Buying advice

Jabtas

Active Member
Aug 28, 2017
22
5
Going to look at a Mk4 facelift with a view to buying it for our son
I've never had an Ibiza before apart from a hire car on holiday last year, but that was a brand new DSG model, currently driving a Mk3 Leon (previously a Mk2 and many moons ago a Toledo) so I'm fairly familiar with the brand

Any horror stories I should be aware of, or particular thing to keep a look out for
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I'd think that you should aim for one with the 1.4 16V petrol engine as it is the more reliable, I'm not sure what changes there were at facelift as my wife had a 2002 9N Polo, so same as pre-facelift in most ways, my older daughter has a late 2009 Ibiza so one of the first of the MK5 versions with the 1.4 16V petrol engine and it is still running okay at 56K miles - owned by her from new. It has had its front and rear springs replaced due to snapping, and is about to get its steering rods and so TREs replaced by me next month as there is noticeable "slack" in one side causing annoying and supposedly alarming feeling at higher speeds!
I maybe should not be saying this in this section of the Ibiza forum, but if there is anyway you can change your plan and get a MK5 version, you and your son will not regret it, I have always felt that this MK4 version of Ibiza and its Polo equivalent, just had too much in common with the first version of Skoda Fabia, I suffered that for 13 years with my wife's 2002 Polo 9N and hated it for that, it turned out to be a very nasty cheaply built car with all the 3rd world materials and running gear from the Skoda Fabia - and I and probably other found this out too late, so just lived with it and spend a lot of time and money keeping it safe and on the road. Inevitably some elements of Skoda Fabia were carried on to the next versions and even some on to the previous versions of these Ibizas and Polos, but I think that VW Group had by that time started to see that doing a cheap bit of badge engineering had caught up with them so slowly moved back from that and probably the newer Skoda Fabias benefited from that as well.
If you accept my advice to try to grab a later version of Ibiza, then again aim for the 1.4 16V engine, yes it is boring, no you can not remap it and turn it into a monster, but it will keep running without needing to rebuild it.
 
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Jabtas

Active Member
Aug 28, 2017
22
5
Thanks for that
Alas we are currently trying to keep the insurence costs down so are currently looking for smaller engines, he only been driving 6 months

He currently getting hammered on an old knackered Citroen C1, but a move upto a 1.2 Ibiza would only be an extra 100 quid for the yearly amount

I may make some enquiries on a 1.4 just to see how much extra
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
The 1.2 3 cylinder petrol engines, at higher mileage or as they get older, tend to, it seems "go bad", now a friend of mine's daughter bought a 2003 Polo 1.2 3 cylinder when it was a few years old and ran it for many years but not covering huge miles - and that car was extremely reliable, but if you look around the Fabia/Polo/Ibiza forums - for cars getting on a bit and bought for relatively "pennies" - too many turn into either money pits or just get scrapped as there will be few if any decent engines or properly refurbished engines out there to replace a gone bad one. Again only from reading about these things, the valve "holes" are bored directly into the head, ie no hardened valve guide that can be pressed out and replaced - so when they wear, and they do quite quickly, it costs a bit to refurbish the head and fit new valves. Cars get sold with slight misfires and turn out to not have a duff plug as suggested by the vendors or assumed by the buyers, but worn valve guides and probably burned/cracked valve(s).
 
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Jabtas

Active Member
Aug 28, 2017
22
5
Certainly food for thought, cheers

As it stands he doesn't do many miles, but nothing says that it will stay that way in future

I know I piled the miles up when I first started driving
 
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