We had a 54 reg 1.2S 3dr in the family from new - only just got rid of it. They had a little facelift/revamp in mid-2004 and ours was one of that era.
It was my daughter's car and I liked it for her as it felt pretty solid, with a nice high window line - however the doors on the 3dr are heavily sprung and quite long, so never park next to one!
I thought it drove well on the open open road - actually very comfortable driving position and seats. The engine likes to be revved. I thought it was less happy around town - the engine being very juddery, to the extent that I always thought an engine mount was missing! In comparison, other daughter has a 3 cyl Mitsubishi Colt and you'd barely know it wasn't a 4cyl.
Our's had a recurring issue with no1 coil pack failing. Needed the AA out 4 times as of course 3cyl cars don't run too well when a cyl down. If you carried one in the car you could change it in about 2 mins (needs screwdriver or similar to lever the connecter out of its clip. It failed MOT at 4yrs/34K miles due to front suspension bushes (a known weakness on that VAG platform) and rear (drum) brakes uneven application so needed to be stripped and cleaned. That incident caused me to seriously fall out with both the dealer and SEAT UK, although SEAT did (eventually) cover the cost.
Cars a bit older than ours can have issues with the timing chain tensioner failing and the pistons can hit the valves, which probably effectively writes off a car worth less than a grand.
I never closely monitored MPG but they're known for not being particularlygood (35ish).
Last edited by: Bill Payer on Tue 20 Sep 11 at 16:28
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Seat Ibiza 1.2 12v - Iffy
