tlx

I have had two new Fabias (1 and 2FL) but won't be buying this one - hate the front, it looks cheap. Skoda made a big mistake with the new style grille. Yes, Seat is looking more attractive. They are more stylish and the latest interiors are a great improvement on previous efforts. I'm also disappointed by the creaks and whines in my FL after only 25000 miles, not as good as the Fabia 1. Hope they do more about NVH in the new one or they'll be lagging behind.

Based on my experience (1.9 40000 miles, 1.6 25000 miles) you will find the 1.6 is much less clattery than the 1.9 which makes for a nicer driving experience. It won't pull away so smoothly from 1000 revs as the 1.9, but it does pull well from 1500. There's plenty of torque there and it always pulls well, but use the revs and you will be very surprised just how well it accelerates. Make sure you get the 105 rather than the 90 or 75 engines - it really flies. Economy seems to vary greatly between individual engines. Some people report good mileage others poor mileage, and it is not just down to driving style. Mine is at the poor end (I get better mileage out of my BMW 320D). Generally you'll get better mileage with a warm engine and longer runs, lower speeds, fewer hills - all seem to make a tremendous difference to mpg. I get less out of the 1.6 than the 1.9, but its still a better drive. We do quite a bit of short running and you can sometimes smell the dpf regenerating, but we've never seen the dpf light or had any problems.

We have the same engine, have also been disappointed by the fuel consumption and get similar unhelpful and unsympathetic responses from our local dealer. This is my second new Fabia and I now wouldn't buy another with a diesel engine. We get much better mpg out of our BMW 320D which is older than the 2010 Fabia - it's delivered over 50mpg over several thousand miles while we have an average of under 44mpg from the Fabia. We're on 23500 miles, have had the rear brakes cleaned out, but no new fuel filter. Ours now seems to be running rough and I had thought it might be the DPF trying to regen after some short trips, but a good long run has not improved things. When it's going well its a great engine and occasionally we have seen decent mpg, but not often and its hard to see any logic to the variation. There have been loads of threads on this subject with all sorts of theories and no clear resolution. Time to move on for us!

Remove the oil filler cap and check whether you have a whitish emulsion on it. This could only be condensation (perhaps more likely as your car doesn't get much use), but it could be head gasket (coolant getting into the oil). If there is emulsion, clean it off and take the car for a good long run to drive off the condensation. If the emulsion comes back, be concerned. I had the same unexplained coolant loss plus emulsioning and was told it was just condensation. It wasn't, and the fault was eventually found to be a leaking head gasket (Fabia 1, 1.9TDI). For the record, my Fabia 2, 1.6CR has done 23500 miles in a bit over 3 years and the coolant has never needed topping up.

Bought the Skoda accessory when I bought the car, easy to fit. Still sticking on and in good condition after more than 3 years. Agree that it should be standard on the Elegance, along with sill protectors.

Just to clarify that the wheel and tyre you have will fit your car. The wheel is 15 inch but the tyre profile is 55, so that the wheel and tyre have the same diameter and radius as your 16 inch alloys with a 45 profile tyre. The speed limit shown can effectively be ignored - you will have one tyre which is 195 wide while the other three are 205, so not a huge difference. Save your money!

There are (used to be) two types. I have the cheaper, plain black plastic ones which are sturdy and practical. They are very easy to fit and cover a subtantial area of the sill. Basically they just stick on - you work out where they go, peel off the cover strip and whack them in place.

What's missing in all this, and what nobody here seems particularly concerned about is, that the owner does not appear to have received any expression of sympathy or concern. It's called empathy, putting yourself in the other person's shoes and showing that you understand and share the distress of the customer (or anyone else for that matter). The person receiving the complaint should ask themslves 'How would I feel if this had happened to me, and what sort of response would I expect?'. Empathy is a fundamental skill for everyone involved with customer service, and indeed for anyone aspiring to be a decent human being. Sadly it seems to be an emotional skill which is beyond the repetoire of many in our society, so that it is a common occurence that complaints are not met with a response that takes ownership of the problem and demonstrates regret. The response we should receive is along the lines of: 'I'm sorry to hear that you've had a problem'. 'I'm sorry, we appear to have made a error'). The missing 'sorry' response is often followed by the 'fob off' (not my department, not our problem). Organisations (and countries) where lack of empathy is a problem tend not to prosper. Even the best organisations make mistakes and the skill is to manage them well and learn from them. The clever organisation/country recognises the value of the complaint. It is an opportunity to demonstrate that you are a caring and efficient organisation seeking to delight the customer and earn their continuing loyalty. It is also a check on the current effectiveness of your organisation's systems and procedures. Clever organisations recruit people with emotional intelligence and assist them to develop excellent customer service skills. These organisations learn from their mistakes and review and change their procedures to avoid any recurrence. Fortunately more and more British organisations are realising the benefit of such an approach, and as customers we should seek them out. When we complain and receive an unempathetic response we should complain up the line and suggest that this is not a very clever way to run a business. If nothing changes we should take our business elsewhere. Accepting poor customer service only encourages it's continuance.

No, my 105 has drums - but it stops as well if not better than my Fab 1 1.9TDI which had rear discs (but smaller discs at the front). Go for the 105, easier to resell.

See thread 'Tow Bar Question', 29/30 September 2012, page 6 of this forum.

You can buy these tyres much cheaper on line and the websites will arrange for local fitting which is included in the price. I priced 205 45 R16 for my Fabia yesterday with Tyre Traders, Bridgestone ER300s were £98.40 each, at Black Circles £108.34. The other standard fit tyre on current Fabia is the Continental Premium Contact 2, around £102 at both. Often car suspensions are designed around particular tyres so I prefer to stick in general with what the manufacturer fits as original equipment. Both websites will offer you plenty of alternatives. Check the website tyrereviews for info on all these tyres. I prefer to buy premium tyres (like the 2 mentioned) as though they might cost a bit more generally I've found that performance and wear are worth the extra. A touring tather than a sport tyre will give you a more comfortable ride as the walls are more flexible.

Try a Fabia with a well run in 1.6 CR (more than 10 000 miles) before you decide. This is a great engine with plenty of power and torque, and better economy than the VRS (though economy is variable and they seem to give their best economy when well warmed up and in flat, warm environments below 60mph). With the diesel you should save on road tax, fuel costs, insurance and probably on depreciation.

Ours, purchased September 2010, stood in an airport car park for 5 weeks from mid Feb to late March 2011 and again for 3 weeks up to 3 Feb this year and started first time on both occasions, though both followed 200 mile motorway journeys to the airport.

I had one fitted on our new Fabia Elegance 1.6 CR. Dealer DM Keith, Bradford, advised against the factory one, arranged for a detachable bar to be fitted locally and charged £335 fitted (September 2010) which I thought was very reasonable. It's an excellent towbar too!

tlx, on 03 May 2012 - 19:52, said: I was surprised to find that the full size steel spare ordered with my Fabia FL is marked like a spacesaver, i.e. 'do not exceed 80kph/50mph' and is rated H, a lower speed than the other tyres. Hence it cannot be rotated with the other tyres. This does seem rather odd - why supply a full size spare wheel and then fit a 50mph rated tyre? It doesn't seem to make any sense. Could a standard tyre be substituted, perhaps by a worn original tyre, making the speed of use unlimited - a much more satisfactory arrangement? it's the same on the previous ford focus models. the tyre and rim are exactly the same as the standard steel road wheels on the cheap spec cars so can be obviously be used at speeds up the the rating on the tyre. by the way, H is rated at up to 130mph so you should be fine they put the 'max 50mph' label on to cover their @rses. Further to my 3 May post, the standard tyres are Continental Conti Premium Contact 2 205/45 R16 83W and the optional factory fitted spare is Bridgestone Turanza ER 300 195/55 R15 85H. The spare is a 15" steel and the car wheels are 16" alloys. The spare is narrower (195) than the tyres on car (205), and the tyre profile (depth) is 45 on the car and 55 on the spare (as it has to be to compensate for the smaller diameter of the spare wheel). The load rating is 83 (487kgs) for the car tyres and, strangely, more 85 (515kgs) for the spare. The speed rating is W (168mph) on the car and H (130mph) for the spare, so as pointed out of no practical consequence. In summary, the spare tyre has a slightly narrower profile and is mounted on a smaller wheel but has the same rolling circumference since the spare tyre has a higher profile. The spare tyre cannot be rotated with the car tyres as it is a different radius, but there is no practical safety or other reason why the spare should be limited to 50mph.