mmmhumous

ASR off, low revs and lots of commonsense/forward planning and my SE seems OK, but lke Decron my old punto was far better (60bhp and very thin tyres).

Pretty similar price for my first service -had it done at 10.5k back in April at my local Dealer for £138. Given it includes just over £50 of parts (oil and sump). I felt it was a reasonable price for a dealer service. (especially with a full vallet and octavia vrs courtesy car thrown in).

Bought my Fabia SE from Grasmere last year and have since had the stutter fix and 10k service done at the dealership. Customer service has always been good to excellent. (everything completed when they said it would be, free curtesy cars*, callls to check how I was getting on etc etc). * for my 10k service they'd run out of curtesy cars, so I had the Manager's 08 Octavia vrs for the day... nothing says test drive better than the cat and fiddle .

If the ECU is interrogated is it possible to check if the car has been remapped in the past, or just at present? ( I have seen a flash drive device that lets you store "plug and play maps", so you can swap back to factory standard for services, MOT's etc, I wondered if you could still check if a car had been remapped in the past).

Had My SE for over a month now, and had it De-stuttered for the last week. Very happy with it - it's a very capable little hatchback and spot on for what we need it for. Initially I just chose the engine (rather than the car) for the performace, reliability and economy. I wanted it in the Fabia, my other half wanted it in the Ibza FR - both based how the cars look. We went for the Furby because by the time we added 5drs, and metallic paint to the ibiza we were looking at an extra grand for effectively the same car - with less extras! I don't think we'll see a furby VRS with the same/more power than the equivalent VW until the prices (and brand peerception) catch up to VW - Skoda's not far off SEAT though, so we could hope for equal footing with the next generation of Cupra. In the mean time those in the know will have to make do with mod and remaps! Mine will stay standard till the end of the warrenty, then probably just a sensible remap - say 160-180bhp.

The Broken cross Garage in Macclesfield have just started stocking it

If you want to play mp3s and dont want to swap stereo components, buy a modulator (ca

Mine got it, but it doesn't bother me. Athough I can hear and feel the engine chugging away while idling, it's no where near as bad as I was expecting based on the various "tractor" comments people have posted online. The stutter is annoying, so I'll get that sorted out by the dealer in the next few weeks (don't want to hand it back just yet, having too much fun in it).

Looks like I'll give the private plate a miss then. wrt hiding remaps is that using one of the plug in devices that stores a number of ECU configurations? Has anyone declared their remap and or ARB to their insurer? what was the difference in price?

Only plan to run on 5% biodiesel until the warranty is up, then I probaly up the ratio to either BD30 or BD100. Eventually I plan to make the stuff myself (looks fairly simple- knew the chemistry degree would come in handy... lol) On which note, if anyone has a petrol engine that they want to squeeze a little moe performance (economy + power) try adding acetone (available from bootsand all good chemists) to your fuel tank (0.5ml-1ml per litre). It reduces the surface tension of the petrol ( like detergent additives ) with the added bonus of it being flammable too! In theory it should work for diesels too, but I haven't seen any results. Acetone In Fuel Said to Increase Mileage

Based in Stockport, I work in Macclesfield and most of my relatives are in Sheffield, so I have lots of "good driving" roads to test my new purchase out on.

Definately! great little car! - Skoda's advertising slogan was spot on. I have looked at getting an anti roll bar, but I dont think Ill bother (may change my mind as my confidence in the car's steering increase - punto wasn't power steering) but is seems quite resonably priced. Have also been looking at getting a remap loaded. does anyone have any advice? I'm not particulary bothered about a ridiculous increase in power/torque - the 150-160bhp remaps will be more than adequate. What I am interested in is: -the effect positive or negative on fuel economy and engine wear/life -what the official life from skoda is on warranties.or am I best of waiting till the warranty has expired? - I'll be running on 5% Biodiesel shortly - will this make a difference? -effect on isurance (does it put it in the same sort of price as a SEAT ibiza cupra..or do you pay through the nose because it's a modifiaction)..Mine is

No South Yorkshire. He was in traffic for 20- 25 years (ish) and been an instructor for the past5 or 6. Just got back from a spin over the cat and fiddle road... and depite pushing it in the corners (as much as I felt comfortable with) the fabia didn't really show any signs of understeer or loss of traction. It did roll a little bit round some of the hairpins and sharper bends, but that had as much to do with the adverse camber as the fabias cornering ability.... it's certainly in a completly different class to my old punto (I'd still be waiting for the AA to tow me out of a field if I driven that way in the fiat)

All VW group TDI's warranties cover upto a 5% blend as long as the fuel conforms to EN14214. Once I've run my fabia in, I plan to run in on a 5% blend. When do I need to change the fuel filter? isit immediately before I tank up with Biodiesel?

He really liked it, he said:- -Gear box is slick, effortless and precise. -cornering is smoothe and confident -impressed by build quality/interior (not far off my mum's Audi TT - leather and plastic are pretty much the same quality, just missing the Bose stereo and a few of the metal touches). (previous generation audi TT soft top with the Audi 3.0 TDI dropped in). He a fan of Skoda's anyway:- The skodas in their fleet (octavias: VRSs and 210BHP TDI remaps and the superb: 2.8 V6 193bhp) are the driving schools most reliable training vehicles. (tried to persuade me to buy the octavia). The skoda's are also the majority of instructors' favourites to drive (well except for doing ramming... sorry TPAC taining, I guess there's just no substitute for 2 tonnes of volvo in a crash). Probably down to the skodas having decent VW build quality at seriously cheap prices and not being as demanding on the driver while still keeping most of the fun. (This is out of fleet including a couple of BMW M5s (previous and current generation), Big Volvos (various), Saarb 95's, subaru imprezas (ca 350BHP) and Evos (ca 400 BHP)). But like mot things, I guess a lot is down to personal preference and driving style/needs.

Just joined Briskoda and picked up my shiny new SE this weekend...and having tonnes of fun with it. It's a bit of a change from my last car ... Punto 1.2 - 57BHP 0NM of torque (well almost). Very happy with it, it's effortless to drive, and the low end pulling power is fantastic!! STUTTER I didn't notice "the stutter", but took my dad 5 minutes behind the wheel to spot it. He has the same problem with his Jag X-type and Audi TT along with most of the highly strung diesels that he drives at work (police pursuit instructor). Now that I've noticed it, although I would describe as a character flaw rather that "characteristic" I would go as as calling it a problem....although moving up from a feat of Italian "engineering" to the Fabia my standards are probably not as high as other members. ESP When looking at the standard VRS earlier in the year, I was looking at getting the ESP (based on reports of the fabias tendency to understeer) but having driven it round 200 miles of country roads and back-lanes this weekend (including, the snake, woodehead and cat & fiddle) I don't think it needs it. ESP is definitely a big help and great safety feature in the snow and heavy rain.....but then again so is taking your foot off the accelerator! Overall very happy with my purchase.. and glad I chose the Fabia over the equivalent SEAT ibiza.

Just put a deposit down on mine (#531) and will be picking it up on Saturday morning...can't wait to get it out on the road (currently driving a 1.2 Fiat Punto MK I).