SEAT Ibiza Cupra Bocanegra review
by David Finlay (3 November 2009)
The introduction last year of first the new five-door Ibiza and then, a little later, the three-door SC version put a temporary halt to the run of high-performance versions of SEAT's supermini, but all that has changed now. To paraphrase the old joke about buses, you spend ages waiting for a hot hatch Ibiza and then three come along at once.
Reading from the bottom up, the trio consists of the FR, the Cupra and the Bocanegra (more properly described as the Cupra Bocanegra but probably not going to be given its full name by many people). 
All of them share the Volkswagen Group's 1.4-litre TSI super/turbocharged petrol engine, a seven-speed twin-clutch DSG gearbox (there's no manual option) and the electronic XDS system which roughly mimics the actions of a limited slip differential but with less weight and expense. The only mechanical dissimilarity is that the FR gets a 148bhp version of the TSI engine, while the others have a maximum output of 178bhp.
What, then, is the difference between the Cupra and Bocanegra? £700, basically, for which you get, among other things, a dark "mask" at the front. This is what gives the Bocanegra (Spanish for "black mouth") its name, and it's a feature which was used on a previous SEAT back in 1975.
Clearly, this is not enough to justify £700 on its own; for the rest of your money you also get various other styling tweaks including tinted rear windows, along with 215/40 tyres on 17" alloy wheels, specific seat upholstery, a three-spoke steering wheel with a flattened base, some carbonfibre and aluminium interior trim and various appearances of the Bocanegra logo.
Personally I don't think the black mouth does the Ibiza many favours, but it distinguishes this particular model from all others and will probably attract a following for that reason alone. In all other respects the Bocanegra is the same thing as the regular Cupra.
Perhaps the most important thing about both cars is that they feel quite different from virtually every high-performance SEAT that has gone before. In recent years, SEAT has given its cars incredibly hard suspension which have severely limited their ability on UK roads, but in a change of policy (which has also had a marvellous effect on the latest León Cupra) the company has decided to make its quicker cars more softly sprung.
This is a splendid idea, not least because it means that the cars can now cope with most of the perils of British tarmac. The Bocanegra's ride is firm - as how could it not be? - but you never get the feeling that attacking a bump too quickly will send the car spiralling into scenery, and of course at lower speeds it's far more comfortable than we had come to expect from hot SEATs over the five years.
Despite what some people seem to think, this does not mean that any of these cars are less interesting to drive than their predecessors. As our track feature explained, the Cupra is extraordinarily capable on a race circuit, and since the Bocanegra is basically the same car with a few styling tweaks, you can bet your house on it being just as good.
The only minor quibble about the Bocanegra (and therefore the Cupra too) as a driver's car is that there is too much servo assistance on the steering. It's fine on the more mainstream models, since ease of use is a greater priority on those, but in a hot hatch it would surely be more appropriate for the driver to feel the tyres digging into the road surface through the bends.
In all other respects, though, this is an exceptionally enjoyable car to drive, and far better than equivalent SEAT models of the past might have led you to believe.
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