What Car? owners reviews... anyone here written one?

[loonymoon]

What Car? owners reviews.

I was bored lastnight so I was looking at the owners reviews for the mk4 ibiza on What car? website. Oh dear.... not good at all!
This is the sort of press that nearly put me off buying my Ibiza in March. So many reports of faults and people pee'd off with SEAT service (understandably in most cases).

Ok so I'm not saying these faults and problems don't happen because they obviously do and perhaps they do happen more with the ibiza than other cars... (any opinions here?) BUT I do think that people with a grievance are more likely to write a review to vent some steam about it. It's not that people shouldn't know about these probs but I think that the probs get over represented. Quite a few of the good reviews were by people who'd only had their cars 5 minutes and therefore wouldn't be taken too seriously.

My questions therefore are:

How many people on this forum are actually satisfied with their ibiza??

How many of them have written a review about it?

I am overall happy with my Ibiza so far... a few niggles/ things I think could be better but generally I'm happy. I'm also lucky to have a reasonably good dealer. I was thinking of writing a review to the effect. Am I the only one??
Perhaps more "satisfied" customers should write reviews and therefore give people a more balanced view. Out of 41 reviews I saw more than half were bad and reported many, many faults... (Friday afternoon cars! ). If that's really the way things are and I'm a "lucky" one to have one of the better few then fine.

Just my thoughts... I would write a review but as I've only had the car since March I'd rather give it a bit longer for the faults to develop if they're going to.. But perhaps that's a depressive way of thinking of it. It would be a shame if the faults are being massively over represented and this is putting people off buying, (like it nearly put me off).

 

[Ol' Timer]

I too feel that people are more likely to fire off a bad review when they have a problem than a good one when they are happy and hassle free. When I first got my Ibiza I submitted a rather scathing review to the Parkers Customer Reviews section. This was more to do with some issues I had with SEAT themselves than problems with the actual car.

Now, two and a half years into ownership and with greater experience of the car I would give a much kinder review. I probably won't bother though, so the bad report will remain which doesn't reflect my true opinion now.

I have had a number or problems with my car, some minor and some which would have been pretty costly without the warranty to pick up the bill, but overall I am very pleased with the car and my local dealer. I don't know whether I would have another one but this is more to with the fact that I have had two SEATs in a row and might fancy a change next time.

The other problem with submitting these reviews is that, unless you tick all the appropriate boxes, you tend to receive rather a lot of unsolicited emails clogging up your inbox.

 

[loonymoon]

Like me most people buying a car (well those who research and don't just go for the first thing that catches their eye )will look at the official reviews to get an idea of how good the overall package is.. and then look at owners reviews to get an idea of what it's like to live with and problems that may occur (which wouldn't get covered in a day's road test).

Anyone with half a brain would realise that owners reviews may well be biased towards the bad... but like me I was thinking " How can I buy a car when I know these problems, because if they happen to me I'll feel soo STOOPID for ignoring this info."

Basically I think that people should be encouraged to submit good or even satisfactory reviews. At least then people would have a more balanced view and maybe more people will buy.

However I'm liking the fact that the ibiza is relatively rare. It certainly gets attention.... I'm lovin' it!!!

 

[muddyboots]

Sone of the links might be out of date now, but:
http://www.seat-ibiza-mk4.co.uk/reviews_and_road_tests.htm

 

[EdButler]

Ive owned my Ibiza 1.9TDI Sport about 13 months (40-60k) and had a 1.2 for about 2 years (0-30k) before that and they have never let me down both low and mid mileage.

Theres the usual faults, but having bought a second i have never regretted it:

1.2's Niggles:
Randomly bad fuel ecomomy (~35mpg/tank), however usually 47mpg
Cam chain prone to slipping (never happened on mine though)

TDi Sport's Niggles:
Bushes perishing (Cupra bushes are an amazing improvement)
Rear washer jet popping off
Leaky door seal - efficiently fixed by Ted Johnsons
Door Open/Closed central locking module sensor failed - fixed as above!

 

[ettlz]

Those Parker's owners' reviews are an interesting read. Overall, it seems people are happy with their Ibizas, save for a few niggles. Frankly, the majority of complaints aren't anything I've not seen associated with the Polo (some of which I've seen on my parent's 52 model). In fact if you look at the Polo reviews, the level of satisfaction seems roughly the same.

Of course, I could post about how I think my car is the Beeza's knees, but who want's to waste time reading that? As others are pointing out, people tend only to pipe up in forums and on-line review sites when things go wrong. So how representative a forum or review site is of how a car chosen at random from a particular model will behave is somewhat debatable.

 

[Leigh15]

Hard to say whether the Ibiza's are more or less reliable than other car's, I've got a two year old Fiesta that i've also owned from brand new and its (touch wood) never given me a moment's trouble. The Ibiza, on the other hand, has been back to the stealers more times than I can remember and is due in again in a couple of weeks to have the entire dash removed in search of (yet) another rattle.

Having said this though, my father has a 1.2 S on an 03 plate and apart from a few minor niggles it's not given him a moments bother - could be i've just been unlucky?

 

[Kendo]

love mine, a few niggly common engine faults but there getting sorted.

 

[BJM]

I'm now on my 3rd Ibiza. I've owned a 51 Mk3 1.4, a 54 20VT FR and currently my 56 TDi FR. I think the way you treat and drive a car also has a lot do do with the amount of faults it accumulates. I've used the performance in all 3 of my SEATs however, as a rule I dont rag the balls out of them day in, day out.

My Mk3 I owned for 3 years and 30K miles. Apart from regular servicing it was in to get the pedal box replaced as the cluch was creaking (picked up at a service, I never noticed it!) and thats it - no other probs whatsoever!

My 54 Mk4 20VT was a similar story. I had it 18 months and the only fault it suffered was a faulty catalytic convertor at 19K miles. The dealer made an arse of this and didn't fit the new one (which was on back order ) properly.

I've only had my current Ibiza 6 weeks and in the 1800 miles I've done have had no problems at all.

I think in general SEATs are well built and I would have another one or reccomend them to others without hesitation. Rattles are common but then they are common in most new cars these days, they dont annoy me that much. I was in a nearly new BMW 3 series a few weeks ago and TBH the interior was rubbish and it had an annoying squek coming from the dash which was worse than any rattle I've had in my Ibiza. £ for £ there good cars.

Think I'll go and write a review!

 

[FR*Man1984]

I've had my Ibiza since June, and I've written a review. I do like the car, the way it drives, the interior, the seats (my dads new Leon, the seats are comfortable but very narrow, and I'm a big guy and struggle to fit in them) lol, the driving position and everything in the cabin is well placed. No rattles which is good, considering the roads over here on the IOM are pants! However two things I am concerned about are, the Aftersales (servicing etc) and the Interior quality. Hoovering the front footwells the other day and noticed how cheap some of the plastics are. Thought this may cause problems in years to come, but as it stands nothing is wrong with the car, so I'm happy! *cheers*