Considering an Ibiza FR TDi - Advice/Thoughts Wanted

[Elvismiggell]

Hi Folks,

Newbie to the forum here. Considering moving to an Ibiza, but have a set of questions and would appreciate any answers/opinions you can offer.

So to give you a bit of background. I was running a Mk5 Golf GT TDi until recently. It was starting to get a little long in the tooth and I'm getting married next summer, so rightly or wrongly we decided to change the car now, so we wouldn't have to worry about it in the midst of trying to pay for a wedding.

I looked at a Fabia vRS brand new for a while, especially as they were effectively VAT free thanks to some of the offers available. One of the reasons for this is I love the VAG group, and want something that'll be covered by warranty for a while to give me a little more protection should anything go wrong. It also helped that the Fabia was considerably cheaper than the Polo, which meant I could afford a lot more kit, and I'm a bit of an options list fetishist!

I had previously dismissed the Ibiza as it doesn't have the same form-factor head-unit that the Skoda's and VW's do, which meant no potential for adding an OEM VAG SatNav unit. (Or indeed speccing one from new. I'm not a fan of the TomTom oojima SEAT offer.)

After a bit of umming and ah-ing, someone happened to mention that they knew of a new-shape Astra J with more or less all the bells and whistles going for an absolute steal near me. The compromise was that it was a 1.6T. So it had every option I could possibly want, but not the actual engine. I figured that would be ok, and I'd bear the fuel inefficiency so I snapped it up.

Sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. A couple of months in and I'm getting increasingly upset by the battle to get to the 35mpg. Just to make matters more awkward, a change in job-roles means my annual mileage means that I'm doing 80 miles a day round the M25 3-4 days a week.

So now you know a little about where I'm coming from, here's the questions...

I'm considering an Ibiza FR 2.0 TDi, probably the SC.



1) Fuel economy. (I can guess how varied the answers on this might be, but comments please!)

2) Driving - does the diesel engine feel like it's weighing a relatively small car down? I'm after something spritely, and with plenty of torque at 60-70mph while cruising.

3) Head unit. What's it like? Clear, easy to use?

4) iPod integration. Assuming I get the SEAT cable, does it work well on the headunit? It looks like quite a small screen to me, how much does it show? How do you search for artists/albums etc?

5) MFD - what options can you see on the FR? Avg MPG, AVG Speed, Current Speed, Outside Temperature, Trip 1, Trip 2 and remaining range? (Please advise which of these can be seen and any I've missed?)



Any pointers/advice/opinions are very welcome. Photos/videos of the headunit and/or MFD in action would be fantastic. (YouTube seems to be full of walk-arounds and 0-100kph sprints.)

Cheers.

(I'm sure I'll think of other questions over the next few days!)

 

[duffy_90]

I have the Cupra and im sure its the same head unit and i think its great. My ipod is broke so im currently using alot of MP3 CDs, the menu is so easy to navigate through so choosing a folder then file couldent be easyer. Much better than my 2008 corsa head unit was.

Options are the same on both cupra and FR (correct me if im wrong any FR owners) you get

Average MPG 1 and 2 (journey and overall)
Current (live) MPG
Temp
Average speed
Remaining Range
Speed limit beep
Journey time

Am i missing any here? i always have mine on average MPG or temp so i dont take alot of notice

 

[jc_boc]

You have temp???!!! I haven't seen that any where hehehehehhe. Will double check. I have a boc myself but from what I have heard the 2.0 CR FR is an amazing car and doesn't feel heavy at all. You should easily be seeing a minimum of 50mpg, not sure on true world figures as I don't gave one. Go and test drive one in all honesty mate, I think oyu will be pleasantly surprised. The VRS is that the first one? the diesel as the new one is the 1.4tsi and also a cracking little engine which should give you around the 40mpg mark dependant on how you drive.

 

[Elvismiggell]

I was looking at the 1.4TSi Fabia. Couldn't put my finger on it but it didn't quite feel right.

Would love a DSG box, but I think I need to be sensible and get back to the VAG 2.0TDi unit I know and love.

The Ibiza seems to be a good way to do that.

Would either of you be able to get a few close up photos of the head unit and mfd? Am trying to get a test drive sorted.

 

[J400uk]

The MFD is quite basic, it won't be as advanced as the one in the Golf or the 'Maxi Dot' computer in the Fabia VRS. A couple of hi-res pictures I found online:

 

[Elvismiggell]

Thanks J400uk.

So looking at the MFD, it looks like time at the top. Fuel down the side. Temp in the middle.

There are a couple of numbers beneath that I can't make out, are they mileage?

I assume the Ibiza has the same control as the Golf, a rocker switch on the side of the stalk to go up and down through the options, and a reset switch underneath?

Can you confirm which 'bit' changes, is it just the temperature display gets replaced by MPG etc?


Really appreciate the answers chaps, keep them coming!

 

[J400uk]

Yeah the top bit says time, the next line has temperature/ mpg etc (changed by you), the line after that displays total mileage (but it changes to speed in km/h when the car is in motion) and the bottom line is the trip counter. No fancy menu system or feeding back info from the radio/ nav or anything like that.

I'd imagine they will probably change it when facelift time comes round, as the A1, Fabia and Polo all have a more advanced screen!

 

[Elvismiggell]

Any idea when facelift time might be due?

 

[J400uk]

Not for a little while yet, sometime 2012 was the last I heard.

 

[jc_boc]

Herfe is a low quality vid I did of setting the speed warning chime. Should give you an idea of the menu options etc.

http://s339.photobucket.com/albums/n...t=MOV00376.mp4

 

[robin cur]

just changed my leon fr 550 tdi for a fabia vrs after one month love it to bits, would have liked a ibiza cupra but needed 5 doors, if seat had done a 5 door cupra I think I would have still gone for the VRS as i am not keen on the style of the 5 door ibiza just my personel taste, dont miss my leon one bit, and the best bit was vrs 3 months old, 62 mile, candy white black roof and black alloys £12.999 and £11.500 p/x, only getting 32 mpg and the leon did just under 40.

 

[Allan FR]

HI mate i recently went from a vw golf mk5 to the mk2 leon fr 2.0 tdi, wasnt to sure at first but have growen to it now, the diesle (2.0tdi fr) has not much diffrence from the golf tdi, bit bigger than the ibiza but not to big that it stands out from it, im getting roughly about 45- 48mpg if driving normal, the inside of them could have done with abit more time on it before it was put on the market, but the just what i think of it,

 

[Alan Partridge]

watch?v=2tklZF2glRE

If you skip to 4:45min on the video above, the bloke does a quick demo of the MFD. He also focuses on the centre console a bit later on, albeit without the iPod function.

I don't know what differences there will be but it's worth noting that his car is only an SE.

PS. I can't post URLs yet so just stick youtube.com/ infront of that bit at the top.

 

[skeat12]

1) Fuel economy. (I can guess how varied the answers on this might be, but comments please!) Last fill up I got 49mpg, and I have a heavy right foot

2) Driving - does the diesel engine feel like it's weighing a relatively small car down? I'm after something spritely, and with plenty of torque at 60-70mph while cruising. Loads of torque available and the heavier engine doesn't affect drive-ability

3) Head unit. What's it like? Clear, easy to use? As above

4) iPod integration. Assuming I get the SEAT cable, does it work well on the headunit? It looks like quite a small screen to me, how much does it show? How do you search for artists/albums etc? Get the USB connection and use a key, much better and you can leave it in the car without too much worry about theft

5) MFD - what options can you see on the FR? Avg MPG, AVG Speed, Current Speed, Outside Temperature, Trip 1, Trip 2 and remaining range? (Please advise which of these can be seen and any I've missed?) As above, but the dispaly is silver not red as in the picture

 

[Shelby]

You mentioned you fancied a DSG? Ive had my SC 1.2Tsi DSG Sport for about 3 weeks now. Its an awesome gearbox IMO, and the option to move it from normal Drive into Sport mode has given some of my passengers a real shock. They cant believe its a 1.2 thats just pushed them back into the seat. The fuel economy on it so far is rather good. I do a similar journey to you, M25/M3 etc, around 60 or so miles, and it just cruises along very happily.
Work colleague who went in it yesterday said he was scared witless by it when I floored it. Great fun.
As others have said, get down the dealer, take them out for a drive. Its the only way!

 

[Elvismiggell]

I know it's bad, but if I was going to do DSG it'd have to be FR or Cupra in order to get the paddles!

(I'm so sad!)

My concern with either option is what the real world economy would be? Cupra or petrol FR owners care to comment on what they get? (Again bearing in mind that the majority of my commute is on the motorway...)

 

[jc_boc]

If the majority of your commute is motorway you will have no problem seeing 40mpg mate. I am going about 32mpg atm but that is in London and when I do hit the motorway it gets up to 40mpg no problem.

 

[Papamidnite]

The TSi is a completely different car without the DSG gearbox. I've driven the manual and the DSG, and the manual's as flat as a witches tit.I suspect the fuel economy will be so much better with the DSG, out of sport mode, of course.

 

[jc_boc]

Strangely I have found that if I shift myself with the paddles the consumption in town is actually better than running it in auto hahahahahahha. Then again i could be wrong but if you do plant your foot you will feel it in the pocket...............

 

[duffy_90]

I have not reset my MPG2 reading since i got the car (roughly 1 year ago) and my overall average is 26.5MPG, but thats with all different types of journey if i reset the single journey MPG1 i can get upto 42-43 MPG with the use of cruise control maintaining 70