bazz2004

My days of messing about with a car are long gone. I just want to get in a car and drive (if only) but that's not how contemporary motoring works. However, if I was preparing for diy maintenance I'd look into Haynes manuals which are now digital. Whether they are still any good or not in 2025 I can't say but here's a link. Haynes Manuals United KingdomHaynes Manuals UK | DIY Maintenance and Repair GuidesBuy Haynes & Clymer manuals online in the UK. Trusted DIY repair guides for cars, vans, motorcycles, tractors, marine & ATVs in print and digital formats.

The clocks have changed and I asked the wife to check the time shown on the Fabia 4 this morning. Just about everything in the house adjusts automatically but the Fabia 4 mc doesn't do it. Please, DerekU don't point me to the relevant page and sub section in the manuals that I need to study. The Fabia features AS (artificial stupidity) rather than AI.

I missed the bit about it being for use by a passenger. For anybody under the age of 40 and many who are older you would have to prise the phone from their dead fingers. So maybe there isn't really a need to do this? 🙂

This is just the thin edge of the wedge. It's not only VAG cars that are on the coding gravy train. Unless expensive coding software is used when replacing parts troubles will apparently appear later. I dreaded headlamp bulb replacement on our old car. It took maybe half an hour so long as it wasn't freezing outside, cost around £13 and skinned my knuckles. I recently read that replacing a VAG headlamp assembly complete with coding with specialist equipment could cost £2000. Buying a cheap replacement and fitting it won't work. Even if all seems well at the outset other modules can start to shut down. The car may end up refusing to start.

You say you don't want to attach the phone to the windscreen or dash which is as well because that's difficult unless you have telescopic arms. There's too many distractions with screens and menus when driving. If you are going to pursue this buy on Amazon. If things aren't working for you you can return for a refund. I did that on a number of occasions when trying to find a workable mount for our sat nav and also with steering lock devices. A circular Satmat and holder for the phone with suction cup, paired up, would do the job but it would be expensive. I wouldn't recommend it.

I doubt it matters much. Go for one with the extra bhp because our mc 1.0 TS feels very responsive. The choice of petrol cars is now woeful. I have just had our Fabia 4 serviced. There was one Fabia 4 tucked away at the end of the showroom. All the other new vehicles in there were huge SUVs at eye watering prices.

Don't hold your breath. A big problem is the texture and heavy slope on the Fabia 4 dash. I found nothing that will stick to it without the probability of spoiling the trim. Mounts just slide off the sloping surface. My Fabia mc has no sat nav so I presently use a Garmin unit and mount it on a Nav-mat weighted pad. A Rhinoro fitting will hold the sat nav to the round vent on the dash but they don't seem to make anything for a smartphone. There is one to fit a phone to the handlebars of your bike though. What worried me most about the vent mounting was that the screen wasn't in what I felt to be a safe viewing position. In short, I don't think that what you want exists and you will have to make do. An app may enable you to link the phone to the car screen but I found messing with stuff like that too time consuming. I can use the smart phone for phone calls with it resting in the small slot below the dash - no cable needed. An android phone links easily to the Fabia screen. In practice we don't make calls when driving. A vent mount is the best option if you must go this route.

If you are unfamiliar with recent tech it's daunting to get to grips with a higher spec Fabia 4. The car we have does not enable a full exploration of the menus without having the engine running. It would be helpful to know everything about the Fabia 4 but making this a hobby was never on our agenda. We just want a car that's easy to drive. The wife really misses the simplicity of our Peugeot 307 and so do I at times. Unfortunately, the number of petrol only vehicles now coming out has dwindled to almost nothing so it is what it is. Although we have an android phone which is now fully linked to the car we would not make calls when driving.

Good advice. I can remember connecting the phone with a usb c cable. It worked with the android phone but our iPhone (with lightning connector) was more trouble than it was worth and is never linked to the car.

A regular response to requests for help on the forum is to draw your attention to a relevant section in the handbook then cut and paste it. You might as well look at that before you do anything else. Setting up the phone took up a lot of time with our Fabia 4. We are not very experienced with smartphones and our previous car was lacking most of the sophisticated paraphernalia of more recent cars. In hindsight that was a big plus over the latest models. First issue was that our car needs to have the engine running to fully explore all the menus. The result was hours fiddling around exploring and changing settings on the driveway in freezing weather. Our Fabia 4 mc has no ignition switch. Like you we have an android and an iPhone. The android phone is better adapted for use in the Fabia so I’d concentrate on that one. It seems likely that something isn’t right in the settings of the car or phone rather than a blown Bluetooth chip. Avoid spending silly amounts of time on this as I did. You’d be better coming back to it until you get a resolution. Hopefully, nothing has "blown". I’ve not found our dealership much help with issues. When the car was booked in relating to an electronics/software glitch, we received a phone call warning that if no problem is identified by the engineers we would be charged for the visit. It may however depend on the dealership as to how user friendly they are. You can’t really drop by for a friendly chat unless you want to buy a new car.

We read the same threads but are coming from different places. Where I see discussions about problems with the Fabia 4 you see people who need to study the handbook or the digital version in depth. The word "meretricious" comes to mind with the Fabia 4. Initially it seems very attractive but those first impressions are soon disappointed.

From the little I have found out already the AGM battery would be better relocated to the boot impacting one of the Fabias good points - available storage space.

I suspect Skoda love this constantly recurring topic as it diverts attention from the host of more important shortcomings in the Fabia 4.

"In the USA cars often used to be marketed with a 'delete option'. The car's standard specification was high, but, when ordering, buyers could choose to delete features that they did not want, thus reducing the cost. This is the opposite approach to cars being marketed with a 'basic' specification and a buyer choosing (say) a different colour, different wheels, etc. at an extra cost." DerekU That's sounds to be something that would benefit us as buyers in 2025. I certainly don't intend to order a new Fabia with a heated front windscreen. We wouldn't have bought a new Fabia if I'd been better informed. What I will do is find a good independent garage specialising in VW group servicing, before the service contract runs out, and ask for their advice. My strong suspicion is that the battery installed as standard in the Fabia 4 is not really adequate to the demands of constant short journeys in heavy traffic without regular long runs or frequent charge ups. In other words I made a mistake and bought the wrong car for the job. Adding a heated front window would increase the demands on the battery so I'd consider upgrading to an AGM battery too. Adding an AGM battery unfortunately requires much more than just dropping one in as replacement. They are installed in higher end cars. In the meantime we'll just have to put up with the demisting problems in unfavourable weather conditions.

The accessory packs are a way of extracting extra money by Skoda and it would have pleased me far more if you could choose what seems important to you as the buyer without committing to the bundle. The included heated front windscreen you will get is something that I'd love to have. Demisting remains a problem for us though we are making progress. Other features in the pack like heated steering wheels and seats for the UK in cold weather are overkill unless you have problems like arthritis. I've even read reviews where the reviewer has been wowed by the inclusion of a credit card type ice-scraper in the filler cap and the umbrella in the front door. I wonder if it would be possible to get a heated front window installed on a Fabia 4 which didn't have one factory fitted.

We get that from time to time. The wife goes off to do a supermarket shop. When she gets back home I go out to open the boot to bring in the shopping bags but it won't open. Maybe this is "simply clever" and secures the shopping while the supermarket trolley is wheeled back to retrieve the £1 coin.

You immediately had problems with the rear doors not opening and then found that you needed to explore menus to make an adjstment. Spend time working through the menus because you will need to visit them regularly. The picture you posted of the model you bought shows it to have aero covers on the wheels which have induced near fits from some of the Fabia enthusiasts. Have a think about those and in particular work out how to remove them while the weather remains fine. Do post back on how you get on with the vehicle. In retrospect I might have looked at a second hand VW golf with minimal drive assist aids rather than a new Fabia 4. There are currently Skoda ads on TV for new electric models so the hopes of a better Fabia 5 are unlikely to be fulfilled.

Sitting for a couple of minutes while the car demists didn't work for us. My winter work around is wearing a flat cap with the front window down. The windows shoot up and down so fast they are hard to control. I also have a pair of wrap around sunglasses (low tint) which keep the sun out of my eyes. We'd start off on some days in freezing conditions then have the sun in our eyes when leaving the estate. Before this strategy I'd typically think all was well and drive away only to find that I was driving blind and have to pull in for more demisting. Pretty risky. It was sometimes 12 minutes before I was under way safely but I have reduced that considerably. The roads round us are so bad that lane control could send you straight into potholes but now I just curse a bit when the wheel tugs in my hands. Turning stuff off every time you start off is too much of a pain and we try to go accommodate the Fabias eccentricities. Our digital dash display which has loads of options also changes itself from time to time which really annoys the wife. She can't change it back. A Fabia without a configurable digital display or one that can be relied on to stick to what has been saved would be much better. I'm pretty critical of the car but the competition may be no better.

We are underwhelmed with our 23 reg Fabia 4 mc. The problem is knowing whether there is better out there if you have to get a petrol engined car. Expert reviews were so positive and I did plenty of research. As someone who has bought few cars I expected amazing progress after a 2002 Peugeot 307 diesel bought new. The Fabia looks great has plenty of interior space and is far better geared compared to the Peugeot when it comes to crawling around at 30mph and less in heavy traffic. The mph is great on a long journey but we are getting about 37mph for our predominantly urban driving albeit with far fewer gear changes than we expected. We couldn't care less about in car entertainment and use a Garmin sat nav. I was miffed that we couldn't get built in sat nav as an option but having been reading posts on the forum for some time I reckon that turned out to be a plus. It's the electronic aids and software that are our biggest complaint. The start-stop feature may be useful as an indicator of battery level. It doesn't work when the battery level is low. The reversing camera and sensors are great but stuff like lane assist is infuriating. So far it has been an absolute pain when starting off in cold damp conditions not because of starting issues but because of the windscreen misting up. It's by far the worst car we've had in that respect. What would have been a better choice than the Fabia 4 I don't know but I'd suggest looking closely at a Ford. The Fabia is a lovely drive in ideal conditions though and I was able to spec a spare wheel. I think anyone who believes the Skoda hype about "simply clever" features is in for a reality check.

"When pressing brake they extreme sharp and very responsive, stops so sudden." Difficult, I know, but try to see this as one of the (few) positives of owning a Fabia 4. The brakes were probably the first thing we noticed but they won't seem an issue when you look harder at the software and electronics. If you need to slam the brakes on they won't let you down.🙂 It's easier to adapt to the car than fight a losing battle with its peculiarities.

The engine isn’t start stopping either, which others have identified as an early warning of a low battery level. Just sitting on the drive the latest tech cars are still making demands on the battery. To date, I’ve only charged the battery once with the CTEK and checked the voltage after two weeks of few and short duration drives. It showed 12.1v on the Ancel BST60 which when I searched for results suggested around a 50% charge level. So maybe a weekly top up charging schedule is required due to driving almost exclusively in heavy urban traffic. Amazing that Skoda haven’t incorporated a voltmeter in the instrumentation or fitted a better battery. The car is not two years old so replacing the battery isn’t appealing. An AGM battery would be a better unit but I’ve read they are very sensitive to extreme temperatures and best not mounted in the usual under bonnet location. The simply clever Skoda systems would require that a specialist recode the car to accept a new battery type.

For quite a while after receiving my Fabia 4 mc I was peeved that I had been unable to order a car with built in sat nav. These days I'm thinking that was a blessing.

I found early on when trying to find a workable arrangement for my sat nav that the power output from those usb ports is low. When using my large screen Garmin sat nav power has to be supplied from the cigarette lighter port hidden in the front arm rest or the brightness of the sat nav screen is limited. That socket is permanently live and provides more power than the usb c ports being referred to. I don't have the sat nav lead plugged in unless I'm going to be using it but it is stored inside the arm rest.

It's about two weeks since I fully charged the battery with the CTEK ct5 start stop. I hoped that keeping the battery fully charged would remove all the glitches, particularly the way the display changes itself. With that there has been no improvement and the display has changed twice. Maybe it's my wishful thinking but I think the car runs a bit more smoothly. I bought a battery tester (Ancel BST60) for around £13 to get a bit more detail. This plugs into the cigarette lighter power socket in the arm rest using a short lead. It shows 12.1v after a fortnight of very little driving. It looked about the best of what was available at a cheapo price. It has a setting for checking whether the alternator is putting in a sufficient charge.

Thanks for the interesting replies. Many of us won’t need a charger. If you are located in an urban area where reaching 30mph is a thrill and each journey is a few miles only, it makes sense to use supplementary charging over the winter months. I’m sure DerekU will be able to explain why I’m wrong though. There was enough info about this charger to know it would be easy to fit and that compatibility with the type of battery wouldn’t be a problem. There’s no way eyelet leads will be hanging out of the bonnet. These are nice and short, tucked away, ready to connect to the 2.5m extension lead and charger at the end of the month. There is no detail provided by the charger about the battery after charging it up but that will do fine for me. It starts with an amber light and shows a green diode at the conclusion of the charging cycle. If nothing else, regular charging should extend the battery life. It will be easy to make this into a monthly routine even in freezing weather conditions. I’m not on commission from Ctek.