This article is from page 35 of the 2008-10-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 35 JPG
REGULAR readers will know that I’m a big fan of radios in cars. At home many of us turn to our televi- sion sets for entertainment, but while commuting we enter the varied world of radio.
My test car this week, the new Seat Ibiza, had great reception on its radio. I hit the scan button and straight away picked up good quality BBC2 and then Shannonside Radio. Amazing as I wasn’t up in the Dub- lin mountains, but in Baldonnel, the Irish headquarters of Seat.
Seat have just one button for the ra- dio, which acts as a volume control and station selector. It looks strange to see just one button where there are normally two, but like most things in life, you get used to it.
But before readers all go Radio Ga Ga, I can hear you saying, what was the car like to drive?
Well it’s a neat, solid, comfort- able and inexpensive supermini. The price of the car didn’t change in the budget, but emissions are low and the current tax rate of €150 will increase very slightly on January I.
There is room for three small adults in the rear and the boot is a decent SIZe.
This was my first-ever drive in a Seat. I have been reading up on
the company and found that it was formed in Spain in 1950 and initial- ly made cars for Fiat. In 1982 they broke away from the Italian giant
and built their own Ronda. The first Ibiza was produced in 1993 and this is the fourth generation.
Seat use the names of Spanish
districts for their cars and they are now a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen. I always think of the sun when I hear names like Cordoba,
Alhambra etc. Ibiza is an ideal name for a supermini as we associate the island as a fun place for young peo- ple.
I found the car very lively and well able to handle anything that was asked of it, whether on city streets or motorways.
Internally it’s like most other new cars nowadays and predominantly black, with just the odd touch of sil- ver to brighten up the décor.
Externally the car was silver colour and I just feel that there are too many silver cars around right now. It might have been even more attractive in a bright red or dark blue, but that’s just my opinion.
Prices start at €14,850 for the 1.2 ‘R’ type, while the ‘S’ type I drove costs £16,290. After the recent budg- et we know that diesel is definitely the way forward and next year a 1.4 diesel model will be available. Seat now has 37 dealers in 23 different fo) t Tea lene
Pll finish with another mention of the radio controls. In addition to the main button there are slave controls just to the left of the steering wheel. They are so discreet, they are almost hidden away. And if you are not into radio, an iPod jack is standard.