Seat Ibiza - First Car

Snear

I've been looking to buy a car for a few months now - this would be my first time buying. I've had my eye on the Seat Ibiza as it's one of the few small cars which looks quite nice IMO.

I've been quoted on this car and a 1.2L is the same price for me to insure as the 1.4L variant - as such I'm going to opt for the larger of the two engines.

Here are some of the current Ibiza 1.4Ls for sale (based in Dublin) and what I've noted on each listing. (You'll need to add the .ie to each URL as I can't post links)

donedeal ie/cars-for-sale/seat-ibiza-2005-1-owner-nct-3-17-/12383850
- Cleanest of the lot, also the most expensive
- Sport trim level
- Seller's DoneDeal profile also has an Almera for sale, seems odd to me

donedeal ie/cars-for-sale/seat-ibiza-need-gone-open-to-offers/12518841
- No tax/NCT
- Seems to have a sizeable scratch along the left side (I can live with this if the scratch isn't too deep)
- Low mileage if the ad is correct
- "Car got NCT pre check and got new lamda for emissions" I'm not very well informed on NCTs, does this mean it passed the NCT pre-check? A new lambda doesn't mean anything by itself right? It could be positive or negative?

donedeal ie/cars-for-sale/seat-ibiza-1-4-sport-5-door/12349271
- Passenger door mirror does not seem to be the same shape as the stock mirror
- Mileage is extremely low
- Seller is also selling a Scenic - seems to be a trader of some sort?

All of these are priced below two grand. I'm not sure of the market value of these cars, but the ones I've picked out seem to be reasonably priced.

I know the best place to find answers is to ring and ask of course. However I'd like a few more opinions on these cars first and which one yous think is best value based on what can be seen in the ads.

Thanks in advance, I appreciate it

Snear

Has anyone got an opinion or any thoughts on these three cars?

Atlantic Dawn

First person is selling 2 other cars at the same time so car most likely not in their name, other than that looks in good condition. This car was traded in to a dealer on 05/04/2016, no idea what it has been doing the last 3 months.

2nd car as it has no NCT avoid unless you have someone you know that can fully verify what the car would need to pass the NCT.

3rd car the seller is also selling another car. The ad has " Trade Cars at Trade Prices with a new NCT to 2017", no idea what this means in a private advert? I'd avoid.

doolox

You need to drive them very steadily and keep below 3,000 revs for 105 kph in order to make the most of the just above average fuel economy esp if doing long motorway trips. This is more of a city hopper short trip car than a long distance commuter. I had a 1.2 Seat IBIZA for 5 yrs and found it OK. On the 1.2 get the coils replaced as a set ( all three, its a 2 cylinder engine..) to avoid sudden breakdowns due to coil failure on the motorway. I had two breakdowns in my 5 years due to this failure. The coils cost €50 each but a recovery cost me €90.00 so changing all 3 coils ahead of time is worth it.

I also had problems with the blower motor which is surprisingly essential to avoid being freezing cold and mist all over the place compromising safety too much to avoid the €300 replacement cost....probably not worth it on a €1.4k car.

I had very high mileage on my car and a long list of need to do items higher than the €900 value of the car so it was goodbye but I managed fine for 5-6 years with it.

Snear

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

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Thanks for the advice, was leaning towards your suggestions. Always good to have a second opinion.

doolox wrote: »

snip.

First-hand advice, fantastic! "City hopper short trip car" sounds like it would suit my needs perfectly. Definitely gonna take note of those two parts when making my decision.

Thanks for the replies!