SEAT Ibiza FR
Warm hatches havent always enjoyed a stellar reputation, often promising a lot but delivering precious little. There are a few notable exceptions, however, and one of our favourites is SEATs Ibiza FR. Any Ibiza is good fun on its day, but when you turn up the wick a bit, you end up with a very enjoyable car indeed. The Ibiza FR has benefited from a few tweaks to keep it looking sharp and it remains a model that mixes modern features with a pleasantly old school feel to great effect.
It takes the old and the new car side by side to really appreciate what SEAT have done with this latest version. This FR looks more like the range-topping Cupra sports variant thats positioned one step above in the Ibiza hierarchy, the bigger air intakes in the front spoiler now giving this previously friendly-looking vehicle a rather snarling face. SEAT claim this front end treatment evokes that of the Leon World Touring Car and the men in suits are keen to emphasise the link between the cars on the track and the cars the likes of you and I can walk into a dealership and buy. Perhaps this may be stretching things a little bit, but if it means better looking sports hatches for the masses, thats fine by me.
| Build |  |
| Comfort |  |
| Depreciation | |
| Economy | |
| Equipment | |
| Handling | |
| Insurance | |
| Performance | |
| Styling | |
| Value | |
The FR also features 17" alloys, a blacked-out area behind the front registration plate and a honeycomb grille behind the front air-intakes. The interior benefits from a new three-spoke steering wheel as well as a redesigned gear knob and the seats get FR logos in case you forget which model youre ensconced within.
"Better looking but still keenly priced, the FR may be the pick of the current Ibiza line up"
Formula Racing (FR) is, in effect, SEATs sports diffusion line, sitting below the fiery Cupra models, broadly equivalent to how sporty Ford ST models are a notch down from RS versions. That said, theres nothing second rate about the Ibiza FR. With 150bhp petrol or 130bhp diesel engines to punt it up the road, the car is a long way from the usual warm hatch stereotype of a car with all the sporty accoutrements but fitted with a gutless engine that will be shredded away from the lights by a skip lorry. The traditional reason for offering these warm hatch models has been because the sportier versions are often off limits to younger drivers because of their punitive insurance ratings.
More recently, however, manufacturers have twigged that by offering the same safety, security and repairability as the top models, insurance ratings can be kept manageable even with a worthwhile engine on board. The Ibiza FRs petrol powerplant is more than just worthwhile. With the turbocharged 150bhp engine to call upon, its capable of notching off the all-important sprint to 60mph in a respectable 8.1 seconds and itll then run onto a top speed of 135mph.
Using the same engine fitted to the entry-level Audi TT, the Ibiza FR can even manage an average of 46mpg which means that younger drivers wont feel the pinch every time they give the accelerator a quick prod. The diesel fares even better with super-thrifty 55mpg average fuel consumption but the 0-60mph time increases by a second. The diesel and petrol cars cost almost the same amount so buyers are left with an intriguing dilemma of which to choose. The handling on both cars has been sharpened-up to cope with the additional poke, the FR featuring stiff coil springs, a beefy front anti-roll bar and aggressive rear axle mounts.
This years car also gets lower profile 17-inch Pirelli P Zero tyres which, whilst offering improved lateral grip, do serve to firm the ride up quite considerably. The Ibiza has long proved that that looking good neednt cost the earth. Briton Steve Lewis was responsible for most of the cars lines, but the final refinements were undertaken by Walter deSilva, the man responsible for the Alfa 156 amongst others. Suddenly the reason why the rear doors dont uglify the car significantly becomes apparent.
Much of the interior design was undertaken by Simona Falcinela another who jumped ship from Alfa to work for SEAT. The cars details are more knowing and better integrated and hes succeeded in making the car appear far smaller than it actually is, a visual trick that will appeal to many buyers. Inside, youll spot a number of VW Group parts, reappearing like old faces at a school reunion. The window switches, the gear knob, the ventilation controls and so on are all sourced from that bottomless well thats disparagingly termed the VW parts bin, and are none the worse for it.
This Ibiza is mechanically similar to its predecessor. SEAT point to the fact that the Ibizas based around the Agile Chassis concept developed in house. This combines suspension settings tuned for the keen driver with an intelligent power steering system that not only adjusts the amount of assistance according to driving speed nothing particularly novel there but also considers the position of the wheels and how quickly the steering wheel is being turned. Other small cars with power steering often incur pumping loss when being driven enthusiastically, that is the inability of the engine-driven power steering pump to keep up with the demands the driver places on the steering.
This leads to inconsistent steering feel and the helm weighting up just when you dont want it to. The Ibiza, by contrast, uses an electric pump that runs independently of the engine to power the steering. The result? Better feedback and keener reactions when you up want to up the ante. If you are in the market for a warm hatch, the Ibiza FR is probably the best of the current crop.
Its no great secret that this is the current shape Ibizas swansong, an all-new model with the latest SEAT family look waiting in the wings. If you dont get along with the styling of contemporary SEATs, this Ibiza may well be your last chance to buy into an old-school model. Its well worth your while.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: SEAT Ibiza FR
PRICES: £12,195-£13,980 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 8-12
CO2 EMISSIONS: 138-190g/km
PERFORMANCE: [1.8 20V T] 0-60mph 8.1s/ Max Speed 135mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [1.9 TDI] (Urban) 42mpg (Extra Urban) 67mpg (Combined) 55mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Height, 3953/1698/1441mm
