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SEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally Car – Video, Photo Gallery

Right now, the SEAT Ibiza Cupra is the only one of 4 supermini hot hatches built by the VW Group to still be powered by a 1.4 TSI twin-charger engine. That's a little weird, but not as weird as this next Ibiza Cupra, which uses TDI technology from the good ol' days and has been turned into a rally car.
SEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally Car 9 photos
Photo: Diselpower and jakua rovny
SEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally CarSEAT Ibiza Cupra TDI Is a Bonkers Diesel Rally Car
You're looking at one of the participants of the 2015 Liqui Moly Winter Cup in Slovakia. Over the weekend, this diesel hot hatch experienced ice, snow and every kind of harsh weather imaginable and still managed to claw its way to victory with the help of its experienced driver and crew.

Just look at the video below and tell us if you've ever seen something with a TDI badge being driven like this. This is all thanks to the Czech tuners Dieselpower s.r.o., who managed to extract 200 hp from the TDI engine.

But how did SEAT end up with a tiny diesel hot hatch that almost nobody knows about today?

Well, they started with the famous 1.9 TDI ARL engine which was the most powerful diesel available on the Golf and Leon at the time. This pumpe duse engine had only 150 hp to give, so they installed a new air intake system remapped the engine management system and fitted a bespoke intercooler, with the end result being 160 hp.

SEAT claims a 0 to 100 km/h time of 7.6 seconds, which is acceptable for a petrol GTi, so it's actually kind of spectacular for a diesel. And for the record, the EU-spec Toyota GT 86, which is the twin model of the Scion FR-S, claims the exact same time. What's more, Ford's brand new 2015 Focus ST diesel model does 100 km/h in 8.1 seconds… progress baby. Put that in your diesel pump and smoke it!

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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