2016 Ibiza 1.0 (95hp) 3 cyl gearbox reliability/problems?

[Trundle]

Thank you very much for the info. Crossthreaded, very helpful. If it hadn't been for the pandemic, it may well have happened within the warranty period. Interesting what you are saying about being most common on cars not driven every day; the car is typically driven Tuesday-Thursday, but not every week and at the moment my brother is getting what shopping my Mum needs as she's 92 so avoiding going out so much. When it is driven, it is only locally, which is what my parents explained to the dealership sales team when they bought the car, but the short journeys probably haven't helped either. The turbo is around £1200 and labour just over £500.

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the specific dates, I'll check what date the car was actually purchased. From what you were saying in one of the above posts, the Seat technician was already very familiar with the problem when you took your car in so they may well have been aware of the issue before my parents bought the car.

Apart from this they had been very happy with the car, with it's solid build and impressive performance.

I must admit I do like the look of the Ibiza, I'm pleased you were able to get it sorted under warranty. The amount of power they're getting out of these small capacity engines does make me wonder about their long term reliability though.

 

[Crossthreaded]

I must admit I do like the look of the Ibiza, I'm pleased you were able to get it sorted under warranty. The amount of power they're getting out of these small capacity engines does make me wonder about their long term reliability though.

It is a bonny looking vehicle and I particularly like the look of my estate version. As you may have gathered, from some of the stuff I've said earlier in this thread, there are things about it I don't like but on balance there's a lot they got right too. Biggest decision has been whether to do the, self imposed, 5 year service tasks or sell her and move on. I hummed and hawed about this for some time but decided that with the turbo and front brake caliper problem now sorted and no known other issues - I've done the last 2 services myself and got to know her pretty well - I'd keep her. I delegated the timing belt to my local VAG indy for various reasons (first timing belt I haven't done myself for many years) and got them to service and gas the aircon, change the spark plugs (which I've heard can be a sod to do) and flush through and renew the brake fluid, (easy for them to do with their power bleeder).

I'm not confident that she's going to be as long lived as my old Cordoba diesel. I've been hearing of problems with the twin thermostat/water pump module, which is mostly made of plastic, distorting and leaking (in my experience thermostats tend to fail periodically anyway so having 2 just makes this more likely?) Turbos on petrol engines, unlike diesels, are not particularly known for their longevity so another reason to wonder about the "long game" Then there's that 2nd electric water pump, and the electric vacuum pump (because being turboed you can't rely on manifold vacuum for the brake servo all the time) and just the fact that such a small engine is making so much power - Remember the old 1500 twin cam lotus engine from the 60's which made an "outrageous" 105 Hp? now we've got an under 1 litre doing this sort of power. I could go on and on but I'll stop at that. I should say that it's not a bad car, in fact I think it's one of the best of it's type but there's just so many things which could go belly up!

I need a smallish car with good load carrying capacity and these small estates have fitted the bill for my requirements for many years. Now the Skoda Fabia Estate seems to be the only one of this type still being made and it's "bought into" the trend for small turboed engines so, for me, no advance on the Ibiza Estate. I've become quite friendly with our local wee independent Honda garage. The two chaps who run it are ex Honda main agent techies. They've said I should have a look at the Jazz 1.5 litre sport or HR-V 1.5 petrol as both have very good carrying capacity and are not turboed - 130 hp normally aspirated Direct Injection I-VTEC - and are still quite "small" vehicles. Although I like the look of the Jazz a lot (there's a smaller engined version in the family already which I look after) I don't like what I've seen regarding the stiff, jiggly "sport" suspension which many reviews say is rather too firm for an everyday car. The Jazz can only be had in "sport" spec with the 1.5 litre engine. However the HR-V is looking very promising. By the time I decide to move on from the Ibiza I should be able to buy one of the last - probably '20 or '21 - pre hybrid HR-V's. So I'm going to amuse myself, and annoy the Honda salesmen, by having a crawl all over one down at the main dealer sometime later this year!