SEAT has turned up the heat on Ibiza! Ok, sorry - it's just really difficult to resist when something called Ibiza gets warmed up a bit. It's been one of those days too, what with Jaguar and its big cat ready to pounce and all. Enough metaphors.

So, Ibiza's suddenly a more exciting place to be now. Damn. Anyway, the Ibiza FR will be unveiled at the Barcelona Motor Show in May along with the facelifted Leon Cupra, but SEAT has unveiled these pictures in the meantime. It looks nice, doesn't it? Visual markers setting the FR apart from 1.2s include silver mirror caps, 17-inch alloys, twin tailpipes and a rear splitter. Inside, a flat-bottomed steering wheel is the biggest giveaway, but sporty seats and a few 'FR' badges help.

The big news, however, is that the Ibiza FR is the first supermini to get the VW-Group 1.4-litre TSI 'Twincharger' engine. The turbo- and supercharged unit pumps out 148bhp, and although we don't get any performance stats yet (SEAT has to save something for Barcelona), we would guess at just about a sub 8-second 0-62mph dash with economy nudging 50mpg. Neither iterations of the same engine in the Golf have the Ibiza's output, but based on the 158bhp version's 44.8mpg and eight seconds flat 0-62mph time, those estimates don't seem unreasonable.

The Ibiza will also have a seven-speed DSG gearbox on its options list, though it has been re-programmed by the Spaniards for more aggressive shifting, and if you ask for it you'll get paddles behind the wheel too. It also gets SEAT's XDS electronic limited-slip differential type thing, which mimics a standard cog-based LSD by working with the brakes and ESP system to brake the grip-less wheel, hence sending power to the other.

Which leaves us with its price and on sale date. Well, we don't know how much it will cost, but we do know it goes on sale in September. Want some more guesswork? Oh, ok then - £15,000.

Mark Nichol - 20 Apr 2009