Seat’s Ibiza ST is a ratings winner
SEAT’s impressive success in UK motoring awards continues with news that the Ibiza ST – the latest, stylish, addition to the dynamic Spanish supermini line-up – has scooped the key ‘Most Rated’ title in the inaugural honestjohn.co.uk awards.
The influential UK-based website was set-up in 2000 to help consumers with advice on buying, selling and running cars, and the inaugural awards recognise and honour the cars that users search for most, or rate most highly.
Ibiza ST, the sleek third ‘silhouette’ in the SEAT supermini line-up joined the sporty Ibiza SC and practical Ibiza 5dr last year to make today’s Ibiza range the most extensive in the Spanish supermini’s 25-year history.
Another svelte product of the pen of SEAT’s chief designer, Luc Donckerwolke, the estate version of SEAT’s biggest seller is, clearly, created to offer more carrying capacity without compromising on the sporty style that makes the Ibiza one of the most dynamic and eye-catching superminis on the road.
Boot space is up 138 litres over the 5dr taking the car’s carrying capacity to a sizable 430 litres (seats up) meaning, among other things, that the ST offers a great value alternative to many apparently larger family hatchbacks from the class above.
Offered with a broad variety of engines, including sporty turbocharged petrols and frugal latest generation turbodiesels, the supermini estate is even available to order in super-frugal E Ecomotive form. In this guise, CO2 emissions stand at a road tax-busting 92 g/km while fuel economy is confirmed at 80.7 mpg.
Naturally, these qualities make the SEAT a winner with owners as Dan Harrison, Editor of the Honest John website, explains. He said: ‘The ‘Most Rated’ title is one of our most important awards because it comes from real owners.
‘It may have been on sale for less than a year, but the Ibiza ST is already a favourite among our users who rate its value for money, practicality and impressive load area.’
The honestjohn.co.uk awards, unlike many others, aren’t handed out by judges or a panel – instead they come from the website’s users. Put simply, the car reviews which create the most interest among honestjohn.co.uk users are the winners.
The data to measure this is taken from Google Analytics and calculates the number of page views each car review has had over the previous 12 months from April 2010 to April 2011. The site gets around 1.4 million visits every month with the majority of these users viewing reviews in the car-by-car section of the site.
Welcoming the latest title win for SEAT Ibiza Product Manager Simon Bradley said: ‘The Ibiza ST has made a great impact on the UK motoring scene since it made its debut here last year.
‘For it to claim a win in these inaugural awards is great news, and becomes all the more important when you consider that the ratings which secured it the win came from obviously very satisfied Ibiza ST owners themselves.’
Available in S A/C, SE and Sport spec – as well as the newly introduced and ultra high value SE Copa trim level – the Ibiza ST costs from £12,410 RRP.
