Well I never thought I'd be doing much with this car but I seem to be sneaking a few cheeky mods on so I'll start this now while it's not so much hassle!
The car is, as said in the title, a 1.4, 100bhp mk4 Seat Ibiza. I picked up the car with 7.9 miles on it, which was nice
And at the time of posting this I now have around 5300 miles on the car. It's been brilliant so far, very smooth to drive, being the Sport model it has firmer suspension which feels good, and the exhaust note has a nice rasp to it when above 3500rpm. The engine isn't very gutsy, and to get the most out of it you'll want to stay above 4000rpm and take it pretty much all the way to the 6500rpm redline, although the last 500rpm tend to rev through with not so much pull.
The gearbox is also very smooth and the gears firmly slot into place, which is complemented by the chunky gearstick, everything feels very modern. It's comfortable on the longer journeys, and a nice place to be inside, with plenty of room for mates in the back, air-con and a decent stereo. The seats are comfortable and can be adjusted in every direction, with nice side bolsters that are enough to give you that 'hugging' feeling, without going into bucket seat territory. Since owning the car the overall average miles per gallon is at 35mpg. So that's a mix of hotlaps round the TT course, and long motorway drives from Liverpool to London. As said, it is pleasant on the longer journeys, but also good fun in the twisties. 3rd and 4th gear are usually enough for most situations, maybe 2nd on the tighter corners, and the steering is quite positive but obviously doesn't quite have the feedback of say, an MX-5. Nevertheless, you can push on with confidence, and although the all-round disc brakes are fine for regular driving, they don't inspire brilliant confidence at speed, and the ABS can kick in too early for my liking.
The standard tyres are again fine for regular driving, but at speed on the corners you can feel the understeer that could be solved with a good set of rubber. I'm looking at some Toyo T1-S' for my next set, as I had them on my megane and I can't praise them enough.
Overall, I am very pleased with the car, and it's miles apart from the Megane hatch I previously had. It doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart in my hands, and with it being a newer car, it has a lot of features my hatch didn't, such as the air-con, one-touch power windows and ABS, which may have been available on the later Megane models, but not mine! Also, even though it's a 1.4, it's not 12-years old, so I'm pretty sure it's faster than the 1.6 Megane aswell.
With the short(ish!) review out of the way, here it is the day I collected it:
I drove it round all over the place upto Yorkshire and down to London, then back home on the Isle of Man.
It stayed standard whilst it was being run in and for a while after. Then when going through my room one day I found a black sunstrip I had originally planned on putting on the Meggy, so I thought "why not?" and stuck it on. I think it looks good, and it does do its job.
The car is, as said in the title, a 1.4, 100bhp mk4 Seat Ibiza. I picked up the car with 7.9 miles on it, which was nice
And at the time of posting this I now have around 5300 miles on the car. It's been brilliant so far, very smooth to drive, being the Sport model it has firmer suspension which feels good, and the exhaust note has a nice rasp to it when above 3500rpm. The engine isn't very gutsy, and to get the most out of it you'll want to stay above 4000rpm and take it pretty much all the way to the 6500rpm redline, although the last 500rpm tend to rev through with not so much pull. The gearbox is also very smooth and the gears firmly slot into place, which is complemented by the chunky gearstick, everything feels very modern. It's comfortable on the longer journeys, and a nice place to be inside, with plenty of room for mates in the back, air-con and a decent stereo. The seats are comfortable and can be adjusted in every direction, with nice side bolsters that are enough to give you that 'hugging' feeling, without going into bucket seat territory. Since owning the car the overall average miles per gallon is at 35mpg. So that's a mix of hotlaps round the TT course, and long motorway drives from Liverpool to London. As said, it is pleasant on the longer journeys, but also good fun in the twisties. 3rd and 4th gear are usually enough for most situations, maybe 2nd on the tighter corners, and the steering is quite positive but obviously doesn't quite have the feedback of say, an MX-5. Nevertheless, you can push on with confidence, and although the all-round disc brakes are fine for regular driving, they don't inspire brilliant confidence at speed, and the ABS can kick in too early for my liking.
The standard tyres are again fine for regular driving, but at speed on the corners you can feel the understeer that could be solved with a good set of rubber. I'm looking at some Toyo T1-S' for my next set, as I had them on my megane and I can't praise them enough.
Overall, I am very pleased with the car, and it's miles apart from the Megane hatch I previously had. It doesn't feel like it's going to fall apart in my hands, and with it being a newer car, it has a lot of features my hatch didn't, such as the air-con, one-touch power windows and ABS, which may have been available on the later Megane models, but not mine! Also, even though it's a 1.4, it's not 12-years old, so I'm pretty sure it's faster than the 1.6 Megane aswell.
With the short(ish!) review out of the way, here it is the day I collected it:
I drove it round all over the place upto Yorkshire and down to London, then back home on the Isle of Man.
It stayed standard whilst it was being run in and for a while after. Then when going through my room one day I found a black sunstrip I had originally planned on putting on the Meggy, so I thought "why not?" and stuck it on. I think it looks good, and it does do its job.
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