1996 Seat Ibiza Salsa review from UK and Ireland

Occasional problems starting.

It's needed two sets of HT leads.

Easy car to live with. It performs quite well up to 70, just one up. The gearing is quite low and the engine is quite punchy low down, so it takes off quite well. On the motorway with more than one person and luggage it struggles a bit. I think at 60 BHP, with a tall body it is underpowered for motorway work, though will cruise OK.

Seats are OK for two hours and then become really uncomfortable. I'm just under 6 foot, with long legs. I have the seat as far back as I can, and am just about comfortable for shorter journeys, but no adult can sit behind me.

Boot is an awkward shape because of the suspension turret intrusion. The load lip or sill is quite high. We had to get a bigger car when our daughter was born, as we could not cope with buggies etc.

The biggest gripe I have is with the local SEAT dealer. The car always came back worse than when it went in. I now use an independent VW dealer.

The car is practically a VW polo; I think just the front sub-frame and exhausts are different.

MPG is just under 40MPG. I mainly use it commuting to work which is fast A roads.

Standard radio was pants - I fitted the one from my old car.