Advice on buying a Fabia 1.4 Comfort (2000) needed

[Brit24]

Hi guys,

 

Looking to buy my wife a smaller car for school runs etc and thinking of a Fabia as I have a big Octavia and we both love it.

 

Possibly going to see one this week.

What do I need to look out for on this one? Good service intervals and most recent timing belt (or chain on this one?) will be the first things on my mind. Clutch 100% also and points of rust. Looks very tidy in the photos.

What is the tax and insurance group on this 1.4?

 

Skoda Fabia 1.4 Comfort 5dr [AC]

Year/Reg: 2000 (W) Mileage: 68,000 Engine size: 1.4L Fuel type: Petrol Gearbox: Manual Body style: Hatchback Colour: Blue

 

 

cheers!

[JonathonO]

Not sure if it is the 16V engine or not in the one you are looking at but the Insurance Group is between 7 to 12 and 170 to 173g/km CO2 emissions so you are looking at around £200 for the year on road tax. Check the usual things such as damp or wet in the footwells which might be signs of leaks. Did a quick internet search and some mention of cylinder head gasket failure on the 1.4 75bhp engine. I'm no expert so you'll have to take my comments with a pinch of salt but I hope they help.

[TMB]

If it's the MPI 8 valve engine they are reliable but a very old design and suffer with rattly timing chains, so check for that. They are also very slow.

[samj2013]

My 1.4 8v mpi has been utterly reliable - timing chain so not really any need for replacing. Watch out for coolant leaks, though it's usually an easy enough fix, often thermostat. Not a fast car though - the 1.4 16v is a much better engine.

[vigyaz]

My wife has a 1.4 comfort 8v, in lovely bathroom green :P . really reliable and smooth drive . would reccomend one of these any day as a runaround, only slight issue on my wife's in particular is the £220 a year tax cost, but fuel-wise its nice and economic!

[Brit24]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Yes I see the reviews are not that good for the 8v 1.4 version. Paying for a higher tax/insurance but not getting much back in terms of 1.4 power (lack of)

 

Just looking for a reliable school run car really.

 

So timing chain? 120k change interval unless tensioner wears?

 

they are asking 795 quid for this model.

[Brit24]

another read here:

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/266134-14-8v-actual-skoda-engine/

 

no tensioner. mentions the timing chain and its an old school engine. If this is for the misses I'd have to keep an eye on the coolant etc!!

Edited 19 August, 2014 by Brit24

[samj2013]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

Yes I see the reviews are not that good for the 8v 1.4 version. Paying for a higher tax/insurance but not getting much back in terms of 1.4 power (lack of)

 

Just looking for a reliable school run car really.

 

So timing chain? 120k change interval unless tensioner wears?

 

they are asking 795 quid for this model.

As far as I'm aware, the timing chain doesn't need doing unless it gets a bit rattly.

[TMB]

another read here:

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/266134-14-8v-actual-skoda-engine/

 

no tensioner. mentions the timing chain and its an old school engine. If this is for the misses I'd have to keep an eye on the coolant etc!!

 

Yes there is no tensioner on them. Mine has 63,000 miles on it and the chain rattles a bit but it drives just fine. It's more a case of the noise being a bit annoying than anything happening to it. They are a dual chain and I've never heard of one snapping. The engine is basically a slightly modified version of the engine used in the old rear-engined Skodas. It's not a bad engine if you don't mind it being an old design.

[Brit24]

Yes there is no tensioner on them. Mine has 63,000 miles on it and the chain rattles a bit but it drives just fine. It's more a case of the noise being a bit annoying than anything happening to it. They are a dual chain and I've never heard of one snapping. The engine is basically a slightly modified version of the engine used in the old rear-engined Skodas. It's not a bad engine if you don't mind it being an old design.

hmm having second thoughts now.

misses was very happy to get a modern Octavia engine after suffering 5 years with my old alfa 33 boxer engine! LOL

 

Do thicker oils help in dampening down rattly chains?

can they handle oils up to 50 weight? How are the tolerances?

 

Easy engines to work on at home?

[TMB]

hmm having second thoughts now.

misses was very happy to get a modern Octavia engine after suffering 5 years with my old alfa 33 boxer engine! LOL

 

Do thicker oils help in dampening down rattly chains?

can they handle oils up to 50 weight? How are the tolerances?

 

Easy engines to work on at home?

 

You need to use the right grade of oil as they have hydraulic tappets (that was one of the modifications they did). They are very simple engines to work on. I have had no trouble with my engine at all so far. I'd say make sure you have a good drive of it to see if you actually like how it drives because they are not like a modern, smooth multi-valve engine.

[sepulchrave]

Tax is only £145 for the year, it's a 2000W so it's not rated on CO2 but on engine size.

Edited 19 August, 2014 by sepulchrave

[samj2013]

Yes there is no tensioner on them. Mine has 63,000 miles on it and the chain rattles a bit but it drives just fine. It's more a case of the noise being a bit annoying than anything happening to it. They are a dual chain and I've never heard of one snapping. The engine is basically a slightly modified version of the engine used in the old rear-engined Skodas. It's not a bad engine if you don't mind it being an old design.

Mine is reasonably quiet after 97k, getting a tiny bit noisy now though. As you say, it does the job, bit under-powered though.

 

Tax is £200 on mine I think.

[TMB]

Mine is reasonably quiet after 97k, getting a tiny bit noisy now though. As you say, it does the job, bit under-powered though.

 

Tax is £200 on mine I think.

 

Yeah, sometimes I think it depends on how careful the oil has been looked after as to how noisy the chain gets. If the oil is neglected I should imagine the chain wears faster.

[samj2013]

Sounds about right, mine seems to have been looked after fairly well. I guess the same is true of all cars - mileage isn't as important as how well it's been looked after.

[vigyaz]

Shame you are being put off buying an 8v, my missus wants rid of hers soon for a montecarlo :p. But as said before its how well the car has been looked after not the milage, saying that my missus car has only done 48k so difficult to say yet....

[Alexandru]

+1 for the bulletproof 1.4 8v ATZ engine.

 

Mine has 105.000miles and it never required engine or transmission servicing(yet).

Between oil changes, ~ 6000miles doesn't burn a drop of oil (I'm running it on liqui moly mos2 10w40). From what I've heard, 1.4 with 16v might cause some problems here. This one, is reliable, needs fuel, oil, filters and sensors (temp, oxygen etc) only. 

You might want to check the power steering pump for leeks + alternator bearings, some of them have to be refurbished (it's not expensive though, it was about 80 pounds, never had problems since then). 

Lack of power? Maybe, compaired with a bigger engine, but it's 50kw can push the little Fabia to about 100mph on the motorway and in the city it's perfect. With 4 adults on board and AC on, it's acting decent. With a good battery, NGK spark plugs I can say that it's running just fine at -30 Celsius degrees and at +40. It's starting fast, in winter time the engine is warming fast (takes about 5-10minutes). 

I've never had enough time and road to drive it enough.

 

!! One more thing, an important problem might be the the O2 sensors and the catalyst (which is a pretty common fault of the VAG small engines). Those things can fail at about 80-90.000miles, causing an increased fuel consumption (about 10% higher than usual), emissions test failure and depending on the instrument panel, you might also get a warning light in the dashboard.

You can scan it with a VAG-COM interface for any errors and run the emissions test to make sure it's alright.

It's not a big deal, in fact this is the old 1.3 MPi 100% Skoda built engine used on Felicia. Since it's old, it's a bit difficult to keep it running right and meet the actual emissions standards, it's from the first generation of Euro4 engines. So, you might want to keep about 4-500 pounds in case you encounter this kind of issues, for replacing the O2 sensors and the catalyst.

 

Speaking about fuel consumption, you can take a look at mine's history -> http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/detail/614528.html

It is a bit high, my sensors failed about 6 months ago, but I'm planning to replace them next summer and convert it to run on LPG, so I will have to start saving some money until then.

Edited 20 August, 2014 by Alexandru

[TMB]

but it's 50kw can push the little Fabia to about 100mph on the motorway

 

Maybe downhill with a strong following wind

[Alexandru]

Edited 21 August, 2014 by Alexandru

[samj2013]

I managed 100mph once, as TMB said, it was on a long downhill stretch :p

[Alexandru]

Mine is running on richer fuel due to the faulty lambda probes.