Questions from a possible soon-to-be Ibiza owner

[loonymoon]

Ok. I already posted this in the introductions thread but perhaps it was in the wrong place. Below is my previous question (abridged version!).

"I am going to look at a 2004 SEAT Ibiza 1.4Tdi this weekend with only 7k on the clock, and (subject to liking the test drive) I had virtually decided that this would be the car for me. However reading some owners reviews on Whatcar website have put me off a little so I wondered if people here could give me their opinion on them. I realise that the owners reviews can be biased towards the negative as people with angst are more likely to want to shout about it.

The complaints they have were as follows: Lots of complaints from people with new cars who had to go back to the dealer more than 10 times in a year for various faults like window glass falling into the door frame, headlight lenses fogging up (one of the cars on the dealers forecourt has this problem), trim items falling apart ,suspension and electric problems. One guy had to have a whole new gearbox and thinks that his new one is going as well. One guy who drove 60k in 2 years said the car has broken down twice and he's been back to the garage 10 times for things other than the regular servicing he does. The most frequent complaint was about crap, unfriendly and unhelpful aftersales service from the dealer.

There were a few good comments about the car but obviously the above comments have worried me a bit as, if I buy this car or a similar SEAT it will be the most expensive car I've ever had and I'll be annoyed if I have to keep getting things fixed. I expect lots of people on here will be able to tell me whether any of the above complaints are common.

I have looked at a few cars now and the only ones that I can see that I would like better than my current car (in my budget ball-park) are the late model SEAT Ibiza (LUUUURVE the styling) and an older Mazda MX-5….

I need a reliable car as I drive to work everyday (34miles round trip) and the Fiesta has been brilliant in this respect. I like it to handle well and have some poke. At first I wasn’t sure the 1.4TDi would deliver the poke but the reviews say it’s actually quite fast and economical to boot. My fiesta makes 90bhp and so is pretty nippy but I believe that the TDi offers plenty of torque if not as much power.

Comments please? Help me to decide whether the Ibiza would deliver the goods in the reliability stakes – I have no doubt that it will in the performance and handling stakes. What problems am I likely to come across if I own the car for say 4 years and put 60k+ on it?

Does anyone have any comments on what the Cheshunt Motor Co dealership in Herts is like to deal with? They seem very friendly to me so far but then they are trying to sell me a car.

Loony

PS sorry for the essay but I NEED to make sure I get this decision right"

 

[Chri5B]

Comments please? Help me to decide whether the Ibiza would deliver the goods in the reliability stakes – I have no doubt that it will in the performance and handling stakes. What problems am I likely to come across if I own the car for say 4 years and put 60k+ on it?

Reliability on mine has been fine in three years and 70,000 miles. Bar routine servicing, it's been into the dealer once for a warranty job (they didn't have the parts in when it was serviced).

Suspension set-up is very compromised to say the least. Make sure you test it on a bumpy road.

It comes down to individual cars and luck though. I think it was MikeO (?) whose engine went inside 10k miles from new. Get a Friday car and you could be one of the unlucky who visits the dealer every week.

 

[loonymoon]

Reliability on mine has been fine in three years and 70,000 miles. Bar routine servicing, it's been into the dealer once for a warranty job (they didn't have the parts in when it was serviced).

Suspension set-up is very compromised to say the least. Make sure you test it on a bumpy road.

It comes down to individual cars and luck though. I think it was MikeO (?) whose engine went inside 10k miles from new. Get a Friday car and you could be one of the unlucky who visits the dealer every week.

Hmm not too encouraging. But at least the one I'm looking at isn't brand new so I can ask the dealer to see the paperwork and whether he's had it back in for warranty jobs (he could still lie to me though!!) I suppose a reasonably good indication is whether the light lenses are fogged up!! As far as I can tell though this is a common problem with the MK4 Ibiza as the lens isn't sealed.

 

[muddyboots]

What you have to remember, is that people tend to post about problems, but dont tend to post saying "my car has been performing normally". So it can sometimes give a misleading impression.
If you had a annoying issue with your car, chances are that you might seek out an owners club like this to post about it...

Many cars have to go back for the odd warranty job, you can look at these in a negative way, or alternatively that the bad bits have already been done for you

 

[EdButler]

Yep ill echo what Muddy has said, my two Ibiza MK4's have been pretty faultless in my 3 years / 45000 miles ownership between them.

Neither have missed a beat and I have only had very minor niggles with the old fogging lights feature. Theyre basically no better nor worse than any other VAG car. The 1.4 also seems to hold its residuals very well (higher than book) due to rarity and frugality and theyre also quite nippy (also goto ~105BHP with a remap).

You shouldnt regret it at all, i know many people sticking with Ibizas and upgrading due to them being a pleasure to own and staying loyal to the brand.

edit: Also been in a few crashes in them (not caused by me) and theyre very sturdy too!

 

[sssstew]

yep spot on muddy! i was about to post along the same lines.

 

[loonymoon]

Yep ill echo what Muddy has said, my two Ibiza MK4's have been pretty faultless in my 3 years / 45000 miles ownership between them.

Neither have missed a beat and I have only had very minor niggles with the old fogging lights feature. Theyre basically no better nor worse than any other VAG car. The 1.4 also seems to hold its residuals very well (higher than book) due to rarity and frugality and theyre also quite nippy (also goto ~105BHP with a remap).

You shouldnt regret it at all, i know many people sticking with Ibizas and upgrading due to them being a pleasure to own and staying loyal to the brand.

edit: Also been in a few crashes in them (not caused by me) and theyre very sturdy too!

thanks guys that makes me feel a bit better. I did realise that the negative comments are biased but I still thought that even in a few cases this seemed too many faults for a newish car - perhaps the Friday build theory is correct and the SEAT QC isn't as good as it should be? hopefully mine will be a midweek car!!

Does anyone have any comments about the performance of the 1.4TDi which is the model I'm having a look at. The reviews seem pretty complementary about it's power although the quoted horsepower is lower than my current car.

I'm looking forward to having a drive now. Hopefully they'll let me have a reasonably long run.

 

[T. Spark]

I'll mirror what has already been said, Ive owned 2 Ibiza's from new over the past 2 years, and again mine has been back for a few bits.. but I dont mind (means I get to drive it more )

The 1.4TDi is actually very very impressive for such a low insurance group car (bit like the 1.9TDi then!)

Very pokey, and tbh, drivability will probs make it easier for yourself to drive it.. aka you dont redline it to get power as the turbo comes in around 2000/2100k on the 1.4!

And if thats not enough, you can always remap the baby to just a tad over the ton mark (105bhpish) and that will make it feel like a different car all together!

Mine has a remap, and tbh if I switch it off now, it doesnt feel right!

I personally wouldnt say to many bad words against a "Seat" minus the old niggle, and sometimes bad service when it comes to dealerships its all good!

For me the positives outway the negatives by far, as I also love the styling and the precense (spelling?!) it has the on the road next to the same old (no offense!) fiesta/corsa/punto club!

And besides, you have any problems with the car, you post them up on here, and everyone helps you out

Also a few dealerships on here that are more helpful than most! Depending where you are, could be worth a longer trip to get a good dealership!

Hope this helps,

 

[MikeO]

Hi

Yes it was me that had the new engine, went after only a couple of thousand miles. Not common from what I can gather (IE. not heard anyone else have one of the TDI engines blow).

Besides that, in the first year I had:

- Interior alarm did not work. Common fault at the time, the gauze covering the inside of the movement detector was blocking the signal.

- New rear wiper motor. Again common problem.

- Front windscreen washer pipe popped off. Happens to a lot of people and don't let any garage tell you it's because of running it without winter screen wash (as that's b@llocks).

- Various rattles and squeaks. Got to expect that in pretty much any car I suppose.

Second year pretty much fault free.

- Continuing problems with the aircon. Hopefully sorted now by a more knowledgeable garage than the plonkers that supplied the car.

and at the end of the third year I had to have a new power steering fault. Again a common fault I believe (water ingress from what I can gather).

So all told, besides the new engine, not that bad for three years ownership I suppose.

From looking at WarrantyDirect's stats for car repairs, the Ibiza is considered a pretty low risk for breakdown (for cars under 5 years), hence why the extended warranty I bought was reasonably cheap (IE. £225 for a years full cover including aircon).

All told not a bad motor. Can't be arsed to change it as I don't really do the miles these days and it's a reasonable drive (well with the revised suspension it is).

 

[bluehaze]

we had ours over a year with no problems whatsoever, touch wood!

One headlight did mist up once after jet washing but cleared by itself in a couple of days, a great car

 

[loonymoon]

>Also a few dealerships on here that are more helpful than most! Depending >where you are, could be worth a longer trip to get a good dealership!

Anyone know the Cheshunt SEAT dealership in Herts as that's the one I'll probably be dealing with. They seem to get good reviews from people who used to go there for their Rovers (they used to be a Rover dealer). If I know which dealers are good/bad in my area I'll feel better too.

 

[T. Spark]

Cant help you there im afriad, little too far for me!

Im sure someone will know tho!

 

[loonymoon]

OH my god I've DONE IT!!!

I've just bought one....

Instead of the TDi in the end I've bought a 54 reg Ibiza 1.4SX petrol 5 door in extreme blue with 10k on the clock. My boyfriend thought I was mad to just "do this on a whim" but it's not really a whim as I have thought about it. OK I didn't even look at or drive the TDi but I had kind of already decided that it was to expensive for me as it was £1000 more than this one ended up being and the savings in fuel wouldn't make up for that difference in a hurry - also I think the tax groups aren't as good for diesels after the budget either.

I really enjoyed the test drive. I didn't notice any rattles and to me the car felt very well built. I didn't even notice the supposed hard suspension (perhaps my fiesta is even harder!) What I did notice though was that it didn't feel as powerful as the fiesta. However I think that with a bit more revving it would have taken off better. It's a 3 cylinder engine isn't it? Does this make much difference to the way it performs? The good thing also is that it's 2 insurance groups lower than the fiesta..!!

I had a really good feeling about the car - no concerns at all whilst driving it. It is an ex-fleet car but is generally well looked after no scrapes or dents that I could see. Hope my gut feeling is right - ah well at least I've got 20 months manufacturers warranty left if it isn't..


Oh and btw the comment above about the Mazda MX-5 being a coming out car doesn't apply to me as I am a girl.....

 

[MikeO]

loonymoon

Good luck and I hope you continue to enjoy your car.

 

[Angusrob]

Congrats Loonymoon, Ibiza is a nice car all said and done, sure has lots of character,lol. After all, for one reason or another we all bought one. Despite all the problems people have and post about, its a nippy nice car.

Congrats, sure u will love it.

 

[muddyboots]

I thought the 1.2 was the 3-cylinder

And for the record, the TDI 130 Sport falls into new tax band C (£100/yr)

 

[loonymoon]

I thought the 1.2 was the 3-cylinder

And for the record, the TDI 130 Sport falls into new tax band C (£100/yr)

Dunno the diesel thing was just something my dad mentioned. I hadn't researched it.

Ok maybe it is the 1.2 that's the 3 cylinder but I thought I'd read in Parkers or WhatCar or somewhere that the 1.4 was too. Perhaps it was a typo

PICK the car up on Tuesday . Fly to Australia for a month on Weds...

 

[dmjw01]

Ok maybe it is the 1.2 that's the 3 cylinder but I thought I'd read in Parkers or WhatCar or somewhere that the 1.4 was too.(

I'm pretty sure it's the 1.4 diesel that's 3 cylinders (as is the 1.2 petrol). The 1.4 petrol is 4 cylinder.

 

[loonymoon]

I'm pretty sure it's the 1.4 diesel that's 3 cylinders (as is the 1.2 petrol). The 1.4 petrol is 4 cylinder.

Yes you're probably right I probably read about it when I was researching the TDi version

 

[deezal]

Just to add, Ive no regrets at all about my mk 4, after 40k miles from new theres not even a rattle and it seems very well put together. Just had a couple of minor warranty issues (replacemrent keyfob, seat cover slightly torn) but thats about it. I dont really like the hard suspension but its fine on a good road