1999 SEAT Ibiza Cupra Sport GTi Goes for a Drive
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- Опубліковано 5 жов 2024
- The SEAT Ibiza Cupra Sport GTi was a 2 litre hot hatch from the early 90s which but is almost extinct now, today we take one of the last survivors for a drive
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That’s the 8v with the mk3 golf gti engine. 115 ish bhp. The 16v had the mk3 golf gti 16v engine with 150bhp. Either way, good little cars that are underrated. The 1.8t only came in the model after this one. Good vid tho, nice one- keep on it my man
I’ve owned the Seat Cordoba SX 16v with the Golf GTI 16v 150bhp engine.
Very rare car. In the last 20 years seen just one other example. It had 16” white painted wheels. That 16” was almost too large for that (rather small) car. Most cars had 13” or 14” at that time. Good memories 😀
@@LifeStartsAtrpm-ru1xo I'm selling my Ibiza with the same engine and sport suspension.
I was a 17 year old apprentice at a Seat garage in 98. the overwieght partsman Brian had a purple Ibiza GTI. i had a 125cc Cagiva Mito illegally unrestricted on L plates, we always argued what was faster untill one afternoon on the way home he got whopped by the "fart bike" Great car, great memories from a great era. Thanks for the upload :)
Morning Matt and everybody else. Nice little red street devil. Thumbs up.
Good morning lol
I reckon that's the 115/116bhp 2.0 8V Engine used across the Golf, Corrado, Passat etc...
Really nice engine. My only experience with it was in a Corrado (would love to see one covered on the channel) and I have to say it was definitely a fun and torquey engine in that much heavier car. Can imagine it being even better in essentially a Polo sized shell.
fancy seeing you here :)
It is the 8v engine. 16v had a different inlet manifold.
had this engine in my vw bora. cant say i was impressed to be honest.
@@MB-gs5uc The bora is a generation newer, and most likely a whole lot heavier
I have a friend who has a supecharged corrado I think it's called Bertone or something.
Great review, as always.
This car is a testament to its owner, it’s in stunning condition, beautiful example.
You can see the Polo base and VW influence in its build quality. A great thing to see still being used 20 odd years after it was made.
Edit, no wonder it’s so nice, being on the Seat heritage fleet.
My best mate had a 97 one in Kiwi Green back when they were new. The tiger slash seat trim was funkier than that later version. The colour got a lot of attention, even more when we took it on a road trip across northern Europe and up to Scandinavia in the summer of '99. The gawps from the other cars as they got passed by an eye searingly bright SEAT ... and then they belatedly noticed muggins sat in the passenger seat without a steering wheel.
Very comfortable for doing hundreds of miles a day even three up with luggage. Same 2.0 8v 115hp engine as the Golf GTi. Happily cruised on the autobahn at 126mph with the sunroof up!
Good car, good memories. 👍
I couldn't tell you when the last time I saw a 90s Ibiza was never mind if it was a GTi or not.
There are 2 in my town- a fairly basic 1995 model that looks to be in daily use, and a 1997 GTi that's sitting rotting on someone's driveway. A shame, really.
I see them quite a bit in Greece, but then again you see loads of cars from the 90’s there simply because they don’t rust.
@@InputArchive I spotted one the other day just around the corner from my flat. It was on French plates- curious for a find in the UK. Here's a photo I got of it- drive.google.com/file/d/1mqtGDhPiBBJ6dR03jPC1RCUO4Sr09yAw/view?usp=sharing
@@bluwusky5167 this is model after. I have one nice example of 2.0 16v gti cupra , I changed gearbox recently , belt , filters battery , and now I want to go with straight pipe.
Bought one of these new in early '99, 2.0 8V in the "luminous" green colour. Cost just over 11K new and was a great wee car. Sold it over 5 years later with 132k on the clock and it never let me down once.
That's actually the 8v golf mk3 gti engine. It only puts up about 116 hp. The 150 hp one is the 16v ABF engine. I don't think there was a cupra R version , or a turbocharged one. The most powerful was the 16v Naturally aspirated engine.
Spot on regarding the engine. The facelift cars from 1999 had the 1.8t 150 and 180 bhp variants in the cupra and cupra r.
They did do a 2 litre cupra version from 96 to 99 with 148bhp. Is this not one of those?
@@andrewduffield2322 no that's the 16v engine this is 8v. The 16v has a very distinctive inlet manifold usually with 16v dohc on it
@@danmoney9932 I see. You learn something new everyday!
Didn’t the cupra have white multi spoked alloys.? That looks like a gti. Not a cupra.
I had the 2.0 16V version of this back in the day - bought it ex-demo with just 40 miles on the clock. 16V had 16in alloys, red calipers and half leather interior. The Cupra sport versions had no sunroof or aircon, the GTI 16V did have aircon IIRC.
Nice polo with MK3 golf GTi engine. Around 115 hp for the 8v engine which was in every generation of golf from 1-4 (1.8 in MK1 and 2)
These were extremely common here in Portugal. Well, not the petrol version, but the diesel TDI. At some point, they were the most desirable hot hatch if you had a single drop of blood flowing through your veins. A friend of mine still daily drives one of those. It's like walking inside a time machine. Smell included.
A friend of my stepfather had a lime green Cupra 16v. First time I saw it, of course there was some Vengaboys on the radio! I seem to remember it being an amalgamation of mostly Polo with Mk3 Golf front end underneath the skin. Early 16v's used the Mk2 Golf 1.8 engine before going to the 2.0. The 8v used the 2.0 throughout production
Indeed; The Ibiza was a GOlf ahead of the A-pillar, whilst the Polo was shorter and narrower; The reason why the Polo could never accept the larger engines like the TDI or the1.8 or 2.0, and the SDI was severely re engineered; TEchnically, also the Polo had an Ibiza interior and not the other way around, as the Ibiza was released 3 years earlier; ANd, for reasons, the Polo Classic, Variant (estate) and teh Caddy were actually based of the Seat's mixed chassis and not the Polo (basically rebadged Seat Cordoba, COrdoba estate and Inca van)....
great car and great review. well done for shedding some light on this gem! i have the next gen 1.8t 20vt with 210bhp and love it. 90% of people think i'm in some old shed with an exhaust until it flies passed them in their 320d 😂
In the Netherlands we had the Cupras with the white multi spoke wheels and the white decals on the side.
The original (first) batch of 50 cars into the UK in 1997 looked the same as you described and it was upto the dealers to remove the white "CUPRA" decals on the front wings. I had one of these in red and dealership didn't remove the decals so I had a slightly unique car for the UK. Also I think it was just the 16v cars which had the larger multi spoke white wheels, the 8v cars had smaller silver ones like in this video.
Hello Frank. Real 2.0 16v gti cupra had 16" O.Z superturismo wheels. I have one black with white rims like you described and red brake caliper, looking very good in this combination
I owned a 1999 T reg 'S' 5 door in light metallic green between 2002 and early 2010. Engine was 1.4 MPI 60 bhp so not a patch on this GTi performance wise. It was my 5th car and to date was the best car I have owned (now on my 7th car). Very little went wrong with it. I only parted company with it because I crashed it in the snow in the Norfolk countryside just before Christmas 2009. Didn't realise that winter tyres were a thing back then. 😯
Ouch, winter tyres are a game changer!
Yes. I had an S as well - a 3 door in silver. They were run-out models before the facelift with the new style of corporate grille, made to use up the sporty interior and exterior bits of the Gtis that the factory had overstocked. The 1.4 was slow, but handled a bit better than the Gti with the heavier 2.0 lump up front. You could get 80bhp plus out of a 1.4 with some sensible mods though😉 (e.g. a “Frankensteined” exhaust using a combination of Ibiza bits and freer-flowing Lupo Gti bits). Brakes were also easy to upgrade to Gti spec once you put Gti alloys on and got the necessary clearance for the calipers. Still miss mine - I kind of got it all running and driving perfectly, then just sold it for some reason. Wouldn’t do that now🤦🏻♂️
@@BungleBare Nice! I didn't modify my 1.4 S because my insurance premiums were expensive enough. It was sporty enough as it was, if only in appearance. First car I owned with power steering, central locking and electric front windows!
At the time I had mine my friend owned a facelifted Ibiza from new, just the base 1.4 with keep fit windows an no central locking!
Great review. The action man skiing off the cliff edge tea shelf analogy was fantastic
Thought I was the only one that imagined stuff like that 😂👍
🤣🤣🤣🤣
It was 100% Partridge 🤣
Nice interesting little car, one of VAGs more interesting, decent offerings before they became truly rehashed Volkswagens which far more image expectation. I always liked the original Toledo of the early 90s and they had their own style back then. Nice to see this rarity now, 90s is the best period for hot hatches before everything become rock solid and black in the name of sportiness. Great review Matt!
I had the 2.0 8v version, I loved it but the electrics became really unreliable once it hit 100k miles, I remember having many issues with the electric windows.
But it was a lovely grippy car
Fantastic review Matt. I would totally love to test drive the Ibiza and indeed own one .lucky youI I have ownesd a 98 Seat TDI Vario for 10 years now tuned to 135 bph. it is basically a Ibiza/ Cordoba estate ( great for luggage and sleeping in ) 2 Thumbs up
My first ever car was the next generation of the Ibiza , 2001 model. It was reliable , apart from on a road trip from Portugal (my home country) to Spain , the window's elevator decided it would not work anymore , with the window down 😅😅 on the way back it was a rather windy trip back to Portugal.
Got to drive a couple of 8 valves around Silverstone when they were first released. I thought they were everything the lardy MK3 wasn't. The Max Power chavs agreed and most were parked in walls and hedgerows, before they had chance to rust - which they did at a fair rate, if I remember correctly.
I didn´t recognize that engine from my old car :-). What you have there is the 2 litre 8v with 115 bhp. I owned a black 1999 with the 2 litre 16v with 150 bhp. Quite a difference in sound and performance. I had a sportexhaust from Janspeed fitted, and it was lowered so it was a gocart.
True. Still have one. So lowered that I can feel each tiniest bump
I remember all the hot hatches from the 80s and 90s as well, and while I remember the 8v and 16v versions of the GTi Ibiza, like you I don’t remember ever seeing anything about the Cupra GTi
I had a Córdoba SX TDI which I believe only 26 or so were sold new in the UK market. I only bought it as a dog transporting car, paid £700 for it in around 2007, 1.9 AAZ TDI, half leather, a/c, electric everything. Was a great car, cost me £19 in parts over 3 years, sold it for £900 and it never ever let me down.
I am from Italy and used to see them back in the 90's and usually the popular colour was a "sporty blue" but not too many....
I guess as family car we had a mk1 so Ii guess I noticed it more...
Hi I've still got my S reg... kiwi yellow(green) 2l 16v Cuprasport with just over 90k miles...Got black half leather with red Tiger Stripe with cupra on the seats..White Ronal 16" multispoke alloys....I love it and can't get rid of it owner it since 1999... I'm really hoping values go up..🙏
That car has the 8v engine, I had similar in an Audi 80. The 16v is different having noticeably the "pitchfork" inlet manifold.
Great video of a super little car, Matt. I can certainly see why you love it. I find it interesting about the suspension. I remember back in the 80s, Car and Driver (I think it was) set out to make a Pontiac Trans Am make it to the 1 g cornering force. I forget what shop did the work, but I do remember the editor being quite surprised when the softest springs available were fitted to the car. They were matched up to dampers that were soft on compression, but firm on extension, and the thickest antisway bars that could be fitted. They did get the car over the 1 g mark, and the ride in normal driving was a surprise, as it was very comfortable. Same idea on this little buzz bomb. Makes me wonder where suspension tuning has gone so wrong. I do love an under stressed engine of reasonable size, too. That is where the fun and ease of driving are to be found. Oddly, that is usually where the best real world fuel consumption is found, too. I was one of the handful (I have seen 3 others) of people who bought an 89 Mercury Grand Marquis with the 5.8 litre V8 with the trailer tow package. On the motorway, that 2 ton barge returned a consistent 40 miles to the gallon, with or without the air conditioning running. Torque is the friend of performance and economy.
Its amazing what good suspension tuners can do without making it rock hard! Years ago when I rebuilt my Rover 2000 2l engine i fitted a 2.2 temporarily and found it wasnt much quicker but worked less hard and got better mpg
Just brought This car , it’s amazing as described in the video . Retro all round but totally different to so much around these days . Also so rare , I don’t think I will be bumping into any other one soon . Nippy and more fun to drive than my Audi tt mk1 which I am disappointed with. Had the same make about 15 years but the base model . That served me well , went all over the country and never let me down . This is much more fun thou , looking forward to many years fun driving . How lucky to find it up for sale and now own it 😁.
Great review. I remember these getting good reviews in the magazines in period. It was also a nice flashback to my sister’s Mk 3 Polo. That car was a right pudding in 1.4 form!
Another great video. :) I do remember these. That's the 2.0 8v VW engine. Only rated at 115bhp but felt much more powerful in my MK3 Golf GTI. I'm sure VW down played the BHP figures for that engine for whatever reason. As many car manufacturers seemed to do back then.
Everyone forgets about EK4 Civic VTi’s, naturally aspirated engine originally designed and released in the 80’s, 1.6 and made 158hp. Phenomenal figures for the time and also had fully independent suspension so handled amazing!
There are a lot of Japanese cars that had way better performance than their European counterparts.
My personal favourite was the JDM Mitsubishi Mirage Cyborg ZR with 175 bhp from a N/A 1.6
@@Zerofightervi yes! Another forgotten gem! Even more so than the Civic probably! (Proton Satria GTi as well)
@@MarkieC1990 With handling by Lotus, cool little cars, always loved those bolt on wheel arches & rectangular exhaust tips.
I had a T reg Ibiza S - basically one of these with a more insurance friendly 1.4 engine and steel wheels. A run-out edition using up the sporty suspension and bumpers, so the dealer told me. I also put the side skirts, trailblazer style strip between the rear lights, and these Gti alloys on it (wearing sticky Yokohama tyres). A lovely wee thing to drive, if a bit slow, and the fake Recaros were really comfy too. Kinda wished I’d never sold it.
My first ever brand new motor i bought in march 99, aged just 21. Driving to college on the following monday and it ended up getting driven into by a skip wagon, gutted😭😭.
Nice and torquey at low revs and a doddle to service and work on, even still used a dizzy and ht leads
If my memory serves me correctly, the reason for the specification oddities with the Ibiza GTi Cupra Sport is that they weren't a standard production model, they were all built to order and I believe you needed to be on good terms with SEAT or your dealer to actually be able to order one. For example, our local SEAT dealer couldn't get one for the boss to use and as a demonstrator, so he had to settle for a standard GTi, albeit one loaded with probably far more extras than you'd ever see on a Cupra Sport, and his wife had a GTi automatic, a car that technically shouldn't exist. As a result of this policy, Cupra Sports will come with what options were ordered new rather than having a set, standard equipment level. Overall it doesn't make a lot of difference, this car not being greatly different from a standard GTi, also a very rare car now, though I believe these had a few tweaks to give them a little more power, slightly sharper handling and a bit more braking performance. Certainly it isn't hard to make a standard GTi sing like one of these, and with the VW group underpinnings making mixing and matching of parts very easy, you can take one way beyond SEAT's dreams and Volkswagen's nightmares without going into the aftermarket. The Ibiza GTi really is an absolute hoot of a hot hatch, huge fun to drive yet perfectly capable of being sensible and quite refined when you want to cover miles rather than have fun. That's probably why so many of them have disappeared, gone to be track toys or racers, or even rally cars, with people who are enjoying the hell out of them, with rust, neglect and boy racers claiming a lot of the rest...
The bright lime green you mentioned on the earlier cars was the colour of the works rally cars back in the '90s when they were almost unbeatable in sub-WRC levels of rallying...
You're right about the column stalks, they are mk3 Golf items. SEAT were able to pick from the VW parts bin to make the interior and dashboard more stylish than the more functional Skoda and Volkswagen brethren...
I doubt many people will have seen a Cupra Sport GTi in the UK as they were very, very limited on numbers here. People in other countries, particularly Spain will probably be more familiar with them as they were less limited in other markets, though it's probably somewhat of a surprise we got them at all considering we were, at the time, the only right-hand drive market SEAT sold to...
I've got a snot green 1998 2l 16v Cuprasport...Just over 90k... It's brilliant.. I've owned it for well since 1999...I just don't want to get rid of it...The great thing is it hasn't got any rust on it to 🙂
5:48 that's a dipping bowl for your tapas.
This is what we had in South Africa as a Polo Playa alongside the Polo sedan (Seat Cordoba). Very nippy and extremely popular. I can just imagine a GTi version.
I had a V reg Ibiza 1.9 TDI for a short while and it was a lovely little car, the engine was rated at 90hp and was a little rocket on the motorway. Traded it in for a Mercedes.
Great car. I had the Scalextric car of it in that very understated lime green colour. Always liked this version of the Ibiza. A bit more interesting than a polo. I remember this being the era as well when Seat went from smaller, more local feeling dealership ls to the big VW corporate types they have now. A very enjoyable review
I bought one of those new in 99, lovely car
Bought a copper 8v GTi cupra sport a couple days ago it feels so different from the 6k2 I had before but in the best way
Those 8 valve VW engines were good because you didn't have to rev them too hard to get performance. That interior is pretty much identical to my first car. A 1994 polo 1.3cl mark 3. Engine is somewhat quieter and miles faster than that was though
Got a Kiwi MK2 2.0 16v with just over 50k miles, great 90's car.
Im crying right now...... I had the 2.0 16v with half leather interior, colour coded skirts, twin headlight conversion, Oval scoop exhaust and so much more....... I sold it for scrap 14 years ago clearly not knowing at the time what I had. Ive been desperate to get her back since the day I sold her.... And typical there aren't any around anymore........ THAT CAR!!!!!!!! Ive made serious mistakes in my life but letting this go is turning out to he my biggest one........ Just look at it 😍 legendary car 🙌 Im so god damn depressed watching this 😢 😔
Btw it was my first ever car too 🥰 So feeling slightly privileged too
That’s a shame, my first car was a yellow 1998 seat Cordoba.. and I still have it 😁
I used to own a 1.6s version of that shape, then had the 1.8 turbo facelift. It's the MK 2 Ibiza. It was styled by Giugiaro. They used the Front subframe from the previous golf (MK3 I think) and the rear subframe & dash from the then current Polo. It's no surprise you liked it, its basically a Golf gti in disguise.
Nice car! I had a Seat Cordoba Cupra 16V with the same engine, sports interior, silver coloured instruments, etc.
With large white 16 inch wheels. Very large wheels at that time (some of my friends called it ‘a little too much’ ;-)
Sporty and very rare indeed. I was told that there were only 9 sold in the Netherlands where I Live. It was an expensive car too, with options almost as expensive as a VW Golf gti 16v (which it was derived from), and that’s why it was / is so rare.
First car I drove 200+ km/h with. First car I almost crashed in (missed a tree by less than 1 mtr with 100+.... I learned a lot that day...).
(Sorry for my bad English, it’s not my native language + autocorrect is Dutch which ‘correct’s’ 80% of my typing).
Seat briefly sold these in Australia before withdrawing from the market - came with 8v then 16v engine in early 90s - lovely car along with Córdoba sedan version :) very rare unfortunately
Lovely example of a car that's been looked after, only ones I have seen are the kiwi green colours when they came out but I cannot remember them ever doing a Cupra GTI
All cupras had gti or gti 16v badging in addition to a cupra decal. Originally the difference (at least for the 16 valve engine cars) was the cupra had white 16" multiple wheels and air con, while the normal gti models had silver 16" multiple wheels, aircon and a sunroof).
This is a very rare trim level/version. It was hard to find exact information about it and the person who bought it for the collection has left so even harder to pin down history, but I remember them more as lime green with white wheels
The first car I ever drove was a Seat Ibiza of this generation, which is an odd thing for an American to say. I was 12; we were moving to the UK and on a house hunting trip. Our rental was a pre-facelift MKIV Ibiza with a NA 2.0l 8V. I got to drive around the rather large car park at the hotel. It was an early GTi (1994) and had a rather weaker top end than the one in this example. It was basically the same engine used in the Mks 3 and 4 Jetta in the US for the base model. I drove a couple of them of both marks before buying a MkIV VR6 GLX.
This may be the least desirable car to ever wear the GTi badge from a driver's standpoint and considering it was up against the VR6 but it is a rarity, I'll give you that. Nevertheless, I did see one of these in the wild when I lived in the UK. I don't think it was the 1999 model though. They did make them for 3 years. Even the Cupra is a tick behind the 1.8t Mk IV Golf GTi. This might explain why a 1999 Seat Ibiza Cupra is so rare in the UK. Everyone was buying the new Golf GTi.
This is a post-facelift Mk2 and you are confusing a facelift with a new generation. The one I drove was a pre-facelift Mk2 MPI GTi.
5:30 Pretty sure this door inset design was on the earlier GTis
I actually saw a recent production Ibiza today. I live in the SW USA and it is a model that is sold in Mexico. In spite of being a few generations newer, it was instantly recognizable as an Ibiza before I could even make out the name badge. Of course, you can see that big S a mile away, lol.
I loved this car, really hard to get hold of one back in the day!
It is rare to see even here in Spain!! And it is even rarer with the 8V motor, they usually came out with the 16V
I thought it was (oops!)
@@furiousdriving If I'm honest, it's the first time I've seen an Ibiza Cupra GTI with the 8V engine, At least here in Spain I had always seen them with the 150 HP 16V hahaha
@@robertofalero02 is the 1.8 16v also seen in spain. i have one but can't seem to get a lot of info on them. i once heard that they were mainly build for spain because of tax reasons, smaller engine=less tax?
One of my dream rare hatches! I’ve been looking for a clean ish example but can’t find one at all!
Sold a kiwi green one the other day very clean £850
please find a c1/108/aygo to drive, i think youd love the 3 cylinder engine
I share your enthusiasm! I’ve owned a number of hot hatches over the years... currently on a Fiesta ST... and this little SEAT ticks all the right boxes for me. I see it shares the instruments and some switchery with my fondly remembered ‘98 VW GTI, so memories were kindled. There being no SEATs in the US, to my knowledge, this one was all new to me. Lovely example, excellent review!
Seat still havnt attempted the US market have they? I wonder how they'd do there as a sportier VW brand
Good question! According to Wikipedia, SEAT has considered the US market, but hasn’t made the move. And apparently there have been discussions on badging certain SEAT models as VWs, but again, it hasn’t happened. Ah well.
theres a yellow one for sale on ebay with 140,000 miles in good shape... bids going for 2k ish
TBG my fave Ibiza is the Mk1 - bit of a gym workout on the unassisted steering but a nice car - big for its size in terms of the group it fitted into and comfortable - interesting experience to see the genesis of a new marque. VW ownership brought improvement in quality but - like it has with Skoda - eventually a badge engineered blandness that surpasses anything BL ever did
I followed one of these in 2000 in a '98 Seat Ibiza 1.0 and as hard as the driver tried he could not gain an inch on the straight or round corners and round-a-bouts.
Just a badge and a few stickers with no guts.
I used to own this very car. Bought from Croyde motors as an ex demonstrator for about £10k. Ran it from 1999 until about 2004. Fantastic car, would have been seen hooning around Bournemouth. At the time it had a piper cross induction kit and magnex oval backbox. Really wish I hadn't sold it now, great memories watching that.
Wow, what are the chances! Glad you got to see it again, I dont know if it still had those when Seat got it but as a heritage fleet car it couldnt be in a better place!
A bit of trivia for you. South Africa never got the Polo hatchback as it was in Europe. Instead we got a rebadged version of the Ibiza called the Polo Playa. Local tuning firm Steve’s auto clinic did a rework of the engine taking the standard 1.8 fuel injected engine and upping the cylinder bore to 82.5mm. The 1983cc engine had outputs of 107kw/145hp and had a 0-100km/h (0-62mph) time of 8.7 seconds. Top speed was just over the 200km/h (125mph) mark.
Wow, Steve musy have been kept busy back then, are many left, Id like to see one of those
furiousdriving Unfortunately not many left l, according to what I could find on the net only 20 were ever made. There was not much to tell them apart from a standard 1.8 except for a 2.0 badge on the back.
bought the same cupra today.. '98 midnight blue... my first car
wasn't there also a 2.0l GT Cordoba? That must be as available as rocking horse dung?
It was there 2.0 abf engine. Rare stuff today
There are a number for sale in here in Spain. Look in the website Milanuncios.
Some have obviously been modded/messed around with.
There some obvious differences in spec too. Some have more dials in the lower centre dash, (the sun glasses holder).
The blanking plates in the middle maybe for where rear electric window switches would be on 4 door models.
More dials have 16v version for oil temp and voltmeter, Upper blanking plates are for heated seats and i think red diode for alarm, lower for rear electric windows and middle for locking windows. only models with AC comes with recirculating air button. my cousin have 5 door cupra, my friend 3 door cupra and 2 door cordoba 1.8 16v and I 5 door 1.6 :)
i'm wondering if the ones with a/c and no sunroof might have been export market for here in Australia but diverted due to poor Seat sales here in Oz
I have one with a/c and no sunroof here in Oz. Do you .
@@salmilici2699 no
The cockpit is the same as in my old VW Polo. It had 4 inch coax speakers in the dashboard as well. The better equipt versions had speakers in the doors and the tweeter in the dashboard. Nice fact: You could build your own 3way Speakersystem, by using a coax in the dash and the woofer in the doors.
Brilliant review I very much enjoyed this video. “We are literally driving in the 1990’s ......just speed temperature and direction controls ....get over it”. Great presenting style honest and natural. Great car too - Mk3 Polo not a bad place to start I guess.
I've had two of those ibiza, that model and the model that followed it in 2000.. Both GT tdi 110.. the latter being called 'sport' rather than GT. I also had the Cordoba Vario Gt tdi 110. This was the model of preference here in Belgium. The cordoba was built specifically for this market using the Cupra estate 2.0i body (spanish market) etc and then retro fitted with the tdi before shipping tp Belgium. The tdi was very tuneable and the car very light. Great fuel economy and performance. I miss that kind of bargain car, it was great value for money and heaps of fun.
I remember when they were new here in Australia. Both the Cupra and Cordoba Gti posted in advertising in small car enthusiast magazines alongside the Corolla Sx, Suzuki Swift Gti and Holden Barina Gsi. Look them up on Google if you're unsure of these models. Some were badged differently in other countries. Seat was a hit here but failed to reach the same cult status as the Swift and Corolla hot hatch models. At one point there were plenty of Seat cars on the road usually the lower spec cars than the Gti though. I haven't seen one in years now though. Not even in the wreckers. So cool to see one of these preserved though and thanks for sharing it. These were some of the cars that inspired me as a motoring enthusiast.
I have one . Unregistered and under a car cover. The 16v 110kW version. Will get it back in the road one day !
I have a Mk3 Golf GTI 8v, thats the exact same 115bhp engine, absolutely identical. Very nice Ibiza 👌
I was like , something is wrong here. 😅.. I have one on parking lot , black , brembo brakes , excellent stopping power , 1075 kg 150hp. Also the difference inside is that you have on the half leather seats printed gti 16v. Then you have next to the gearbox two little round gauges , one for oil and other for battery voltage. Also rims are O.Z supertuurismo white one. . Great in corners , good sound , and a lot of fun
Morning all, Matt delights me with a lunch time treat...
Didn't know these were a thing. I saw a few GTi versions bitd, they used to have some mad colours lime green and an unusual pastel lilac/purple colour. Then there was the Cordoba which was very cool
I am gobsmacked cos I really thought that the GTI was a 1.8 Turbo. This seems to be a much more entertaining and understressed set up. With the actual car being so light it should be staining at the bit all the time. I remember seeing this design from Giugiaro in Car Magazine first and thinking wow that Seat is beautiful. The very first models in the 1980s were pretty attractive too. Wish MG ROVER could have made their masterstrokes as well as Volkswagen Group.
Now that’s a little gem⭐️👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
My dad had the Cordoba version of this in about 2016. It was silver with morette headlight's and I bloody loved it. He scrapped it after less than a year because it needed front brakes and a clutch. Still annoyed about it to this day, thing was awesome.
That seems a bit extreme to scrap it!
@@furiousdriving unfortunately it was and remains his way with cars. When I learnt to drive and found out exactly how rare they were I had words, I'd have loved that thing
This was my first car... this exact spec. Reg was S934AKN. Learning that the featured car is "one of two" left on the road I am sightly annoyed that I sold mine for 900 quid
In South Africa , this was sold as the VW POLO of the time ( with just the grille changed to have a VW badge ). Wonder why
Im assuming Seat weren't selling cars in SA at the time? I wonder if they had a deal to supply these as Polos as the actual Polo was the same car with different panels
@@furiousdriving Seat weren't here then, but these were built here in SA by VW , perhaps it was cheaper to build this here than the "real" Polo ?
I sold these new back in the day, we couldn't get enough of them.
Dealers were allocated a very small number of Cupra's & could have sold many more.
May still have the matching Cupra Sport Racing Jacket somewhere in a box 😎
That would go well on ebay if you found it! Big Cupra following still
Smart idea putting the sponsor mention after the tease, Matt! Funny comeback after the horn toot!
I've got one, in dark green metallic, although have lacquer peel pretty bad. I love it. Great review
I'm Seat mad, I've got Mk2 Leon 1.6 TDI, and Mk 3 Leon FR Black edition, both great fun to drive.
I have seen one of these at several car shows in South Yorkshire. At least I think it was a Cupra Sport. It was certainly a GTi with a 2.0 litre engine, and was the same colour as this one but with a different alloy wheel design. If the specification was as random as it sounds like it was, perhaps that's the reason for the difference in alloy wheel design. Although the one I saw was a 1997 model on an R plate.
Unless you've got a printed press release or a press pack from its launch you'll never know alot of info about it, same with alot of 80s and 90s cars the info hasn't got to the internet since the car is so rare and forgotten
I've kept a load of old 90s magazines, I'm sure I've got information on these mostly forgotten cars.
I always liked the F2 Kitcar Rally version on these, very capable little car on the WRC stages.
1996 world champion
This car needs its own room at the Guggenheim in Bilbao for its style!
There is a red Ibiza 6K (albeit, a 100 hp GT) much closer to its birthplace - in Museu del Disseny in Barcelona. ;)
@@matesonik Looks good. I've been to the design museum in London many years ago before it moved. I'll have to visit next time I'm in Barcelona.
I quite like this vehicle! I like the fact it looks basic, that looks are deceiving.
Brilliant video!
Love the old seat wheels
Loved this review, plus I have a 1987 XR3i convertible.
Nice one 👌
I always wanted one of these. They were awesome cars. Way better than the boring Polo. I just tempered there was a 2-dr coupe version too! 😍😍😍
I very much enjoyed this! It reminded me very much of my first car, a 1998 Polo Mk3 1.4 CL, which had an almost identical dashboard, although the exterior styling was slightly different. Much less power, though at just 60 bhp...
that would not feel rapid..
@@furiousdriving , it certainly wasn't, but it was in a low insurance group, which was important at the time.
Dash straight out of Polo. Very creaky in hot weather.
It's my old car, it's a 8v with 115bhp rather than the 16v with 150bhp
That is a car that I do not recall at all, but what a pearl!
My parents had a mk1 Ibiza, it was good ill it's 10th year and it just fell apart... Driving had a notchy gear box (apparently since new), but I felt although no power steering I felt it was good, better than the Fiat Punto mk1 that my dad bought second hand which felt boaty and heavy, but the gear stick felt better lol (Can't have it all lol)
The seat was a 1.2 liter but would struggle through up hill (in later years at least), but the 1.1 punto was better lol... I know furious driving did like the mk1 punto but I can't say I did.... I guess his was more powerful....
Ivano Cascone my first car was a 7 years old Ibiza Mk1 GLX with the 1.2 System Porsche engine. The building quality of the interior was terrible and slowly fell apart. The engine was 63hp and it was good for a bit over 110km/h on the highway although you had no spare power if you needed it. The GLX had wide alloy wheels and the steering was very, very heavy. I drove a base model with thin wheels and it was such a change on steering I though of getting a set of those. The engine overheated and gave quite a bit of trouble on her last years. It was finally replaced by a Peugeot 206 at 13 and, to me, the 206 (air con, power steering, airbags, reasonable power) was like a speaceship! The Ibiza kept going for at least a couple more years as it was apparently refurbished and sold. On the good side, very roomy both at the front and the rear
The 1.2 litre engine was bad for driving uphill because the low power indeed, that's why most of them had the 1.5 engine.
@@glmm2001 The build quality was really bad (SEAT was developing the entire car for the first time so the materials weren't the best) but I've never heard that the interior fell apart after some years. Even the worst condition MK1s that I saw had the interior in great condition. The engines were reliable, even this year I've seen 2 of them still running. The design looks good to me but only in the original one, not the "New Style" models, and also really spacious inside. I know the existence of an original Ibiza SXi 5 door in pristine condition that I see every summer. Really nice example.
Nachowskip in my case even the rubber door seals fell, plus heater, radio (punto azul), fan and roof lining. However, the electric windows never failed. There was some rust in the door skins behind scratches but nothing worrying.
@@glmm2001 Ours did overheat also I was constantly checking the radiator water lol
Great review, I used to own an S plate Kiwi Yellow (that's the proper name for the Lime ones) Cupra back in the day, had it for 12 years from new. Honestly the most fun car I've ever owned. Would love another, impossible to find one!
If you want one after this summer, send me a message 👌
Hi Matt,
Great video as per - if ever you want a Kia Stinger GT-S for review and you're floating around the West Yorkshire area let me know.
Thanks, I may have one sorted but if not Ill be in touch as thats on my list!
@@furiousdriving Any time :)
I've got a sibling to this car a Seat Cordoba GTI but with different engine my has got the ADL 1.8 16v which is making 130 horsepower and it's a blast and the best thing about it is that no one really knows what it is
Hi Matt,great review on this Seat Ibiza GTI, looks smart for its age,never seen these on the road,but don't it go well for a car.
Please test drive a A200 Turbo W169 😊
Do you want to roll test it? 😁
It's a nice car, however they were not seat engines, the engine is a 2.0 16v vw golf engine as found in the golf gti mk3, I have had one and it would probably suit the ibiza better as it is a lot lighter than the golf, you really had to rev it to get anything out of it! The ibiza was available from 1997 to 1999, also I do believe it was really called the cupra sport, they also did a 8v cupra sport which was a 2.0 engine from the golf gti with 115bhp. They did do a gti model which had a 1.8 16v 130bhp engine which was the same engine as the mk2 golf gti and corrado which was available from 1994 to 1996. Problem with these cars are that unlike the vw cars, they were not very rust proof and I remember my gti had to be welded every year for it's mot!
Oh and I know where you were driving! In fact that first roundabout you went round I had a accident!