Morning all

Still umm'ing and ahh'ing over what to replace my 56 Elegance estate with...

Pretty much settled on a Fabia 3 Estate with a few add-ons but still stuck over engine. Looking at the raw stats, the 1.6 looks a much better block on performance with only a small drop in economy.

On paper is one thing, but what are they like on the road? Is there anything in the rumours that the 1.4 122bhp is coming to the Fabia 3 and new VRS?

Cheers

If you're not looking to swap immediately, I'd wait till the facelift and get one of the new engines next year (probably 1.2TSI will be in the range) Unless you can find a particularly good deal on a 1.4 or 1.6 at the moment....

I have the 1.6 Roomster, and the performance is ok but you have to keep it 'on the boil'!

yer id probs wait the new little turbo engines are very good, espically for tuning i will no doubt imagine, cant wait!

Morning all

Still umm'ing and ahh'ing over what to replace my 56 Elegance estate with...

Pretty much settled on a Fabia 3 Estate with a few add-ons but still stuck over engine. Looking at the raw stats, the 1.6 looks a much better block on performance with only a small drop in economy.

On paper is one thing, but what are they like on the road? Is there anything in the rumours that the 1.4 122bhp is coming to the Fabia 3 and new VRS?

Cheers

The 1.4 is a decent enough engine, and quite refined, especially around town, but I'd go for the 1.6 if you're going to use your estate's luggage capacity or do much driving at speed. Neither are very refined at speed, and both need to be revved I think. I found the 1.6 rather coarse at 70mph. As other posters have said, a facelift is planned, possibly as soon as March 2010, and some new engines in the pipeline may well arrive before that ie 1.2 TSI same power, but more torque than the 1.6 (i've seen it reviewed for the the new Polo). Also the 1.6 CR diesel is likely to be in the Fabia before too long. The 1.4 TSI 120 bhp is a possibility. Personally I'd wait a bit as these new engine's are getting good reviews.

I've got the 80bhp 1.4 16v engine in my mk1 bohemia. its nippy round town, and on the motorway it can cope with the 70mph+ traffic easily. how ever on the hills you notice a bit of a struggle. soI'm guessing the 5bhp more in the mk2 will be simular if not a tad quicker:)

I assume the 1.6 will be better... I've driven the roomster 1.6 too and like OctaviaT81 said, youve got to keep the revs up for any progress around the hills. altho its nippy enough.

they should bring out a new 2.0 :P

Go for the 1.9 TDI with additional torque

I have a Fabia 3 estate with the 1.4 16v (85 bhp) and love it. When the engine was new, yes, it was sluggish, but now with 13,000 miles on it and nicely loosened up, it goes very nicely. Yes, you have to drop a gear on hills, but it's a good engine. I get 50 mpg from it on longer trips on the motorway and it's performance is adequate for my needs. However, if you do need to carry loads, the extra 20 bhp will come in very useful.

The gearing is superb on the Fabia - 70mph is marginally over 3000 rpm. Some cars are already at 3500 rpm at that speed (my 1.4 16v Astra was). Fabia estate is a very easy car to live with and very practical. Best decision I ever made.

If you need convincing to wait for the TSi engines coming to the Fabia, just test drive the 1.4 TSi in the Octavia - you will be convinced on waiting. The 1.4 TSi is a fantastic engine, very torquey and refined.

If you need convincing to wait for the TSi engines coming to the Fabia, just test drive the 1.4 TSi in the Octavia - you will be convinced on waiting.

Be prepared for a very very long wait. At least 18 months.

Fabias will get the 1.2Tsi which looks a lot different to the 1.4 Tsi - not just a shrunk version.

Be prepared for a very very long wait. At least 18 months.

Fabias will get the 1.2Tsi which looks a lot different to the 1.4 Tsi - not just a shrunk version.

Fair enough. I think some of us had originally anticipated the 1.4TSI 120 going in the Fabia as this engine replaced the 1.6 fsi in the Octavia (admittedly a different and more powerful version of the 1.6 in the Fabia).

However we've heard more about the 1.2 tsi recently and those in the know seem to predict this as the likely direct replacement. It has had positive reviews in the new Polo (same bhp, but 129 lbs torque as compared to 114 lbs in the 1.6) and a lot more economical, on paper at least.

I guess it's possible a more powerful version of the 1.4tsi will be reserved for any post- facelift vRS, if one is confirmed

Somewhat irrelevant now.

Gone over to the 'dark side' with an Octavia.

Thank you for the input though.

Skoda UK today released details on the Fabia Scout and the only petrol engine is the 85BHP 1.4. From this, I would assume that the 1.6 will indeed soon be replaced by the 1.2TSI. This is what has happpened with the new Polo, which still has the NA 1.4 engine, but the 1.2 TSI instead of the 1.6.