Seat Arosa Hatchback (97 - 04) review

Seat might make its cars with Volkswagen bits, but the Spaniards have a better reliability record than VW. Although its overall placings in our reliability surveys have dropped in recent years, Seat usually manages to outperform its parent company.

Seat can't seem to match VW on customer satisfaction, though. The Arosa came bottom of its class in the 2005 JD Power survey because of customers' concerns over high repair costs - and rightly so.

A new clutch costs over £500, and a cambelt change on the 1.0-litre will cost you more than £400. So, if you're buying a used car, try and find one that's already had the cambelt changed.

There are also a few particular points to look out for, including rattles from the suspension, which usually means that new bushes are required. And, on later cars, electrical gripes are the biggest complaint, so make sure all your gadgets work properly and don't show any signs of weird behaviour.