Faults:

The electric fault light seems to be constantly up.

The central locking keeps failing.

The accelerator fault light came up.

Clutch is very bad. Been fixed a few times now.

Radio seems to come on, on its own, even when I am not in the car. This drains the battery.

The light that says you are short on fuel was coming on way too early.

General Comments:

This seems to be a good car, with some little problems that can never seem to be fixed.

I have brought it back to my dealer 6 times in 7 months, and still all original problems have not been fixed.

Faults:

Optional factory Grundig CD-player broke down after 5 months. Changed free of charge by dealer.

Left window electro motor broke down within guarantee period. Fixed free of charge by dealer.

Left wing replaced & resprayed after accident (no my fault). Dealer repaired it badly and I asked him to redo it twice, which he did free of charge.

Light bulbs don't live very long. Tried different makes (cheap to expensive) but the minor problem remains.

General Comments:

I bought the car to replace my awfully unreliable Peugeot 106 XSi 1.6 (110 bhp).

Looking for a sporty diesel that was fast, had good looks and was cheap in maintenance. Had to be delivered quickly too (within 2 weeks).

- Sporty diesel: the TDI 110bhp does the job. No turbo-lag, but typically a small rev-range. Always more than enough power available.

- Fast: standing start times are quite average to me (for a sporty car), but the 60-90 and 90-120 in both 4th and 5th gear are splendid.

- Good looks: elegant style, low & sporty looks and factory fitted with OZ 16" rims and Pirelli P7000.

- Costs: I had one of the last 2001 models and got a nice discount. It runs on diesel that is a lot cheaper than expensive petrol. In addition, the SEAT maintenance service is good and very low in price.

The cons:

Suspension is incredibly hard. No comfort at all. Especially the filtering of short bumps is awful. I guess the 16" have their part in this.

On longer bumps the car body moves too much. My guess is that the springs are to hard, and the damping too soft. Worst of all is that the new 2002 Ibiza TDI 130bhp Sport has the same problem.

I noticed that all VAG's sport suspensions have the same problem (e.g. RS6, Golf VR6,) except for the Seat Leon Cupra R.

Tip: VAG should have a close look at some sporty Peugeot's.

The pro's:

Cornering is great and combined ASR/TCS/EBD system is great. Also ABS has received a sportive fine tuning, allows to put the car in a (very controllable) drift when cornering. Engine can be very soft, but wait till you step on it's tail (as we say in Dutch)!

Faults:

1. Loose front grille.

2. Bulb failure of internal light.

3. White paint on seat belt buckle - waited 4 months for a replacement.

4. Exhaust silencer problems - repairs of this led to further problems where by the exhaust was banging against the body of the car - both problems were still in evidence despite 4 repair attempts.

5. Excessive creaks from the entire dashboard.

6. Defective Traction Control System (TCS) - TCS indicator light did not come on when starting the engine, but comes on if the TCS button is held in. Never felt the TCS system working despite setting off at speed in the wet - the car just spins it's wheels.

General Comments:

Great drivers car, but extremely badly built. I should have smelt a rat when the showroom car that I test drove had faulty windscreen wipers. The car had faults that the dealer failed to fix time and time again and the part supply situation was a joke. Waiting 4 months for a replacement seat belt is unacceptable.

It's a seriously quick car, but the power isn't all that immediate - you have to work the gears to get the most out of the engine. The other main problem with the car however is it's rock like suspension. This would be great on a track, but on Britain's pot-holed roads it soon becomes an irritation. Especially when the car is so badly built that over time it seems to shake itself to bits!

I'd had enough of the car and it's many faults after just 6 months. I then traded it in at a massive loss. Ah well, you win some you lose some...