behind_blue_eyes_83

Thanks both, really helpful!

Thank you again for the replies and advice! We've now test driven three manual Fabia Estates at three trim levels and would have gone for last one except partner could smell split milk and has had previous experience of it never ever coming out of upholstery! A new option has come up for us which we're considering because I haven't driven for over ten years and am looking to make things as simple as possible with a baby on the way - an automatic. I'm trying to follow the saga of the 7-speed dry gearbox over many various forum posts but it quickly gets into quite technical detail so thought I'd try for some simple recommendations on this thread. Will a Mark III Fabia (Nov 2018) have a DQ200 gearbox and should we be worried about this after the earlier failures have supposedly been addressed? Is there a good reason to steer clear?

Thanks for the detailed reply, that's really helpful on a number of fronts! Apart from the additional safety elements from the 2018 facelift (I believe it's the front assist braking), we're only looking at such recent models because that's what the dealer has (and they tend to have - have rarely seen an older model) but will have another think based on what you say about the Covid period, I've not read anything about that being a manufacturing quality risk. Good point about the mileage, we can see from the MOT checker that at least one of them seems to have sat off road. We have been looking at Hondas previously but the appeal of the Fabia is the supermini footprint but with the estate boot, and I couldn't find a Honda in that class...

Hello, We are looking to buy a post-2018 Fabia Estate, ideally looking for a 1.0 TSI (110PS). We're decided on the estate as we need the boot for pram + dog but in a smaller car for city parking. We're going to a franchised dealer this weekend who luckily have a few (they are quite hard to track down!), all very low mileage (<16,000) miles and all quite pricey. Neither of us have owned a Skoda and have previously gone the old banger/private sale route, but now need safety/reliability, so looking for some advice about a potential purchase at a Skoda dealer. - What should we be looking out for fault-wise with this particular model/generation? - Can anyone advise on negotiating at a franchised dealer, how likely are they to budge from the listed price? Should we expect to be able to get it for within the Honest John expected price range? - Anything else we should bear in mind? Thanks in advance!