SEAT Ibiza

Seat sends out a signal of something different in the small car segment, reports Damien O’carroll, who reckons the timing for the Spanish brand and the German accent couldn’t be better.

Seat may be a new brand to New Zealand, but it is anything but in either its home or the wider European markets. Originating in 1940 as SIAT, the company was “relaunched” in 1950 as SEAT, following the Spanish government and six banks signing an agreement with Fiat to form a partnership in the company. The partnership soured in the early 1980s, which is when Volkswagen swooped in, eventually purchasing 51 percent of the company in June 1986, boosting that to 75 percent before the end of that year and eventually acquiring all of the company by 1990. So now Seat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the VW Group, which is why the all-new Seat Ibiza you see here, is pretty much a VW Polo underneath its stylishly Euro skin. And that is a truly good thing indeed, as the Polo is a thoroughly excellent car. The Ibiza – as it happens – is too, but it throws in a few interesting twists to sharpen up its case beyond that of the VW. Firstly, it is something interestingly different. As mentioned earlier, the Seat brand is a relatively unknown quantity here and, as such, is something that stands out from the norm. Which is something a Volkswagen simply can’t do. Secondly, and most importantly, it takes the value-for-money argument right to the Polo, and several steps beyond. At $25,900, the automatic Ibiza Style (the only model available here) is fractionally more than the $25,490 entry level Polo TSI that is a manual. To get the auto VW you need to stump up another $2,500. But then the Seat is powered by the 85kw/200nm 1.0-litre, three-cylinder engine, and you need to shell out $32,990 to get the Polo R-line with the comparable engine in the VW range. Okay, so the R-line has slightly more equipment, but the Seat isn’t exactly a stripped-out entry car either. Standard fare includes such niceties as 16-inch alloy wheels, an eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system with phone projection, a leather multifunction steering wheel, dual zone climate control, front and rear parking sensors, automatic headlights and rain sensing wipers, a backing camera, tyre pressure monitoring, emergency autonomous braking and hill hold assist. Like the Polo, the Ibiza’s engine is a cheerfully characterful little unit, with a traditional three-cylinder chug and plenty of grunt across its rev range. It does have a woefully slow stop/start system, which is really better switched off, however. In terms of ride and handling, the Ibiza also shares the Polo’s impressively big-car like road manners, with the same eager and responsive handling that makes both cars an absolute delight to both chuck around a winding road and live with around town. On the inside, the Ibiza uses noticeably harder plastics than the more upscale Polo, and more of them, but the design is far more angularly interesting and pleasing to look at than that of the VW. Frugal, comfortable, fun and – possibly most importantly – refreshingly different, the Seat Ibiza makes a very compelling package in an incredibly competitive segment. And it is one which definitely deserves consideration.