RE: SOTW: SEAT Ibiza Cupra Sport

RE: SOTW: SEAT Ibiza Cupra Sport

Friday 20th July 2012

SOTW: SEAT Ibiza Cupra Sport

A spot of cheeky Spanish hot hatch action from Shed this week



The SEAT name might be long gone from international rallying, but back in the late 90s VW's Spanish arm was king of the stages. In the front-wheel drive Kit Car class, at least.


In fact, la Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo actually took the World Rally Championship for front-drive 2.0-litre cars in 1996, 97 and 98 with their Ibiza Kit Car, whose greeny hue was echoed by the 'Kiwi Yellow' of today's SOTW.

For those few years, then, the fastest roadgoing Ibizas had quite a bit of performance car kudos since Kit Car regulations, although they allowed for aero addenda, wheelarch extensions and wider tracks, were essentially a production-based formula. By that logic, you can almost consider this Seat Ibiza Cupra Sport 16v to be a poor man's STi Impreza. Almost.

But there's more than a moderately tenuous motorsport connection and an oh-so-90s paint job to this diminutive hot hatch.


The combination of the same VW group A03 platform as the Mk3 VW Polo, and the 2.0-litre 150hp engine from the Mk3 Golf GTI 16v made for pretty lively performance. It wasn't generally considered to be the most polished of dynamic performers, but was blessed with a certain tenacity of spirit, willingly cocking an inside rear wheel like a dog marking its territory if you chuck it enthusiastically at a corner.

This particular car has been mildly tweaked, with uprated suspension and a stainless-steel cat back exhaust but, as modifications go, these are definitely at the more appropriate end of the spectrum. It's also still visually standard, so nobody is likely to accuse you of anything using the words 'Max' and 'Power'.


Apart from a dodgy rear bumper, this looks like a pretty clean car, too, with plenty of service history, and plenty of recent work on it. Not bad for £999. And you can even pretend to be Harri Rovanpera... though perhaps not driving like this...

Advert is reproduced below

Seat Ibiza Cupra Sport 16v (£999)
We have owned the car for the last 6 years. We spent a long time looking for the right car. Very well looked after.
It is a proper cupra sport.
Rare kiwi yellow
Half leather seats
117700 miles
12 month mot
6 months tax


good tyres all round
stainless cat back exhaust
hid headlights (white not blue.)
recent disks and pads all round
new rear wheel bearings
bilstein sport front dampers
gaz adjustable rear dampers
every thing else standard
cam belt and tensioner done at 98k
12disc multichanger
lots of history
original owners manual
ultra reliable
bad bits.
small dent on rear d/s rear arch
lacquer on rear bumper has been redone, colour is uneven. Shown in pics.
New car forces sale.

Author
Discussion

Trusty Steed

Original Poster:

288 posts

193 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
One for Kermit!!

thewheelman

2,194 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Not a bad choice, although the seats looks nasty, as does the colour of the car. Other than that, a bargain warm hatch.

thewheelman

2,194 posts

172 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Trusty Steed said:
One for Kermit!!
That reminds me of the old joke, What's green & stinks of pork...........

GBTurbo

247 posts

170 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Havent seen one of those for a while. Not sure of its worth £999 but would
make a decent little track car I'd imagine?

Having never driven one I have no idea

8potdave

2,273 posts

212 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Always wanted one of these when I was younger. I reckon that would be a decent toy for someone looking for a cheap hot hatch, a bit 'out of the box' thinking, like it!

EarlOfHazard

3,595 posts

157 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
My dad had one back in 2001, I (as an 18 year old back then), loved driving it - not that I was allowed to that often biggrin

Craiglamuffin

358 posts

179 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
First SOTW I've ever seen where I was surprised it cost so much!

mrtwisty

3,057 posts

164 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Neighbour had a bright yellow one of these for years, which I was quite fond of. Used to see him hooning about a bit in it, seemed to be enjoying himself!

It disappeared one day, replaced with something so drab and anonymous I can't even remember what it is.

Before I got the chance to ask him what happened, I saw it languishing in the local scrappy. Seemed a shame.

Riknos

4,700 posts

203 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Good car for under a grand. Love the colour.

Cupramax

10,468 posts

251 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
EarlOfHazard said:
My dad had one back in 2001, I (as an 18 year old back then), loved driving it - not that I was allowed to that often biggrin
You drove a car when your dad was 18??? confused

Maxus

951 posts

180 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
I quite like that. From the pictures this series of Ibiza looks to have aged quite well.

Certainly a consideration as a replacement for our current Puma SOTW at some stage.

aka_kerrly

12,415 posts

209 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Good shout.

I picked up one of these for a couple of hundred quid a while ago for a engine donor and it was pretty dam good!!

As the article correctly states, the majority of the chassis is a mix of Polo but also mk2 golf G60 running gear - yes 280mm brakes, Anti roll bars, steering etc all the same.

They are a fair bit faster than the 150hp in 1100kgs would suggest and far far more dynamic than a mk3 golf!

J4CKO

41,190 posts

199 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Hmm, probably reasonably good fun, 150 bhp used to be a lot in a hot hatch, its pretty light, the paint puts me in mind of an aging Dyno Rod van in having the spent florescence look to it.

Depends how fit it is really, if its tired it will just be a hopeless old heap at 117,000 but if its had bits replaced it could still be ok.

5/10


Sivraj

256 posts

190 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
I couldn't live with that colour first thing on a morning!!!!

EarlOfHazard

3,595 posts

157 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Cupramax said:
EarlOfHazard said:
My dad had one back in 2001, I (as an 18 year old back then), loved driving it - not that I was allowed to that often biggrin
You drove a car when your dad was 18??? confused
How do you come to the conclusion that my dad was 18? Would you care to read what I wrote again?

Strawman

6,463 posts

206 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
Didn't know these existed, how much did it weigh?

thirsty

726 posts

263 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
I don't think I could get past the color, and also can not help but believe it may have been thrashed a bit. If it's in good shape, it would be a good car to buy your daughter as a first car.

mylesmcd

2,519 posts

218 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
My first car!!

red 8v one!


OOoooo, the finance!!

richb77

887 posts

160 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
I like the colour (then i was always a huge fan of Fords Le Mans green)

But its described as yellow?

Not sure i would part with £999 for it.

£399 maybe.

porkswordsman

41 posts

257 months

Friday 20th July 2012
quotequote all
I bought one of these in 1998 and had it for 4 or 5 years. Exactly the same colour and spec as my old one. I remember it actually being great fun. The only time it let me down was when the cambelt stripped its teeth at around 67k. I rebuilt the top end myself (8 valves and a full set of followers) and it carried on as good as new until I sold it with 90-odd thousand miles on it.