I've been looking at various cars over the last month and have finally decided to go for a Fabia Estate 3 1.4TDi.

Having driven a Golf Bluemotion 1.9TDi and Audi A3 TDIe I've concluded that whilst both are nice cars they are very overpriced compared to the Skoda and to be honest there's not a lot of difference in size and performance.

And being mine's a company car it saves shedloads on rental and company car tax.

Only problem is now I'm ordering one need to decide options and colour. I'm thinking of either Flamenco Red or Cappachino. For options I'm not sure whether any are needed on the 3 spec as it's so good already.

Anyone got any thoughts on the above for an (almost) new Skoda owner?

Hi

The 3 is well specced as you know. You're lucky to get much if any increase in trade-in value for any extras over the standard spec so I'd say be sure you really want them and that they'll add quality to your ownership experience. When I went through this exercise, I set myself an upspeccing limit eg £500 to concentrate my mind on what I really wanted!

If you carry a family you might consider rear electric windows and rear centre headrest, and maybe sunset/privacy glass. The extra storage boxes under front seats are cheap, but would you need/use them?

Some contributors have found the multi-function stalk on the steering wheel handy.

If you are concerned about safety, the ESP is well worth considering. It's not cheap, and you'd only value it when you needed it: though that could in theory be a life preserving situation! And i think rear discs come with it.

The thing with speccing up the good value, but not cheap 3, is that you start to approach the prices of bigger cars.

Colour choice is very individual. There is a flamenco red estate on the Fabia II forum and it looks excellent I think. I recently saw two hatches in this colour and was struck by how well it suited the car. Capuccino suits the hatch too, and the Octavia estate, but may not be 'strong' enough for the Fabia estate, though it will be highlighted by the black rub strips and A -pillar so will probably look pretty fine! Storm blue looks very good too (see Little Jo's threads). If you went for this or black, or maybe even flamenco red, you might think about the silver roof rails option: £100 for cosmetics, but goes well with some strong dark colours.

Lastly, the two cars you comared the Fabia to had 1.9 TDIs. Would you consider spending your upspeccing money on the 1.9 TDI instead? c.£500 but you'd get a proportion of it back at resale, and you might find it improves your ownership experience quite often. Just a thought.

Having recently downsized to my first ever Skoda, a Fabia 3 hatch, I must say how impressed I am with it. This follows a diet of several Japanese cars over the last couple of decades so it was a boldish move for me to go Skoda. The model I went for was the 1.6 Tiptronic since I wanted to return to an automatic. It has replaced a 2.2 diesel and initially I was concerned I may miss its torque but the Fabia has not dissapointed at all.

It is about as far removed from those old Skoda jokes of years ago as it could be - the one I recall was the owner who went into a garage and asked if they had a wiper blade for a Skoda - the reply being " OK, seems like a fair exchange" Those days have long passed, thankfully and the build quality is at least the equal, if not superior to mainstream Japanese marques. I'm not at all surprised you find it better than the Golf or A3 either.

The 3 is well appointed, all I added was under seat boxes, sill protectors and mud flaps. The factory fitted multi functional steering wheel module and rear power windows I requested but declined due to availability problems. Integrated Bluetooth, Sat Nav and leather would have been nice to have seen on the options list.

As to colour, it is a personal thing and my first choice was Satin Grey but due to availability, I went for the Brilliant Silver -oh no, not another silver car! Trouble is you must consider resale a few years down the line and while I do like the car in Tangerine, being a bit of a fashion colour could it effect resale later on - the jury is out? However no such concerns for a company car owner.

I've just purchased a Fabia 3 hatch.

I went for the door sill covers (I ordered and paid for the rubber ones but the garage fitted the stainless steel ones), rubber boot mat (to keep it clean - I have 2 boys into football and rugby so it gets very dirty), rubber car mats (I'll put the carpet ones back in when I come to sell the car), automatic door lock (fitted by the dealer for free) and a rear bumper cover foil.

Yes, the Fabia 3 estate is super! I opted for metallic paint (storm blue which looks fab in the summer sunshine on the rare days when we see any!), ESP for safety and the underseat storage. I also had mudflaps, rear bumper foil and rear bumper protection strip fitted by the dealer. The rear bumper protection strip is £30, but it provides a nice bit of protection during loading and unloading. It looks good too and doesn't look like something that has been glued on as as afterthought.

I did get a floor net for the boot, it stops things rolling around and is really effective at restraining cameras, etc.

Beware if you put metal framed specs in the spectacle holder if it's hot though, they warm up and burn your nose if you aren't careful.

I've had my Fabia for about 2 1/2 months now and it has been perfect. The use of space is brilliant and even tall chaps over 6 feet tall can make themselves comfy in the back.

My second fav colour was satin grey. Storm blue does show up the mud, but I'm still happy with it.

Just a quick question to jaybeetoo. My fabia estate is on order and just wondered, the boot mat, is it shaped to perfectly fit the boot floor, or is there any protection for the sides of the boot and the backs of the seat backs??? hope that makes sense!!!

I've been looking at various cars over the last month and have finally decided to go for a Fabia Estate 3 1.4TDi.

Having driven a Golf Bluemotion 1.9TDi and Audi A3 TDIe I've concluded that whilst both are nice cars they are very overpriced compared to the Skoda and to be honest there's not a lot of difference in size and performance.

And being mine's a company car it saves shedloads on rental and company car tax.

Anyone got any thoughts on the above for an (almost) new Skoda owner?

Sorry, Skoda family. In my reply above I hadn't registered you'd be getting the Fabia as a company car. Therefore some of my comments eg about trade-in value may not be relevant!

Skoda do a boot liner for about £50, but for the ultimate protection, you may want to check out this company.

Custom made Boot Buddies

They do custom boot liners, made to measure to your specification and you can have the sides as deep as you want, you can have an extension that protects the seat backs even when the rear seats are lowered.

That'll do the trick!

Many thanks for all the replies.

Lots to think about!

One thing I forgot to ask though - the website has an option for a variable boot floor at no cost.

Does anyone know how that works and if it's worth having?

Thanks again.