In the past 10 years, there has been a shift in the design philosophy for superminis. When the fourth-gen Ibiza was launched, there was a general push for small cars to feel sensible and grown-up. The Ibiza, VW Polo, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta all duly complied.
More recently, though, arrivals like the Renault 5, the Citroën C3 and the latest Mini have raised the bar in terms of the luxury and design appeal that can be injected into a small car, albeit sometimes at the expense of ease of use.
The current Ibiza actually finds itself in quite a good place. Although its structure hasn’t changed, its interior has gently evolved with the times. In 2021 it got a more shapely soft-touch dashboard with playful round air vents and coloured mood lighting. The latest updates introduce new fabrics, including the light grey on the seats and door cards of our FR Sport test car that really lift the ambience.
It’s certainly not on the same level as some of the plushest rivals. The shapes are fundamentally conventional, and there’s plenty of hard plastic mouldings, though thankfully no glossy ones. Making the dashboard soft-touch is a strange choice, since that bit of budget for premium materials could have been better employed on the door cappings, where you’re more likely to rest an elbow. Build quality is beyond reproach, though, and superior to that of a Skoda Fabia.
Meanwhile, the Ibiza feels like a 2017 car in the best way by offering tactile physical controls for almost all the important functions, such as the lights, climate control and drive modes. There are even physical levers for the automatic gearbox and handbrake.
The same can be said for the technology on board – none of it is particularly cutting-edge, but nor does any of it feel desperately outmoded or difficult to use. The centre touchscreen’s (8.2in on SE, 9.2in on other trims) built-in navigation and voice control are too rudimentary to be of much use; it is put to much better use mirroring your phone, which it does reliably and wirelessly. The digital driver display (10in on FR Sport, 8in on other trims) is simple, crisp and easily readable, with a choice of layouts. On FR Sport trim, there’s even a wireless charger with active cooling to stop your phone from melting.
FR versions feature a pair of surprisingly figure-hugging sport seats that are at the same time quite comfortable. They’re heated but even on the range-topping version lack cushion angle adjustment or adjustable lumbar support. Thankfully, both have an appropriate default setting.
This generation of Ibiza brought big gains in interior space compared with the previous one, but roomier rivals have come along since. Rear leg room of 640mm is more than adequate for a small car, but adults would be wise to turn down the offer of a lift if there was a Skoda Fabia or Hyundai i20 offering an alternative. At 335 litres, the boot is far from the most spacious in the class – the Renault Clio and Fabia offer closer to 400 litres – but has a usefully even shape and on FR Sport it gets a variable-height floor.
