Should you buy a SEAT Arona?

It comes down to how good a finance deal you get on it. The SEAT Arona is one of many small SUVs cars at an extremely busy price point, but it has a tough fight on its hands to see off its many rivals vying for your attention.

Overall, the Ford Puma is slightly better to drive and the Skoda Kamiq is more practical, but we reckon the Arona sits somewhere between, offering a similarly enjoyable drive to the former, and almost as much flexibility as the latter.

There is at least a comprehensive trim line-up and two very good engines available, and that makes picking the best Arona reasonably straightforward. If you’re looking for the lowest monthly outlay, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed by the 115hp 1.0 TSI. This engine is available on cheaper models and offers low running costs and excellent fuel economy. Overall, it’s the one we’d recommend.

What’s new?

Not much, as it’s been around for quite some time now – if anything, the matter of its replacement is the bigger question. Despite that, the big-selling Arona remains a capable, fun-to-drive small family car with lots to recommend it. It was launched in 2017, facelifted in 2021, and slots in at the bottom of the firm’s line-up of family SUVs that includes the Ateca and Tarraco, remaining as competitive as ever.

SEAT’s offering shares its underpinnings with the Volkswagen T-Cross and Skoda Kamiq, and steers better than the pair of them thanks to a sporty, agile suspension set-up. However, it’s just as practical, and is offered with all the tech you’d expect from an offering from the Volkswagen Group.

But the Arona faces a whole raft of rivals elsewhere in the small SUV market sector. They’re an impressive bunch of rivals, too. These include the Citroen C3 Aircross, Renault Captur, Peugeot 2008, Nissan Juke, Vauxhall Mokka, and Parkers multi-award-winning Ford Puma. It’s a busy market sector, and as you can imagine, it’s highly competitive.

We’ve driven the SEAT Arona extensively, and you can find out more about how we test on Parkers via our dedicated explainer page. Here’s what we found when we tested all versions of the car on some of the country’s most demanding and busiest roads.

The good news is that if you want a stand-out option, the Arona has it covered. There’s a heavy focus on personalisation, with up to 68 different colour combinations to choose from, so your car will always stand out from the crowd. It also has a logical and large model range with few optional extras available.

The model line-up starts with the entry-level SE model – but even that’s well equipped, giving you LED headlights, connected infotainment with wireless phone charging, cruise control and a leather-trimmed steering wheel. Climb up the range and there are plenty of options. There’s the SE Technology with a larger infotainment screen, the FR, with selectable drive modes, the FR Sport with larger wheels, the Xperience with adaptive cruise control, with the Xperience Lux tops the lot with all of that plus 18-inch alloys.

So, there’s ample choice, and there’s plenty of personalisation on offer. Does that make it one to go for in this crowded market sector? Click through our review to find out exactly how good the SEAT Arona is and whether it can beat rivals. We’ll tell you if it’s good to drive, how spacious it is, what it’ll cost you and how plush it is inside.