john1952

The middle button will open just the boot, but you have to keep the button depressed for a couple of seconds. Just pressing it quickly won't do anything, It's a precaution against accidently pressing it when you lock your car. I had this experience when I had my Fabia. Thought it was a fault and spoke to the dealer. He came up with a load of crap about it being something to do with the basic Kessy system. He reckoned that because I didn't have the full Kessy system where you can lock your car by just touching the door handle, it "disabled" the boot unlocking on the key fob. I went along with that for 5 months until I saw a post on this forum that told me about pressing the boot release tab on the fob for a couple of seconds.

Looks like Skoda have updated their manuals for the Fabia since I got mine (2022 model). I've just Googled "Fabia Manuals" and there is a link to a site with a completely new set of documentation with links to videos etc... They're a bit basic, but give you a basic idea of how it all works. I managed to work it all out myself previously by just playing around with the Virtual cockpit system one afternoon when I had nothing else better to do! There's no instructions as far as I can see on how to set the service level indicator, but again, if you Google, then there are other sites which tell you how to do this.

You wouldn't have to look directly at a smart phone screen with Android Auto - the sat nav app appears on the infotainment screen

Regarding the user manual - My car came with a printed manual, but my Fabia is the Colour edition with the Virtual Cockpit feature and there's no mention at all of that in the manual and furthermore no documentation whatsoever on the Skoda website about it. Luckily I found a couple of videos that somebody had posted on line that were a help. About the tyre pressures - mine are on a printed label stuck to the offside rear door frame.

I've had my Mk4 Fabia Colour edition for just over a year now - it was 6 months old when I bought it. Can't fault it for reliability. Have had no problems - save for an intermittent tiny squeaky noise coming from the dashboard which I cured myself and the handbrake needs adjusting slightly which will be done on the next service. Excellent fuel consumption and quiet comfortable ride. Some reviews say the interior is not quite so luxurious as other cars - I personally have no complaints about that.

Admittedly the plastic is hard rather than 'soft touch', but does it really make that much difference? Visually you can't tell the difference and the dashboard feels very robust and solid in my Fabia Mk4 and there is nice soft leather on steering wheel gear stick and handbrake. Noisy?? This is one of the quietest cars I've owned as had been remarked by other passengers. Yes, it does thrum a bit under hard acceleration, but overall I find it very quiet and smooth. Sluggish ?? - It can appear so if you let the speed and revs drop and then accelerate without dropping down a gear, but that's the case with all 3 cylinder engines. Providing I use the gearbox, it accelerates pretty well especially if the turbo kicks in. Was your Fabia a MPI or TSI engine ?? It does make a difference.

Don't worry - We've all been there and got the T Shirt !!

Same here - Having had my Fabia for 12 months now, it's becoming second nature every time I start a journey to a) press OK to switch off the privacy display, b) switch off the start/stop and then c) switch off the ridiculous "Lane Assist". Who was the idiot that dreamt up the idea of "lane assist" ??? Positvely dangerous feature if you are crossing over white lines a lot of times driving in towns. The sudden pull of the steering wheel is very disconcerting.

To remove them your Fabia should have been supplied with a small metal tool with a hook on the end. You hook that into one of the small holes and give a strong pull to remove the aero trim. I'd advise against removing and reattaching them every time you wash the car as there's a good chance you will damage the alloy wheels over time.

I removed the aero trims a few weeks after I got my Fabia. The car was 6 months old by then and obviously the previous owner hadn't taken them off to clean behind them as there was shed loads of s*** behind the trims. I think they look better with them off. I fitted the Skoda centre caps and black plastic nut covers.

Anyone know if the antifreeze for a Mk4 Fabia TSI has to conform to a particular specification? Can't find any documentation on this. I've got some Halfords antifreeze, (pink stuff), but there's no specification numbers on the can. Not sure if I'd do any harm if I used this.

Is this a Skoda main dealership garage? I suspect it is. My experience over the years is that main dealership garages are sharks and are eager to extract as much money from you that they can get away with. I use an independent garage for my Skoda. They service any make of car but they just happen to specialise in VW/Audi so as my Fabia's engine is identical to a VW Polo, then I'm more than happy for them to do my services. They are very honest and only do what is required. Would suggest you find a similar garage if you can. As an example of main dealership sharp practices, I once had a Fiesta that had an issue with the nearside rear door. Took it to a Ford main dealer. They quoted me £700 to fix the problem. Naturally refused their offer and took it to a local repair garage. The guy there fixed the problem in less than 30 seconds - it was a door seal issue. Furthermore, he didn't even charge me !!!

Recently a message popped up on my Fabia dashboard telling me to change the battery in the key fob. Was a little surprised as the car is only about 18 months old. I took the battery out and put it into my battery tester - came up as fully charged ! This message has only appeared once and to date has not re-appeared, To be on the safe side, I carry around a spare battery, but I'm little curious as to why this message appeared when the battery is nowhere near run down. Anybody else experienced this?

Just done a journey from Dorset to Oxford which is 90% dual carriageway. Managed to achieve 65.8 mpg. Well pleased. And no, I wasn't crawling along at 40 - 50 mph !! - Spent most of the time doing 60+ mph.

My Mk4 Fabia colour edition had exactly the same intermittent squeak noise. Took me some time to find out that it was coming from where the top of the dashboard meets the A pillar on the passenger side near to the windscreen. Just lightly placing your hand on that area stopped it. So I got a very tiny piece of rubber and wedged it in between the top of the dashboard and the windscreen next to the A pillar. You can't see it from the inside of the car because I've got a small non-slip mat on the dashboard to accommodate a car dehumidifier pad and this mat covers it. Hardly visible from the outside of the car. Nice simple cheap solution - Solved the noise problem completely.

You should have been supplied with a puller when you purchased the car. It's just a metal rod with a small hook on the end of it which hooks into the small holes on the Aero trims. If you want my advice, I'd remove the trims and don't put them back on. The Skoda guy who invented those trims has obviously never cleaned a car's wheels !! They prevent you getting at all the brake dust mess that accumulates around the rims and the sides of the spokes. I wouldn't advise taking them off every time you clean the wheels as constantly taking them off and on again will probably damage the alloys over time. If you do leave them off, you'll need to purchase wheel nut covers and the Skoda wheel centre caps - I got mine from eBay. If anyone interested I've four of these trims for sale as I don't want mine anymore.

Best place to store the spare bottle? -- your dustbin or your local recycle facility. The so called "repair kit" isn't much use. It won't repair large punctures and doesn't work if the puncture is near the side wall of the tyre. If it does work, then a lot of tyre repair garages won't repair the puncture because it's too much effort removing the stuff that's stuck to the tyre. You then end up buying a new tyre and there's a good chance that there's still a good amount of tread left on the old one. If they do agree to do a repair they'll charge you a lot extra. I bought a space saver tyre from the Wheel Shop - good value compared to what my Skoda dealer wanted to charge and it came a good quality jack, wheelbrace and toolbag. Bought the securing bolt from eBay.

I have a 72 plate Mk4 Colour edition. Just recently, when i switch on the ignition and start the car, the Infotainment screen remains completely blank and doesn't display the initial, (and annoying), "Data protection" message, followed by the clock display. The screen does eventually spring into life after a few minutes or if I press some of the menu buttons. Anyone else had this issue?

Couldn't agree more about a proper space saver spare wheel. The useless can of gunk has a short shelf life and isn't cheap to replace, so buying a spare wheel actually saves you money in the long term. I also obtained, (from another Briskoda member), a bendy piece of vinyl plastic that bends into a semi-circlar shape and clips into the slots on the side of the boot panel. This gives you a very useful storage area for standing bottles etc.. upright and prevents them sliding around in your boot. Not sure whats i'ts actually called, but it's so useful.

I have a Mk 4 Colour edition. I believe the new Mk 4 chassis/platform is the same as the VW Polo. It's a slightly bigger car than the Mk 3. Good boot size.

Can't really see what the actual problem, (if any), is ? I am I missing something ?

Infotainment screen was off and phone was still charging from the usb port

You could just turn the Front Assist off. A couple of clicks on the steering wheel "Assist Menu shorcut" buttons will do that. I always turn off the Lane Assist every time I drive - can't see the point of that feature as I'm always crossing over white lines when manoevering around town or city roads for a genuine reason.

The engine has been turned off for a least and hour - thought it would have cooled down by then ? Or does it still go through the coolant pumping process regardless of engine temparature ??

When I open my bonnet I hear a slight buzzing noise which stops after about 10 -15 seconds. Can't trace exactly whereabouts in the engine it's coming from. I'm not really bothered about it - I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for it. I'm just curious. Anyone else noticed this ??