Hey.

First of, I'm from Denmark, so my english might be a little off

Since we here in Denmark have those huge taxes on cars, the smaller cars are very seldom sold with automatic transmissions because u have to pay the huge taxes on everything. The result is that the car dealers do not have any Fabia aut. to try out, because they cannot sell em later on, so no test runs for me :(

So I've noticed that the New Fabia with Automatic is more common in the UK, or thats the impression I get from reading here atleast. Which leads to my questions:

1.

Is the gearbox anygood? Does is shift smoothly ect.? Only automatic I've tried was on a BMW 528i(E39), and that ran rather smoothly, and that was a car from 1997, so I can only imagine that they might have been improving the gearboxes in the last 11years

2.

I see it have 6 gears, instead of the manual with only 5. Is the 6.gear "longer" equal lower rpm at the same speed? Or have they just made the "rpm jumps" between shifts smaller?

3.

How does the Gearbox perform with a Caravan og trailer hooked on? I'm not sure on the rules in the UK, but here in DK, this Fabia can pull 1000kg caravan. So does it run to hot when trying to pull a caravan for long distances at a time? Mountains and so on...

4.

How often do YOU recommed to change the gearbox oil? I know it says something like "life long oil, no need to change forever...blah blah blah", but we've all seen that every other carbrand who have made that claim, was soon or later proven wrong

5.

How does the 1.6 perfom with the automatic gearbox? I mean, its a rather small engine for a torque converter, but you'll never know

6.

All other input is most welcome!

And just to give u a little idea on how big the taxes are on our cars, the Fabia 3 Estate 1.6 16v 105bhp Tiptronic cost:

UK = 13,785£

DK = 247,000kr = 26,086.22£:thumbdwn::eek:

So you can only imagine how sure you have to be, to buy a certain car, because if you sell it rather quick again, the money loss will be huuge!

Hey.

First of, I'm from Denmark, so my english might be a little off

Since we here in Denmark have those huge taxes on cars, the smaller cars are very seldom sold with automatic transmissions because u have to pay the huge taxes on everything. The result is that the car dealers do not have any Fabia aut. to try out, because they cannot sell em later on, so no test runs for me :(

So I've noticed that the New Fabia with Automatic is more common in the UK, or thats the impression I get from reading here atleast. Which leads to my questions:

1.

Is the gearbox anygood? Does is shift smoothly ect.? Only automatic I've tried was on a BMW 528i(E39), and that ran rather smoothly, and that was a car from 1997, so I can only imagine that they might have been improving the gearboxes in the last 11years

2.

I see it have 6 gears, instead of the manual with only 5. Is the 6.gear "longer" equal lower rpm at the same speed? Or have they just made the "rpm jumps" between shifts smaller?

3.

How does the Gearbox perform with a Caravan og trailer hooked on? I'm not sure on the rules in the UK, but here in DK, this Fabia can pull 1000kg caravan. So does it run to hot when trying to pull a caravan for long distances at a time? Mountains and so on...

4.

How often do YOU recommed to change the gearbox oil? I know it says something like "life long oil, no need to change forever...blah blah blah", but we've all seen that every other carbrand who have made that claim, was soon or later proven wrong

5.

How does the 1.6 perfom with the automatic gearbox? I mean, its a rather small engine for a torque converter, but you'll never know

6.

All other input is most welcome!

And just to give u a little idea on how big the taxes are on our cars, the Fabia 3 Estate 1.6 16v 105bhp Tiptronic cost:

UK = 13,785£

DK = 247,000kr = 26,086.22£:thumbdwn::eek:

So you can only imagine how sure you have to be, to buy a certain car, because if you sell it rather quick again, the money loss will be huuge!

1. Yes, it's a very good gearbox, it's smooth, shifts quickly and the tiptronic mode works well

2. The 6th Gear is an overdrive (Where the gearbox spins faster than the engine), meaning you get good fuel economy when cruising, but top speed (If desired) is acheived in 5th gear. The downfall of most small auto's is they only have 4 gears meaning they are all too long causing poor fuel economy and performance, 6 gears eradicates this issue

3. Not tried towing, but in theory it should be fine, you will be able to use the tiptronic mode to hold the gears for extra safety

4. It's a sealed unit and there is no dipstick for the torque converter fluid, this ca be disconcerting but as I am leasing mine for 3 years it'snot a concern I have, but It maybe for yourself or someone elese, the only thing I can really say it that it's an Aisin AW gearbox, so it's build to last

5. Performance and fuel economy are excellent in my opinion, not much performance loss against the manual. I have timed mine at 10.1 secs from 0-60MPH and had 124MPH on the GPS. The shifts are smooht and quick as well, it doesent leave you feeling frustrated like some auto's

6. Go for it, aside from the Ibiza which has the new 7 speed DSG, you probably wont find a better autobox on such a small car

If you do a search there are quite a few threads, it seems much more popular that the previous Fabia Auto (Very deserved too), if you got any specific questions, bar towing I will probably be able to help

Agree with all of Skodayouth's comments, a very refined and smooth transmission. Much better than most of the current semi automatics, DSG possibly excepted. Not sure that any of the Fabias would make the ideal car for caravan towing though, although the 1.6 petrol (manual or tiptronic) and 1.9TDI would probably cope the best.

Someone on here will no doubt confirm the Fabia's towing abilities or not as the case may be?

Thnx for the awnsers...

I the meanwhile I've been speaking to the company who import VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda to Denmark, and they said to me, when I asked about the gearbox, and I shall try translate it:

The factory does not have any demands/guidelines on changing the oil, however it is recommended to change it every 4years if you drive the most parts in town

So I guess it is possible to change the oil somehow?

Any other input on the cars will be much appriciated.

Thanks in advance!

Just recieved some info on the Automatic in the new Fabia, and I shal translate it to english as good as possible:

The gearbox is the type 09G, and you can also find in the Roomster and Octavia II.

Its made to be able to handle torque op to 250nm.

It has a "Lock up" funktion, which means it locks the converter at some point to save fuel.

For the gear ratio, I have only been able to find it in German, and since my german is rather rubbish, I will not try to translate it into english, sorry bout that:

Übersetzung 1. Gang 4,148 2. Gang 2,370 3. Gang 1,556 4. Gang 1,155 5. Gang 0,859 6. Gang 0,686 Rückwärtsgang 3,394 Zwischentrieb Zähnezahl Antriebsrad 48 Abtriebsrad 53 Übersetzung 0,906 Achsantrieb Zähnezahl Triebwelle 15 Tellerrad 61 Übersetzung 4,067

------

So, the gearbox is more than capable to handle the 1.6 105bhp engine, since it only put out about 153nm of torque.

Well hope u found it usefull somehow. At least there is abit more info on the Automatic on this forum now

Some info here:

AISIN AW CO.,LTD./For FWD Vehicle AT