Matty Le Swan

Hi guys, I just wanted to post this as I've seen a fairly dramatic decrease in my fuel consumption over the last 2 months. I tend to use Total's premium brand of diesel (Excelium?), but the figures I'm sharing here were from a tank of their standard diesel. The photo below was taken this morning, after my 12 mile commute into Manchester. I consider 70mpg to be pretty impressive. The photo was taken after I had arrived at work and had been stationery for a minute or so. Yesterday I actually recorded 72.5 mpg. Now obviously school holidays makes a big difference, but even so I was achieving +63mpg quite easily even before the school holidays. Interestingly, on a 100 mile motorway run over the weekend at a steady 75-80 with my (slim!)wife and our 2 year old boy and some luggage on board, I averaged 49.9mpg which I find very disappointing. The car loves to trundle around at low revs (sub 1500) and this is where I get by far the best MPG. A 6th gear would make a huge difference on the motorway. I hope this of interest to you guys and to anybody wondering whether to go for TSI or TDI.

Hmmm, I'm surprised at this. My Citroen C5 didn't, neiher did my Kia Rio, Seat Ibiza, Honda Accord or Renault Clio. What a shameful list of past cars!!!

I didn't realise just how addictive chasing +60 MPG would be!

I did consider it, as I'd driven a Yeti with that engine in it and was seriously impressed, but when I test drove a Fab with the 105 crdi the decision was made. I probably don't do enough miles to warrant the diesel (13k a year) but I just loved the way it drove. I also love the £20 per year car tax and how frugal the car is. Congratulations on the baby!

Yes the VRS sounds like an amazing car. I am jealous... but you know, perhaps at 31 I'm old before my time, I really like the balance of warm hatch performance and frugal economy and running costs.

]Hello, So - I have now covered 2500 miles in my gorgeous* shiny white Fabia. I posted an initial review back in November but thought I would give a brief update. Positives Performance is brilliant. It pulls excellently from 1500RPM through to 3500RPM giving a useful wide band of torque. It is impressively smooth and refined too - I often forget I'm in a diesel car when on the move. Economy - I acheived 62.3 MPG on my twelve mile commute from near Oldham to Manchester. Admittedly, this was exceptional with traffic being lighter due to half term and I had a lucky run with the lights, but still - fantastic nonetheless. Usually, I get 50MPG without trying. On the way home, things differ and I generally get very early 40's. On the motorway I tend to average mid 50's. Comfort - the car is incredibly comfortable. Some long runs from Manchester to London have been an absolute pleasure. The centre armrest gets a lot of use, even when commuting and it adds to the big car feel. Coming down from a new model Citroen C5 has been no hardship whatsoever. In fact, in many respects it feels like a step up. Stereo - excellent. Really good sound quality and volume. Space - the estate is brilliant, the seats are easily folded down and I love the removable luggage blind. It has proved to be a great load lugger - seriously impressed with how much this car can carry. Negatives The interior trim under the glove box is hanging off. I tried to put it back yesterday thinking it was just unclipped, but as I did this my radio crackled on and off and went into safe mode. Hmm - back to the dealers methinks. The door seals are crap in that water drips on me if it has been raining heavily. I think this is more a design fault leading to water running onto the seals when I get into the car as opposed to general ingress or faulty seals. I'll monitor it. So, all in all I am delighted with the car and couldn't be happier with it. I know it looks a bit dodgy, but actually, I like it. I gather that some cretins in Rochdale did too, which would explain why they were pointing at me, laughing and generally being gleeful as I was stuck in traffic outside their shop!

Yup, mine does this. I assumed it was trying to do the DPF regeneration of whatever its called as it is often accompanied by a hot electric smell. Mine has 1300 on the clock.

I have to be honest and say that whilst I love my new Fabia Estate, it is ugly - particularly the rear end. The front's OK, but I agree that overall it does indeed look like a sagging sponge!!!

And yet look at how many you see on the road. It doesn't say a lot for the intelligence of a vast swathe of the population does it? Nor do the viewing figures for the X Factor and similar programs.

I just wanted to follow my review up with a quick note about the engine... Wow!! It truly is an excellent unit. I'm following the Skoda running-in instructions as closely as possible (regularly take to 75% max RPM in each gear once warm for first 1000km) so the fuel economy at the moment is not so good (never less that 40mpg though), but driveability is amazing. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that it is more fun to drive than my old Ibiza 1.9 130, which was rapid, but had that PD flat spot (or chasm) below 1800rpm. Because this unit develops max torque at 1500 RPM and is so willing to rev, it delivers a huge amount of linear pulling power from very low in the rev range all the way through to 3750 (which is the maximum I tend to go to at the moment). Couple the above with the exceptionally long gearing and you find that as you change up, you're right on the next gear's peak torque and can blast all the way up to 3750 again! 3rd gear is just a brilliant 'do it all' gear; from trundling along at 25 mph it will pull strongly and smoothly to +60mph. 2nd is just a hoot! What a fantastic car. Looking forwards to spending some time on the motorway next weekend to really get to know the engine.] I mentioned that this car is far and away better than the one I took for a test drive and I wonder whether Skoda have changed the ECU recently? The engine is so quiet, so smooth and so quick that I can't understand why it could be criticised?

When picking up my new car last week, the finance geezer at the dealership couldn't resist trying to [mis]sell me a Skoda servicing deal. He worked it out that at an approximate mileage of 12k a year, it would cost me £18.80 per month for 3 years servicing. Basically £670 for 3 years servicing, plus air con cleaning and brake fluid replacement at year 2. He assured me this was outstanding value for money and that I wouldn't get servicing cheaper at any other Skoda dealership. He would, wouldn't he? But it sounds like b0!!0cks to me - especially when I read here that Audi offer a five-year, 50,000-mile service plan, which costs a mere £250. I wonder what you guys think of this and whether any of you have negotiated Skoda down on this plan price? Regards Matt

Lovely looking car John... be sure to give me a flash if you see me, I'm also in Manchester.

Estate man - great, coherent information. Ta.

I've had my Fabia since Thursday and am delighted with it, but... I'm wondering what sat nav units people are using and how they arrange them given that the power socket is positioned next to the handbrake which makes for annoying trailing power cables? Thanks Matt

No, I haven't activated them Grahame. I'll do a search to find out how it's done.