SEAT Ibiza TDI
FIRST DRIVE Diesel supermini performs well, but looks pricey
1.6-litre diesel supermini driven. Plus new 1.5 petrol Audi A3
SEAT’S sharp fifth-generation Ibiza has already proven itself to be one of 2017’s top small hatchbacks, even picking up the best supermini gong at our New Car Awards in June last year, thanks to its appealing combination of style, driving fun and value.
2018 sees a flock of new Ibizas enter the fray, including a pair of diesel options. The engines involved are venerable Volkswagen Group 1.6-litre TDI units, with either 79bhp or 94bhp on tap and the same headline fuel economy and CO2 figures of 74.3mpg and 99g/km. The more powerful 94bhp unit finds a home in sporty Fr-trim cars, while the 79bhp version is spread across the range.
Here we’re trying the 94bhp unit in an Ibiza XCELLENCE. It’s a combination that won’t actually hit SEAT’S British forecourts, but it’s still a marker of what buyers will be able to expect.
The Ibiza’s power and performance figures outstrip those of the diesel supermini to beat, Ford’s 1.5 TDCI Fiesta. The 1.6-litre unit in the SEAT isn’t quite as economical and can’t match the Ford’s claimed 88.3mpg, but the 250Nm of torque on offer means that there’s more meat on the bone when you dip the throttle. Second and third-gear pull for overtaking is decent, even if most of the grunt is fast to fade away when outside its comfort zone.
The five-speed manual gearbox the engine is linked to is snappy to shift, while the steering is sweet and direct, too. Dynamically, there’s nothing to set the diesel apart from any petrol model, so it’s a typically tight and responsive car to drive.
However, what does mark the diesel Ibiza out is the hefty premium on the price tag. The 94bhp 1.6-litre TDI starts at £18,445 in FR trim, representing a hike of £2,440 over our preferred Ibiza, the 1.0-litre 94bhp TSI petrol. You’d have to do a lot of miles to redeem the additional cost of the TDI model and while SEAT’S finance deals soften the blow, whichever way you look at it, the diesel is expensive to stomach.
It’s also not as refined as the 1.0litre TSI, nor is it as quick off the line, and while it sits in a lower VED band thanks to sub-100g/km CO2 emissions, the saving here is small, at just £20 off the first-year rate. To top it off, the 1.0-litre TSI sits in a lower insurance group, and for business buyers it actually chalks up a marginally lower Benefit-in-kind rate too, at 20 per cent.