If you want to read our opinion of the current Ibiza there is plenty to keep you occupied in our SEAT reviews section. This test is less about the car and more about its engine, which was introduced to the range in November 2010.It's the Volkswagen Group's 1.2-litre TSI turbo petrol unit, and on the face of it there's not much to get excited about there. It has the same 104bhp maximum power output of the non-turbo 1.6 it replaces, so if you want a dazzlingly quick supermini you'd be well advised to look elsewhere.Frankly, though, 104bhp is about as much as the car needs. And maximum output isn't everything. A good spread of power across the rev range is, if anything, more important, and the TSI certainly provides that, with maximum torque being produced way, way down at 1550rpm - an extraordinarily low figure for a petrol car.If your eyes are crossing at all this technical stuff, the important thing to know is that this engine makes the Ibiza very relaxing to drive, since you don't need to change down a gear as often as you would have done with the old 1.6.I'd go as far as to say that this is the nicest engine I've experienced in an Ibiza (I still love the 69bhp non-turbo 1.2 three-cylinder reviewed here, but you do have to work that one quite hard). Yet this isn't all about pleasure. There are more sober matters to discuss too.The advantages of replacing a non-turbo engine of a certain size with a smaller turbocharged one were explained years ago in our feature, The Rise Of The Small Engine. If you're familiar with that article you won't be at all surprised to learn that the 1.2 TSI soundly thumps the 1.6 in terms of combined fuel economy and CO2 emissions.In the previous car, these were 44.8mpg and 149g/km. In this one, they have respectively risen and fallen to 55.4mpg and 119g/km. Whether there has genuinely been a real-world improvement in fuel consumption of nearly 24% is a matter of some doubt - this is, after all, an engine which has specifically been designed to do well in the official EU test and not necessarily on public roads - but the effect of the official CO2 improvement is that you quite definitely pay a good deal less tax than you would have done with the 1.6.You can opt for a seven-speed DSG twin-clutch semi-automatic if you want, for an extra £465. That harms the "green" statistics to some extent, but at 53.3mpg and 124g/km they're still better than those of the 1.6 manual.The 1.2 TSI engine is available in all three Ibiza body styles, of which the three-door SC tested here is the cheapest. The Sport trim level is £320 more expensive than the alternative SE, and for that you get, among other things, sports seats, sports suspension and low-profile 215/45 tyres on 16" wheels. Such a suspension and wheel/tyre combination all too often makes a car's ride very uncomfortable, but SEAT's chassis people have clearly been doing good work here, because in this case it doesn't. Engine 1197 cc, 4 cylinders Power 105bhp Transmission 5-speed manual Fuel/CO2 55.4mpg / 119g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 9.8 seconds Top speed 118mph Price From £13436.00 approx Release date 01/06/2010
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