Faults:

I've had a brill Seat Ibiza for five years, loved it so much till this year!!

It's had a new power steering pump for £800.

EPC light keeps coming on; checked all fuses, nothing!!!

Now there's an anti-skid light coming on!! Just had it checked last week for some other light on dash, that I can't even remember what it was, it's getting so frequent!!!

I would understand an 8 year old car having a few problems, but there's only 38,000 miles on it!!! I only use it for school runs, and to and from work!! I really love my wee car, it's so economical to run, and is just the perfect size for me. I just wish it would stop going wrong!!!

After reading all the other reviews, I'm realising I'm not the only one!!

Faults:

Engine management light came on, got it reset at the main dealer rather than pay £250.00 for a new "module". It came back on a week later and went out soon after, never to come back on.

Need another rip off exhaust after 3 years! Can't go anywhere else but Seat, and the whole thing has to be changed!

Dashboard rattles.

Wipers are crap.

General Comments:

Thought I was buying a small reliable VW group car. The situation with the exhaust has put me off buying another Seat completely. I was quite taken by the Leon once, but I think their cars look odd now... look at the Toledo.

Faults:

New catalytic converter.

New exhaust.

Frequently needs the clutch cable adjusting.

Will need a new clutch in the next month, as is totally on its backside.

The bonnet catch is faulty and won't shut properly.

Needed new passenger side electric window motor.

The central locking won't work on the boot.

Boot lock is very temperamental.

General Comments:

I got the car two years ago, and within 6 months almost everything started to go wrong on the car. I do a lot of miles and so I think next time I definitely wouldn't have another Ibiza... not sure about the Leon, perhaps they're more reliable!

The car was nippy when I first got it, until the catalytic converter completely went and then I couldn't go above 70mph on the motorway!!!

Faults:

Front spring broke at 60000.

New suspension bushes at 75000.

New throttle body at 76000.

New engine at 77000.

General Comments:

I bought this car from a main dealer with 700 miles on the clock, I serviced it myself with dealer supplied parts for 5 years and had little unexpected trouble.

As a special treat I sent it to a main dealer for its 75000 mile service, very expensive, now it needs a new engine, I am flogging it as a damaged repairable.

I will never indulge in a SEAT or a Seat main dealer again; I expected it to go for at least 100000 miles.

The Toyota I am buying instead is virtually guaranteed for 200000 miles.

No more european cars for me/us I'm afraid.

Faults:

Nothing except the remote central locking key, which suddenly stopped working a couple of weeks ago. There are also no major faults indicated by the service history, just normal wear and tear.

General Comments:

This is an excellent car and everyone seems to like it. I am still learning to drive, and I bought it earlier this year so that I could use it as a practice car. Although I am no expert, I have driven quite a few cars, and I still think that it is the best out of all of them.

It is a very easy and comfortable car to drive, and although it has a small engine, it is quite quick.

The climate control, radio and other features are easy to use, and maintenance costs are very low, not only because it is reliable, but because everything is so accessible.

Even though it has a petrol engine, it does not cost much to run in fuel; you can easily get 3 weeks or more out of one tank!

The only thing that I don't like about it is the extremely limited storage space. There is storage space, but the little amount you get just isn't big enough for the sort of things you might keep in a car like road maps, CD's, tapes and so on. You would think that you could put some of these items in the glove box, but you just can't. It is so unbelievably small that you would fail to fit anything of reasonable size in it.

Despite this, the car is overall very good, and I would recommend it to anyone, especially new drivers.