Well I've had my Arona for just over a month now, so it's time to reflect on first impressions.
Things didn't get off to a great start. I placed my order for an Xcellence Lux in Desire Red at the end of August. 3 days later I changed my mind on the colour of the roof and told the dealer I wanted it black. When I was informed in November that my car had arrived, the roof was red, however the dealer in the end agreed to get it painted black. I then asked the dealer to check for heated seats, etc. and this is when it was discovered that despite my order clearly stating it was an Xcellence Lux, when the dealer placed the order with the factory, the word Lux seems to have been forgotten!
As it happened, the dealer had a cancelled order for an Xcellence Lux, identical to what I wanted except that it was the DSG version, not manual. I decided to accept this, rather than wait for a new order of a manual Lux. I got it just before Xmas.
Overall, I like the car very much: smooth ride, decent performance for a turbo 1.0l engine, comprehensive infotainment system, 44 mpg for an auto on mostly short trips, adaptive cruise control is good.
But I have identified a number of drawbacks, some very minor, some not so. A number of these have of course been highlighted in this forum already, but I'll refer to them anyway.
* No interior light in rear of car. Unforgivable. Clearly nobody in the SEAT design team has ever had a small child in their car.
* Space. I had a 2010 model Ford Focus before whose boot was measured at 350 litres. The Arona says 400 litres, so I didn't examine it too closely and assumed there would be more room. Went to put my golf gear in for the first time - errr, only just fits. Maybe with boot lid in lower position there's more vertical space, but it still feels small. Same with loading small children into the rear - it's more of a squeeze than before. Maybe my own fault for not taking precise measurements, but who does that?
* Door mirrors don't fold electrically - dispute ongoing.
* The Eco profile has to be selected every time you start the car - it won't store it.
* Small fuel tank, feels like I'm always on the lookout for a garage!
* Can't find a way to display total mileage apart from when you turn engine off. You can show 'long-term' but that only lasts up to 9,999 miles.
* Some info that you might want to look at fairly often such as the time and the outside temperature are small in size and barely lit.
* The icon to tell you if your lights are on is next to the light switch, so you either have to remove one hand from the wheel or move your head position to see it. The icon for full beam is on the dash, where the other one should be.
* The centre console is just about high enough for comfort, but only just.
* The keyless entry only works on the driver's door, not the passenger door (OK, it was something I got used to with the Focus).
* The mechanism to slide the drivers seat back and forth is a small lever on the far side of the seat from the door. Why not the near side?
* The wipers are a little 'enthusiastic' when on auto - they're at full speed during fairly mild rain.
* Beeping, beeping, beeping. There's so much of it, it distracts from when it's really needed.
* The radio mutes when there's beeping and when you're reversing. I know you can adjust that, but it's still annoying.
* and finally, the plastic wallet for the user manual is the tackiest thing I've seen in ages!
As I said, some are very minor and may cause a WTF reaction, but these are just my observations. I stress that despite this longish list, I do like owning the Arona!
