SEAT Ibiza (2012-2017) Review and Prices

There are four petrol engines available for the Ibiza in varying power levels. The entry-level engine is a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol with 74hp that will manage the 0-62mph dash in a sedate 14.3 seconds. It provides decent acceleration if you’re in the right gear and are happy to let the engine rev – but doing so will result in far lower fuel economy than the claimed 54.3mpg. It copes well with hills, but if you’re regularly going to carry a few passengers or lots of luggage then we’d recommend you pick one of the turbocharged engines, which require fewer gear changes to get decent acceleration.

Speaking of which, the rest of the Ibiza’s petrol engine range is turbocharged. There’s a turbocharged version of the 1.0-litre engine, with 94hp or 109hp. The 109hp version is the only petrol version of the Ibiza to come with a DSG automatic gearbox, and you can’t have it with a manual gearbox. The 95hp version is noticeably more powerful than the non-turbocharged 74hp version, and would be our pick for day-to-day driving, thanks to impressive fuel economy of 68.9mpg and CO2 emissions of 94g/km.

There’s also a four-cylinder 1.2-litre 109hp petrol engine that’ll dash the Ibiza from 0-60mph in 9.1 seconds while returning 54.3mpg, and a 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol that has 148hp. Apart from the Ibiza Cupra, it’s the most powerful engine you can get in the small SEAT, and it’ll dash to 62mph in 7.6 seconds and return 58.9mpg.

The 74hp 1.4-litre diesel equipped with fuel-saving Ecomotive technology is the cheapest to run returning 83.1mpg combined and emitting just 88g/km of CO2. The 89hp and 104hp diesels return a respectable 74.3mpg. The 89hp version is available with a DSG automatic gearbox and emits 99g/km of CO2.

It isn’t on the same level as the Ford Fiesta in terms of fun, but updated steering and suspension in late 2015 mean it now rides much better and is very settled on the motorway – it feels like a bigger car. There is very little wind noise or tyre roar too, so it makes light work of motorway drives.

Around town, the new electric power steering makes turning the wheel featherlight and parking manoeuvres are effortless. The drawback of the light steering is loss of feedback, so you have less confidence in quick corners. The lower-spec models also have very thin steering wheels – if you prefer a chunkier wheel then you’d be best off with one of the higher-spec FR models.