cj919

I should add it's not the slave cylinder as I fitted a new one and bled the system (brakes and clutch). The clutch felt slightly better along with the brakes, but no good :(

Thanks for the tips. It's not the slave cylinder. I have tried pressing the clutch multiple times, starting in gear, out of gear, every combination possible and it's the same - the clutch does nothing until fully released. The car moves forward slightly but there isn't even enough bite to stall the car. I thought it was strange as for the clutch to go this quickly I would have expected some noise etc. Any ideas which part of it might have failed? The car only has 60,000 miles

Hi, looking for some advice! I have been driving around today with zero issues in my Skoda Fabia 1.2 Mk1. No clutch slipping or anything out of the ordinary. Just drove a 1/2 mile absolutely fine, then went to pull out of a junction and the car went nowhere - the clutch pedal does nothing when lifted (the car moves very very slightly on flat ground). The RAC came and did the quick 5th gear test and towed me home, but said he had never seen it happen so suddenly before. Anyone ever heard of this or got any suggestions? Has the clutch suddenly gone completely or could it be something else? VAG-COM scanned no errors, just in case. Thanks!!

Yes, and you will be absolutely fine towing that if it's rated to do that. Considering my experience was with close to the maximum towing capacity. I'll say again you cannot compare payload with towing capacity. I can easily push my car weighing 1.2t, but can't carry more than 1 person on my shoulders. Apart from the effective weight, all my joints would be under stress - think of the suspension and wheels. Whereas towing we have an extra axle and brakes with under 50kg nose weight. So really you have to consider hills which increase the effective weight the car needs to pull. This cannot be directly compared to having 10 adults in the car. I'm back from a trip now which put 1500 miles of towing on the car with no problems at all. One of the great things I realised about the Fabia for towing is the gearbox. The car will happily go from 10-40mph in 2nd, for regular driving you can stay in any gear for ages if you wanted to. Towing you just have to select them more appropriately, as expected. Being limited to 60 on the motorway just means you have to shift to 4th going up hills, then continue cruising in 5th. With a big hill and headwind it's best to stay at 50. That was the only downside but hardly noticeable in the long run. No burning clutch or brakes, no overheating or warning signs. If there's trouble getting the power down, having someone in the front passenger seat can help push the front wheels down. Now for what the car is capable of doing with no problems experienced: The boat with trailer weighed 820kg dry for the 500 mile journey with a passenger and kit in the car to where we were staying. The return journey was the same but with 2 passengers. Even used A/C on the way up. Then around 850kg with extra bits like a spare fuel tank, anchor and water between there and the launch sites, with 2 passengers. For a 3 mile journey I essentially had the maximum payload with 4 people in the car and boat on the back. Backing into a shed over bumpy and rutted construction site full of dust. Launching and recovering on a regular slip was fine, even in the wet. Back wheels just needed to touch the water. We had a land rover for launching but it wasn't needed for a regular slip. Hills were better than expected, right off the ferry it tackled a 14% hill start and cruised at 35mph keeping up with the traffic. Scotland isn't known for it's nice flat landscape but there was never a point where the car was struggling and I averaged 25-30mpg. I knew the car would be capable but the extent to which it handled the load was impressive and above expectations. If you know how to drive the car properly to avoid problems/excessive wear and are comfortable with it, towing with the Fabia is fine.

I don't think payload and towing capacity can be compared so easily. The capacity surely differs with an additional axel and weight distribution. Maybe 5 adults in the car is comparable. Of course the only way to utilise the maximum capacity like this is with a perfect setup of weight distribution and optimal payload. There should be no reason for Skoda trying to inflate these numbers as might be the case for, say, pickup trucks. It's not exactly the selling point of the car. So if thought through and set up correctly, pulling 800kg up 12% hills should be achievable as stated in the manual and tested for compliance. I have done all my research regarding the laws and technical info for the car and of course the result of towing near capacity will be very slow acceleration. What I am really looking for is some advice from somebody who has tried this and what the result was. I will probably just try it in 2 weeks anyway.

Thank you for pointing this out. I did check, and the online government tool stated the following: My total weight would not be much more than 2,000kg, so that shouldn't be a problem. It will be a bit slow on the hills of course just checking to not run into any bigger problems than that!

Hi! Recently fitted cruise control thanks to this forum and will be uploading some instructions soon after the missing photos from a previous guide I have searched around but would like some advice before coming to a conclusion as to whether it's feasible to tow a 0.8t boat trailer with a Skoda Fabia 1.2 12V HTP, petrol and manual gearbox. It seems like a decent engine for pulling. The car is well looked after and we will be reducing the weight of the trailer as much as possible. The manual states the following: 800kg braked trailer/450 non-braked capable for 12% ascents 950kg braked trailer/450 non-braked capable for 8% ascents Are there any recommendations for the optimal car payload whilst towing? Also, can anyone tell me how well the car handled inclines etc? Thanks!