irishcar.com - SEAT Arosa First View

Who would have believed it, a Spanish mini-car with BMW looks? It was a talking point at the European press launch of Seat’s new Arosa. The BMW lookalike bit is actually achieved through the styling around the front lights and grille. At the rear the light clusters are almost reminiscent of the Lexus IS200.

The Arosa in its smarter 2001 outfit will be making its Irish debut about February. Most Irish sales will concentrate on the 1.0 litre 50bhp version although the engine line-up also has two 1.4 litre petrol engines (with 60 and 100bhp) and two diesels, 1.4 and 1.7 litres (60 and 75bhp).

The new face of Arosa has had significant input from Walter de Silva who moved to Seat from Alfa Romeo where he was chief stylist. Alfa’s big success story, the 156, was his work and so, too, is the forthcoming Alfa 147. His brief at Seat is now to give the Spanish marque a sporty and youthful image, akin almost to that of Alfa Romeo.

Arosa is the last arrival in a Seat model renewal programme that has already embraced Toledo, Ibiza, Cordoba, Leon and Alhambra. It arrives propitiously just as Seat is celebrating its 50th anniversary in car manufacturing. Once Seat was the Spanish arm of Fiat, becoming a Spanish State-owned company when Fiat pulled out in the early 1980s. Now Seat is very much part of the VW group and the huge manufacturing plant at Martorell, outside Barcelona, is also a major supplier of VW-badged vehicles.

Arosa in its 1.0 litre manifestation, showed nimbleness and agility when we had to disengage from a Tarragona traffic jam. Out on the open road, it was lively enough but a couple of times on the motorway, it did seemto be running out of breath. The 75bhp 1.4 litre TDi that we also tested was a much better open-road proposition. Arosa 1.0 litre buyers, however, should be rewarded with a more relevant kind of performance these days, in fuel economy. Seat say that model has an extra urban consumption rating of 4.7 litres per 100km which is almost 60mpg.

Seat engineers also claim that over 50 per cent of the car is new or has been modified. The new profile is also more aerodynamic with a Cd figure of 0.32.

The passenger compartment has been extensively reworked. There’s a more modern and functional dashboard design with a variety of cubby-holes for storage. Softer plastics and a more pleasant textured upholstery are used: we also noted two handy card-holders and two cup-holders. Boot space is still limited but that’s almost to be expected in a mini-car.

We don’t know yet what the Irish price will be. The current or old 1.0 litre Arosa retails at IR£8,590 ex-works, well below VW’s Lupo at IR£9,360 ex-works. Both cars actually use identical engines and are similar in size.

Arosa adopts the BMW look	January 2001 by Andrew Hamilton
Who would have believed it, a Spanish mini-car with BMW looks? It was a talking point at the European press launch of Seat’s new Arosa. The BMW lookalike bit is actually achieved through the styling around the front lights and grille. At the rear the light clusters are almost reminiscent of the Lexus IS200. The Arosa in its smarter 2001 outfit will be making its Irish debut about February. Most Irish sales will concentrate on the 1.0 litre 50bhp version although the engine line-up also has two 1.4 litre petrol engines (with 60 and 100bhp) and two diesels, 1.4 and 1.7 litres (60 and 75bhp). The new face of Arosa has had significant input from Walter de Silva who moved to Seat from Alfa Romeo where he was chief stylist. Alfa’s big success story, the 156, was his work and so, too, is the forthcoming Alfa 147. His brief at Seat is now to give the Spanish marque a sporty and youthful image, akin almost to that of Alfa Romeo. Arosa is the last arrival in a Seat model renewal programme that has already embraced Toledo, Ibiza, Cordoba, Leon and Alhambra. It arrives propitiously just as Seat is celebrating its 50th anniversary in car manufacturing. Once Seat was the Spanish arm of Fiat, becoming a Spanish State-owned company when Fiat pulled out in the early 1980s. Now Seat is very much part of the VW group and the huge manufacturing plant at Martorell, outside Barcelona, is also a major supplier of VW-badged vehicles. Arosa in its 1.0 litre manifestation, showed nimbleness and agility when we had to disengage from a Tarragona traffic jam. Out on the open road, it was lively enough but a couple of times on the motorway, it did seemto be running out of breath. The 75bhp 1.4 litre TDi that we also tested was a much better open-road proposition. Arosa 1.0 litre buyers, however, should be rewarded with a more relevant kind of performance these days, in fuel economy. Seat say that model has an extra urban consumption rating of 4.7 litres per 100km which is almost 60mpg. Seat engineers also claim that over 50 per cent of the car is new or has been modified. The new profile is also more aerodynamic with a Cd figure of 0.32. The passenger compartment has been extensively reworked. There’s a more modern and functional dashboard design with a variety of cubby-holes for storage. Softer plastics and a more pleasant textured upholstery are used: we also noted two handy card-holders and two cup-holders. Boot space is still limited but that’s almost to be expected in a mini-car. We don’t know yet what the Irish price will be. The current or old 1.0 litre Arosa retails at IR£8,590 ex-works, well below VW’s Lupo at IR£9,360 ex-works. Both cars actually use identical engines and are similar in size.

Arosa adopts the BMW look