FITTING an automatic gear box to a hot hatch sports car is like putting a spoiler on a Robin Reliant or a caravan on the back of a Ferrari. Imagine the delight when I slid into the sport seats of the SEAT Ibiza Cupra, engaged the automatic gearbox and pulled away in heavy snow. Think Bambi on ice after ten pints of Stella Artois. The semi automatic DSG is a seven-speed box, complete with a sport mode and steering wheel mounted paddles and a lightning quick change. Those paddles were a life saver in the snow because they helped slow this powerful beast in icy conditions, something of a problem with a full automatic, and at least it was front wheel drive. SEAT will be the first to admit that this supercharged firecracker is not built for Arctic driving - it screams speed. In fact, anybody who climbs into the Cupra and is over the age of 30, is probably going to feel a little self conscious. The powerful appearance and the gurgle from the exhausts was topped off by a canary yellow colour. It made my eyes hurt. And the Cupra version of this hot hatch stunner has all the added bells and whistles you would expect from the Cup Racing marque. The front has a distinctive arrow shape, complete with eliptcal headlights and even the wing mirrors have pointy arrow shapes. The rear windows are tiny and the roof swoops down to give a coupe-style look, particularly when paired with the special Cupra alloys. The back has a muscular presence, with flared wheel arches and neat light clusters. The Cupra branding is also splashed all over the car, from the low skirts, to the back of the boot and it’s even squeezed onto the corner of the front bumper. The equipment inside is almost all digital, including the climate controls and the full dashboard information. The bucket sport seats lock you in tight and the sports steering wheel is squared off at the bottom and complete with mounted audio controls. The inside is still a tad plasticky, but there is black piano style trim around the radio and the central dash. Standard kit includes superb 17-inch alloys, ipod connections, cruise control, steering wheel audio controls and aluminium trim and rear parking sensors. One of the other big benefits of this car is the big, for its classs, boot. The old Ibiza was adequate, but the extra depth and length (17 litres in all) will be particularly helpful for cramming in bigger items. The headroom and legroom for the front passengers has not been sacrificed for good looks, but the same cannot be said of the rear passengers. Not only do they have to be shoehorned into this three-door, there is very little rear space. However, the drive is superb and noticeably better than its predecessor. And, for a performance car, it offers up really decent fuel figures. It’s lightning quick, with a 0-60mph sprint tjme of 7.2 seconds, that would give almost any other car a run for its money and the acceleration is superb throughout the gears. The suspension is low and stiff and the steering is responsive. The car corners superbly but the sheer power of the 180PS engine sometimes make it difficult to keep it in a straight line. The ride is fairly good for such a sporty model and an awful lot of the exterior wind and tyre noise has been kept out of the cabin. The one thing you will not get away from is the noisy gear changes, which seem to be magnified ten times through the stylish triangular shaped cover of the double exhaust. The only major criticism is with some of the trim. It does feel well built and well thought out, but the plastics leave a little to be desired and the there is a very feeble looking glove box. One real design flaw is the black plastic trim on top of the dash rev counter. At night the street lights reflect off the plastic and back into the glass and the same thing happens in bright sunshine. The back pillars are also unusually large which, coupled with the tiny windows, makes manoeuvring fairly difficult. Safety specification is very high. As well as standard airbags it boasts head-thorax airbags, and side airbags. All models also have high resistance steel, side protection bars, ABS and seat belt pre-tensioners and ESP. They all have rolling code immobilisers, deadlocks, child locks and an alarm option.The Cupra is bound to attract younger drivers, but most would find this a fun car to drive. FAST FACTS SEAT Ibiza 1.4 TSI Cupra Price: £16,545 Mechanical: 180bhp, 1,390cc, turbo charged 4cyl, 16 valve petrol engine driving front wheels via 7-spd semi-automatic transmission 0-62mph: 7.2secs Top speed: 140mph Combined mpg: 44.1mpg Insurance group: 15 C02 emissions: 148g/km Bik rating: 17% Warranty: 3yrs/60,000 miles | 
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