SEAT Arona - thoughts/opinions/experiences welcomed
Discussion
We're looking at ordering a new Arena (probably an Excellence Lux) as we're struggling to find anything with quite the spec level for the price.
We've driven a 1.0 95ps version (not very PH I know) and this weekend hope to drive the 115ps version - which has a 0-60 just under 10s. The "FR" is available with 150ps but misses some key innovative spec items.
Does anyone have experience of the Arona? TIA
We've driven a 1.0 95ps version (not very PH I know) and this weekend hope to drive the 115ps version - which has a 0-60 just under 10s. The "FR" is available with 150ps but misses some key innovative spec items.
Does anyone have experience of the Arona? TIA
edc said:
What did you go for and how are you buying? I think they are now doing 0%apr or some healthy discounts. I did also get a quotation through Carwow.
We've gone for a 115ps petrol Xcellence Lux. They're doing 0% on diesel ones but not petrol at the moment so we have bought for cash. The £2k "voucher & deposit contribution" from SEAT carried over to a cash discount before I started negotiating.I went through Carwow to get indicative discounts and prices before going to our local(ish) dealer. They offered c. 15% more for our part-exchange and also offered what seems to be a very good deal for an MY19 car (comes with Digital cockpit which my other half was very keen on!), should be here in a few weeks.
Not a particularly interesting post but I've had my SE Tech DSG for a month now. For a commuter/run around daily it's perfectly good. The stop start can be a bit annoying from time to time especially if you pull up to a junction and then promptly want to get away but you can turn it off. It will also sometimes turn off when you slow down in traffic and are just creeping which again can be annoying as you lose the power steering and if you aren't steering straight ahead you will track to the kerb or other lane.
Heated mirrors either don't work well or aren't on the car. I can also see the the MY19 update that the newer cars will have auto dim mirror as standard. Not used the cruise and probably never will. Folding mirrors would have been handy but I think you have to have FR or Xcellence spec to get them. Also of minor inconvenience is no pockets in the back of the seats. There is also no rear light so when you unlock at night the rear seats and fkktwell are pretty dark.
The 1.0 115 DSG is of course no match for a C55 AMG I had but for this type of car seems to work nicely. You won't win any drag races but getting up to speed quickly from a sliproad or for a little overtake of a dawdler it's perfectly ok. It's not as quick not feels as torquey as the 140 Fiesta this has replaced.
Handling seems ok too. Within reason you can string a few Twisties together but this is never going to be a little cross overs forte. Brakes like many modern cars feel very sharp and heavily servo'd. There's not a lot of extra braking force or retardation as you hit the last part of pedal travel. Ride comfort seems quite decent too on the 17s. It came from the factory on Hankooks.
Sat Nov and infotainment system I guess is standard VW fare on this 8" version and works pretty well and is easy to follow ie you can work it out without looking at the manual!
For a compact ish car with a slightly higher seating position it's great.
In 1200 miles it's showing around 49mpg but on a regular M3/M4/M25 commute traffic depending it will show around 50 to 56 mpg. I've seen over 60 as a one off.
Heated mirrors either don't work well or aren't on the car. I can also see the the MY19 update that the newer cars will have auto dim mirror as standard. Not used the cruise and probably never will. Folding mirrors would have been handy but I think you have to have FR or Xcellence spec to get them. Also of minor inconvenience is no pockets in the back of the seats. There is also no rear light so when you unlock at night the rear seats and fkktwell are pretty dark.
The 1.0 115 DSG is of course no match for a C55 AMG I had but for this type of car seems to work nicely. You won't win any drag races but getting up to speed quickly from a sliproad or for a little overtake of a dawdler it's perfectly ok. It's not as quick not feels as torquey as the 140 Fiesta this has replaced.
Handling seems ok too. Within reason you can string a few Twisties together but this is never going to be a little cross overs forte. Brakes like many modern cars feel very sharp and heavily servo'd. There's not a lot of extra braking force or retardation as you hit the last part of pedal travel. Ride comfort seems quite decent too on the 17s. It came from the factory on Hankooks.
Sat Nov and infotainment system I guess is standard VW fare on this 8" version and works pretty well and is easy to follow ie you can work it out without looking at the manual!
For a compact ish car with a slightly higher seating position it's great.
In 1200 miles it's showing around 49mpg but on a regular M3/M4/M25 commute traffic depending it will show around 50 to 56 mpg. I've seen over 60 as a one off.
edc said:
Not a particularly interesting post but I've had my SE Tech DSG for a month now. For a commuter/run around daily it's perfectly good. The stop start can be a bit annoying from time to time especially if you pull up to a junction and then promptly want to get away but you can turn it off. It will also sometimes turn off when you slow down in traffic and are just creeping which again can be annoying as you lose the power steering and if you aren't steering straight ahead you will track to the kerb or other lane.
Heated mirrors either don't work well or aren't on the car. I can also see the the MY19 update that the newer cars will have auto dim mirror as standard. Not used the cruise and probably never will. Folding mirrors would have been handy but I think you have to have FR or Xcellence spec to get them. Also of minor inconvenience is no pockets in the back of the seats. There is also no rear light so when you unlock at night the rear seats and fkktwell are pretty dark.
The 1.0 115 DSG is of course no match for a C55 AMG I had but for this type of car seems to work nicely. You won't win any drag races but getting up to speed quickly from a sliproad or for a little overtake of a dawdler it's perfectly ok. It's not as quick not feels as torquey as the 140 Fiesta this has replaced.
Handling seems ok too. Within reason you can string a few Twisties together but this is never going to be a little cross overs forte. Brakes like many modern cars feel very sharp and heavily servo'd. There's not a lot of extra braking force or retardation as you hit the last part of pedal travel. Ride comfort seems quite decent too on the 17s. It came from the factory on Hankooks.
Sat Nov and infotainment system I guess is standard VW fare on this 8" version and works pretty well and is easy to follow ie you can work it out without looking at the manual!
For a compact ish car with a slightly higher seating position it's great.
In 1200 miles it's showing around 49mpg but on a regular M3/M4/M25 commute traffic depending it will show around 50 to 56 mpg. I've seen over 60 as a one off.
Interesting comments, a car we have looked at to replace my wifes SEAT Altea (if and when it dies) - that is a 1.6TDI and round town she is only getting about 38 mpg so the Ateca seems to better that in the same DSG format.Heated mirrors either don't work well or aren't on the car. I can also see the the MY19 update that the newer cars will have auto dim mirror as standard. Not used the cruise and probably never will. Folding mirrors would have been handy but I think you have to have FR or Xcellence spec to get them. Also of minor inconvenience is no pockets in the back of the seats. There is also no rear light so when you unlock at night the rear seats and fkktwell are pretty dark.
The 1.0 115 DSG is of course no match for a C55 AMG I had but for this type of car seems to work nicely. You won't win any drag races but getting up to speed quickly from a sliproad or for a little overtake of a dawdler it's perfectly ok. It's not as quick not feels as torquey as the 140 Fiesta this has replaced.
Handling seems ok too. Within reason you can string a few Twisties together but this is never going to be a little cross overs forte. Brakes like many modern cars feel very sharp and heavily servo'd. There's not a lot of extra braking force or retardation as you hit the last part of pedal travel. Ride comfort seems quite decent too on the 17s. It came from the factory on Hankooks.
Sat Nov and infotainment system I guess is standard VW fare on this 8" version and works pretty well and is easy to follow ie you can work it out without looking at the manual!
For a compact ish car with a slightly higher seating position it's great.
In 1200 miles it's showing around 49mpg but on a regular M3/M4/M25 commute traffic depending it will show around 50 to 56 mpg. I've seen over 60 as a one off.
Re your comment on the stop start, you maybe able to 'inverse' and memorise the system using VCDS / ODB11 / Carista - I have changed it on my A6 so that the LED on the button is ON when SS is ON and OFF when SS is OFF and will also remember the last setting when the car is started - so if I turn it off (which I have), it stays off forever unless I decide I want it back on.
I've not been in an Altea but it might be a bit bigger. I've not monitored the in town mpg specifically so wouldn't want to confirm that it would do a lot better than what you are getting.
The stop start thing isn't so much whether it is coded on or off at engine start more that it seems to cut in a fraction too early for me and restarts a fraction too slowly in response to lifting off the brake pedal. If you come steaming in on the brakes to a standstill but want to immediately get going to make a gap at a roundabout the stopstart seems to dawdle a bit.
The stop start thing isn't so much whether it is coded on or off at engine start more that it seems to cut in a fraction too early for me and restarts a fraction too slowly in response to lifting off the brake pedal. If you come steaming in on the brakes to a standstill but want to immediately get going to make a gap at a roundabout the stopstart seems to dawdle a bit.
Great to see some replies here. We collected our Arona 115ps Xcellence Lux two months ago.
It has covered approx. 1,800 miles - with my other half at the helm for the most part. It's great.
Love the adaptive cruise, LED headlights are brilliant and digital dash & car play integration is good too. Shame ours lost out on heated seats (Model Year spec changes) but overall really enjoying it. Glad we went for the higher spec.
It's very economical - averaging just over 50 but drops a bit when I drive (used to the M135 & motorbike acceleration...)
It has covered approx. 1,800 miles - with my other half at the helm for the most part. It's great.
Love the adaptive cruise, LED headlights are brilliant and digital dash & car play integration is good too. Shame ours lost out on heated seats (Model Year spec changes) but overall really enjoying it. Glad we went for the higher spec.
It's very economical - averaging just over 50 but drops a bit when I drive (used to the M135 & motorbike acceleration...)
Tomo1971 said:
Interesting comments, a car we have looked at to replace my wifes SEAT Altea (if and when it dies) - that is a 1.6TDI and round town she is only getting about 38 mpg so the Ateca seems to better that in the same DSG format.
Re your comment on the stop start, you maybe able to 'inverse' and memorise the system using VCDS / ODB11 / Carista - I have changed it on my A6 so that the LED on the button is ON when SS is ON and OFF when SS is OFF and will also remember the last setting when the car is started - so if I turn it off (which I have), it stays off forever unless I decide I want it back on.
Some mixing up of models here? Poster was talking about 1 litre DSG Arona, not Ateca. Ateca doesn't have DSG with that engine.Re your comment on the stop start, you maybe able to 'inverse' and memorise the system using VCDS / ODB11 / Carista - I have changed it on my A6 so that the LED on the button is ON when SS is ON and OFF when SS is OFF and will also remember the last setting when the car is started - so if I turn it off (which I have), it stays off forever unless I decide I want it back on.
We have a 1 litre Ateca SE-L in the family. Great spec with nav, leather seats and LED headlights. Don't know where Arona pricing is but the Ateca was a shade under £20K cash.
edc said:
My lease papers say invoice price of £15,060. I did get a Carwow purchase price but can't remember what it was. My lease works out at an average of £200 per month over 24 months on 8k miles a year. I will do at least 12k and lay the excess mileage at 3p per mile.
Looks like it (Arona 1.0 SE Tech DSG) lists just over £19K so a fairly typical level of SEAT 'discount' has been applied. The discounts make it tough to figure out the best way of acquiring them, but I think £200/mth (£210 with the extra miles) would be tough to beat, especially as you haven't had to lay out £15K.Sheepshanks said:
Looks like it (Arona 1.0 SE Tech DSG) lists just over £19K so a fairly typical level of SEAT 'discount' has been applied. The discounts make it tough to figure out the best way of acquiring them, but I think £200/mth (£210 with the extra miles) would be tough to beat, especially as you haven't had to lay out £15K.
This type of car and at this price point is just a white goods car. It's definitely a head over heart based decision. If the lease cost was much higher I probably wouldn't have got an Arona as I'm not desperate to own one per se. Financing as a straight cash purchase or through some of the now present 0% PCP could also be done quite readily but I took the most cost efficient method. It will only need on service before it goes back and barring punctures no tyres. Gassing Station | Audi, Seat, Skoda & VW | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff