1997 Seat Ibiza Cupra Sport review from UK and Ireland

Occasional dashboard rattle (according to the interior temperature).

Rattle from the exhaust heat-shield (a common fault it appears from these reviews!).

Gear-box is not very slick and requires deliberate changes. Selection of 2nd gear was prone to balk during the first 5000 miles, but now OK unless you rush a down-change at speed.

This car is a seriously underrated, but that suits me very well because it has remained a relative rarity.

When I test drove before buying, I enjoyed it so much that I had to take it around the suggested test route a second time so I could cane it even harder. To put this in perspective you need to understand that I already owned a TVR V8s and a Ducati 916 so was no stranger to performance vehicles and might have found it too tame.

The salesman I bought the car from loved the Cupra Sport 8v so much that he had already parted with his own hard-earned cash to buy one!

For me the 8v Cupra Sport is better than the 16v. It offers excellent power from virtually any gear at any speed. It will happily pull high gears with no revs if you're taking it easy and delivers satisfying performance when you push hard. It does however run out of puff at 5000 RPM.

Particularly excellent feel from the steering and brakes.

Suspension is very firm and not so nice over pot-holes at low speed, but more than compensates when you are cornering hard.

I can truly say that I look forward to driving this car every time I climb into it, which is just as well really since due to practicalities it gets far more use than the TVR or Ducati.