Excuse me, are you Yeti?
There’s not much wrong with the Arona – but neither is there the DNA of Skoda’s cult Yeti
WE NEED TO talk about the Skoda Yeti a bit more. In the June issue’s Icon Buyer Ben Barry hymned it as a ‘loveable workhorse’, while last month Ben Miller took to the pulpit to praise its ‘original, distinctive’ design. It’s a keeper.
More precisely, for the owners it’s a keeper. Skoda, however, seems less emotionally attached, and has replaced the refreshingly individual Yeti with a couple of very generic SUVs, and there’s a third due next year.
People keep asking me if the Arona is something to do with the Yeti. They know it’s the wrong badge and a dierent face, but there’s something about the Seat’s posture and proportions that evokes the Yeti.
I wish there was some substance to this, but the plain truth is that it’s a taller Ibiza
– no more, no less. The ‘taller’ bit is not all about fashion over function, even though it’s easy to dismiss crossovers in that way. You get that useful extra space for passengers’ heads and for luggage, so when you try to squeeze a load of hedge cuttings and broken bicycles into the back, the Seat generally obliges.
And the Ibiza is quite a dull car these days, whereas the Arona – or at least this Arona – is quite perky and engaging.
I haven’t done many miles this month, and they’ve mostly been in town for short shopping trips. The fuel consumption has suered, but not by much. But the Arona remains obliging, easygoing transport, and a little bit more. But not that much more.