Hi,

Come January I am hoping to order a Fabia 2 1.2L 12V (I decided to save up £4,000 to put down and so far have only £1800). It wil mostly be used for a city runaround, with the odd road-trip thrown in for good measure.

However, I recently visited my brother in Poland and he used to be an apprentice mechanic, albeit for a motorcycle dealership in Bristol. I showed him my planned spec and his thinking was that 70bhp isn't great for a 1.2: he thinks I should save a bit of extra cash and go for a 1.4L 16V which has 85bhp.

The difference in cost isn't huge because I work for a car hire firm (Europcar) as a consequence of which I get 15% off the cost of the car. So a new 1.2L 12V would cost me £8,355.50 OTR (£9,830 without the discount) and a 1.4L 16V would cost me £8,844.25 OTR (£10,405 without the discount). Bargain!

Is 70bhp good for a 1.2L on Skodas, or is my brother right? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Dave

My wife's has 68bhp, which is more than adequate, even with the air con running (although it's a Mk1 - I don't know how much of a difference that would make...)

A lot of it could be down to how long you're going to keep it - the 1.2 is chain-cam, which is less prone to failure that the belt-cam 1.4 (although not indestructible as one of Lummox's threads will testify). OTOH, an extra couple of hundred quid on servicing three or four years down the line may not be relevant.

I would say there wasn't much in it in terms of round-town performance, so the slightly better economy of the 1.2 might swing it for me! If you're bothered about out-and-out performance, get the 1.6 or one of the diesels!

I think the best advice is to test drive both and see what you think. Many reviewers have commented on how well the 1.2 suits the car, and is more responsive than its power and official performance figures suggest. The 1.2 does have a distinctive 3 cylinder "thrum" which many seem to like, but it's not so refined as the 1.4. i'd say the 1.2 is fine for mostly town use, and enough for occasional longer trips, especially if the car isn't heavily loaded. How many passengers do you usually carry? The 1.4 is a good compromise if you do have more of a balance of shorter and longer runs, and is quite powerful (and has good pulling power so better on the motorway) and refined. It's not so "characterful" as the 1.2 though. There's less than £600 between them new. I hope this helps.

My daughters 1.2 is supposed to be 70bhp but it is actually 80bhp :eek: found out when she put it on jkm's rolling road seems to be quite a good engine and to be honest is quite light so the car could have a better bhp per ton ration than the 1.4

My daughters 1.2 is supposed to be 70bhp but it is actually 80bhp :eek: found out when she put it on jkm's rolling road seems to be quite a good engine and to be honest is quite light so the car could have a better bhp per ton ration than the 1.4

Yeah, I would go for the 1.2 12v or Jump straight up to the 1.6 if you need the extra performance, I'm getting very good fuel economy out of my 1.6 tiptronic too:thumbup:

Remember to consider road tax bands and insurance also.

I expect the 1.2 costs less to tax, chain drive cam also, so no need to change.

Don't forget the tax bands. Personally I think the 1.2 is a better package than the 1.4 having driven those two as hire cars. The 1.2 was more frugal around town, but does like to drink a bit on the motorway.

If you are unsure take a fiesta 1.25 style /corsa 1.2 life out for a drive from a dealer.

These are your bog standard small petrol engine so if you are happy with that and the skoda feels nicer then you're on par.

I'd investigate the price you could get on a 1.4TDI as they are only band b and if the prrice is the same as the 1.4 would make a good buy.

If it's a lot more I wouldn't bother though as you probably wouldn't recover the cost due to fuel prices.

i've got the 1.6 for a week as a courtesy car,if they do one with less power it will be painful,i would describe the 1.6 as the bare minimum you should be looking at ,at times this week its been a bit painful how puny it actually is,it does make a nice noise tho,and handles suprisingly well

The 1.2 is fine if you potter round town. It will cruise at 80 odd on the motorway, albiet at bit noisy and fuel economy suffers a bit. It will struggle if you load it up and the hills are steep. Its insuarnace group 2, so cheap.

HTH

Andy

i've got the 1.6 for a week as a courtesy car,if they do one with less power it will be painful,i would describe the 1.6 as the bare minimum you should be looking at ,at times this week its been a bit painful how puny it actually is,it does make a nice noise tho,and handles suprisingly well

What car do you normally drive - i.e. what are you comparing it with? I drive a Mk1 2.0i and had a Mk2 1.4 16v for a courtesy car. I was not expecting much in performance - and that's what I got - but the handling was not so good either.

It does depend what you are used to driving. I bought a 1.6 last week after owning a 1.4 comfort. The leap in power I found considerable and I rarely use the power it has driving as I do around town but I do enjoy opening it up when I have the opportunity.

If, on the other hand I had been driving round a Golf GTi for the last ten years I may well have been disappointed. Though I have to say nothing would depress me more than getting the sort of mpg that you get from those types of machines these days.

i'd say the 1.6 is a good compromise.

i've got the 1.6 for a week as a courtesy car,if they do one with less power it will be painful,i would describe the 1.6 as the bare minimum you should be looking at ,at times this week its been a bit painful how puny it actually is,it does make a nice noise tho,and handles suprisingly well

For the others that asked, oilburninnut i belive drives a Fabia VRS SE.

What sort of load do you usually carry? I found an old shape Micra 1.0l adequate for town driving and commuting 1 up, but it really struggled with 4 adults on board.

i do indeed drive a vrs se,and a modded one at that,173bhp/346ft lbs, so probably an unfair comparison,one thing i have noticed about the 1.6 is the aweful fuel econamy,the car itself is really growing on me,i love the quirky little thing,but coming home from work in traffic today over the hour it averaged 14.2 mpg,and over the last 300 miles(which was all it did on the tank full of fuel)it averaged 33mpg,this morning going to work in clear traffic,driving as economically as i could,steady 56mph down the bypass,coasting down the hills i still only managed 40mpg,the car will still be tight as its only done 2300 miles,but even so i expected more from it in the econamy terms,anyone else have expierience of the 1.6? and is this typical?

I've got the 1.4 16v, the performance is okay for my cross-country drive. We used to have two Astras in the family, a 1.4 16v and a 1.6 16v. The 1.6 does have significantly more oomph.

If you are used to driving a powerful diesel, a small petrol engine is going to feel weak and slow and you do need to use the gears more. However it is quieter and cruises nicely.

I've had two diesels, one was brilliant - the Nova 1.5 TD with the Isuzu engine. It went like stink and did over 60 mpg. Our 1.7D Corsa was a slug and an unreliable one at that. It was enough to put me off diesel for life.

i've got the 1.6 for a week as a courtesy car,if they do one with less power it will be painful,i would describe the 1.6 as the bare minimum you should be looking at ,at times this week its been a bit painful how puny it actually is,it does make a nice noise tho,and handles suprisingly well

I agree the 1.6 is **** once you're used to a 1.9/2.0 PD engine, but i made my previous comments as relative to other similar cars.

You have to work it hard to make good progress and fuel economy was cack.

This is my 5th Oil Burner and I have to say, I am happy with my 80hp level 2. In the past I ve had ZX TD, Rover 45 2.0td, so it had alot to live up to and pound for pound is very good.

I agree the 1.6 is **** once you're used to a 1.9/2.0 PD engine, but i made my previous comments as relative to other similar cars.

This thread started off with someone talking about getting a 70 or 85 bhp car before people waded in with talk of how even a 105 bhp fabia is "puny".

DaveHarries doesn't sound like he wants a VRS or anything like that given that he is looking at a 12V.