Seat Ibiza review

You might be surprised by how much pub trivia the Seat Ibiza has behind it. The original Ibiza had engines built in collaboration with Porsche along with styling conceived by the designer of the first Lotus Esprit.

This sporty upbringing can still be felt in the latest, fifth-generation Ibiza: it’s positioned as the athletic sibling next to two small cars it shares underpinnings with – the more comfort-focused Skoda Fabia and Volkswagen Polo.

Moreover, the Ibiza promises to be one of the sharpest handlers in the entire small car class. Speaking of which, the Renault Clio currently sits at the top of that class after being named Best Small Car at our Car of the Year Awards – so no pressure on the Ibiza…

The Seat Ibiza’s entry-level engine is a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine, badged 1.0 TSI 95. It has 94bhp and, during our testing, we saw 0-60mph in a respectable 9.8 seconds, and there’s a decent amount of shove low down in the rev range. The 1.0 TSI 95 is certainly capable of keeping up with traffic on motorways, just like the closely related Skoda Fabia and VW Polo. It’s our recommended engine.

For more performance, you’ll need to upgrade to the 1.0 TSI 115 (and at least the FR trim). It uses a similar 1.0-litre engine but with 113bhp, and feels marginally quicker.

While the TSI 95 comes with a five-speed manual gearbox, the TSI 115 is available with either a six-speed gearbox or a seven-speed automatic. The manual gearboxes are slick to use, with light, precise, satisfying gearshifts. We’ve yet to try the auto box in the Ibiza.

Most versions of the Ibiza ride bumps well, smoothing over imperfections more effectively than the Suzuki Swift. However, if comfort is your top priority, we'd recommend trying the even more supple Peugeot 208 and Skoda Fabia.

FR versions of the Ibiza get firmer sports suspension as standard. It's designed to improve cornering, and while it doesn't mean you wince over every pothole, you do feel more of bumps as they pass beneath the car.

FR Sport trim brings the largest wheels on offer, measuring 18in. That makes the ride even firmer – something to bear in mind before you’re seduced by the sporty looks.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the Ibiza is how composed and sophisticated it is to drive. In fact, it’s the best-handling small car we've driven.

The Ibiza’s steering works well both in town and at faster speeds, starting off light during slower driving and manoeuvres, before progressively weighting up well when you find yourself on a twisty country road.

The steering gives you good feedback – more so than the steering in the Renault Clio – meaning you can confidently judge the level of grip. There’s also very little body lean working against you, especially if you opt for one of the FR trims.

The Ibiza's 1.0 TSI engines are reasonably smooth, although when you put your foot down hard, you hear more of a buzz than in the Fabia.

There's not much wind noise, even on motorways, but you hear a noteworthy amount of tyre roar. The Peugeot 208 and VW Polo are quieter companions.

“I’ve yet to drive another small car that flows down a country road as well as the Ibiza does.” – Oliver Young, Reviewer

If you like a fairly low-slung driving position, the Seat Ibiza will suit you better than many small cars, including the Suzuki Swift. The seat is supportive (especially in FR trims, with their sports seats) and you’ll easily find a comfortable driving position, thanks to a good amount of seat and steering wheel adjustability.

It’s a shame you can’t get adjustable lumbar support in the Ibiza, but lower back support is reasonable without it.

The interior is laid out in a logical fashion. True, the air-con controls are positioned quite low down on the dashboard, but they’re clearly labelled and not too distracting to use while you’re driving. All Ibizas get a digital driver’s display – it measures 8in on cheaper trims, and 10in on FR Sport trim and higher.

Fortunately, the Ibiza’s eye-catching looks haven’t come at the expense of visibility. Up front, the windscreen pillars don’t obstruct your view out too badly – even at junctions – and the front side windows are suitably tall and easy to see out of.

For extra reassurance, Seat gives you rear parking sensors as standard. Xcellence Lux trim adds front sensors and a reversing camera.

To help you see where you’re going at night, automatic LED headlights come as standard on all trims. Their brightness varies depending on your trim level – SE and SE Technology models get LED lights while the higher trims get full LEDs.

All versions of the Ibiza come with an infotainment touchscreen – it measures 8.3in on entry-level SE models and 9.2in on all other trims. You have to go for the bigger screen to get built-in sat-nav, although a DAB radio, and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring come as standard across the range.

We’ve yet to try the smaller screen, but the larger version is one of the better touchscreens in the small car class. It's crisp and bright, responding quickly when you prod it, and the operating system is relatively easy to get used to.

The Ibiza’s dashboard is covered in a squidgy material that both looks and feels better than the scratchy plastic you often find on the dashboards of small cars. In all Ibizas, the steering wheel, handbrake lever and gear lever are trimmed in leather.

If you go for the FR Sport, Xcellence or Xcellence Lux trim, there's also faux-suede upholstery that lifts the feel of the interior even further. The Mini Cooper and Peugeot 208 feel even classier inside, but not by a huge margin.

Regardless of trim level, everything inside the Ibiza feels well screwed together and all the buttons, switches and stalks operate in a reassuringly solid manner.

“I like a low driving position and that the Ibiza (unlike a lot of other small cars) caters for that very well.” – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Even if you’re well over six feet tall, you won't feel your head brushing the roof, and the seats slide back far enough to accommodate anyone with long legs.

Shoulder room is better than in many small hatchbacks, making the Ibiza feel as roomy as some family cars.

The front door bins aren’t the biggest but they will take a large water bottle. There are also two cupholders between the front seats, along with a cubbyhole in front of the gearlever for your phone and keys. The glovebox is a decent size.

Yes, the Ibiza is a small car in the grand scheme of things, but you might be surprised by how spacious it is in the back. There's considerably more leg room than you'll find in the rear of, for example, a Peugeot 208.

All versions of the Ibiza come with 60/40 split folding rear seats, which is par for the course in the class. If you need greater seating flexibility, take a look at the Honda Jazz – its rear seat bases can be flipped up like those in a cinema.

At 335 litres in volume, the Ibiza’s boot is one of the biggest in the small-car class – there's almost as much room as there is in the super-spacious Renault Clio TCe 90 (391 litres) and Skoda Fabia (380 litres). We managed to fit an impressive five carry-on suitcases below the Ibiza’s parcel shelf.

If you need even more space, you can always fold down the rear seats, although doing so creates a fairly large step up from the main boot floor, which could make loading in long item awkward. (There's no height-adjustable boot floor option to give a level surface.)

“While I appreciate that the Fabia is roomier overall, the Ibiza proved roomy enough to fit in me and three friends without any discomfort.” – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

As a cash buy, the entry-level Seat Ibiza undercuts the closely related Skoda Fabia and VW Polo, as well as the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris (by a larger margin). The Renault Clio is a cheaper buy. Ibiza resale values are respectable rather than outstanding.

So far, we've put only the 1.0 TSI 95 through our real-world True MPG tests and it averaged an impressive 54mpg.

The entry-level Ibiza SE gets a good list of kit as standard, including 15in alloys, air-conditioning, cruise control, powered door mirrors, metallic paint and an 8.3in touchscreen. If you step up to SE Technology – which is our recommended trim – it won't cost too much more but gets you a 9.2in touchscreen and bigger, 16in alloy wheels.

The FR trim is worth considering if you value sporty looks and sharp handling. It adds firmer, sports suspension, along with a more aggressive-looking bodykit and 17in alloy wheels. It also gets you dual-zone climate control, heated door mirrors, rain-sensing wipers and an alarm. FR Sport trim adds bigger 18in wheels and microsuede upholstery but is too expensive to recommend.

If you don’t want the sporty look and feel of the FR models, you can opt for Xcellence trim, which gets you keyless entry and Xcellence-specific 17in wheels. There’s also the range-topping Xcellence Lux that brings adaptive cruise control and extra visibility aids. Again, it’s too pricey to make financial sense.

The Ibiza performed very poorly in our latest, 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, coming last out of 15 cars in the small car class. Its reliability score was a worrying 78%.  

Seat as a brand only did a little better, ranking 26th out of 31 manufacturers featured – above Nissan and Vauxhall but below Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Skoda and VW. Its overall reliability score came out as 87.5%.  

The standard Seat warranty period is three years or 60,000 miles, although this can be extended for a fee to four years, 75,000 miles or five years, 90,000 miles. It’s worth bearing in mind that Hyundai, Kia and Toyota offer longer warranties.

All versions of the Ibiza come with six airbags, tyre-pressure monitoring and automatic emergency braking (AEB). That helped it score the full five stars in its Euro NCAP safety test, although it’s important to note that the result is from 2022, when the tests were less stringent than they are today.

A tiredness recognition system is standard on all models to alert you if you become too drowsy, as is lane-keeping assistance. Every Ibiza can read road signs and display the speed limit on the driver’s display. 

“Much of the Ibiza's poor reliability score came from faulty touchscreens, which isn’t the worst thing to go wrong but will still be annoying and inconvenient.” – Claire Evans, Consumer Editor

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