SEAT 128

Start with what the SEAT 128 is: a 3-door hatchback with 1,197 cc Fiat 124 series engine, built from 1976 to 1980, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. What it meant takes a little longer. The shape is credited to Paolo Boano at Fiat Centro Stile.

The background

The SEAT 128 is a 3-door hatchback coupé manufactured by the Spanish automaker SEAT from 1976 to 1980. It is essentially a sporting, three-door hatchback version of the Fiat 128, based on the Fiat 128 3P "Berlinetta".

The engineering

The engine is 1,197 cc Fiat 124 series engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. On the scales it comes to 850 kg. The wheelbase is 2220 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

Where it sits

In the SEAT line-up the SEAT 128 has a clear place: it handed the line to the SEAT Ritmo Crono (indirect); the factory was Barcelona (Zona Franca), Spain. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Ford Fiesta, the Lotus Esprit, the Hyundai Pony. Its SEAT stablemates include the SEAT 124 and the SEAT 133.

Owning one today

There is no federal ownership record for the SEAT 128 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.