When SEAT cars first hit our shores halfway through last year, we were thrilled to have one join our fleet just a few months later. August to be precise. Even better, was that our unit was one of the best in the bunch – the Ibiza FR.

It didn’t take long for this little Spanish rocket to gain favour among our staff members, being fast, nimble and highly economical. It soon became the preferred choice for those long jaunts across town and longer road trips alike.

Our sales exec, Bruno, took a particular liking to it, as he lived in Witbank at the time and commuted to Jo’burg just about every day. Besides the fact that he could do the trip on about half the fuel that most of the other cars in our fleet would consume, it proved an easy cruiser on the long stretches, while its punchy low-down torque made overtaking a synch. He was particularly surprised by its fuel consumption, which he recorded at just 4.5 litres per 100km on that route. Those of us who were a bit heavier on the throttle still managed to return about 6.5 litres per 100km. On the flip side, the small 45-litre fuel tank means the range is not as good as it could be.

At the heart of our Ibiza is the high-powered version of VW’s 1.9-litre TDI engine, which develops 96kW and 310Nm. That’s quite something in a car of this size and our performance figures certainly proved this car’s performance mettle. Against the clock, it ran from 0-100km/h in 8.16 seconds, while the 80-120km/h tractability run was flattened in just 6.78 seconds. Though fitted with a variable turbo-charger, we still found a notable amount of lag from pull-off, and below the 2000rpm mark, but it was not as bad as many of the other turbo-diesel cars we’ve tested.

On the road, we were most impressed with this car’s agile handling and accurate steering, this mainly due to sporty suspension settings. There is a downside to that, in its ride quality, which proved rather bumpy over harsher tar surfaces, but certainly not bone-shaking.

Having a fairly young editorial team, it’s also no surprise that the SEAT’s aggressive styling won favour at the offices. It really looks the hot hatch part with its FR body kit, comprising of bold front and rear bumpers, satin chrome-surfaced wing mirrors and 17-inch alloy wheels. That’s all good and well, but we also felt that in many ways that body kit disguises a seemingly dated shape – a staffer noted that it looks like a ten-year-old Alfa from the back.

The interior also struck us as being somewhat behind the times. Those black FR-badged sports seats were a definite plus, and very supportive too, but the rest of the cabin is simply too sombre. The dark facia has a dated look to it and the hard plastics do very little for the overall ambience. The standard features list is rather good for a car at this price level and we certainly didn’t miss anything.

It’s not a very big car inside, yet on many occasions it did accommodate up to four adults in comfort and the only complaint, on a long journey, was that the back seat cushion felt a bit too thin. The boot size is on par with most cars in this segment, and on another trip to Mpumalanga last year it proved capable of swallowing two big hiking bags below the parcel shelf.

For the seven months in which the Ibiza lived with us, there wasn’t much in the way of faults to report on. There were small niggles, like the right-side headlight that started to fog up over the Christmas holiday period. The car also developed an un-nerving shuddering sound from beneath, which we’re almost certain was due to a bald spot on one of the tyres, perhaps from an emergency braking manoeuvre that no one’s owned up to.

When the Ibiza first arrived on the scene, the FR model costed R182 400 and many felt that VW’s strategy of positioning SEATs above VWs was a little off-colour and it wasn’t long before prices were reduced across the board. Our car’s price was reduced to R172 500, which gave a small but notable boost to its value equation. The price was very recently increased to R175 800, but that’s in line with increases that have taken place across the industry this year on the back of a weaker rand. Though it might seem a stretch to be spending this kind of money on a somewhat outdated Polo-sized car (when you could be entering the bottom end of the Golf class), the combination of performance and economy you’re getting is truly outstanding. Add the Ibiza’s sporty persona and lively handling to the mix and it actually becomes a highly desirable deal.

Long-term logbook: SEAT IBIZA FR 1.9TDI
Test commenced	February 2007
Price new	R182 400
Price Now	R175 800
Options	none
Odometer on arrival	2670km
Odometer now	29 953km
We like	Nippy performance, boy racer appearance, economy and handling
We don't	Hard expansive plastic dash, ride a bit firm for cruising
Summary	Economic hot-hatch earning some cult status
Fuel Capacity	45 litres
Average fuel use	5.8l/100km
CiA Rating	7
Range	775km