Optimist

Well done Kev. Looks like we're both happy with our decisions regardless of the sceptics. Many thanks everyone for your inputs. Looks like I need to transfer to the VW forums then?

Yep, everyone's happy and I'm bored now!

Actually, the VW would have been just over £26000 without discounts and comparing like with like specifications, the Skoda would be just over £19000 without discounts so I'm afraid you're wrong Furbytom, the VW IS £7000 dearer making the Fabia a good deal! Assuming the discounts received on the VW were matched by Skoda, then the price difference would still be £7000. I don't call £7000 uncomfortably close, depending on which figures you use, it's at least 27% dearer.

Thanks Kev, and sorry for the typo errors. Of course I meant 1.6Tdi (not 1.9) and at the end Fabia Estate (God knows what a Fania Edtste is - but it sounds a bit fruity!!!)

Well said Kev. I feel a little bit of a fraud now as today I have agreed to a new VW Golf SV 1.9 Tdi 110PS. DSG. I re-visited the showroom with SWMBO and once again thought I'd like one BUT over £4000 dearer. However, to cut a long story short I got £2500 off as part of their Feb deals. They included free metallic paint, front and rear parking sensors, free GAP cover (VWs own version), free 3 years servicing, Williams F1 Paint Protection AND they offered me £2000 MORE as a part exchange on my Audi A1. What could I say - yes please done and dusted. I STILL feel the Fabia Estate fully loaded with extras is a great deal BUT I think the VW will give a better residual value. So, search is over and I am delighted. Good luck to all you Fania Edtste folks, I'm sure it will be a great car.

Yep, it is deffo available on the Estate: Removeable towball is a £410 extra. AND you can now get the panoramic glass roof on the estate for £725.

Why would I knock off the extras I want???? When you put those "extras:" on ALL the other cars that have been recommended as alternatives on here, the prices are WAY above those of the Fabia Estate,hence my original entry. Someone suggested the Ford Focus ST Estate - I'm 67 and the wife is 65, why would we want a car that hase 250hp and does 154 mph?????? I was trying to compare like with like re-size, capacity, cost of extras etc. NOT looking for a track car (estate)! The whole point of my comparison was to show the Fabia Estate WITH those extras was so much cheaper than all the other with the same - or even fewer extras. I have looked at what was suggested and I am still not convinced there is a better package available WITH a fully loaded "extras plan"! I admit I have yet to test drive the car - I've only checked it over on the forecourt - I am a bit concerned about the comments about it sounding like a tractor - I was assured by the salesperson they were all a lot quieter than the Mk IIs, both petrol and diesel. The car we are changing from is a 2011 1.6 Audi A1 - a beautifully built small car, but that IS like a tractor until you're out on the motorway! A new one of those (which would be too small and defeats the aim of more space) is AT LEAST £20600 and doesn't include a towball, turning fog lights, spare wheel, etc etc. AND there is no estate option.

Yep! Practicality and convenience with economy. NONE of the cars mentioned by others can match the mpg of the Fabia 1.4 Tdi 90PS. Mind you, I haven't made my mind up yet - still researching and hoping that whichever one I prefer is OK with SWMBO. Thanks for the suggestions though. I will check out all.

OK. That's your opinion. Just check out the specs though, including fuel economy - I'm not as mental as you might think!

Bluecar1 I think you'll find I was comparing similar sized vehicles - check the physical dimensions and boot volumes etc. Also, I didn't mention the Kia Rio at all. However, I still believe my comparisons are sufficient to show the value for money of the Fabia Estate. Having in the last 10 years owned a VW Tiguan, a Merc C class and M class, , a Volvo S60 and V50, a Kia Sorento and a Skoda Superb, I am in an informed position to be able to assess build quality, practicality and value for money! I appreciate that some finance schemes are questionable, especially in these times of low interest rates and I sympathise with those who feel the Skoda Scheme is questionable, but that's all about financing the purchase, not a criticism of the merchandise. I know this thread started about financing, so rather than press on I'll say no more. Love the forum though - always very interesting and informative.

This is all very interesting and informative BUT having spent ages researching the options for replacing my wife's 4-year old Audi A1 with a small car with loads of luggage space (seats up or seats down), with an annual mileage of well over 12,000 and pricing out the "reasonable" option, I have considered: Petrol v Diesel Manual v DSG (or DCT) Hatchback or Estate Physical size Residual values Basic specs and cost of desired options Design features Aesthetic appearance AND looking at: Kia Ceed (Hatchback and SW) Hyundai i30 BMW Series 2 Active Tourer (what a lovely car!) VW Golf SV Skoda Fabia Estate Volvo V40 Merc A class etc (i.e. a range of manufacturers) I have costed up a Fabia SE-L 1.4 Tdi 90PS DSG - £18,385 PLUS Panoramic roof £725 Detachable towball £410 Sunset glass £180 Desired paintwork £175 Cornering foglights £130 Variable boot floor £110 Front and rear parking sensors £290 Space-saving spare wheel £85 - the overall cost is £20490, that's - £7500 cheaper than a BMW; over £6000 cheaper than an Audi A3; £5000 cheaper than a Volvo; £4000 cheaper than a VW Golf SV; £2400 cheaper than a Golf Hatchback; £2000 cheaper than either Kia or Hyundai, AND none of these others include Panoramic Sunroof or detachable towballl!!!!!!! I think its time some of you guys got real - times change, prices go up, demand increases prices, improving reputation increases prices, improved technology increases prices etc etc. I have viewed ALL the above cars and test driven most of them - and I STILL think the Skoda Fabia Estate DSG looks a no-brainer compared to the others. But no doubt many of you will disagree so feel free to put me right!

That seems odd. My last two cars had SatNavs and Blutooth (Skoda then Kia) and both linked to the iPhone no probs. or is Mirrorlink something more complex? What is AppleCar anyway?

I Just hope they quickly make mirrorlink work with the iPhones! Seems a bit of a let down that it doesn't from the word GO!

HI again folks. Hudson1, as far as I could tell when I viewed the Estate for real, the back seats did not lift up as you wished they did, but the squabs did go more horizontal when the headrests were raised before lowering the squab. Stug45, the configurator is rubbish - it only allows one choice of engine and not all the options are there. The saleslady I saw showed me the printout from Skoda which confirmed you can now order the sunroof and a detachable towbar for the estate - just no prices, but expected to be similar if not the same as for the hatchback.. There was one other option that is now available but I forget what it was - wife thinks it was to do with the roofbars! (Old age creeping in again) - me that is, not her! I just wish the more powerful diesel (105PS) was available with DSG - God knows why its only available with the 90PS engine - hey ho! I'm hoping SWMBO will agree to us ordering one for September 1st but she's a bit focussed on the new Audi Q2 promised for sometime in 2016. Probably about £8000 more!!!!!

Went to see the new estate last week - its great to look at, yet to test drive though as they didn't have the diesel DSG available, only the petrol DSG in the hatchback. Also the saleslady informed me the estate can now be ordered with a sunroof and a removable towball. Regarding the rear seats - when they are lowered they go way beyond the 45 degrees mentioned by Hudson1. If you remember to raise the head rests a little before you lower the backs of the seats, they go almost flat and with the weight of whatever you put in the back, they go even flatter - not quite horizontal though.

Well, a year ago I part-exchanged my Skoda Superb Twindoor 4x4 170ps (probably the best car I've ever had in over 45 years driving) for a Kia Sorento KX2 SATNAV Auto - the Superb was an exceptional car and I LOVED it, but I needed something heavier for my new caravan which was 1470Kg unladen (the Kia is a great tow-car if anyone wants to buy mine!!!!). To cut a long and very boring story short, my wife and I have now decided to go down the Motorhome route so new Motorhome has been ordered, caravan has gone, Kia is going, her lovely little 3-year old Audi A1 is going and all we have to do now is choose which small(ish) car to get instead (I dont want two cars AND a Motorhome) ??????? Wife wont drive big cars and has an aversion to estate cars (even though we've had at least three over the years) - however, I have JUST discovered the new Fabia Estate SE L 1.2TSi DSG - and I want one!!!!! It looks like a slightly stretched hatchback, has an amazing load carrying possibility and looks great. What's more my wife "quite likes it"..... only down side so far is my local Skoda dealer doesn't yet have one to look at "in the flesh" so to speak. I've looked at BMW Active Sport (£27,000+) - Audi A3 Sportback (£26,000+) - Volvo V40 (£25,000+) - VW Golf SV (£24,000+) etc. etc. and although they are all very nice, none of them offer such great value for money as the Fabia Estate (equivalent specs £18,000) - as you can see with comparable specs they are all several thousands of pounds dearer. I do have one other small problem though, IF when we see one for real we like it, do we go for the 1.2TSi 110PS DSG (petrol) or the 1.4TDi 90PS DSG (diesel)? We haven't bought a petrol engined car in over 25 years now and are very keen diesel fans but is the small diesel in the Fabia worth the extra money AND is the 1.2 petrol engine man enough for the job? Any useful comments would be helpful! (Sorry if I've bored you all!)

Not too sure where to put this message - having had my Superb Hatchback 170 4x4 for almost 2 years I STILL think it's one of the best cars I've ever had including Mercs, Volvos, VWs etc. Have towed over 3000 miles and it's been BRILLIANT. However, having bought a new and much heavier caravan and concerned about weight ratios etc. I am changing to a Kia Sorento KX2 SATNAV Auto next week. Soda pulls new caravan very well but difference in weights is a bit of a concern. I will REALLY miss my Skoda and wish I could have both but financially not sane. Bye everyone and long live the Skoda Superb......... It was SUPERB!

Yawn.........!!!!!!!!

I have a 2012 (new in March) 170 4x4 Elegance Hatchback. Have now done just under 20,000 miles about 2,500 of which has been with a heavy caravan on the back. Brim to brim tankful at 70-80 mph on French Autoroutes = ave 44mpg Around town and some motorway = ave 40 mpg With heavy caravan on the back = ave 28 mpg OVERALL since new (incl with caravan) = 38mpg Pretty good I recon and a brilliant tow car!

Have just been browsing through the Skoda UK website and unless I'm going blind, I can't find a new model Superb Elegance 170 Hatchback 4x4 WITHOUT DSG.....I wonder why they scrapped the manual version. Mine is 2012 and is great! There seems to be a 140 version but not 170....strange considering the 170 is such a great tow car.

Oh my God! For about the third or fourth time I've spent AGES trying to work out what on earth all the Columbus 510 version information means and whether I should/could up-date my SatNav software? Like others on here I am totally confused by the references to Version numbers e.g. 7.0, Map Version HDD numbers e.g. 7551, SW version numbers e.g. 3984 etc etc. All I want to know is whether there is a map update available and will it work on my Columbus. Delivery part number = 3T0035680C HW version = H55 SW version = 3984 Map = West Europe Map version HDD = 7551 What on earth does all that mean? Car (Superb Elegance 4x4 170 Twindoor) was supplied in March 2012. I know this has been on here before but I am STILL left totally confused! HELP!!!!!!

Hey, I just tried mine out and .....Hey Presto, the windows opened when I held the unlock button down etc......blimey! I didn't know that either! I've had my car 17 months.

I bought the Elegance 4x4 Twindoor 170 from new in March 2012. Recently changed caravans from a Swift Challenger 540 - MTPLM 1500Kg to Coachman VIP 454/4 - MTPLM 1625Kg and was a little unsure as most outfit pairing websites said the Superb, even as a 4x4 is a little light but loads of power. The Coachman is a heavy caravan BUT the Superb towed it as if it wasn't there (well almost) and I got over 30mpg whilst towing. I was already very VERY happy with my Superb, but my fears about the weight of the caravan were completely blown away on first outing. I have been towing caravans for 30+ years throughout the UK and Europe, mainly with the bigger 4x4 type SUVs but I must say the Superb is the best towcar I've ever had. The luggage space is HUGE and no need to put extras inside the caravan. With the 170 engine, there is oodles of power, quick off the mark and once under way was able to put car in cruise control (traffic permitting) and sit back and enjoy. I am delighted with this car and the way it performs. The extra cost is WELL worth it if you tow a caravan. Don't forget, the 170 4x4 Twindoor won Towcar Of The Year ward in 2009! If I were to be in the position right now of buying again I'd definitely go for the 170 4x4 - it's great!

Had a Westphalia detachable fitted after car purchase (Superb Twindoor 4x4 170Elegance). Was just over £600 (Skoda dealer quoted £1000). It has to be fitted by someone who is experienced in linking the electrics to the Superbs system otherwise not all the warning systems work and you could invalidate your warranty. Bite the bullet and have it done by a towcar specialist. If you have a Trident Trailers near you, they are 100% reliable.