Ibiza vs Kia Rio vs Ford Fiesta vs Citroen C3

[Zoom]

I tend to overanalyze things...

The following is a comparison of the following cars. These do not represent specific trims, but the final custom build for each car after adding the features I wanted and trying to stay within a €16000 budget.

Ibiza & Ibiza FR: 115bhp DSG (turbo)
Rio: 100bhp 4 speed auto (non turbo)
Fiesta: 100bhp 6 speed auto (turbo)
C3: 110bhp 6 speed auto (turbo)

And the winner is: Ibiza FR!

Its interior isn't my favorite (the Luxe pack with Alacantara could change this, but it isn't available) and I have some concerns about its reliability, but I like how it looks, I like its performance, I like how much space it has, I get the most features for my money with it, so it is the winner!

 

[camelspyyder]

Well that's one way of deciding I suppose.

I just set a budget, trawl the internet and buy the most massively discounted brand new car that can be had for the money (with a little consideration of looks, equipment and how it drives).

Last attempt at this worked out well. Manufacturers retail price 24000 euro. Price paid just 13700 euro.

 

[camelspyyder]

As an aside, the British and Irish FR115 drivers must be really amused at your price - only £14000 new! for a RHD car!!

 

[Zoom]

Well that's one way of deciding I suppose.

I just set a budget, trawl the internet and buy the most massively discounted brand new car that can be had for the money (with a little consideration of looks, equipment and how it drives).

Last attempt at this worked out well. Manufacturers retail price 24000 euro. Price paid just 13700 euro.

Getting a good value for money is important for me as well, as long as the car meets some minimum requirements. As you can see from my chart the dealers can "buy" points by making a better price.

 

[Peter]

As an aside, the British and Irish FR115 drivers must be really amused at your price - only £14000 new! for a RHD car!!

Although, with the almost 19% discount available if you take finance from SEAT at 115 DSG FR in standard blue is ‘only’ around £15,400 I think.

Interestingly (or not...) the basic C3 Avis rented to me in Greece did have auto folding mirrors, but no parking sensors. It also had Apple CarPlay, so nav was irrelevant. Varying car specs are a mystery!

 

[Seriously?]

"4 electric windows" ????

 

[Peter]

"4 electric windows" ????

 

[camelspyyder]

Here we go again. Doesn't the UK spec have 4 electric windows then?

 

[Seriously?]

Unless the spec has changed since we looked at them in March (which is entirely possible), nope!

 

[Zoom]

Unless the spec has changed since we looked at them in March (which is entirely possible), nope!

Can't you add them as an option? Here, the entry level Reference trim doesn't have them either, but they are available as an option.

 

[Zoom]

One thing to add regarding the comparison between the Fiesta and the Ibiza (and other cars) is that most reviews online are for cars with manual gearbox (I guess this is the most popular choice for this category). However if you want an automatic things could be very different from what those reviews indicate.

For example in the case of the Fiesta with the 1.0 Ecoboost Engine, the manual is a 6 Speed that does 0-100km/h in 10.5 seconds, while in the case of the Ibiza the 115bhp engine has a 5 speed manual gearbox that does it in 9.2 seconds. So the difference isn't that great.

But if you take the same engines with an automatic transmission, then the Fiesta gets a 6 speed auto that does 0-100km/h in 12.2 seconds while the Ibiza gets a 7 speed DSG that does it in 9.5, so the difference is much greater.

 

[Peter]

What Car say the Ibiza is the best small automatic (even if their caption describes a variant that’s not availabelll!)

https://www.whatcar.com/news/best-worst-small-automatic-cars/#11

 

[camelspyyder]

Are What Car aware of the (roughly) annual recalls to try and fix the latest endemic DSG fault? I agree they drive beautifully when everything's working, but they're not exactly a Lexus-like paragon of sound engineering and reliability.

 

[Peter]

Are What Car aware of the (roughly) annual recalls to try and fix the latest endemic DSG fault? I agree they drive beautifully when everything's working, but they're not exactly a Lexus-like paragon of sound engineering and reliability.

Our A3 e-tron had the 7 speed DSG box...I liked it! There must be millions of DSG cars on the road now; we had ours three and a half years and no problems

And the one in our Ibiza managed 2,000 miles without an issue

 

[Seriously?]

Can't you add them as an option? Here, the entry level Reference trim doesn't have them either, but they are available as an option.

Standard on the Xcellence trim only. Not available even as an option on any other trim level

 

[Zoom]

Yes, the 95bhp engine doesn't seem to be available with automatic transmission. But you can get the 115bhp for the same price or less than you would pay for lower powered Fiesta or Polo.

Where I live VW and Seat are in the same showroom. I initially want there looking for the new Polo and I was planning to get the 95bhp DSG, which is available for the Polo. But when I realized how much more I could get with the Ibiza for the same money or less, I dropped the Polo from my shortlist and added the Ibiza instead.

When I first saw the Ibiza I didn't like it, because in the showroom they had some mid-spec Ibiza in dark blue, which didn't give a very good impression to me. But the FR version in white as I ordered it looks way better. It looks even better in red but I didn't want to pay extra for the color. White is probably the best color for the climate here anyways.