SEAT Ibiza FR 1.0 TSi (115PS) 6.5 Years and 105,000 Miles
So. I had the SEAT Ibiza from new and put 105,000 miles on it over 6.5 years. I posted about it a few times on the HJ forum under the username “FiestaOwner”. I have now replaced this car so it’s now time to write its final review.
It drove and handled well with brisk acceleration. Although it didn’t quite match the handling of a 2012 1.25 fiesta I owned previously (the acceleration of the Fiesta was nowhere near as good as the Ibiza). The ride of the Ibiza was slightly on the firm side (of course it was on 17” wheels and being FR trim, it might have had firmer suspension). Despite what I’ve said I really liked owning and driving this car.
The manual 6 speed gearbox mated to the 1.0TSi engine has bags of performance, it’s a joy to drive. The car is comfy and all controls are well laid out. I found it to be a nice size with decent size boot and ample space for this class of car.
As I stated on the HJ forum before, I would criticise 2 things about this car. The 1st is that there is no interior lighting for the rear passengers. The rear seats really are in darkness. This is a significant omission and it is disappointing that this doesn’t seem to have been rectified on later cars, despite there being 2 facelifts after mine was built. The 2nd thing is that it only has one feeble reversing light which makes reversing in the dark tricky. Have had other cars in the past (including a MK2 Clio and a 2012 Fiesta) which have had 2 decent reversing lights and makes reversing in the dark a dawdle.
I had this car serviced religiously every 10,000 miles. The first 6 services were done at the SEAT dealer, the 4 other services were done at my local independent garage. While still getting the servicing done at SEAT my independent put a set of discs and pads on both the front and rear (didn’t trust SEAT to do this). 50,000 miles later I had to get another set of rear pads fitted, as a caliper was slightly sticking (I had noticed it was getting slightly more brake dust on one wheel, but it wasn’t heating up). My indie freed off the calliper and that stopped the extra brake dust.
After 100,000 mile I had a broken front spring. I heard it break and saw the broken coil bouncing along the road in my mirror. The car still drove fine (without any knocking and the suspension didn’t drop) the bottom of the coil spring still seated in the cup on the strut. I did hit a nasty pothole over 2 years previous to this, and I think that weakened the spring. I got my indie to replace both front springs.
I had Michelin CrossClimate Tyres fitted when the car was new, they did about 35,000 miles. I replaced them with another set which did the same mileage. I always found with the CrossClimates that the rear of the car seemed to break away too easily when cornering (at a very slow speed) in snowy conditions. My experience never seemed to match that of the professional reviewers. Otherwise, these tyres handled exceptionally well (wet, dry, hot and cold). Also fitted a set of Continental AllSeasonContact’s these did 31,000 miles and I felt that they performed very well too. Never experienced the rear of the car breaking away with the Continental’s, but maybe I never experienced the same weather conditions as I did with the Michelin’s. I found (both the Michelin and the Continental) All Seasons Tyres developed a drone after perhaps 20 – 25,000 miles (sounded like wheel bearings, but the drone stopped when the tyres were replaced). Never experienced this when running previous cars on Summer tyres. A few weeks before selling the car I had to put another set of tyres on it. This time I put on Nexen N Blue 4Season 2’s. They seemed ok, but didn’t have them long enough to form an opinion on them.
I had one puncture with this car (at night of course!), fortunately I had spec’d it with a full size spare wheel, so was able to change it myself and get back on my way quickly. I would recommend to everyone, make sure you get a spare wheel (and tool kit).
It passed all MOT’s with no advisories. It had no knocking from the steering or suspension. Still drove very much like a new car.
The car is still on its:- original clutch, original battery, original exhaust, original TPMS sensors and batteries, original batteries in both key fobs.
During my ownership VW group revised its guidance on when the Cam Belt is due for replacement. When contacting VW Group, they advised me that the Cam Belt is now a “Fitted for Life” item which can be considered as 15 years or 180,000 miles. As a consequence, I never had this replaced.
So, in essence I would really recommend this car. It’s never let me down.
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
27 Jul 26 00:45 |
|
 SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,00.. new |
|
PeterS |
|
27 Jul 26 08:23 |
|
 SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
legacylad |
|
27 Jul 26 09:01 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
Bobby |
|
27 Jul 26 10:29 |
|
 SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
PeterS |
|
27 Jul 26 10:49 |
|
 SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105.. new |
|
Bobby |
|
27 Jul 26 11:59 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
27 Jul 26 21:22 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,00.. new |
|
Bromptonaut |
|
27 Jul 26 11:18 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
27 Jul 26 21:28 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
Bromptonaut |
|
27 Jul 26 21:50 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,00.. new |
|
John F |
|
27 Jul 26 12:57 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
Manatee |
|
27 Jul 26 13:30 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
Bobby |
|
27 Jul 26 18:00 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
PeterS |
|
27 Jul 26 20:01 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
27 Jul 26 21:37 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
Robin O'Reliant |
|
27 Jul 26 22:05 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
29 Jul 26 21:10 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 1.. new |
|
Robin O'Reliant |
|
29 Jul 26 21:40 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and .. new |
|
Bromptonaut |
|
29 Jul 26 22:35 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and .. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
30 Jul 26 20:03 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
27 Jul 26 21:46 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
John F |
|
28 Jul 26 16:47 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105.. new |
|
Andrew-T |
|
28 Jul 26 17:31 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 1.. new |
|
John F |
|
29 Jul 26 12:12 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and .. new |
|
Andrew-T |
|
29 Jul 26 15:07 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
30 Jul 26 20:06 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,00.. new |
|
Bill Payer |
|
28 Jul 26 17:57 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,0.. new |
|
TSI Owner |
|
29 Jul 26 21:07 |
|
| SEAT - Ibiza 1.0 TSi 6.5 Years and 105,.. new |
|
Andrew-T |
|
29 Jul 26 23:05 |
|
