Seats SUVs tested: Arona vs Ateca
Seat’s Ateca is a great SUV – but later on this year Seat will be launching another, cheaper SUV, the Arona. Which is best?
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Your support makes all the difference.Only a year ago, Seat had no SUVs. Now they have a class-leading one, the £18,340 Ateca, and by the end of 2017 they’ll have a second SUV, the smaller Ibiza-based Arona at £16,555.
The Arona will compete with cars like the Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur, whereas the Ateca is more Qashqai-sized.
Let’s put the Arona and Ateca alongside each other to see how they differ.
Styling
It’s easy to see the Ibiza influence in the Arona’s styling, especially in details like the triangular headlights and side-slashes.
Distinguishing the Arona from the Ibiza is a line of silver trim below the side windows which carries on through the rear pillars to visually separate the body and roof.
Those rear pillars have an ‘X’ signature to denote the Arona’s 'crossover’ status, combining a 4x4’s appearance with a hatchback’s lower running costs.
Engines and driving
The Arona will come with a choice of two 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engines (94bhp and 113bhp) and a new 148bhp 1.5-litre turbo four with the ability to disconnect two of its cylinders in normal driving to keep fuel consumption and emissions to a minimum.
For diesel fans there will also be 94bhp and 113bhp versions of the familiar 1.6-litre unit. While even the 113bhp petrol feels a bit sluggish in the larger and weightier Ateca, we reckon from trying that engine in the Ibiza that it should have more than enough performance for most Arona buyers.
Nobody outside Seat has driven the Arona yet, but our expectation based on the company’s other models is that it’s likely to be one of the sportier and more agile cars in the class.
The Arona won't offer the Ateca option of four-wheel drive, but there will be a big selection of driver aids to choose from, including adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking and a ‘park assistance’ system that steers the car for you in parallel or angled parking manoeuvres.
Inside
Ibiza owners will find no surprises inside the Arona as the interior is pretty much a straight transplant from the supermini. The plastics won’t be soft, but we expect the assembly to be tight and Seat is putting a few jazzily-coloured trim options out there.
This contrasts with the dearer Ateca, which aims to project a more mature and expensive feel with darker cabin colours and a soft-touch upper dash.
Infotainment and kit
Both the Arona and Ateca cars have logically-configured, fast-response touchscreen infotainment systems with 5.0in or 8.0in screen formats. We prefer the Ateca’s system on usability, as it has ‘real’ shortcut buttons rather than the Arona’s touch-sensitive panels that look swish but that also oblige you to take your eyes off the road.
As with the Ateca, the Arona will have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring, but we don’t yet know which Arona specs will include it at no extra cost. There’ll also be an optional Beats stereo installation for the Arona with six premium speakers, a 300W, eight-channel amplifier and a boot subwoofer.
Space and practicality
We’ve not had a chance to sit in the back of the Arona yet, but as the Ibiza has enough space to satisfy six-footers, we’d be surprised if the new SUV struggles in this area. Obviously, the physically larger Ateca will always trump it on practicality. As family cars go, the Ateca sets a high bar.
Costs
One of the Ateca’s strongest suits is its competitive pricing. It’s cheaper than most of the opposition with a starting price of £18,340.
The Arona’s start price of £16,555 for the 94bhp entry-level model is a little higher than we expected. It’s cheaper than the £16,786 base Renault Captur, a fair bit dearer than the £15,355 Nissan Juke and more than £3000 above the equivalent Ibiza. Launch cars – SE First Edition and Xcellence First Edition – will have a special spec to tempt early adopters.
Top-spec Xcellence and Xcellence Lux prices have been confirmed as starting from £20,825.
Tony Middlehurst is a writer for WhatCar.
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