irishcar.com - The new SEAT Ibiza first view

Sunny SEAT makes up for poor weather

Hot and sunny Seville, or slightly balmier Cadiz on the ocean, the best place to launch a car that's aiming to put a bright bit of motoring sunshine into people's lives, right?

Hmm ... not quite. It rained, it was cool to cold, and the Atlantic disappeared in an early dusk and didn't get up again until it was time for us to drive back to the airport, so a walk on the beach was out of the question.

But the car made up for it. If Ibiza didn't make it into the 'I want one at any cost' consciousness of Ireland's younger drivers, this is likely to change.

Though the SEAT people here will really have to rethink current plans, and offer one particular engine when they bring the car in next April.

As it happened, none of the three engines scheduled for the Irish launch of the new Ibiza were available to drive in Andalusia last week.

Ireland is to get 3-cylinder 1.2-litre and four-pot 1.4-litre (75bhp) petrol, and a 1.4-litre 3-cylinder turbodiesel already familiar to a few from the Audi A2 and more latterly in the outgoing VW Polo.

What we drove were a 100bhp 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.9-litre TDi of similar output. For those who want oilburning megathrills, there's a 130bhp version of the TDi.

But they won't sell in Ireland, because our penal taxation makes them unviable options in the segment.

The fifth-generation (yes, there have been that many) Ibiza is built on the platform already used by the Skoda Fabia and which will also carry the next Polo.

It allows for a car that is larger, wider and higher than its predecessor, with a 56mm increase in distance between the pedals block and the rear seat backrest that really does make a difference. More of which later.

Stylewise, there’s a visual link to the older cars, certainly, but there’s also something more - a new look of vivacity with a number of design cues from the company’s more recent concept cars under the Salsa name.

The body is a high-waisted wedge, with a strongly-sculpted bonnet and a very 21st century nose that - and this is no criticism of the stylists - coming up behind you might well give the impression that there’s a BMW 3-series on your tail.

And, with the same caveat, there’s more than an impression of an Alfa 147’s rear when you’re eating the Ibiza’s dust. But closer inspection of the lights clusters front and rear shows very high-tech tubular elements behind the polycarbonate screens.

It’s all very pleasing to the eye, the proportions are dead right, and here is a car that says it’s ready to take on anything.

Which rather fits in with the new positioning of SEAT in the VW Group’s restructured ethos - the Spanish car will represent ‘design and sportiness’, they told us. Well, the flair is there.

Inside is also an eye-opener for those of us used to the current car, with a major upgrading of materials, trim design, and comfort. One colleague suggested they have raided the Audi parts bin, though I rather felt they might have hijacked a consignment of Alfa 147 (again!) dashboards.

All the above is just perceptive, of course: SEAT do have their own designers, and they do have a mediterranean attitude that tends to lift their styles above the rest of the VW group.

In the course of a couple of long-distance runs, I had some time in the back seat, behind a driver almost as lanky as myself. And I have to say right now that I had absolutely ample room for feet, knees, torso and head. And, unusually for me in smaller cars, the rear head-restraint was amply adjustable to suit me.

The rear is also a test for road noise, and the car passed very well, though we have to remember that roads in Spain (and anywhere else in Europe outside Ireland) are much more comfortably surfaced than they are here.

But we must take on board the work that SEAT has done on the suspension under their ‘Agile Chassis’ programme. Key to closing the compromise gap between roadholding and comfort are the use of rather softer springs combined with stiffer shock absorbers.

There’s also an electronically-controlled electro-hydraulic power steering system that decides just how much assist to give depending on a number of sensor inputs. It is also independent of the engine, taking no power from the motor.

My impressions from behind the wheel were very positive, particularly in the 100bhp petrol version. That is a sweetheart engine. Maybe it was also because on the motorway sections, in light traffic, it allowed a sense of fun driving which we rarely experience in Ireland (the last time - hey, here we go again - was in an Alfa 147 on a two-day spin through Umbria).

Again, it’s too soon to say just how the car will feel in real life, in Irish life. But it is one of the cars I’m very much looking forward to gaining a longer acquaintance with.

This year, the whole supermini segment is growing up in the same way as has the Ibiza: Ford’s Fiesta, Citroen’s C3, VW’s Polo (whose dimensions are the same as the Ibiza but with a larger luggage capacity), Honda’s Jazz, all are larger cars than what they replace. And in specification and performance, they are snapping at the heels of many cars in the segment above.

It remains to be seen whether a large chunk of the traditional Astra/Corolla segment buyers might not indeed migrate down a step, given that the superminis now provide almost all the buying reasons that those formerly much larger cars used to have on their own.

Time, and price, will tell. And until we get the Irish prices, all we can tell you is that the entry-level new Ibiza will sell in Spain for EUR 10,800. Cheltenham Charlie sure won’t allow that here.