Passenger space is much more generous in the Arona than you might first think. To look at, and stand next to, the Arona isn’t a big car, but it’s been well packaged to allow for a spacious interior that’s also flexible. Two adults will comfortably fit in the front, and if they’re not too gangly, two six-footers will also fit in the rear seats. What’s most apparent is the boost in headroom over the Ibiza, and a more generous amount of legroom too.
If there’s a tall driver behind the wheel, then an equally-tall passenger may struggle in the back, but for most average-sized adults and children, the Arona offers a generous amount of space inside. There are plenty of areas to store odds and ends throughout the cabin, thanks to big door bins, cubbies and pockets scattered throughout.
During our six-month review of the Arona, our tester concluded: ‘On the inside the Arona is large enough for four adults. You could fit five in, but it would be quite cosy, even with the increased SUV height. Four plus one child in the smaller centre seat is about the limit.
‘The seats are comfortable, if not plush, being more functional than luxurious. I was surprised that a journey of 2-3 hours didn’t produce any rear-end ache often associated with some interiors. On the contrary – the seating did a good all-round job.’
Considering its compact size, the SEAT Arona offers an impressively large boot with a good amount of flexibility thanks to a two-level boot floor and the ability to fold the seats down and free up a total of 823 litres.
At 400 litres with the seats in place, it offers 50 litres of extra capacity over a SEAT Ibiza, 20 litres more than a Volkswagen Golf, and 66 litres more than the Hyundai Kona. However, the Renault Captur, Peugeot 2008 and MINI Countryman all beat the Arona for boot space, with 455, 410 and 450 litres of space respectively.
In practice, we lived with a SEAT Arona for half a year and rarely found ourselves needing a bigger boot. You can always flop the back seats down if you need to expand the loadbay.
Is it easy to park?
The Arona doesn’t look like a big car, nor does it feel like one to drive and manoeuvre. It’s barely longer than a SEAT Ibiza, and the extra height is a boon to visibility when parking in a cramped car park. This makes it easy to thread around town, which is where most Arona buyers will be using the car.
Useful touches such as parking sensors and a reversing camera aid with parking the Arona. Self-parking is available, but it’s expensive and it’s a faff to use.
Driver assistance tech available as optional extras
Should be safe for small families
The Arona comes with the usual suite of airbags as standard, as well as a pair of Isofix childseat fittings in the rear of the car. Front Assist – SEAT’s name for autonomous emergency braking – comes fitted as standard to all Aronas, while more driver assistance technology becomes available as you move further up the range.
For example, luxurious Xcellence models add things like blindspot detection, rear cross-traffic alert and adaptive cruise control to the equipment tally, which all help make the Arona less likely to crash in the first place. When crash-tested by the experts at Euro NCAP towards the end of 2017, the Arona received a full five-star rating – so it should protect occupants well if the worst does happen.
Euro NCAP crash test video
Basic equipment
The basic equipment list includes equipment that is standard across all versions of the SEAT Arona SUV.
3x3 point rear seat belts
ABS
Alloy wheels
Audio remote
Driver`s airbag
Electric mirrors
Folding rear seats
Front electric windows
Front fog lights
Height adjustable drivers seat
Isofix child seat anchor points
Metallic Paint
PAS
Passenger`s airbag
Rear electric windows
Remote locking
Roof rails
Side airbags
Steering wheel rake adjustment
Steering wheel reach adjustment
Equipment by trim level
To view equipment options for a specific trim level, please select from the following list:
Equipment included on some trim levels
Air conditioning
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Cruise control
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Space saver spare wheel
Sports seats
Traction control
FR equipment
FR standard equipment
Alarm
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Cruise control
Heated mirrors
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
FR optional equipment
Body coloured bumpers
Sports seats
Traction control
FR Red Edition equipment
FR Red Edition standard equipment
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Cruise control
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
FR Red Edition optional equipment
None available
FR Sport equipment
FR Sport standard equipment
Alarm
Climate control
Cruise control
Heated mirrors
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
FR Sport optional equipment
Body coloured bumpers
Cloth seat trim
Heated seats
Sports seats
Traction control
SE equipment
SE standard equipment
Air conditioning
Body coloured bumpers
Cloth seat trim
Cruise control
Traction control
SE optional equipment
None available
SE Technology equipment
SE Technology standard equipment
Air conditioning
Body coloured bumpers
Cloth seat trim
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
SE Technology optional equipment
Cruise control
Heated seats
Space saver spare wheel
SE Technology 1st Edition equipment
SE Technology 1st Edition standard equipment
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
SE Technology 1st Edition optional equipment
Air conditioning
Body coloured bumpers
Cruise control
Space saver spare wheel
Traction control
SE Technology Lux equipment
SE Technology Lux standard equipment
Air conditioning
Body coloured bumpers
Cloth seat trim
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
SE Technology Lux optional equipment
None available
Xcellence equipment
Xcellence standard equipment
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
Xcellence optional equipment
None available
Xcellence 1st Edition equipment
Xcellence 1st Edition standard equipment
Alarm
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Xcellence 1st Edition optional equipment
Body coloured bumpers
Traction control
Xcellence Lux equipment
Xcellence Lux standard equipment
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
Xcellence Lux optional equipment
None available
XPERIENCE equipment
XPERIENCE standard equipment
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
XPERIENCE optional equipment
None available
XPERIENCE Lux equipment
XPERIENCE Lux standard equipment
Alarm
Body coloured bumpers
Climate control
Cloth seat trim
Heated mirrors
Heated seats
Parking sensors
Sat Nav
Traction control
XPERIENCE Lux optional equipment
None available
Euro NCAP Rating – 5 stars
The SEAT Arona SUV was tested by Euro NCAP in 2017 and was awarded a 5 star overall rating.
This overall rating is calculated from the following individual ratings:
Euro NCAP provides motoring consumers with a realistic and independent assessment of the safety performance of some of the most popular cars sold in Europe.
The safety ratings are determined from a series of vehicle tests, designed and carried out by Euro NCAP.
These tests represent, in a simplified way, important real life accident scenarios that could result in injured or killed car occupants or other road users.