The Seat Arona settles into daily duties

There are quite a few things that get on my nerves about driving in the UK. The fact that most of our roads seem to be in such a poor state of repair, for one.

Happily, however, there are some things I do enjoy when I get behind the wheel – and one of them is the fact that I have been given custody of a cracking new car from Seat to evaluate.

To be fair, this initial report about our long-term Arona is a little overdue – but before anyone accuses me of missing a deadline, let me explain. My first few days with the car were largely spent doing my daily commute – all of 16 miles to the office and back! – and I was waiting for a chance to stretch its legs a bit more before putting pen to paper.

I spent almost four hours behind the wheel that day and was thoroughly impressed with the car on a lot of levels.

Inside, it’s more of the same. An uber-modern cabin again features dramatic angles, and everything is where it should be and easy to use, even if, like me, you’re not amazingly keen on poring over handbooks or reams of instructions to find out how everything works!

Even as a lanky six-footer, I found it extremely easy to get comfortable for my few hours of driving. I felt relaxed and at ease on arrival at the party and the journey home was a doddle (largely because the roads were so quiet, to be fair).

The car’s 1.0-litre TSI engine developed by Seat’s parent Volkswagen group is agile and responsive and more than adequate for some prolonged motorway action – as well as speedy getaways at busy junctions and roundabouts.

The keyless system probably doesn’t need too much in the way of an explanation from me. As long as the key’s in your pocket somewhere, you don’t need to retrieve it to get into the car and turn the ignition on.

Park Assist uses the car’s 360 degree sensors and means our Arona can both parallel park and pull into parking bays. All you need to do is control the speed and braking and the car takes care of the steering. With a colour rear view camera, you can keep an eye on everything around you too.

One slight issue I did have with the car was that on my trip to rural Oxfordshire, the sat nav kept trying to make me leave the main roads I was using only to direct me up the slip road, round the roundabout and back down the other side and onto the same carriageway! Puzzling – and they were instructions I ignored. (Could easily be something in the settings that just needed adjusting, though. If I find out what it is, I’ll mention it next time.)

Overall, however, the infotainment system is superb and the full menu for whatever mode you’re in appears when your finger nears the screen. Very handy.

I’m unusual, I know, in that I sometimes like to drive without any radio or music playing. With the infotainment switched off, the elegant clock displayed on the touchscreen is a pleasure to look at.

Those are my impressions so far – not really enough room to mention every element of ‘our’ new Arona in my first report, but so far so good.

FACTS AT A GLANCE

Model: Seat Arona XCELLENCE Lux
Price (as tested): £22,095
Engine: 1.0 TSI 6-speed manual
Power: 113bhp
Max speed: 113mph
0-60mph: 9.6 seconds
Emissions: 114g/km
Mpg (combined): 56.5
Mileage to date: 1,574