Hi John,

While we like both of these B-segment crossovers, if you’re buying a model with a conventional combustion engine, then the SEAT Arona is the better choice. It has the sweeter drivetrains, the finer chassis, better noise suppression and a superior cabin. The Kona, of course, has a longer warranty and quite striking looks – which are love them or loathe them – and it’s a fine machine for what it is, but the Arona is our recommendation.

This changes if you’re feeling brave and going for the Kona Electric, which is a superb pure EV. It’s one of the first mainstream electric cars that has enough range in it to make it feasible as a regular, daily driver and it even has toned-down looks as the Electric model, thanks to less need for cooling at the front end. It is, however, not cheap.

Talking of money, used Aronas (they start on 181 plates) begin at about €18,000 and rise to something like €25,000, unless you find a delivery miles 182 demo car in full spec, in which case it might be as much as €28,000. You can find some used examples of the Hyundai Kona on the 172-plate, but, even so, the Korean vehicle is more money on the second-hand market, starting at around €19,000 and rising to something like €34,000 – the Kona Electric is even more, in the region of €37,000-€38,000 for lightly used models. By way of compensation, there are far more examples of the Hyundai on the used market than there are of the SEAT.