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Hmm, this is most certainly something that needs to be sorted out and sorted fast, or are you EV lovers going to defend this kind of nonsensical carrying on, someone could get stranded.

Hello Everyone, currently on holiday I find myself with a little free time so I thought I would try to summarize my ownership experience of my (now my brothers but I still use it regularly) mkII skoda fabia. I plan to structure this more as a timeline of the 7 plus years it has been in the family for rather than a review going over the experiences I have personally had with it, also any maintenance and repairs that have been done over time. Then I will conclude with my parting opinions of the car. Please forgive me if my writing is a little clumsy, I am not a very good story teller/writer. Also I may end up missing the odd bit which I will add later should I remember. On that note, let us begin... 2016 I am in my first year of sixth form, taking driving lessons, in doing so, unearthing my passion for cars. During my lessons I realize that a car is something I would very much like to have so I set out looking for one, being a 17 year old I go through all the usual suspects for example vauxhall corsa, ford fiesta, vw polo, fiat grande punto, all around the 2007 model year as my budget was £2000 and I wanted a low milage example. After sitting in these cars I was left disappointed, being 6 foot 5 in height, many of them were simply too cramped to fit in comfortably. With that I decided to widen my search and came across the skoda fabia, which in terms of driver space wipes the floor with most of the competition, even the vw polo on which it is based strangely. After doing some research on the different models I decided that the Fabia was the car for me and that the best engine to go for was the 1.4 16v petrol due to its reliability. Fast forward 6 months, I am the proud new owner of a 57 plate 1.4 skoda fabia MkII with 60k miles and FSH for the sum of £2000 (which I realise now in hindsight was a bargin). One of the first things I decided to do with the car was change the oil and filters (oil, air and cabin), under the supervision of my father who is an engineer, using MANN filters and shell helix ultra 5w40 the cost came to about £55 and it took about 2 hours start to finish. One thing I would like to say is that this car is very easy to service, if you have long arms you can even reach the drain plug without jacking up the car making oil changes a doddle. Another very important lesson I learn is that cheep tyres are definitely a false economy and nearly landed me in serious trouble when going round a roundabout and the car nearly understeered off the road at a very surprisingly low speed. After this experience I decided some new tyres were in order. At the time Costco had an amazing deal which allowed me to get 4 michelin pilot sport 3 tyres fitted and balanced for just £180. I cannot recommend these tyres enough for outright grip and I believe they did save my bacon one one or two occasions, however be warned they do make more noise and the ride also became for fidgety and even crashy at times. 2017 it is at the start of of 2017 (i think) that I experience the first malfunction, which is of the electric boot latch. Initially I was worried that it would be and expensive fix however a replacement was only £30 and it took me about 30mins to replace so really not a big deal. I also managed to bottom the car out in the sixth form car park, which resembled a swamp more than an actual car park. This managed to punch a hole through the central exhaust silencer (it was also quite stony unfortunately), the fix for this was about £50 and a few hours of time due to the more involved nature. I also noted, strangely that the wing mirror heating had stopped working but this did not bother me at the time (see year 2020 to find out why). For the rest of the year the car proved to be reliable, not suffering any issues. In September 2017 I headed off to Warwick university to study physics and to my annoyance there was not car parking for students, however there is a solution. I managed to find a farm about 20 mins from the uni whom I payed about £80 a term ( there are 3 terms per year) to park my car. It is in December that I have the first major incident with the car, I was driving to uni when about 2 miles from my parents house on a country road I see a deer. Before I have time to react I hit it, doing about 40 to 50 mph, making a loud bang as it slams into the front of the car and clattering sound as hits components under the car. I pull over in the next village and phone my parents who meet me to check I am not too shaken up, amazingly the only damage to the car is a cracked front bumper and I can continue my journey, my experience is that this is a very tough little car. My parents actually recovered the deer and cooked it the week after when I came home for Christmas it was very tasty, they estimate it weighed about 35kg so not completely insubstantial. 2018 The first half of 2018 passes without any issues, the car serves me reliably, the only thing to note is when leaving the car for longer periods is to leave the handbrake off (if safe) as it can seize on. After finishing my exams I return home and give the car an oil change which again is very cheap, the anti roll bar drop links are also replaced with Meyle HD units at a cost of £30. I also decide to repair the bumper, since I am keeping the car for a long time my concern is with mechanical integrity rather than cosmetics so I use thick pieces of abs plastic, gorilla grab adhesive and bolts to repair the bumper as seen in the photo ( note I do coat the bolts in touch up paint in the end). Also removing the front bumper confirms no further damage was done in hitting the deer. The rest of 2018 passes and the functions without any issues. 2019 Again the car remains reliable even when used off road, travelling down rutted tracks, its higher an average ground clearance for this class of car proving useful. I also took the car on a road trip to Edinburgh and back from coventry where is performed flawlessly. Now at a milage of about 83k, what I believe to be the original front discs and second set of pads are now shot, they are replaced with padgid units at a total cost of about £70. This time I perform a much more involved service at about 85k miles, I changed the gearbox oil (£17) power steering fluid (£11) and spark plugs (£14) as well as the usual oil and filter. Please note that whilst some say you dont need to change the gearbox oil and power steering fluid I would disagree, both were quite dark and dirty (please see the photo below), also its much easier and cheaper to replace these fluids instead of a gearbox. A few months later in september the passenger side window regulator failed, an aftermarket replacement from gsf car parts was £45 and took about 2 hours to fit. 2020 During 2020 the car did not suffer from any issues. In june a towbar was fitted at a cost of £300 and serviced it for about £40. also duing my holiday I found out why the heated mirrors didn't work, some wires in the drivers door loom had failed, so I replaced it at a cost of about £110. The car was then used to tow a 500kg unbraked and then 1000kg braked trailer for about 1500 miles as my parents had various DIY projects on the go. I would be lying if I said it towed the 1000kg trailer with ease but it can do it, you just have to exercise patience. 2021 During 2021, the Battery was replaced for £70 with a Bosch unit from costco, aside from an obligatory oil change. This was also when I noticed the new feature in my car which was a small swimming pool about 6 inches deep in the spare wheel well. this of course was the well known vent gaskets failing behind the front bumper. The repair cost about £5 in gorilla glue and lead sheet sealant, as well as a few hours of time, the problem has not re-occured. right after that the electric windows started playing up, which was found to be a result of the electric window module failing. This was repaired by @Breezy_Pete for £50 if i remember correctly. I was at this point, ownership of the car was passed to my Brother (however I still used the car hear and there as well as do all maintenance and repairs). 2022 The car performed flawlessly for the first 7 months, the aircon was regassed for £50. However in july it failed it MOT for the first time in the family's ownership, also it was overdue for a cambelt and w/pump change. So I set to work repairing the MOT fail Items (tie rod ends, drivers side driveshaft boots) as well as replacing the front brake disc splash shields for a total cost of about £60. An interesting point to note is how well made these components are, even at 15 years and 100k miles there was no play in any of the joints and not a speck of rust on the driveshaft, even the original sticker was still on showing the date of manufacture (2007). After doing this I replaced the Cambelt and w/pump (£130) and auxilery belt (£10) with quality Gates parts, alongside the coolant (£20) and obligatory oil change (£40). Note going 7 years between cambelt changes is pushing it I was lucky to not loose the engine, one of the belts had lost tension and the w/pump was on its way out (see below). Also note you dont need the specialist vw cam locking tool, a pair of m8 bolts work in a pinch. Also the car suffered an engine malfunction for the first time, whilst towing a trailer down to Southampton it started misfiring. When I got to southampton I made a bet that since the spark plugs dont have many miles it was probably a coil pack, so I got one from a parts store (£30) and fitted it on cylinder 1 (wild guess) and hey presto missfire gone. the rest of 2022 passes without incident. 2023 Again for the first 7 months the car performs fine but steadily getting louder due to an exhaust leak. My brother had a frightening incedent where an oncoming car hit a deer which was then thrown into the path of my brothers car (the fabia), unable to swerve as this would be dangerous my brother went over the dear making a lout bang as he hit it and clattering as it went under the car. Amazingly the car escaped with only minor cosmetic scuffs and a small scratch, whilst the slammed bmw which was oncoming had its front bumper wrecked plus other damage. Unfortunately the car failed its MOT again due to a major exhaust leak driveshaft boots and lights. Looking underneeth the car I saw the entire exhasust was badly corroded so replaced the entire system excluding manifold and cats for about (£110) I also replaced the ball joints as the boots were failing (£15 each) and both passenger side driveshaft boots (as well as cleaning and repacking with new grease). To my great irritation one of the drivers side shaft boots had already failed at just 1 year old, note do not use Shaftec boots they appear to be crap. Then again the car had another oil change (£40) That brings us to the present day. To conclude, would I recommend this as a first car? Yes definitely, whilst it has had issues, none have left me stranded or been difficult/expensive to fix. The car has proven itself to be exceptionally durable surviving many an offroad/deer related escapade as well as towing heavy (relatively speaking) load. Yes it is not as involving to drive as a fiesta but knowing people who have owned them it is probably much better made. Finally, even at 16 years old, everything still works! air con is amazing even in heat waves it can turn the car into a fridge, electric heated mirrors, radio, aux input etc, which is mor than can be said for many a vauxhall/ford/fiat, at least from what I have seen.

@automass Just out of interest, I decided to further investigate the dashcam angle as the intended market for this brand is America and I had a feeling that their standards might differ from us Europeans, and it seems that my hunch was correct. I downloaded the manual for one of their dashcams, and they seem to have 2 LEDS, 1 to show battery is charging and the other to show camera is running i.e, recording video. I have highlighted this in yellow for quick reference. The camera is designed primarly for cars that don't have the 12v sockets connected 24/7, so that when the engine is switched off, so is the camera. (Highlighted in green) For use in cars that that follow the normal convention, i.e, those where the 12v socket is always live (as the Americans call it HOT), they warn you about leaving the camera plugged will drain the car battery and the risk that you will not be able to start the engine. To overcome this if you do not want to keep pulling the power adaptor out when switching the engine off, you will either need to purchase a hardwire kit, OR reconnect the 12v socket to one of the cars fuses that is only live when the ignition is on (easier said than done, hardwire kit is easier to do). Highlighted in red. If you want 24/7 operation, this has to be to set it up in the camera setup menu which puts it into sleep mode and only comes on when an impact is felt, records for 30 seconds and goes back to sleep again. If this mode is required, it needs to have a supply connected 24/7 and this mode dramatically reduces the drain on the battery as it only draws full power in the event of an impact waking it from sleep. This mode however is no good for normal driving mode as it cause the camera to wake up and return to sleep after every pothole etc. In the event of an accident, only record the aftermath, which for insurance purposes does nothing to prove who caused the accident, so IMHO is useless. Highlighted in blue azdome dashcam.pdf

^^^ You keep saying, but it never will affect you are you are not going to drive an EV. Many are not happy that VW Group sold TDI,s with defeat devices that caused them no issues and they got or still get good economy with. Yet some let them do new engine management on them and ended up with issues, and some even claimed for money from VW Group regardless of having a good vehicle or a bad vehicle. We live and learn. Another year or 3 and we will see how the VW,s with SCR are doing in the UK, and also the DQ381 DSG,s with an 80,000 mile oil service regime. We will see how much demand there are on 9 or 10 year old ones.

Steady... Brake dicks?????

He makes a valid point, EV's can only become mainstream when a recharge is as simple as paying for petrol or diesel, you should not need a phone, different apps, different chargecards you should simply be able to pay with a bank or credit card and if its a manned station also by cheque. I know very few people myself included use cheques but they are the ultimate back up, this time last year I lost my wallet and bank cards in the middle of the night during a rest stop at a French aire de service I had no means of paying my current toll charge and ones further on the journey also I needed to refuel within a couple of hours. The péages were resolved quite easily, they have a very good system handled by the person responding to the "call for help" button, for fuel I waited for a non motorway (fuel is expensive there) attended fuel station, a truck stop and paid by cheque. I continued doing this for a couple of weeks until I could get new bank cards (another story in itself). The person saying they had just driven to France in their EV got me thinking, if they lost their payment cards like I did they would be completely stuffed and a UK cheque will not "do very nicely sir"!!!

Thats what I thought as well but the others look so sparkly perhaps it is there. The seal has the filler strip in place. Neither the Anglia 105E's or the Consul Classics needed the rear windows defrosting on icy mornings, if you were late you could drive to work in reverse until the front screen cleared.

A Michael Moore TV episode (might have been one of his films) had him doorstepping the CEO's of multi-national companies to see if they were actually familiar with their products, some were a joke like asking the CEO of Phillip Morris to smoke a Marlboro, the more serious was challenging the CEO's of car companies to do an oil change on one of their vehicles. The CEO of Ford who I believe had risen through the ranks from an Engineering apprentice took it completely in his stride and set to straight away with a Ford Explorer I think on a 4 poster ramp, it was clear that he knew exactly what he was doing, had done it all his life and could have done it blindfold, you could in tell an instant from the way he held a spanner that he was the real deal. You know the legend about Harrison Ford being a carpenter on set when he was discovered ? Total BS, there was a scene in a film where he and 2 other homesteaders were nailing up joists to the ridge pole on a barn, it was clear that not one of them had ever held a hammer before in their life and nobody on the set either or they would have told them how to hold the bloomin things!

Is that the model with built-in fire escape? There appears to be no glass in the rear windscreen ...

But we had to DIY then but it was doable not like now😀

I don't think the V engines had a good reputation. I know I had to rebuild a V6 in Zodiac and also in a Zephyr as well for friends because of problems with the inlet manifold which if IIRC used to suffer from coolant leaking into the inlets as the manifold would deform slightly?

Yep I owned a Corsair and a cortina,no radio,or electric windows,hot plastic seats in summer,freezing in winter and fairy liquid in the windscreen wash but the memories live on😆

You may and happens to be the car that I learnt to drive in and take my driving test in. God they had those awful vacuum windscreen wipers, dam things would almost stop when pulling hard, like going up hill, and they would go berserk on the way downhill. 😎 Many drivers today don't know how lucky they are with modern cars.

I'm unfollowing this thread as the bickering and off topic posts are polluting my inbox. I'm on holiday now so not going to be replying anyway 😁 One final point that is the truth about electric cars. Mine has been faultless on the drive to the south of France from North Wales. 4.0 miles per kWh average and its a piece of cake.

Consul Classic and Consul Capri were both overengineered and Ford lost money on every one produced, great to own though and my favorite Fords. Their range at the time was ridiculous, they had the 105E Anglia that sold like hot cakes, the MK1 Tincorner equally a best seller, higher up the range were the Zephyrs and Zodiacs so what drugs were they on to have designed and sold the Consul Classic, Consul Capri and Consul Corsair (AKA the Ford Pubic) all 4 seater Cortina competitors at the same time? I could see some logic with the 2 door Coupé styled Consul Capri but it was ahead of its time, a few years later they did indeed create a new niche market with the MK1 Capri.

The std Anglia 105e we’re 997 or 1200 in the uk

I don't have lane assist on my UK spec SEL (Style) model. I am referring to the adaptive cruise control (ACC) bringing my car to a complete stop when the vehicle stops in front, it will automatically drive on again if the vehicle in front moves within 13 seconds of coming to a complete stop. My last car did the 3 seconds, the face lift gets 13 seconds before any intervention is required.

Oh gosh, yeah, they took the market by storm with reverse angle rear window which was closely followed by its big brother the Ford Classic.

You know, I'm not quite sure, but I wasn't going to risk it, I was young and dumb as they say. I knew if it ever came to it, I'd never be able to shift it, or use it, so I thought I'd better strike before it was too late and brought out the ultimate car for such times if it was going to be rationed. When I moved into the house, the previous owner had left an Isetta in the garage in pieces. So I set about restoring it, god enough for my use, small easy to park cheap to tax and run did about 50-60 mph and around 80mpg. It was very noisy though and bouncy

9 years ago my then partner was a pilates instructor in blackheath london ... i sort of picked up how to's along the way ... ill write and draw some notes .. and post them every stretch and release whilst driving is a good thing ... i tend to sit bolt upright in my seat snd arms comfortably bent at 10 to 2 on the steering wheel ... make sure the head restraint is mostly behind your head but not touching ... the only down side to bolt upright is even with ling arms i'm that much closer to the airbag 'bang' moment (not nice) we all have to judge our capabilities 2 to 3 hrs sounds about right depending on attention span ... i keep myself busy with can i predict cars around me next moves before they know it ... i drive into space at all times when i can another subject all together

Before & after again. 12mm spacers fill the arches just right, with no rubbing. I probably could have done 15mm but I use the car for towing and disn't want to risk it.

Before & after pictures. Barely noticeable drop which is exactly what I hoped for.

ill drive long distances 300 miles non stop... traffic jams allowing .. in fact the m25 became my nemesis ... i just wanted to get back pass thru the m25 before i could relax .... just water drinking no food ... the older i got the easier it seemed to be able to do strangely ... settle in do core workout whilst driving ... lands end ... survey building ... back in car and home to east kent

There are no 'Strict Emissions Tests' carried out on vehicles in the UK after 3 years. There are tests. Fail the test and maybe take the vehicle for a bit of a thrash, go in for the re-test with the engine still hot and maybe abracadabra a pass.

I think you left out the first word........."b a c k w a r d"

Obviously it depends on personal use-case. As I said, oldest EV's still work very well as family local runabout. Even the humble first-gen Leaf can fit with "most" people's commute requirement at 9+ years old, most according to this data: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/traveltoworkenglandandwales/census2021 Newer EV's will loose less battery capacity as it ages thanks to better thermal management and/or battery management system. So at worst, 300 miles range EV becomes 250 miles after 10+ years. Only really noticeable when doing 1000 miles trip, need one additional charging stop. A petrol/diesel car's range changes just as much when limited by traffic. My previous diesel Octy would get over 500 miles in ideal conditions, as per rated, but around 400 miles when stuck in slow moving traffic. Whereas EV's stuck in slow moving traffic would actually consume less and exceed its typical range. Case in point, I drive 40 miles yesterday, errands in the morning and fully loaded car in/out central London in evening, parked directly in front of the theatre for Lion King, to watch Lion King. Got home with 42%. Pro rata out to be 69 miles range, over 10% higher than what I typical expect out of the car. (congestion charge and ULEZ exempt, £1.37 parking paid 10min at Westminster valid for 4 hours thanks to their EV incentive. £0.70 recharge cost, back to 100% for a new day, in a car worth just £3000-5000) Remember it's 2015 or newer for diesels, 2005 or newer for petrol. That's 18 years old petrol, vast majority of petrol is compliant.

Looks like I won't be taking my MX5 to London then... But TBH I hate London having spent a lot of time there so it's no great shakes...

In that case the check is pretty straightforward. @Pilchhallcan simply measure the voltage on the command wire when the fans run with the car off. If that is the case (which I suspect it is), the problem is not in the Fan module, but somehow the engine ECU switches the fan on. It may also be a drowned ECU which is causing this problem, similar like the Passat in this video (scroll to 5:44 and turn on the subtitles if you do not understand German):

Well if that was true, we would be hearing loads of people moaning about the sheer cost after such a short time by now as we have loads of EVs 5 years old now in the UK.

The only way to know for sure, is for a diagnostic scan. A member with VCDS should be able to help you, there is a thread with a members map somewhere, I'll try to find a link. All of those lights (apart from the bulb warning) are related to ABS sensor, so could be a sensor, wiring, ABS pump etc. Get it scanned, and it will help you pinpoint what's at fault.

So you, or your neighbour, thinks car battery need to be replaced at end of warranty period? Do you replace a Skoda vehicle's fuel tank or engine at end of 3 year warranty?

I just bought one of these, Ryan. It's great for getting your alloys back on the hub as it holds the wheel whilst you get a bolt in. I found it awkward trying to hold the heavy wheel with one hand and trying to get a bolt in with the other.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234467937068

Different densities. Some daft VW Techs doing oil consumption tests actually did the tests with a litre of oil as 1,000 grams. Messed up the calculations. eg, Top invoice. The member got their new engine.

What a great way to learn to drive (well, as long as one doesn't bend the motors, that is). I had some fun driving tractors on my uncle's farm - learning to reverse a grain trailer loaded with 20 tons of grain under a time cosh (harvester was non-stop so i had to be back before the other trailer was full) was errm 'interesting'. I survived but was seriously knackered after a week of that. Follow-up to that was a Summer job working on the local (posh) golf course, where you drove whatever needed driving. First encounter with one of those triple-gang power mowers was something to remember, and then going from one extreme to the other as I was shown how and then supervised whilst close-cutting putting greens. The head greenskeeper used to get down on his hands and knees to inspect the evenness of the cut and heaven help you if you managed a dent in the turf! Corners were NOT allowed on the greens. All maneouvering had to be done off the greens so as not to cause dints.

Well to be perfectly honest, I was only really getting practise of driving on the road in the 100E, I actually taught myself how to drive while working at the bus garage as every Thursday the entire garage floor had to be washed with caustic soda crystals to clear up any oil drips etc so every bus and coach in there had be moved out of way while the floor was washed, and I just jumped in the driver's seat and started to move them and then put them back again, that could involve up to 100 buses and coaches depending on the time of day. It was all OK as it was on private property, but when I was able to drive them on the road for road tests after they had been serviced (for some reason very few of the mechanics could drive), so I was drafted in to that job. But before I was covered by their insurance I had to go through their driving centre and I went and drove about 6 miles and was told to return to the garage, where my boss was told that I was good a driver as any they had seen, so then I got sent each day to drive the buses and coaches that been serviced during the day on test with the mechanic on board. My favourite to drive were these beauties, rear engined, riding on airbags and were so comfortable and quiet and fast to boot. Not for this company, but I can't find any photos of them in the livery of my company.

I wished I had the v4 at the time but they weren’t that reliable some said and so I settled for my refurb 1500cc from the Corsair with under 5000 miles to the cortina.

Been there. Engine went in the Corsair(piston rings went causing crank case compression) px for a full refurb engine £25 and later transferred to the cortina,had it for years,didn’t use any oil and was very reliable (but a bit rusty underneath) happy days, when I sold it nobody wanted a mk1 so the person buying I gave a 6 months guarantee on the engine,he never came back😇

Yeah, the Capri is the red car next to the Classic.

Anglia? My dad had one of those. 1600 I think it was. He told me he put a diff from a lower powered model in and said he could almost pop a wheelie at the traffic lights.

Yes, that is correct. But you need the key to work in the door lock in order to programme the RFID chip yourself and so avoid resorting to expensive programming directly into the ECU by a Skoda technician. I also asked the question about the door lock as you will not be able open the doors (because of a fob battery failure or radio interference) if the ignition key is unable to manually open the doors.

Please teach us! That's an useful skill for every driver. NHS should print posters to improve public health. But for less able people, like myself, I think rest every 2-3 hours is typical.

Well... if I were to perhaps win an EV in a competition for example, I might just keep it, but buying one, hell no, I just brought a £11k car. I'm happy with VW's cheating (not that I was aware of when it happened) but I just like the way diesels drive and because I used to have to cover some long drives in a day like Newcastle on Tyne and back to Chelmsford. These days not so often, but often enough to know that currently an EV is NOT a suitable option for me, thats all.

What diagnostic tool are you using? what fault codes are stored in the whole car? is the engine spinning over but not firing? is it trying to start?

absolutely .. point taken 👍

It is definitely 3 secs. If only there was a way to extend this time to b a much longer time, like 10 secs or so.

I just back in and saw this post, thats odd I could have sworn it weigh more, a imperial gallon of water is 10lb.

Thanks Wokwon, I did exactly the same as the squirrel. My 21 Karoq had a screw fixing the panel but easy enough to take off. I felt around where I thought the card might be and viola, pulled it out Cheers.

Placed an order last week for 1.0 tsi manual,Monte Carlo in silver with black roof. Added the winter pack and rear disc brakes. Currently in a 21 plate Leon FR estate lease car which goes back in March 24 and I'll pick up the Fabia.