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Car #1
Make
Model
Variant
Engine
Car #2
Make
Model
Variant
Engine

compare selected cars
2001. - 2003.
B - City car
hatchback, 5 door
front
Badges
Production
Vehicle class
Body style
Wheel drive
Safety
1999. - 2002.
B - City car
hatchback, 5 door
front

Marketing

Dimensons & Outlines

4011 mm
1690 mm
1400 mm
304 liters
1086 liters
50 liters
Length
Width
Height
Boot (min)
Boot (max)
Fuel tank
3877 mm
1640 mm
1422 mm
250 liters
782 liters
45 liters
2001 MG ZR
1999 Seat Ibiza

Engine

Petrol
4 - Inline, 4 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1796 cc
160 hp
174 Nm
Engine
Fuel
Configuration
Aspiration
Displacement
Power
Torque
Volkswagen
1.6 AEE
Petrol
4 - Inline, 2 valves per cylinder
Nat. Asp.
1598 cc
75 hp
135 Nm

Performance (manual gearbox)

manual gearbox - 5 gears
1090 kg
7.8 s
210 km/h
10.4 l/100km
5.8 l/100km
7.5 l/100km
196 g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
manual gearbox - 5 gears
1003 kg
12.5 s
170 km/h
8.4 l/100km
5.3 l/100km
6.4 l/100km
161 g/km

Performance (automatic gearbox)

 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km
Gearbox type
Vehicle weight
Acc. 0-100
Top speed
Cons. (urban)
Cons. (highway)
Cons. (average)
CO2 emissions
 
kg
s
km/h
l/100km
l/100km
l/100km
g/km

Expenses

750 EUR
Price from
750 EUR

Virtual Adviser's™ opinion

Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the city car segment and utilize the same 5-door hatchback body style and the front wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific petrol engine choice they offer. The first one has a Rover-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 160hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 4-cylinder, 8-valves 75hp engine designed by Volkswagen.

Safety

A starting point here would be to take a look at the results from European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) tests which were performed on both of the cars, with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the city car segment, which is generally not a very good thing safety-wise, but that fact doesn't break the tie between the two cars. Furthermore, if we'd like to consider vehicle mass in this context too, which we definitely should, the British car offers a marginal difference of 9% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that Seat does have a slight advantage, at least on all of the models level. These are the results of an independent reasearch, while our visitors describe reliability of MG with an average rating of , and models under the Seat badge with 4.4 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the British car rank it on average as 3.0, while the one under the competitor's bonnet gets 3.9 out of 5.

Performance & Fuel economy

MG is way more agile, reaching 100km/h in 4.7 seconds less than its competitor. In addition to that it accelerates all the way to 210 kilometers per hour, 40km/h more than the other car. When it comes to fuel economy the winner has to be the Spanish car, averaging around 6.4 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (44 mpg), in combined cycle. We can't ignore that 17% difference compared to the British car.


Verdict

Seat is apparently more reliable, not too much, but just enough. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the British car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. It all continues in the same direction, with MG outracing its opponent in any situation possible, making it better choice for boy racers. It does come at a cost though, and that's the fuel consumption... No mistake, whatever you decide here, but I'd still go for the Seat. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. I suggest you spend two more minutes in order to find out which car, based on your needs and budget, would be picked by the virtual adviser, among more than 12.000 different ones in our database.

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