Overall rating:

Once again SEAT cherry picks an internal combustion peach from Volkswagen and creates a plum motor. This new 1.2 TSI version of the Ibiza isn't that quick, but it's got enough in its cylinders for frugal fun, and it sounds fruity.

Key Facts

Pricing: £13,490
Engine: 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol
Transmission: five-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Body style: three-door hatchback
Rivals: Volkswagen Polo, Fiat Punto Evo, Hyundai i20
CO₂ emissions: 119g/km
Combined economy: 55.4mpg
Top speed: 118mph
0-62mph: 9.8 seconds
Power: 104bhp at 5,000rpm
Torque: 184lb.ft at 1,550rpm

In the Metal:

The 1.2-litre engine goes into all three body styles of the SEAT Ibiza - three-door SC, five door hatch and ST estate - and it becomes the most powerful petrol version in each, until you start hitting the quick FR and Cupra hot hatch stuff.

In the three-door version we've just driven it's only available in Sport trim, which means a nice set of 16-inch alloys, tinted windows and sports seats. The Ibiza is more chiselled than the average supermini as it is, so aesthetically, this stuff adds to a good foundation, rather than being dressing for a pig.

Driving it:

Having driven the SEAT Ibiza a few times in various guises we didn't really expect any unpleasant surprises from the TSI version; we didn't get any unpleasant surprises. That said, its bark suggests a mean bite, which never really comes.

With a noise that sounds quite like a huffing Chewbacca, a very obvious waste gate hiss with every throttle lift and peak torque at just 1,550rpm, you expect this car to hit a proper peak near the rev limiter. It never does, and is as such, in a very non-petrol sort of way, more suited to short shifting.

Still, that noise gives it the sort of character you'd never get in a plain old 1.4- or 1.6-litre petrol engine - and definitely not a four-cylinder diesel - which is good. And lest ye forget, the Ibiza is also a lovely little supermini to drive anyway, with space, style, good ergonomics, light steering that beefs up with speed and a tidy, non-sloppy manual gearbox.

What you get for your Money:

Sport is the only available trim, for now, with this engine in the SC body style, while hatch buyers must make do with SE. ST estate choosers get the choice of both. There's a DSG automatic option in all.

The high specification means that the entry point for this engine is £13,490, which is way cheaper than the Polo's (over £15,000), but more than you'll pay for a Fiat Punto Evo 1.4 MultiAir (£12,200) and much more than a Hyundai i20 1.4-litre. For us, the spec makes the Spaniard good value (it gets sports suspension, air conditioning and cruise control for example), but that's still quite a high price to pay.

Worth Noting

SEAT has just released a new trim level called Copa for the Ibiza and Leon, which basically adds a good few hundred quid's worth (over £600 in the Ibiza's case) of free stuff, for no extra cost. Based on SE spec in the Ibiza, and S or SE in the Leon, it includes such goodies as climate control, nicer alloys, Bluetooth, automatic lights and wipers and tinted windows.

Summary

A worthy addition, if not a groundbreaking one, to the SEAT Ibiza line-up, the 1.2-litre TSI engine nicely plugs the gap between the shopping trolley versions and the 'too expensive to insure' hot versions. We liked the Ibiza before; we still like the Ibiza.