In the market for a new car to replace my MK4 Astra SRI

I know these are all basically the same car but what would you buy (price isnt an issue)

Skoda Fabia VRS (shame they dont do a 3 door)

Seat Ibiza 1.9TDi PD 130 PS FR

Volkswagen Polo GT 1.9 TDI 130 PS 3door

Please help me

Hi Alan and welcome to Briskoda.

Have to say that I think it rather unlikely that anyone on here would recommend anything other than the Fabia - but we shall see !

As a starter - what's most important to you ?

- Performance

- Looks

- Running costs

- being a member of this community

None of the above

I was gonna buy the Skoda but then i seen the Seat & the VW????

Seat drives the best but VW is nicer inside and better equipped.

Hence the confusion

Performance and running costs are both important but they are about the same for all 3 i think?

I'd say Fabia as I went for one over a Polo and Ibiza myself. Personally, I think it looks better with the chunky styling and is miles cheaper!

Performance and running costs are both important but they are about the same for all 3 i think?

I'm not totally sure on the prices myself but the Ibiza is definately more expensive than the Fabia.

It's a gimme that the Polo is more expensive still.

Would say as an all-round package, in comparison with the other 2, it's hard to look at anything other than the Furby.

For the record I don't own a Furby.

Looked at all three before deciding on the Skoda.

The Seat was quite plasticy inside, also out Seat dealer seems to change with the wind so building a relationship would be difficult at best.

The VW was nice inside but expensive to buy as various bits we wanted were facory only options.

The Skoda was a good balance, established dealership, inside the car not too plasticy and car which suited us available within a few weeks.

Oh and of course we get to be members of the briskoda community

none would be a bad buy...... personally i think the polo is a little girlie ... between the other 2 the fabia is cheaper which kind of swings it that way.......

Tough call really. IIRC, one of the SEAT guys with an Ibiza TDI Sport reviewed the Fabia and thought it was "better" than his Ibiza. Haven't re-read it so I may be wrong. Read it for yourself here

The cars themselves are, as you said, very similar. For convenience, the Fabia would win with its 5 doors over the 3 doors. I personally prefer the chunky, dare I say, purposeful looks of the fabia to the bland SEAT and the effeminate Polo.

Why do people want a 3 door fabia? I can not understand the attraction? Even if you never have back seat passengers, having back doors still make getting anything you have put in the back so much easier.

Don't touch the Ibiza, very poor reliability, and strangely the Polo is not much better. Friend dumped a Polo after 6 months because of lack luster driving and several required trips to the workshop. He drives a Mini Cooper now, and thinks it superior to the Polo in every respect.

My mum's 1.4 TDi PD Polo was such a dog that she eventually rejected it and got her money back! (Not an easy thing to do with a new car, I might add, but she's a serious stubborn woman! ) Bear in mind that the Skoda factory is far newer than the Spanish and Polish factories that build the Ibiza and Polo. Also the Fabia has been in production the longest, but still looks the best, I think. Plus will be more likely to have early-production niggles ironed out. The Ibiza is indistinguishable from a Daewoo Nexia IMO, and I agree with whoever it was who said the Polo is 'girly'. But maybe I'm biased, seeing how I'm two-and-a-half months through a three-month wait for my Fabia vRS!

And as for the Mini Cooper's reliability - isn't there someone on here who now drives a vRS after the steering on his Cooper S failed TWICE?! :eek:

I wouldn't buy a Mini myself, but not for relaibility reasons (everyone I know who owns one are happy with their mini's) but because I think they are far to expensive for what they are.

I agree with you there! To get a MINI with a spec anything like what my Furby will have would have cost around

erm, I used to have a Cooper, and rejected it after a tail of reliability/build problems, including it dumping all the power steering fluid over my drive.....