1 May 2002: The SEAT Ibiza 1.4 has emerged top in the list of small hatchbacks in the UK Environmental Transport Association’s Buyers’ Guide.

The ETA Car Buyers’ Guide lists the environmental credentials of over 800 vehicles and ranks them in nine categories according to a wide range of factors from fuel consumption to exhaust emissions. The Ibiza 1.4’s frugal combined fuel consumption of 42.2 mpg and low CO2 emissions of 161 g/km have helped secure its place as winner in the small hatchback category.

This result bodes well for the new Ibiza (below), on sale from May. The replacement model for the Ibiza 1.4 is the new 1.2 litre Ibiza S, which has more power than its predecessor at 64 bhp, but still manages to be both more fuel efficient (47. 1 mpg combined figure) and have better CO2 emissions (144 g/km).

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