-litre engines we tested were enthusiastic enough to make this setup feel ideally judged.

The dashboard is, like the Ibiza, made of rather hard plastics; top-spec models get a vinyl-wrapped dash, which makes a big difference to the interior ambience. The design is similar to the Ibiza, which means a clearly laid out interior with ample ease of use and clarity.

We like the central 8.0-inch touchscreen, which all but base SE models have as standard. The graphics are sharp and both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, so you can easily use your smartphone through it.

The driving position is also pretty good for all but the tallest, and the higher-than-usual seating position compared to a regular supermini is nice. There’s plenty of space in the rear too, certainly more so than a Juke or Captur, and the 400-litre boot is, compared to the Nissan, vast.

Overall then, it’s another hit for Seat. We already believe this may be the best small SUV you can buy for less than £20,000. The argument for it loses weight when you start to move over the £20k barrier, but for mainstream Aronas, it looks like Seat has yet another SUV winner on its hands.

Seat Arona 1.0 TSI 115 manual

Price £19,895
Engine 3cyl, 999cc, turbo petrol
Power 114bhp at 5000-5500rpm
Torque 148lb ft at 2000-3500rpm
Gearbox 6-spd manual
0-62mph 10.0sec
Top speed 113mph
Official economy 56.5mpg
CO2, tax band 113g/km, 21%

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