DerekU

I can't answer any of your questions... My Fabia's touchscreen provides a good quality navigation display, but - while I fully accept that others may find the logic behind the software beneficial - the way it works is over-complex for my requirements and I'm much more comfortable with my trusty Garmin sat-nav that I can regularly keep up to date and am fairly confident will provide accurate driving data. I can (almost!) justify the £44 cost of the Infotainment Online product - though it still grieves me to pay for mapping updates - but not the other 2 products.

The current licence for my Fabia Mk 4's Skoda Connect services expires on 6 March 2025. The Skoda Connect Shop offers three products 1: Care Connect - Remote Access (1-year - £36) 2: Infotainment Online (1-year - £44) and marked "Lowest price before the discount £44.00 GDP incl. VAT" - whatever that means!!! 3: Infotainment Apps - Traffication (1-year - £4.50) I can't see 1and 3 being much use to me, but 2 seems to be worth having, despite the mapping on my car clearly being flawed. Any thoughts appreciated...

It is plain from your photos that your car's rear discs are badly scored, but there is no reason to think they might have been in that state from new and it is unlikely the scoring has resulted from anything other than 'foreign bodies' (eg. gravel). It will be interesting to learn what your Skoda dealership's reaction is to this issue is (I'm very doubtful that the Skoda warranty would cover it) but it really needs the brake-pads removing from the rear brake callipers and a check made whether there is anything embedded in the pads that might have caused the damage and result in further harm.

It looks like all UK-specification Fabia Mk 4 cars (whatever their age or model) have a 12V socket in the storage compartment beneath the central armrest. This is referred to in the "Interior equipment front" section of the Owner's Manual as shown by "K" below The Manual warns that the socket remains 'live' even when the ignition is switched off. (Although cigarette lighters are no longer installed as standard in cars and charging of phones will be via USB ports or a wireless 'pad', as cars are now almost universally marketed with a puncture repair kit comprising a can of sealant and a 12V tyre-inflator , there needs to be a matching 12V socket somewhere in the car to provide 12V power for the tyre-inflator.)

If you mean a 12V auxiliary power outlet 'socket' of the type you can plug in (say) a 12V tyre inflator or sat-nav cable (example of outlet type below) my 2024 Fabia SE L has one of these. It's hidden inside the storage box that is beneath the fold-down armrest that is between the front seats.

For a Fabia Mk 4 with DSG transmission and START-STOP active, It's not pressing the brake pedal that causes the motor to restart, it's the opposite - it's taking one's foot off ("releasing") the brake pedal that causes restarting (as it says in the Owner's Manual). This may well go against the grain if one is used to driving a manual transmission car and following 'good practice' when coming to a halt by putting the car in neutral and engaging the handbrake to prevent the vehicle rolling. A practice that, at night, will ensure that the car's brake lights do not illuminate and dazzle a driver queueing behind (as EltonGone has said). This 2013-2019 Honest John discussion may be of interest as it touches on driving automatic cars and Start/Stop systems. https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=103354 This link is to a driving instruction 'automatic car' video In the Comments section this question was asked ...one question as I'm being taught by my dad instead of paying for lessons- when coming to a stop at traffic lights which you will be at for a good minute or so, is the pattern handbrake + park, handbrake + neutral or would you just keep your foot on the brake and stay in drive? The reply given was We would normally stay in drive and not go to neutral. We would use the handbrake or parking brake when 'a pause becomes a wait'. Especially after dark when our bright red brake lights can become dazzling to a vehicle behind us.

My 2024 Skoda Fabia Mk 4 and my previous 2021 Hyundai i20 both have/had a Start/Stop system and neither system's operation was affected by the handbrake (parking brake) being applied. Although the Owner Manual for both cars explains the operation and use of the Start/Stop system and (separately) the use of the handbrake, there is nothing in either Manual to suggest that the Stop/Start system and the handbrake might in any way be linked. Guidance on START-STOP in the Owner's Manual for Fabia Mk 4 cars is as shown below and - as will be apparent - the handbrake is not mentioned. The Fabia Mk 4 Manual advises, "START-STOP decreases emissions of CO2 and harmful emissions and saves fuel", but as Start/Stop is not a mandatory 'safety' feature, there are no system functionality standards that a car manufacturer must adhere to. If a Fabia Mk 4 DSG's START-STOP system has stopped the motor and the driver keeps their foot on the brake pedal the motor will remain stopped until the driver takes their foot off the brake pedal. It's basically as simple as that, and will happen whether the car's DSG transmission is in D or N and with the handbrake engaged or disengaged. There's quite a lot of online discussion about driving automatic cars with Start/Stop and using the handbrake (GOOGLE-Search on automatic cars start/stop use of handbrake ) and the general view (particularly in USA) seems to be that an automatic car should be driven in D mode except when parked, and that the handbrake be engaged only when the car is parked and its motor turned off. To start the motor of my manual-transmission 2021 Hyundai i20 required the transmission to be in Neutral, AND the clutch-pedal to be fully depressed, AND the brake-pedal to be firmly depressed. Failure to do any of those actions, resulted in a deathly hush and a related warning message appearing on the instrument panel. This seemed like over-kill to me, but that was the sequence Hyundai insisted on and I had no option but to put up with it. Like many drivers I'm not a fan of Start/Stop systems, so - when I remember! - I turn it (and Lane Keeping Assist) off each time I start my Fabia's motor. It irks me to do this, but, other than hacking the car's software, there's no alternative.

You may well not find an online Danish retailer advertising the two parts that make up the cup-holder insert, and ordering the parts from a non-Danish seller could well attract a large delivery fee. If you provide the two part numbers to your local Skoda dealership, they should be able to tell you whether they can order them for you, but you might not like the price!!!

A UK-specification Fabia Mk 4 can have up to 5 USB ports, all of which accept cables with a USB-C end-connector. A: 2 USB ports in the centre console in front of the gear lever - intended for DATA TRANSFER AND CHARGING. B: 1 USB port in the rear-view mirror - intended for CHARGING ONLY. 😄 2 USB ports in the rear of the centre console facing the rear passenger seats - intended for CHARGING ONLY. Whether or not a USB-C cable will 'work' will depend on the cable's specification and what it is being used for. A cheap common-or-garden USB-C cable will (probably) allow a phone to be charged if plugged into any of the A, B,C ports, but may not allow data transfer even if plugged into the A ports. If a Garmin sat-nav is connected to any of the A, B or C ports using a standard USB cable, the device will not function properly. More USB-C cable advice here https://www.anker.com/blogs/cables/are-all-usb-c-cables-the-same-for-charging

In the final posting in this earlier discussion https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/522055-cup-holder-too-small/#comment-5836372 I provided the Skoda references of the two parts that form the removable cup-holder insert that has been fitted as standard in the centre console of Fabia Mk 4 cars marketed in the UK. So, if you really yearn for that cup-holder insert to replace your Fabia's removable tray, you should be able to source the necessary parts. However, it's worth pointing out that there have been complaints on this forum that the diameter of the cup-holders in the UK-specification Fabia Mk 4's removable insert is too small to accommodate the average size bottle. (Personally, as I've never drank or ate while driving, I'd rather have the tray-type of removable insert your Fabia has, than my Fabia's under-sized cup-holder insert.)

An online search on car engines 3 cylinder vs 4 cylinder will retrieve plenty of discussion about this - but what will not be found is any credible evidence that a 3-cylinder motor will be inherently less reliable than a 4-cylinder. As there are several major mechanical components of a 4-cylinder motor not needed in a 3-cylinder, there is less to go wrong and, consequently, the former should theoretically be less reliable than the latter. And, where the latest VAG 1.5litre motor (as fitted to current Fabias) is concerned, this power-plant is far more technically complex than the 1.0litre 3-cylinder. Most (all?) manufacturers of small petrol-fuelled cars will have moved to small-capacity 3-cylinder turbocharged motors as the power source. There's nothing intrinsically 'wrong' with this and - if there are problems - it's normally the electronics that are the culprits, not the motor's number of cylinders.

As your local Skoda dealership suggested you try a system reset to address the Bluetooth issue and this has resulted in you now having difficulty 'reactivating' your car, the best thing IMO would be to take your car to that dealership and ask them to sort out the present problem. I accidentally (finger trouble) reset my Fabia's system and had to 'reactivate' the car using the MySkoda app. Although I was eventually able to do this successfully , the procedure involved was not user-friendly and I don't recall exactly how I did it. The moral of the exercise was to be VERY careful when fiddling about with the car's infotainment settings and avoid the reset setting like the plague.

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the with-or-without photos below of Fabia silver or black alloy wheels make it hard to believe that the aero covers can be classed as a cosmetic enhancement (especially on black wheels). Regarding the aero cover's aerodynamic benefits, in 2021 (when the Fabi Mk 4 was launched) Skoda's press release said No statistical data were provided (or have subsequently become available). It's probable that the covers only provide an insignificantly small aerodynamic improvement and 100% certain that Fabia owners will be unable to check how that improvement might beneficially affect the car in real-world driving. The fact that Skoda have now dropped the aero covers from the Fabia's standard specification must surely indicate that Skoda believes the (potential) improvement is too small to bother with and that the covers are not an important selling-point for Fabia buyers. My 2024 Fabia has silver alloy wheels and I'm going to leave the aero covers on. If I needed to change a wheel in an emergency, I could do this more quickly than if the wheel-bolts had caps on them and I don't find any difficulty getting the aero covers off. I think the wheels look better without the covers, but I'm not a fetishist where car wheels are concerned.

As StevesTruck has said... An online search on stone in brakes will retrieve plenty of discussion about this. This is a BRISKODA forum 2013 example

Spare wheels for Fabia Mk 4 models were discussed here in 2023 and 2024. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/513673-2023-fabia-color-spare-wheel-16inch/ https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/522682-spare-wheel-and-central-tool-holder/ The emergency spare-wheel 'kit' currently offered as a Skoda option on all Fabia Mk 4 models that have wheels with 16", 17" or 18" diameter is shown below The £155 price would apply when the complete kit is part of a car's original order and is an alternative to (and not in addition to) the inflater+puncture-sealant. As I said in the 2024 forum discussion, I subsequently obtained the spare-wheel kit for my Fabia (that has 16"-diameter alloy wheels) from the Skoda dealership I bought my car from and the cost, in my case, was £200. Prices currently quoted online for the complete kit (wheel/jack/tools/polystyrene holder etc.) seem to be around £300, but the Skoda dealer you are getting your car from might charge you less (maybe!) if you ask nicely. The Skoda Part numbers are 6VA601011A for the wheel+tyre and 6VA093860 for the tool-kit with all the bits.

A GOOGLE-search on problems nextbase 422 could be useful - poor quality/failure of the internal battery is a common complaint. This link to the results of a BRISKODA forum-wide search may also be worth wading through. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/search/?&q="nextbase" "dashcam"&quick=1&search_and_or=or&sortby=relevancy

Copied from a 2024 Autocar review of the Hyundai i20 ...The gearbox’s ‘intelligence’ stems from the electronic clutch: the pedal has no physical connection to the clutch mechanism. Instead, a sensor sends signals to an actuator which does the work. The benefit being that the car can declutch and switch off the engine while coasting, without any input from the driver... The complete review is here. https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/hyundai/i20 I can't say I noticed any difference in 'feel' compared to a conventional hydraulically-operated clutch and - as the idea of coasting with the motor stopped dis not appeal to me (and coasting only happened if the car was in ECO mode, which I never chose to use) - I don't know whether coasting actually worked on my i20. (i20 owners referred to the coasting feature as "sailing". As this word did not appear in the i20 Owner's Manual, I asked why they used it, and was told that - when an i20 was coasting - a little yacht symbol displayed on the instrument-cluster.)

Regarding MHEV (Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle) cars, this article may be of interest. https://motorway.co.uk/sell-my-car/guides/what-are-the-disadvantages-of-a-mild-hybrid-car#hybrid When Hyundai began to market the MHEV i20 model in the UK in 2021, it soon became apparent that the car needed to be driven very regularly for a substantial distance to ensure that the full potential of its mild-hybrid system could be exploited by owners. When the system refused to cooperate (in particular the 'sailing' (coasting) feature failing to work) Hyundai dealership's had a policy of just replacing the car's (tiny) starter-battery, hoping this would effect a cure. One i20 owner, who had bought the car specifically for its fuel economy/environmental claims, after a starter-battery change followed by replacement of more major parts having made no difference, lost heart, rejected the car and bought a Renault. For the 2025 Model Year Hyundai tweaked the i20's cosmetic specification (even uglier wheels!) ,chucked some extra dashboard tech in, dropped the MHEV system, but kept the price unchanged. About the only tangible advantage of the MHEV approach (IMHO) is that it can have a manual transmission, whereas - to the best of my knowledge - 'proper' hybrid cars are all automatic. Like VAGCF, I chose a Fabia because it was not a MHEV.

That YouTube video is a USA production (and (as Mikek has said) has a footnote that it has been 'enhanced'. There's another USA 2025 Fabia video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7mPiBh9OAM Neither mean that there will be further changes (in the immediate future) to current 2025-specification Fabias now being marketed in Europe.

This 2022 PISTONHEADS review should give you a reasonable flavour of a 2025 Flavia Monte Carlo model with the 1.5litre motor. https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-driven/2022-skoda-fabia-monte-carlo--ph-review/46209 The Specification information at the end of the review contains inaccuracies (the transmission should read "7-speed automatic, front-wheel drive") and - for the latest 2025 model - there will be minor changes in the rest of the data. This link should provide more up-to-date fine detail. https://www.skoda.co.uk/_doc/775d73bc-eb9d-4a50-911e-863d73b99333 The 1.5litre TSI ECO2 with ACT+ motor is referred to in this 2024 press release. https://cdn.skoda-storyboard.com/2024/02/04_Press_Kit_Skoda_Scala_Skoda_Kamiq_Media_Launch_Powertrains_05cfd9f1.pdf

The i20 was 12-months old when I obtained it, had covered only 700 miles and was an impulse buy - I had planned to purchase a brand-new Hyundai i20N, but that model was in very short supply in the UK at that time with unknown delivery dates. The plastic and fabric materials used in the i20's interior were decidedly not 'classy' and, despite jacking up the rear of the driver's seat-rails by 25mm, I still didn't care for the driving position, nor the seat itself., nor the 'feel' of the steering. As the car's 48V battery was housed in the spare-wheel well, there was no room there for even a space-saver wheel. I bought a secondhand full-size wheel/tyre, but that would not fit in the boot and I used to carry it upright behind the passenger seat. I just didn't get much pleasure driving the i20, but what convinced me to get rid of it was my wife breaking her hip and it becoming obvious that, after the hip-replacement operation, she would have great difficulty getting in and out of the i20 that had no seat-height adjustment of the passenger seat. I chose a Fabia because a) we had owned a Skoda Roomster since 2009 and been pleased with it, b) there is a Skoda dealership 10 miles from where I live, c) they had a new silver Fabia SE L DSG in their showroom and d) the seating is much more comfortable and adjustable than the i20's and the interior much less cheap-looking. I'd found driving the i20 irritating on rural roads as its 6-speed transmission was essentially a five-speed set of lower ratios with an 'overdrive' top gear. The Fabia is the first car I've actually owned with an automatic transmission and (at age-80) I'm now happy to let the DSG 'box do the gear selection for me. There was nothing intrinsically wrong with the i20 and, having traded it in for the Fabia, it sold to a new owner within a fortnight.

This recent CAR Magazine article may be of interest https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/hybrid/best-small-hybrid-cars/ Before my Fabia Mk4 DSG I owned a 2021 Hyundai i20 for about a year. This had a 6-speed manual transmission and a similar-size turbocharged motor to my Fabia's, but was classed as a MHEV (Mild Hybrid Electric Vehicle). MHEVs have a small 48V lithium battery that can supplement the motor's output when accelerating and (in the Hyundai's case) allowed the motor to stop in certain circumstances while the car was in motion. The i20's 48V battery could not power the car and (at least in the UK) the system's advertised fuel saving gains were illusory. The i20's mild-hybrid system was complex and not problem-free, and has been dropped for 2025 i20 cars marketed in the UK. So, if considering buying a small MHEV, think twice...

I would have thought it was easier on a Mk4 - at least there's now no need to scrabble under the dashboard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH_zEQXmfD8

A Fabia Mk4's cabin (pollen) filter is behind the passenger-side glove-box. Gaining access to the filter (of a right-hand-drive Mk4) is described (with photos) in my 26 April 2024 posting on this forum thread. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/516188-fusebox-opening-on-mk4-fabia/#comment-5847128

It's unlikely that Skoda will ever market a Fabia-size hybrid of any sort. This recent "Autocar" article https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/2025-volkswagen-id-2-will-be-even-better-concept said that VW planned to have an inexpensive Polo-size EV (called the ID2all) on sale in 2026, and I'd expect Skoda to subsequently market a version of that.