Seat Ibiza long term test: report 1

The Car: Seat Ibiza FR Sport 1.0 TSI Petrol 115 Manual Run by Jonty Renk, video production manager

Why it’s here: To show that cars designed around a decade ago can hold its own against more recent competition

Needs to: Provide an engaging drive, easy to use controls and remind me of why I fell in love with driving 10 years ago 

Mileage 5201 List price £26,050 Best price 20,490 Price as tested £26,050 Official economy 51.8mpg Test economy 44.4mpg Options fitted N/A

21 May 2026 – Let’s take it back to the start

Ah, the Seat Ibiza. I had a fifth-generation, 2008-2017 Ibiza as my very first car. It was a 2016, so a later model, and after passing my test, I just couldn’t wait to get in my 1.4-litre steed and drive off into the proverbial sunset. 

I had an SE trim (and yes, I stuck a sporty FR badge on the front of it, so sue me). I loved that car, and it stayed within the family right up until last year – it had served its purpose and was sold on.

Since the sale, I’ve missed my trusty little hatchback. Especially compared with all the new cars I drive nowadays, with their fancy tech and sometimes overbearing ADAS gizmos, I kept finding myself yearning for the blissful simplicity of my old Ibiza. 

And then came August 2025. Myself and new cars editor Lawrence Cheung flew out to the spanish island of Ibiza to film, you guessed it, the latest Seat Ibiza. Like a worried parent, I was anxious to see what Seat had done with the latest iteration of my first car, and to my delight, I found that it’s a refreshingly simple small car. In the best ways, it just felt like a fresh coat of paint over the car I know and love. 

So, I had to have one, and I quickly found myself on the configurator. The first thing I did was put right the lie I had spun as a wee youngster: I went for the range-topping FR Sport trim. The SE trim is great value, sure, but I want the sharper looks. 

I also wanted the most powerful engine: the 113bhp 1.0-litre petrol engine badged 1.0 TSI 115. No offence to the less powerful 95 version, but that extra power is going to come in handy when I have a car filled up with camera gear. 

From speaking to our knowledgeable roadtest team, I was advised that the manual gearbox is the ‘box to choose. Apparently the auto’ can be a bit dimwitted at times. That’s fine by me, because I love the extra engagement of rowing through the gears myself. If you go for the 95 engine, it’s a five-speed setup, but because I had opted for the 115, it’s a six speeder. 

Then came the colour, and I must admit, I was a bit disappointed with the selection. The most interesting colour I could select was Oniric Grey – it almost reminds me of a duck egg blue. 

So, that’s the colour I went for, and typically, not too long after I had confirmed everything, I went back on to the configurator and saw that Seat had added red (my ideal choice) and even a yellow. Oh well. 

Wheels and upholstery are trim dependent, and with my FR Sport car, I get 18in ‘Performance’ machined alloy wheels – the best looking Ibiza wheel design in my humble opinion. Like SE, the seats are cloth, but FR trims get more supportive, sporty ones. 

So that's my car. It’s a bit pricey – at £26,050 on the list price – and perhaps not the version I’d recommend to most people because the entry-level car is so good straight out of the box. However, it’s the perfect one for me… well, bar the lack of red. 

Anyway, I’ve had my Ibiza for a while now and I’ve already put a lot of miles on it. I have to say, it fits like a glove. It’s small enough to nip around my local London city streets, my camera gear fits in the boot well enough – although sometimes I’ve had to put things on the back seats. 

The front seats are comfortable and heated, which has come in handy more often than I hoped considering summer is almost upon us. I would also like a heated steering wheel, but that’s not available. 

The engine strikes a good balance between power and fuel economy. In other words, it’ll sit comfortably at 70mph and I’ll see near-enough 50mpg if I’m gentle. And on the topic of fuel, I’ve had no issues getting back into the swing of going to the petrol pumps – my last car was electric; a BYD Sealion 7 to be exact. In fact, with how far I’m going on a full tank (around 400 miles), I rarely find myself filling up. 

It’s almost like I’ve gone back to go forward. I feel 17 years old again and life is easier than ever. I can only hope that the feeling continues. 

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