Somebody has to do all the exciting number crunching stuff. The world of motoring is full of such folk. I shall, in a second reveal more of their findings.
Personally, as I never tire of saying, I have no trouble at all resisting the lure of pseudo-SUVs of any ilk and that includes the small ones that are based on superminis. I march out of step, however.
According to the aforementioned wielders of the abacus, the global demand for jacked up hatchbacks is up by 400% - yes you read that right - over what it was in 2015. I have no doubt that these figures will swell further and
higher in the next three years.
Hence, one can hardly blame any car maker for nailing together these conveyances. What the punter wants, the punter gets...
SEAT has recently joined this burgeoning fray, first with their acclaimed Ateca and now with the new Arona, already winning gongs with Car Bore Weekly and What Pedal magazine. The Arona’s underpinnings are from the Ibiza, the company’s small hatchback. SEAT are sticking with the policy of naming cars after bits of Spain. Arona is in Tenerife; had to look that up.
The Spanish arm of the beast that is VW is on something of a roll currently and with, Arona, SEAT have come up with something to take on the likes of Citroën C3, Audi Q3 Mazda CX-3, Renault Crapturd (sorry, Captur) and the woeful excrescence that is the Nissan Juke.
Even though the Arona is what it is, ergo a supermini wearing platform soles, it is also a SEAT, these days a byword for discreet and agreeable styling touches. Most other manufacturers, when jacking up their hatchbacks, go for ruffty-tuffty wheel plastic arch extensions and a more aggressive grill…grrrrill? SEAT have eschewed that and have instead produced an attractive looking, um, SEAT.
As is de la mode these days, you may, if you desire, opt for body contrasting colours for the roof, for the floaty look. I like that.
The usual bunch of VW Group engines propel this little thing. Entry level power comes from the increasingly ubiquitous 1 litre 3 cylinder donkey, with 95 or 115bhp. It’s a lusty little unit but needs revving - a lot - at which point the off beat 3 cylinder thrum gets intrusive within the cabin. Next up is a 1.6 diesel, with 84 or 115bhp but, post Dieselgate, you’ll not touch it with a shitty stick, so I’ll mention it no more.
For the purposes of this month’s review, I had the best engine available here, VW’s very fine 1.5 litre 4 cylinder turbocharged petrol job, generating a quite pleasing 148bhp. I drove the 6 speed manual, my choice over the available automatic option. The car came in FR spec (sporty, I think) which fits halfway up the luxury ladder. Perfectly well equipped with stuff and gubbins. All the fruit option is called X-Cellence Lux. Gosh!
Arona is fine inside and a reasonable hoot to drive briskly, though to keep the turbo on song you’ll need to stir the quick manual ’box constantly. More fun than the auto, tho’.
Quality is good, if not Audi good, but better than the Renault.
Car Bore Weekly awards stars out of five. They have/will give the SEAT Arona four. So do I.
Seat Arona from £16,530
As driven £22,020