Hi, i'm thinking of getting a Fabia with the 1.2 engine.

Just wonder how the little engine copes with motorway cruising?

What's the revs like at 70mph?

Is the ride smooth?

Are they reliable?

Hopefully someone can answer my questions. Thanks in advance.

my wife has the 1.2 70 hp and though no rocket obviously, it holds its own a 70 on the motorway reasonably well. The car is excellent; very reliable and very comfortable, riding very smoothly but this means corners get a bit rolly round corners as expected for a car set for comfort. It's revving fairly high on the motorway though so only 42 to the gallon, but dosen't complain too much and loves to rev. I drove from west mids to dover 3 up in it and it was no chore, although as it gets a bit loud I wouldn't want to do that all the time:thumbup:

Edited 31 July, 200916 yr by ima

i had one as a courtesy car and they are fun to thrash. i did a 25 mile motorway journey and found it abit tiring. have to keep more of the power on than in a bigger engined car. and the 3 cylinders can be abit noisey

my wife has the 1.2 70 hp and though no rocket obviously, it holds its own a 70 on the motorway reasonably well. The car is excellent; very reliable and very comfortable, riding very smoothly but this means corners get a bit rolly round corners as expected for a car set for comfort. It's revving fairly high on the motorway though so only 42 to the gallon, but dosen't complain too much and loves to rev. I drove from west mids to dover 3 up in it and it was no chore, although as it gets a bit loud I wouldn't want to do that all the time:thumbup:

Thanks, what revs does the engine do when cruising at 70?

i had one as a courtesy car and they are fun to thrash. i did a 25 mile motorway journey and found it abit tiring. have to keep more of the power on than in a bigger engined car. and the 3 cylinders can be abit noisey

Yes, i had a Skoda Fabia VRs and it cruised beautifully on the Motorway (2100 revs at70 mph), currently drving a Mazda 2 and that has more power than the Fabia 1.2 but has a rather jerky ride, it cruises at 3100 revs at 70.

Do you know what revs the courtesy car was doing on the motorway?

i cant remember exactly to be honest, but i presume it was similar to the mazda.

20mph per 1000 rpm in 5th gear, so 70 mph = 3500 rpm.

yeah about 3500revs at 70mph.It cruises very comfortably at 80mph with 4000rpm. It doesn't sound stressed at all unlike some other small engined cars (Fiesta 1.25, Yaris 1.0, etc.) The main noise is the tyre and road noise but you can help reduce it if you invest in some sound proofing.

tyre roar on my leon is really bad. painted the plastic arch liners with an under body sealer. its similar stuff to tar lol. has made alot of difference to the sound and meant the arches always look black and clean

20mph per 1000 rpm in 5th gear, so 70 mph = 3500 rpm.

Thanks for that!

yeah about 3500revs at 70mph.It cruises very comfortably at 80mph with 4000rpm. It doesn't sound stressed at all unlike some other small engined cars (Fiesta 1.25, Yaris 1.0, etc.) The main noise is the tyre and road noise but you can help reduce it if you invest in some sound proofing.

Thanks, don't think i'll be cruising at 80mph, my days as a boy racer are over!

Can i ask you a question, what MPG are you getting?

Dont forget that an indicated speed of 80 mph will in reality be an actual speed of 76mph

My Fabia Mk1 1.2 64bhp indicated almost 10% over - i.e. indicated 77 mph was actually 70mph - strangely the rev counter was correct 3500 rpm at a true 70 mph. At that speed it did about 40 mpg IIRC. My son has it now and overall it manages an average of about 48 mpg with 58-60mpg acheivable with ultra careful technique and 50mph / B roads in summer, somewhat less in winter. Round town it drops to around 38 mpg.

Inital fuel consumption (1st 2000 miles) was poor, < 40mpg, but improved with age.

I have a Mk2 Fabia 1.2 70bhp now and that has just done 1000 miles averaging 39 mpg, mostly round town, so similar or slightly better.

The Mk1 was an effortless quiet motorway cruiser, the Mk2 is noisier, mostly a lot of road noise from the low profile Bridgestone tyres. Not tried it on motorway yet.

My Fabia Mk1 1.2 64bhp indicated almost 10% over - i.e. indicated 77 mph was actually 70mph - strangely the rev counter was correct 3500 rpm at a true 70 mph. At that speed it did about 40 mpg IIRC. My son has it now and overall it manages an average of about 48 mpg with 58-60mpg acheivable with ultra careful technique and 50mph / B roads in summer, somewhat less in winter. Round town it drops to around 38 mpg.

Inital fuel consumption (1st 2000 miles) was poor, < 40mpg, but improved with age.

I have a Mk2 Fabia 1.2 70bhp now and that has just done 1000 miles averaging 39 mpg, mostly round town, so similar or slightly better.

The Mk1 was an effortless quiet motorway cruiser, the Mk2 is noisier, mostly a lot of road noise from the low profile Bridgestone tyres. Not tried it on motorway yet.

Thank you for the information.

Does the Mk2 ride smoothly?

The ride is a lot lot smoother than the "award winning":rotz: 57 Corsa 1.3cdti Club I had, but not quite as smooth as the Mk.1 Fabia. The steering is very good compared to the Corsa which wandered all over the road and had no feel at all.

As had been said before, a little more soundproofing would have made it nicer. So compared to the Mk1, the engine growls more when setting off, and there is too much road noise.

Best for you to road test one for yourself and see, Skoda dealers are usually very cooperative with test drives.

If you have a heavy foot, the fuel consumption can plummet, although the resulting performance is very satisfactory.

The brakes are a bit on the heavy side, (maybe because the Corsa was ultra sensitive)

The ride is a lot lot smoother than the "award winning":rotz: 57 Corsa 1.3cdti Club I had, but not quite as smooth as the Mk.1 Fabia. The steering is very good compared to the Corsa which wandered all over the road and had no feel at all.

As had been said before, a little more soundproofing would have made it nicer. So compared to the Mk1, the engine growls more when setting off, and there is too much road noise.

Best for you to road test one for yourself and see, Skoda dealers are usually very cooperative with test drives.

If you have a heavy foot, the fuel consumption can plummet, although the resulting performance is very satisfactory.

The brakes are a bit on the heavy side, (maybe because the Corsa was ultra sensitive)

Thanks for that, i currently own a Mazda 2 which is a lovely car but it has a rather jerky ride and it hurts my friends neck. So i was thinking of trading it in but i'm not sure i could even afford the cheapest Fabia!

The fabia is not jerky at all, the corsa used to bounce over every manhole cover. I think you'll find the fabia one of the smoothest rides in its class (i.e. cheap supermini). It is also one of the largest interiors, putting many cars in the next size up to shame.

Get a test drive and think about it. In my experience, Skoda dealers dont push you to make your mind up and are very laid back. They probably know that if you do decide to buy at some time in the future, you are likely to stay with the brand.

Don't know whether you're thinking of buying new, or whether they're coming through with them yet, but Skoda have just updated this engine to give lower emissions and less noise than before.

What's the revs like at 70mph?

around 3800 rpm on 5th gear

Thanks, don't think i'll be cruising at 80mph, my days as a boy racer are over!

Can i ask you a question, what MPG are you getting?

Most of my journeys are no more than 30mph in 4th gear or 40mph in 5th. I change up at 2500-3500 revs depending on whether its uphill, down or flat roads. (I try to keep the revs around 3000revs going uphill as its maximum torque). I get around 43-45mpg carrying only myself, but goes down to around 39mpg if a lot of stop/start traffic and cruising at 80mph, but I have managed to get it up to 55+mpg by going at 56mph on motorway, coasting everywhere and not using brakes. So it all really depends on driving style, amount of luggage/passengers and road conditions.

Most of my journeys are no more than 30mph in 4th gear or 40mph in 5th. I change up at 2500-3500 revs depending on whether its uphill, down or flat roads. (I try to keep the revs around 3000revs going uphill as its maximum torque). I get around 43-45mpg carrying only myself, but goes down to around 39mpg if a lot of stop/start traffic and cruising at 80mph, but I have managed to get it up to 55+mpg by going at 56mph on motorway, coasting everywhere and not using brakes. So it all really depends on driving style, amount of luggage/passengers and road conditions.

Thanks for that, not too shabby then.

The Fabia 1.2 is listed at 47 mph and it seems, from what you're saying, that is attainable.

Thanks for that, not too shabby then.

The Fabia 1.2 is listed at 47 mph and it seems, from what you're saying, that is attainable.

Only if you coast a lot but realistically low to mid 40's is acheivable combined on careful driving

I've done quite a lot of motorway driving in my 1.2 over the past few months. Its generally pretty smooth at 70, with revs at bang on 3500. Given the apparent lack of soundproofing, its pretty quiet - although since I like my tunes I rarely get to hear the silence properly! 80 is not much more of a stretch. I've no problems with it on the m-way.

Its a very nice engine which loves to rev and never really feels sluggish - even if the resulting acceleration is not exactly earth shattering.

I can eke about 400 miles from a single fill-up* (got to 390 before I chickened out and refuelled!), which I work out to be 45mpg. This is on a mixture of 1/3 town driving, and 2/3 motorway at 60 mph average, although the actual speed varies considerably due to traffic, anywhere between 0 and 80mph!. This has improved over the last 7k miles by about 10%.

*interstingly this is usually 40 litres, even though the listed fuel capacity is 45. Perhaps there's another gallon of fuel in there I have never used...

I've done quite a lot of motorway driving in my 1.2 over the past few months. Its generally pretty smooth at 70, with revs at bang on 3500. Given the apparent lack of soundproofing, its pretty quiet - although since I like my tunes I rarely get to hear the silence properly! 80 is not much more of a stretch. I've no problems with it on the m-way.

Its a very nice engine which loves to rev and never really feels sluggish - even if the resulting acceleration is not exactly earth shattering.

I can eke about 400 miles from a single fill-up* (got to 390 before I chickened out and refuelled!), which I work out to be 45mpg. This is on a mixture of 1/3 town driving, and 2/3 motorway at 60 mph average, although the actual speed varies considerably due to traffic, anywhere between 0 and 80mph!. This has improved over the last 7k miles by about 10%.

*interstingly this is usually 40 litres, even though the listed fuel capacity is 45. Perhaps there's another gallon of fuel in there I have never used...

Very interesting thanks.

I'm thinking about part exchanging my Mazda 2 1.3 Tamura, it's quicker than the Fabia 1.2, more economical too, but it has a jerky ride - is the Fabia 2 1.2 smooth in that department?

Take at look here

Examine the ride quality scores of Fabia 2 v Mazda 2 and their comments about ride in each model.

Skoda No.1 manufacturer this year - beating even Lexus!