Review: Seat Arona FR

The SEAT Arona is billed as a small SUV and it ticks many of the boxes for those looking for a practical family car to suit the majority of driving scenarios.

It looks good, is comfortable, has a decent stereo system with a mix of touchscreen and old school switches and a large enough boot at 400 litres or 823 litres if you drop the seats down

As it’s an SUV it has a slightly elevated ride height which gives good forward visibility and makes getting in and out easy for old bones and when loading kids into the rear seats.

There are a number of engines to pick from, most are standard across the Volkswagen range: the three-cylinder one-litre turbo comes in either 94bhp or 109bhp (manual transmission as standard with an optional seven-speed DSG auto for the latter) and a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo with the auto gearbox.

Surprisingly for a car billed as an SUV there is no all-wheel drive version available.

We drove the 109bhp with six-speed manual transmission and found it surprisingly willing.

It proved to be quiet with little road noise or whine from the engine which can sometimes be a problem with three-cylinder cars.

Our FR trim test car came with the ability to switch into one of four modes for an enhanced driving experience.

The Arona, which is built in Barcelona, is a popular choice and is one of SEAT’s most popular cars. It was launched in 2017 and by the time of the latest upgrade in 2021 had sold more than 400,000 vehicles.

The interior is smart and functional and though it may appear a little dated if you compare it to other small SUVs I liked it and soon got comfortable behind the wheel without having to resort to digging around for the handbook to access some of its functions or spending ages scrolling through the menus on the 9.2in touchscreen. Sometimes you just want a car that is not trying too thard to be clever.

There are six trims in the range SE, SE Technology, FR, FR Sport, Xperience and Xperience Lux which can be mixed and matched to the various powertrains.

Standard equipment across the range includes 17in alloys, 8.25in colour touchscreen, Bluetooth audio, wireless smartphone integration, air conditioning, cruise control and speed limiter and LED running lights. Upgrade to SE Technology for rear parking sensors and a sat nav; FR gets front sports seats, climate control and rain sensing wipers.

Next up is FR Sport which adds a digital cockpit and heated front seats. Experience includes adaptive cruise control and some nice interior trim while Experience Lux gets you park assist, front parking sensors. 18in alloys and a rear view camera.

Our FR came with a recommended retail price of £27,035 and with a £555 upgraded BEATS sound system this bumped it up to £27,590.

When it comes to warranties, the new Arona has a three-year/60,000-mile warranty as standard, with the option to upgrade for a further payment if required.

Specification

Seat Arona FR

Price: £27,035 (£27,590 as tested)

Engine: 1.0-litre turbo

Power: 108bhp

Torque: 147lb/ft

Transmission: six-speed manual

Top speed: 118mph

0-62mph: 10.6 seconds

Economy: 47.9-53.3mpg

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