SEAT Arona Review and Prices

If you’re in the market for a small SUV, you’re pretty spoilt for choice these days. In amongst a raft of these dinky hatchbacks-on-stilts is this, the Seat Arona.

Imagine if you will this particular segment to be a box of Heroes chocolates. You could consider the Arona to be similar to a Dairy Milk — a tasty choice but not exactly striving to be the boldest in the mix.

That’s immediately apparent in its design, at least. Updates in 2021 have brought a little more pizazz to the Arona, but it still sits between the rather subdued Skoda Kamiq and stand-out Nissan Juke in the head-turning stakes.

With that said, you can spruce it up a little with some funky two-tone paint choices. Plus the standard inclusion of LED headlights and 17-inch alloys (going up to 18-inch on high-spec versions) are welcome additions.

Where the Seat Arona has an edge over many alternatives is a rather stylish interior, though it’s worth noting that some of the materials do feel a little cheap in places.

You shouldn’t struggle to find a decent driving position thanks to good adjustability, and a simple control layout makes it dead easy to use the car’s tech on the go.

The Arona gets an 8.25-inch infotainment system as standard, though you’ll want to stump up for the improved 9-inch system that’s available on all but entry-level versions of the car.
It’s a much sharper and feature-packed system, plus it’ll offer wireless support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay should you prefer.

The Seat Arona looks good and drives just as well. It could be doing more to stand out from the crowd, though.

Things start to unravel for the Arona once you hop in the back seats, as rear legroom is rather poor. Still, you get 400 litres of boot space, which matches the Skoda Kamiq but lags way behind the 455 litres of the VW T-Cross. On the plus side, it’s properly square-shaped so it’s easy to get stuff in.

At least the Seat Arona drives nicely. Excellently weighted steering means it’s a breeze to drive around town, and it’s decent fun on a winding country road too. That said, its suspension setup does make it less comfortable over lumps and bumps than a VW T-Cross or Skoda Kamiq.

You’ve got a choice of three petrol engines to pick from with the Arona, with a six-speed manual gearbox or dual-clutch automatic available depending on your choice. You’ll find the mid-range 110hp engine offers the best mix of performance and fuel efficiency.

It’s worth considering a Seat Arona for sure. It looks good, comes nicely equipped and drives well. Cars like the Ford Puma and Skoda Kamiq offer a bit more for the money though, and the VW T-Cross beats it for practicality.

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