Greetings everyone!
Today’s post is about another commercial vehicle, even if a very different approach from my Fiat Panda Van: the 2004 Seat Ibiza TDI Sport Van.
Back in 2002, when Seat renewed its biggest-selling model – you guessed it – the message it wanted to spread was simple: we’re a young, stylish brand focused on those of you who are dynamic, young (at heart, at least...) and uncompromised. It was this clear. So, they went to Alfa Romeo, borrowed Walter de Silva – at the time Alfa’s chief of design – took the Skoda Fabia’s new platform (launched one year before), added a couple of powerful engines from VW and had a success between hands.
I must recognize I like the look of it. Even today, the design is relatively up-to-date, despite the car having been sold in such great numbers and being a compact hatchback.
On the inside, it’s another story. Yes, the round dials and air vents look Italian (wonder why...), but everything else is purely German: definitely practical and well screwed together, but not particularly welcoming. Not even the ergonomics are that good – the steering wheel, albeit small, is very thin and the arm rests on the doors are placed far up front, so taller people end up not being able to rest their elbows.
Despite that, the centre console is slightly turned to the driver, so buttons are easily found and reachable. Also, the instrument cluster has everything one needs to know and there are plenty of storage spaces. Plastics are pretty mediocre, as every single one seems to have come right from some recycle bin. However, they are very well screwed together and reliability is first order: this particular unit has covered around 160k kilometres (100k miles) and nothing has gone wrong so far.
The driving position is amongst the best things on the Ibiza: there are so many, and wide, adjustments to the seat and the steering wheel that anyone, from Jyoti Amge to Helmut Köhl, can easily find a comfortable position. Personally, I find the lowest, almost stretched legs setup to be the more appealing. The seats are a bit hard, but still comfortable and offer great lateral support.
Any remains of ride comfort are however, gone the moment you start to move. OK, the ride is acceptable over very good tarmac, but pretty horrid everywhere else – I may even call it sadic over most urban-roads.
The payback for this hard suspension setup is good traction and some road holding abilities that seem to challenge physics.
Cornering speeds can be pretty high and it keeps being stick to the road if, during the process, a front tyre finds a hole. However, attention is needed while decelerating or even braking in the middle of a corner! The back end immediately steps out, the solution to keep it on track being to smash the accelerator.
Oh, and don’t worry if you’re in the wrong (high) gear. This 1.9 TDI has so much torque that, as long as it’s revving above 1700 rpm, there will certainly be enough torque available. If it’s above the 2000 rpm mark, there comes the traction control…
And here start the Ibiza Sport’s nonsense’s.
The acclaimed 1,9 TDI certainly has a punch that leaves little to be missed. In-gear performance is phenomenal, so overtaking is ridiculously easy. Also, its electric-like response to the throttle pedal makes it very appealing for an aggressive drive, a feeling that I never felt from any other turbocharged engine. But for a sports car to have a dieselness behavior bothers me. A sports car is about downshifts, thrashing it to the red line, allow the engine to rev freely. Rev the Ibiza to the 4500 rpm-limit and 1) it will lose most of its breath beyond 4k rpm and 2) you think you’re a thief on a 70’s movie - driving a Ford Transit while trying to escape from the police. Yes, it sounds that good...
But you may argue now that it just happens to be a fast commercial vehicle.
I’m sorry, but it’s just any good at this if your job implies moving goods – not that big, by the way – across big distances, in short periods of time, over very good roads. It has decent economy between 140-170 km/h (90-105 mph), noise insulation is pretty good and driving at night is no drama either, as lighting is good. If you have a pharmaceutical company, look no further – you found your delivery cars! However, it struggles to behave adequately doing anything else – it will be either too uncomfortable, nervous, hard to see out of and, most of all, rough.
I think that’s one of the reasons why mostly (very) young people buy it. The other one is that the Audi A3 is twice as expensive. Anyway kids: if you manage to stay alive while you own this car, don’t lose your faith… ;)
Verdict: the most uncompromised, stylish and perhaps fast commercial vehicle. As annoying and fascinating as a kid at puberty.
Vital data:
Engine and transmission:
1896 cc, inline-4 cylinder, 2 valves per cylinder (diesel)
130 PS (96 kW)/ 4000 rpm
310 Nm/ 1900 rpm
Red line: 4500 rpm
6-speed manual transmission
Dimensions and weights:
Length/ width/ height: 3,953/ 1,698/ 1,441 metres
Turning circle: 10,6 metres
Empty weight (icl. driver): 1150 kg
Boot: 900 litres app.
Fuel tank: 45 litres
Tires: 205/45 R16 Michelin Pilo Sport
Official performance:
Top speed: 207 km/h (129 mph)
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph): 9.4 seconds
Fuel consumption (urban/extra-urban/average): 6.6/ 4.1/ 5.0 l/100km (43/ 69/ 56 UK mpg)
CO2 emissions: 135 g/km
2000 rpm, 5th gear: 90 km/h (56 mph)
2000 rpm, 6th gear: 105 km/h (65 mph)
Main equipment: climate control, twin front and side airbags, radio with CD-player, trip computer, alloy wheels, ABS+ASR.
Portuguese price in 2004: 21 000€.
Driven: from new (June 2004); car left with 162 000 km (101 000 miles).
Rating: 15 out of 20
Today’s post is about another commercial vehicle, even if a very different approach from my Fiat Panda Van: the 2004 Seat Ibiza TDI Sport Van.
Back in 2002, when Seat renewed its biggest-selling model – you guessed it – the message it wanted to spread was simple: we’re a young, stylish brand focused on those of you who are dynamic, young (at heart, at least...) and uncompromised. It was this clear. So, they went to Alfa Romeo, borrowed Walter de Silva – at the time Alfa’s chief of design – took the Skoda Fabia’s new platform (launched one year before), added a couple of powerful engines from VW and had a success between hands.
I must recognize I like the look of it. Even today, the design is relatively up-to-date, despite the car having been sold in such great numbers and being a compact hatchback.
On the inside, it’s another story. Yes, the round dials and air vents look Italian (wonder why...), but everything else is purely German: definitely practical and well screwed together, but not particularly welcoming. Not even the ergonomics are that good – the steering wheel, albeit small, is very thin and the arm rests on the doors are placed far up front, so taller people end up not being able to rest their elbows.
Despite that, the centre console is slightly turned to the driver, so buttons are easily found and reachable. Also, the instrument cluster has everything one needs to know and there are plenty of storage spaces. Plastics are pretty mediocre, as every single one seems to have come right from some recycle bin. However, they are very well screwed together and reliability is first order: this particular unit has covered around 160k kilometres (100k miles) and nothing has gone wrong so far.
The driving position is amongst the best things on the Ibiza: there are so many, and wide, adjustments to the seat and the steering wheel that anyone, from Jyoti Amge to Helmut Köhl, can easily find a comfortable position. Personally, I find the lowest, almost stretched legs setup to be the more appealing. The seats are a bit hard, but still comfortable and offer great lateral support.
Any remains of ride comfort are however, gone the moment you start to move. OK, the ride is acceptable over very good tarmac, but pretty horrid everywhere else – I may even call it sadic over most urban-roads.
The payback for this hard suspension setup is good traction and some road holding abilities that seem to challenge physics.
Cornering speeds can be pretty high and it keeps being stick to the road if, during the process, a front tyre finds a hole. However, attention is needed while decelerating or even braking in the middle of a corner! The back end immediately steps out, the solution to keep it on track being to smash the accelerator.
Oh, and don’t worry if you’re in the wrong (high) gear. This 1.9 TDI has so much torque that, as long as it’s revving above 1700 rpm, there will certainly be enough torque available. If it’s above the 2000 rpm mark, there comes the traction control…
And here start the Ibiza Sport’s nonsense’s.
The acclaimed 1,9 TDI certainly has a punch that leaves little to be missed. In-gear performance is phenomenal, so overtaking is ridiculously easy. Also, its electric-like response to the throttle pedal makes it very appealing for an aggressive drive, a feeling that I never felt from any other turbocharged engine. But for a sports car to have a dieselness behavior bothers me. A sports car is about downshifts, thrashing it to the red line, allow the engine to rev freely. Rev the Ibiza to the 4500 rpm-limit and 1) it will lose most of its breath beyond 4k rpm and 2) you think you’re a thief on a 70’s movie - driving a Ford Transit while trying to escape from the police. Yes, it sounds that good...
But you may argue now that it just happens to be a fast commercial vehicle.
I’m sorry, but it’s just any good at this if your job implies moving goods – not that big, by the way – across big distances, in short periods of time, over very good roads. It has decent economy between 140-170 km/h (90-105 mph), noise insulation is pretty good and driving at night is no drama either, as lighting is good. If you have a pharmaceutical company, look no further – you found your delivery cars! However, it struggles to behave adequately doing anything else – it will be either too uncomfortable, nervous, hard to see out of and, most of all, rough.
I think that’s one of the reasons why mostly (very) young people buy it. The other one is that the Audi A3 is twice as expensive. Anyway kids: if you manage to stay alive while you own this car, don’t lose your faith… ;)
Verdict: the most uncompromised, stylish and perhaps fast commercial vehicle. As annoying and fascinating as a kid at puberty.
Vital data:
Engine and transmission:
1896 cc, inline-4 cylinder, 2 valves per cylinder (diesel)
130 PS (96 kW)/ 4000 rpm
310 Nm/ 1900 rpm
Red line: 4500 rpm
6-speed manual transmission
Dimensions and weights:
Length/ width/ height: 3,953/ 1,698/ 1,441 metres
Turning circle: 10,6 metres
Empty weight (icl. driver): 1150 kg
Boot: 900 litres app.
Fuel tank: 45 litres
Tires: 205/45 R16 Michelin Pilo Sport
Official performance:
Top speed: 207 km/h (129 mph)
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph): 9.4 seconds
Fuel consumption (urban/extra-urban/average): 6.6/ 4.1/ 5.0 l/100km (43/ 69/ 56 UK mpg)
CO2 emissions: 135 g/km
2000 rpm, 5th gear: 90 km/h (56 mph)
2000 rpm, 6th gear: 105 km/h (65 mph)
Main equipment: climate control, twin front and side airbags, radio with CD-player, trip computer, alloy wheels, ABS+ASR.
Portuguese price in 2004: 21 000€.
Driven: from new (June 2004); car left with 162 000 km (101 000 miles).
Rating: 15 out of 20
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