I said i would post a short review when i finally got my new fabia so here it is.

Fabia 3 1.9TDI recieved on saturday and done around 80 miles so far. Colour is Antracite Gray and pictures will be posted when i finally get round to taking some (it got really dirty with the rain on sat so they have to wait ;p)

On first pickup of the car i was pleased with how well the colour suited the car, I do tend to like dark gray cars but i think it suits larger cars more than small ones tho i feel the fabia suits it well.

I find the seats are nice but not as comfortable as the sports seats that were in my clio (i miss the side supports and i feel the seats in my old clio had more lower back support although this may be as i am a bit tense driving my new car lol, tho i mostly miss the side supports especially with the body roll)

Radio is more than sufficent in volume to keep the street entertained. go on i dare you to max the volume! although it sounds like all the speakers are in the front, but i havent played with the settings yet.

getting on average around 44mpg to 47mpg so far. this is a mix of city driving (which gets around 40mpg usually and duel carrageway which improves the mpg alot, city driving woulnt be so bad if it wasnt for all the start and stopping.)

The power behind the 1.9 is very nice once you get to around 2000 rpm the car suddenly wants to take off and although when i was reading this in the past (having only had a petrol car) i thought that was low revs its around this mark that most of my driving seams to be in the fabia. Saying that tho even at lower revs its not short of power easily getting you out of trouble if needed. Did discover (though my gf driving the car and her complaining that it takes off when shes not doing anything) that the engine will happily pull the car along at around 10mph in 3rd, 20mph in 4th and 40mph in 5th gear, meaning if you forget to change down when cornering you will get a shock if your coasting (habit of mine). i assume letting the engine pull you along does it no good otherwise driving in 5th with no accelerator would be nice and efficent for a 40ish mph drive :p

People have said the 1.9TDI is a noisy engine, and it is, however this isnt really a bad thing, having that roar of the engine when you ask for the power is reassuring

I do have a problem with visability tho, or rather lack of it close up. not being able to see the front of the car can make it difficult to judge just how far you are from objects in front, often feeling much closer than you actually are, and though the rear window objects appear much closer than they are due to the high level of it, yes the rear parking sensors do help alot here however as its the first time i've had them i still dont trust them entirely as not sure how much to the side of the car they cover. Front parking sensors wouldnt go amis atm tho.

The car is deceptivly small, by that i mean looking at the manufacturers sizes the high is only a bit bigger than my old clio, the lenght is only a bit longer and its actually narrower than my old clio, however it feels so much larger than the clio. my gf refering to it as a tank! This perception of size makes it more difficult to park (until we get used to it)

Overall as currently both my gf and I are using the car on a reguler basis we have a sort of compromise over seat hight etc so we dont have to change everything when we get in the car which means some of my niggles may vanish when i get the car to myself so i can get set for the best visability and also as i get used to the size and shape of the car, i think the car is very good so far.

Biggest grips,

Annoying lockable petrol cap just need to get used to this but it wouldnt give my key back the other day lol, would either spin and keep my key firmly in it or give my key back but not actually be locked.

Close up visability (things seaming closer than they are) this this is because my clio was much lower and now i feel like i'm sat on the roof but cant see the bonnet.

The scratch i found on my side window to day! (GOD DAMMIT!) :0( any ideas how to remove?

Zypher, very pleased you are pleased. You made a good choice. They get better and better as you drive them and as the engine beds in. Being a diesel it takes a bit longer to run in and give full power than a petrol engine. The engine is also much noisier when it's new too, diesels being very tight indeed. But once you have 10k on the clock it will have quietened down a lot, give more power, and cover more miles per gallon. Minor scratches to side windows can be removed with 'T cut' by rubbing in straight lines along or across the scratch. If it's a deep one, then this will minimise it but probably not remove it. Enjoy!

[i stopped locking the fuel cap a year or so ago.