Seat Ibiza 1.4 SE review

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Seat Ibiza 1.4 16v 85 SE Road Test

Test date 16 July 2008 Price as tested £12,405

For It's good looking, sound interior quality, good pricing and equipment levels

Against Average performance, odd mix of cabin materials, short on space in rear

You probably remember the original Ibiza most for its ‘Engineered by Porsche’ sticker in the back window. That was introduced back in 1985, the powertrain was indeed engineered with Porsche input, the car was styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, and it was loosely derived from the Fiat Strada. The second-generation Ibiza of 1993, and all since, have been developed under VW stewardship and have shared platforms with the Polo.

The new Seat Ibiza’s arrival comes at a not inconvenient time for Seat, dropping as it does into a slight lull in the supermini launch schedule.

The Renault Clio and Fiat Punto are approaching mid-life, and the Vauxhall Corsa, Mazda 2 and Skoda Fabia are all a year or two old. So the Ibiza – at least until the Ford Fiesta arrives this autumn – enjoys some clear air to make an impression.

It arrives at an interesting time for Seat, too; the Spanish subsidiary of Volkswagen intends to double its range of models to 16 by 2012 and sales volume to 800,000 cars by 2015.

The Ibiza will have an important role to play in that drive. Currently it is Seat’s strongest-selling car – both overall and in the British market – with a respectable total sales of 180,000 models a year.

e many of its rivals, it’ll come in two body variants: a more rakish three-door hatch (called the SportCoupé) that arguably gets closer to fulfilling Seat’s ‘auto emoción’ advertising strapline, than the more conventional and popular five-door hatchback, as tested here.