I orginally posted this before the Readers Reviews community so I've move it to here! Seat Ibiza FR ACT Review ...ENJOY!

At the end of 2014 I finally got my first new car, it was a hugely exciting moment in my life and I will never forget the experience of optioning up a car which isn’t just on the internet.

I picked the car for a variety of reasons firstly being I couldn’t afford a Fiesta ST, I hate the fact that’s the main reason I originally got the car but its the truth. It should achieve 60mpg, insurance is nothing like a Fiesta’s and it came with a huge discount too. This is a £16,000 car but I got a massive discount from that to the mid £12,000’s. So why didn’t I do the usual thing and get the 1.0 Fiesta Ecoboost 125hp Zetec S? Well I very nearly did but the Fiesta didn’t inspire me, I felt it was just a hatch with huge turbo lag and not much kick, it might have been because I cheekily test drove the ST before pretending I might get it but I to this day was very disappointed with that car.

The Ibiza test drive (which I did before the Ford test drive) meant I had to go into London and as a countryside dweller this was quite a stressful thought; a warm hatch bordering on hot, a young driver and lots of city traffic, but it was fine, it was a empty part of London and on quiet roads. I put my foot down and the mid range of a turbo with 184lbft going through the front wheels put a huge smile on my face, wrestling with the steering wheel to keep it straight was a new experience for me and even getting the occasional second look as I drove added to the want factor. My heart and my brain were in this car so I had to order one, believe me the wait of 3 months was painful but it was great knowing I had the last FR Edition coming to the UK.

Now for the pros of this car; well the power has to be the main one. 140 hp doesn’t sound like much but twinned with its 1167kg body and 185lbsft/250nm of torque, it makes this car feel a whole deal faster than the headline figure would have you believe. It easily keeps up with my Dads Jaguar XF 3.0 Diesel to 70mph and then the turbo diesel power from the Jag kicks in properly, but for a car costing the best part of 3 times less than the Jag I can live with that.

Secondly the aesthetics, the bright red paint matches with red seat belts and red callipers, (which we all know add 40hp and 50hp respectively). It brought out a very immature side of me thinking I was in a Ferrari. Then the optional titanium wheels just make the car pop, I almost got the black wheels but felt they would go out of fashion soon I ignored that option box.

Thirdly the noise this thing makes, Okay, it is a 1.4 turbo so that doesn’t sound like a great start but this thing really rasps when the turbo kicks in, even get the occasional pop and crackle which is exhilarating to hear.

However now for the negatives, firstly is the fuel economy. I’m lucky to get over 35mpg for daily driving, but ok fair enough it gets 45+ on a motorway journey. Usually, sadly though I get 25-30mpg. Admittedly, I do have a heavy foot now and again but my 12-year-old Peugeot 307 1.6 did a lot better than that even when I ragged it.

Secondly although the looks are great, they are just a bit muted. A small spoiler and side skirts over the standard Ibiza would have been nice, next to a Corsa VXR it doesn’t look like anything special but I guess it’s not that far off a Fiesta ST in terms of sporty aesthetics.

Lastly it is so fast in the mid range but when you hit the say past 4500rpm area nothing else happens, guess that’s just a side-effect of small turbos and small displacement but it’s pretty disappointing.

Overall I think for me, where I am in my life right now I made the right decision. I like my car but if I’m being honest I don’t love it, it does the hot hatch performance more or less but doesn’t have the flare of a Peugeot 208GTI or Fiesta ST. But I guess that’s the saying, ‘You get what you pay for.’