10,000 miles in... My thoughts on my car.

[Lowe]

So the honeymoon period is over, I've covered 10k and I thought I'd write a little commentary of how I've got on with my car.

The car in question:



Seat Ibiza Cupra TDI. 158bhp diesel, 243lbs of torque, 1200kg. It shares the same parts bin as the Fabia VRs, Polo GTi etc, however the Seat's got an extra 30bhp out of the box, a front mount intercooler, bigger turbo and bigger 17" rims. And those rims are needed because Seat felt the need to throw AP Racing 4 pot's and 312mm discs on the front. They're the same calipers that are used on the Clio V6 - complete overkill for the Ibiza, but cool none the less. Compared to a standard Ibiza there's a few subtle exterior differences; the bumpers are slightly more aggressively styled, it's got an oval exhaust and the rear lights are 'Lexus' styled. The subtle differences are nice though, and it's a little bit of a sleeper. In these times of huge alloys on even bog standard cars, unless you know your onions the 4 pots are unlikely to draw that much attention.

Inside is fairly bland. It's got some Cupra specific detailing like stitched Cupra logo seats, steering wheel, vents, gearknob etc but it's very dark. Everything is black apart from the dials which are white. Given my car is black, with a black interior hot summer days mean it's blummin' roasting when you get in. Good job it's got climate else I'll have melted by now even in the modest summer we've had!

So to the drive. It's got a punchy power delivery which you'd expect given it's a derv, but the larger turbo does make it slightly lethargic on part throttle or extreme low RPM. To get the best from it you need to drive it hard, yet it seems to lap this up. Unlike some diesels it doesn't rapidly run out of puff when you get towards the upper RPM range, more than likely due to the size of the turbo. The six speed box is nothing to write home about but the gearing is lower than any other Ibiza to help with acceleration. 0-62 is dispatched in 7.4 seconds, but the in gear acceleration is where it really shines. A roads and motorways are surprisingly pleasant despite it being a small car and you never feel like you're holding up traffic, there's always plenty of poke available should it be needed. Joining motorway's are particular fun. The ride is the Marmite part of the car, you'll either accept it or hate it. The low profile tyres and hard suspension mean it's a very firm ride, and on UK roads this means you spend a fair bit of time playing dodge the pot hole. Any misjudgements in this regard lead to a bone crunching crash and a few choice blue words. However, the upside is that there's little roll in the bends, it'll grip forever and despite having a heavyweight lump up front it's not actually that bad with regards to understeer. It's rewarding but not the kind of car that'll snap without any notice and try to kill you if you do make a mistake (old school French hatches I'm looking at you ). Obviously you do lose that extra bit of agility with it being that bit 'softer' with its handling but it's not as compromised as you might think.

Practicality wise, it's not too bad for a small car. Rear seats are OK for young kids and babies but forget anything else. With it being a 3 door getting them in can be tricky but that's par the course for a 3 door. Otherwise it's good, decent enough boot space, loads of headroom (good for me since I'm 6'3) and here's the best bit; if driven carefully you'll get half decent mileage for your gallon. I've averaged 48mpg over 10k miles. Driven like a saint on a good motorway run you'll see 60mpg (I've managed 63.2), but under most circumstances late 40's to 50's are achievable without trying too hard. On a commute I'll aim for 50mpg and that's perfectly possible without having to resort to slipstreaming slower moving traffic.

Servicing costs have been relatively low. It's had one service, 4 tyres (to replace nasty budgets that were on the car when bought) and a 4 wheel alignment as well as some minor cosmetic make over work such as repainting the calipers (they fade in the sun). Insurance is OK for me, but it's a group 15 car - probably a pig to insure if you're young.

Overall I've enjoyed it. It's a really nice balance between power and economy; so long as you can deal with the ride.

[Biscuit]

I have been looking at exactly this kind of car for myself so thanks for the review!

Did you weigh this up agains any other cars when you bought this?

[Lowe]

Prime concern was economy for me, but I missed my old hot hatches. The Fabia VRs was a real contender but when I looked into them I found the Cupra TDI. They're a lot rarer (only about 450 in the UK) but have slightly more performance leanings whilst still holding onto most of the economy. The Fabia can do the same kind of performance but needs modding - the Cupra's sorted out the box. Less faffing with insurance.

[Skywalker]

Looking nice!

Oh and luv the landie in white too

[Zak33]

good post Lowe.

the only issue I ever have with those rims are that the alloy spokes stick out too far.. I like a tyre wall to stick out past the spokes... they look odd otherwise. It's as though the hub and track are too wide for the car and the alloy's offset needs to be inbound to bring the rim back into the suspensions happy zone. And that's all because of the brakes...

but it IS lovely to have the anchors.... just wish they weren't red.

Matt black all the way for me

[kalniel]

The ride's bad enough on a normal Ibiza TDI so I don't envy you that!

One of the more economical sporties though

[Lowe]

good post Lowe.

the only issue I ever have with those rims are that the alloy spokes stick out too far.. I like a tyre wall to stick out past the spokes... they look odd otherwise. It's as though the hub and track are too wide for the car and the alloy's offset needs to be inbound to bring the rim back into the suspensions happy zone. And that's all because of the brakes...

but it IS lovely to have the anchors.... just wish they weren't red.

Matt black all the way for me

Yeah, they do stick out and they're at the forefront of my thoughts when parking! Red is standard colour for the calipers. Black would be OK, but it's a bit too much black for my liking. Also all the accents on the car are red, logos etc. Talking of brakes, I forgot I had the fluid changed, new rear calipers/discs and new pads all round. The car had been stood for a long time and as a result the brakes weren't in the best of condition.

/edit - another thought too, I popped a couple of boost hoses - again nothing too expensive and par the course for a VAG diesel that's done some mileage.

[Konan555]

the upside is that there's little roll in the bends, it'll grip forever and despite having a heavyweight lump up front it's not actually that bad with regards to understeer. It's rewarding but not the kind of car that'll snap without any notice and try to kill you if you do make a mistake (old school French hatches I'm looking at you ).

Do you think this is something Seat have dialed out in particular? My big moan when it comes to the Golf/Polo platforms is their habit of either cornering perfectly or ignoring the front wheels and continuing in a stright line, with very little in between.

[kalniel]

In my experience of the non-cupra, not exactly - it feels like they've stiffened up the front end quite a lot, which makes direction changes much better than the golf/polo, but on longer corners/larger roundabouts it still understeers as the rear suspension is very simple and there's nothing encouraging rotation around the rear axle.

But if the cupra has more advanced suspension and uses wheel braking like Audi etc. to brake the inside wheel then it'll be better than the golf/polo all round.

[pauleden]

The Cupra's weight distribution is a bit too far forward. The big intercooler hangs way out beyond the front axle, that's why you get this 'snap understeer'. It can be mostly cured by going for a higher profile wheel and tyre that allows for a gentler weight transfer under cornering, but few owners who want the sporty undertones do that.

I wonder if those big brakes are snatchy too? VAG have put in ABS that is too keen to intervene in the past.

[Lowe]

The Cupra's weight distribution is a bit too far forward. The big intercooler hangs way out beyond the front axle, that's why you get this 'snap understeer'. It can be mostly cured by going for a higher profile wheel and tyre that allows for a gentler weight transfer under cornering, but few owners who want the sporty undertones do that.

I wonder if those big brakes are snatchy too? VAG have put in ABS that is too keen to intervene in the past.

The understeer really isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things - my car history has been mostly homebrew French hot hatches which are a bit more at the opposite end of the handling spectrum as far as FWD goes, so anything VAG is likely to be more 'understeery'. It's not something that I think I'd worry about going to all the hassle to try and dial out and owners clubs report a stiffer rear anti roll bar is all it takes should that tickle your fancy.

The brakes feel fine with regards to the ABS kicking in. The only time I've ever experienced it was doing a full on emergency stop in damp conditions. I'd argue that the balance is slightly too front heavy and might benefit from having a little more rear bias but I think this might just be a personal thing, and the rear brakes on the Ibiza are fairly small anyway so the effect might end up decreasing the overall braking power.

[pauleden]

Yeah, all good points.

I've yet to drive any FWD car that doesn't lock it's front axle before it's rear one under heavy braking and this seems odd to us under normal circumstances, because most heavy braking is done in a straight line. Moving the bias backward has terrible consequences for cars braking hard in a corner. Even the keenest ABS won't prevent a spin in that situation.

[Manehead]

Thanks for the review, I'm liking the anthracite alloys!