I got my new Ibiza less than a month ago and recently I passed the 1000KM mark, so this is my first impressions review.
I think the Ibiza is a great value, maybe the best value in this category. There is no other car which could offer the combination of engine power and options for less money, especially for an automatic. I compared it to VW Polo, Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, Citroen C3 and a few other cars and the Ibiza FR came on top. What remains to be seen is how reliable it will be in the long run.
The car looks great from the outside and actually quite good on the inside as well. The interior isn't luxurious by any means but it seems solidly build and has a minimal aesthetic which I like. I think the interior of FR is a big upgrade from the one of the base model but I wish I could also get the "Luxe" pack with the Alcantara seats and leather dashboard which would look even better (it wasn't available at the time I ordered) The piano black elements on the dashboard and doors look nice, but seems they could scratch easily.
At some point, after reading a few comments here, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't order the Full LED lights. But now I got the car I don't regret it. I would still not pay the €600 for Full LED. Yes, they look nicer, but not €600 nicer imo.
The interior space in this car is simply amazing for a Category B car. My other car is an older Volvo S60, which is a much bigger car, but this small Seat has about the same space for front and back occupants and only slightly smaller boot! (only exception being the middle back seat).
I read a few complaints about the AC, but the Auto AC (Climatronic) in my car performed just fine when I got it in Cyprus in mid-August during a heatwave (with temps approaching 40C). My car is white, which looks really good in combination with the black mirrors and other shinny black elements, and it also helps to keep the car cooler. One thing I noticed is that the air from the AC becomes less cold when the car turns off due to the start-stop system. Also, it would be better if it had vents on the back, but I believe that no car in this category has that.
The infotainment system is also really good. The screen is sharp and clear with a nice looking user interface, all the functions I tried work nicely. I used Android Auto and the Google Assistant and they worked perfectly with no issues so far. It would be even better if it had wireless Android Auto, but this a new feature that no car had as the time of purchase. The standard speakers are also quite good and I have no regrets for not getting the Beats audio upgrade.
The car drives well and has plenty of power, especially in sports mode. Very low road or engine noise (the noisiest thing is probably the AC blowers) and in general it gives the feeling of a very refined car - with the exception of shutting the doors, which do not give that high quality shutting sound, and occasionally a bit of squeaking (I think it comes from the suspension).
My average consumption so far is 7 liters per 100km (about 40mpg) which is far from what is claimed, but I am not complaining because I know that the claimed values are always theoretical and also I am probably not driving in the most efficient way possible (I sometimes use the sports mode, I usually turn start-stop system off etc). My 14 year old Volvo S60 (2 liter Turbo engine) with the same kind of driving does 9.1 liters per 100km (about 31mpg). So a bit disappointing in this respect, but not a major con for me.
And now a few negatives:
This is the first car I have with a start-stop system and I really dislike this "feature". Not only it causes an even further delay when taking off (more on this later) but it causes other issues also: Some days ago I had to pause for a short moment on a pretty steep incline. The car turned off, and even though I moved my foot from the brake to the gas pedal really fast, and even though this car has "hill hold", until the car turned on and started to move forward, it first started to move backward! Fortunately the car behind me wasn't very close to me. I now try to remember to turn off this system when I enter the car.
My biggest problem with the Ibiza is a delay when taking off from standstill. I created a thread about this issue (https://forums.seatcupra.net/index....delay-when-taking-off-from-standstill.446197/) Unlike the start-stop system which I can easily disable, there seems to be no easy solution. This issue makes me less confident when driving and it could have been a deal breaker if I knew about it before buying the car. Somebody said that the car will get more responsive from standstill after 1500KM. I hope that this is the case, or that I can at least get used to it.
Another annoyance is that the parking sensors (front & back) produce a constant beeping sound (and the screen shows a red segment touching the car), when an obstacle is 30cm away. Often I have to drive through spaces with less than 30cm distance, which renders this system useless to me in those occasions since I have to ignore it. Is there a way to adjust this? I would much prefer if the constant beeping was from about 10-15cm distance.
I also had 1 occasion of the autonomous braking misfiring and momentarily applying the brakes for no reason. I hope this will not happen again as it seemed quite dangerous.
This last thing is not a negative per se but probably a result of not knowing how to best use DSG yet. With my "standard" automatic Volvo, when I am driving down a mountain I can enter the gear shift into "3" and ensure that the car will only shift up to the 3rd gear. There is no such thing on DSG and I don't like to constantly apply the brakes. I tried using the manual mode, but for some reason this didn't give me the same control as a manual would, and wasn't a very satisfying experience. Next time I thought of maybe trying the cruise control as a solution (which I never used so far). Any other suggestions?
Conclusion: A very good car so far which could be even better with a few adjustments. Some of my issues seem to be DSG related, and for now I am not a big fan of DSG, but after driving an automatic for several years I didn't want the hassle of a manual for my daily driving.
I think the Ibiza is a great value, maybe the best value in this category. There is no other car which could offer the combination of engine power and options for less money, especially for an automatic. I compared it to VW Polo, Ford Fiesta, Kia Rio, Citroen C3 and a few other cars and the Ibiza FR came on top. What remains to be seen is how reliable it will be in the long run.
The car looks great from the outside and actually quite good on the inside as well. The interior isn't luxurious by any means but it seems solidly build and has a minimal aesthetic which I like. I think the interior of FR is a big upgrade from the one of the base model but I wish I could also get the "Luxe" pack with the Alcantara seats and leather dashboard which would look even better (it wasn't available at the time I ordered) The piano black elements on the dashboard and doors look nice, but seems they could scratch easily.
At some point, after reading a few comments here, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't order the Full LED lights. But now I got the car I don't regret it. I would still not pay the €600 for Full LED. Yes, they look nicer, but not €600 nicer imo.
The interior space in this car is simply amazing for a Category B car. My other car is an older Volvo S60, which is a much bigger car, but this small Seat has about the same space for front and back occupants and only slightly smaller boot! (only exception being the middle back seat).
I read a few complaints about the AC, but the Auto AC (Climatronic) in my car performed just fine when I got it in Cyprus in mid-August during a heatwave (with temps approaching 40C). My car is white, which looks really good in combination with the black mirrors and other shinny black elements, and it also helps to keep the car cooler. One thing I noticed is that the air from the AC becomes less cold when the car turns off due to the start-stop system. Also, it would be better if it had vents on the back, but I believe that no car in this category has that.
The infotainment system is also really good. The screen is sharp and clear with a nice looking user interface, all the functions I tried work nicely. I used Android Auto and the Google Assistant and they worked perfectly with no issues so far. It would be even better if it had wireless Android Auto, but this a new feature that no car had as the time of purchase. The standard speakers are also quite good and I have no regrets for not getting the Beats audio upgrade.
The car drives well and has plenty of power, especially in sports mode. Very low road or engine noise (the noisiest thing is probably the AC blowers) and in general it gives the feeling of a very refined car - with the exception of shutting the doors, which do not give that high quality shutting sound, and occasionally a bit of squeaking (I think it comes from the suspension).
My average consumption so far is 7 liters per 100km (about 40mpg) which is far from what is claimed, but I am not complaining because I know that the claimed values are always theoretical and also I am probably not driving in the most efficient way possible (I sometimes use the sports mode, I usually turn start-stop system off etc). My 14 year old Volvo S60 (2 liter Turbo engine) with the same kind of driving does 9.1 liters per 100km (about 31mpg). So a bit disappointing in this respect, but not a major con for me.
And now a few negatives:
This is the first car I have with a start-stop system and I really dislike this "feature". Not only it causes an even further delay when taking off (more on this later) but it causes other issues also: Some days ago I had to pause for a short moment on a pretty steep incline. The car turned off, and even though I moved my foot from the brake to the gas pedal really fast, and even though this car has "hill hold", until the car turned on and started to move forward, it first started to move backward! Fortunately the car behind me wasn't very close to me. I now try to remember to turn off this system when I enter the car.
My biggest problem with the Ibiza is a delay when taking off from standstill. I created a thread about this issue (https://forums.seatcupra.net/index....delay-when-taking-off-from-standstill.446197/) Unlike the start-stop system which I can easily disable, there seems to be no easy solution. This issue makes me less confident when driving and it could have been a deal breaker if I knew about it before buying the car. Somebody said that the car will get more responsive from standstill after 1500KM. I hope that this is the case, or that I can at least get used to it.
Another annoyance is that the parking sensors (front & back) produce a constant beeping sound (and the screen shows a red segment touching the car), when an obstacle is 30cm away. Often I have to drive through spaces with less than 30cm distance, which renders this system useless to me in those occasions since I have to ignore it. Is there a way to adjust this? I would much prefer if the constant beeping was from about 10-15cm distance.
I also had 1 occasion of the autonomous braking misfiring and momentarily applying the brakes for no reason. I hope this will not happen again as it seemed quite dangerous.
This last thing is not a negative per se but probably a result of not knowing how to best use DSG yet. With my "standard" automatic Volvo, when I am driving down a mountain I can enter the gear shift into "3" and ensure that the car will only shift up to the 3rd gear. There is no such thing on DSG and I don't like to constantly apply the brakes. I tried using the manual mode, but for some reason this didn't give me the same control as a manual would, and wasn't a very satisfying experience. Next time I thought of maybe trying the cruise control as a solution (which I never used so far). Any other suggestions?
Conclusion: A very good car so far which could be even better with a few adjustments. Some of my issues seem to be DSG related, and for now I am not a big fan of DSG, but after driving an automatic for several years I didn't want the hassle of a manual for my daily driving.
and menus on it are slow. These are my only thing i want to complain. Otherthan that i LOVE it alot 
i like it more than leon 5f..
