I see your is the 1.2 green line is that petrol or diesel ?

What’s it like?

It’s certainly not the no-compromise motoring that some may hope for. The 1.2-litre three pot needs working hard if you’re to keep up with normal fast moving traffic, and so if you actually want to get anywhere near the claimed figures you must accept that you cannot drive in a normal fashion. Refinement is also quite poor, with a lot of engine noise intruding into the cabin even under light load, and though stop-start is a worthwhile addition there’s noticeable vibration under the gruff re-start.

Despite all this the Fabia Greenline is not without merit. It’s spacious and it will be economical when driven in a realistic fashion. But to buy a car with a claimed combined economy of more than 80mpg and then achieve a real-world figure in the 50s is disappointing and for many you could actually achieve very similar results in a more powerful diesel car that wouldn’t need to be worked so hard and which doesn’t suffer the same compromises in comfort and usability.

Should I buy one?

If you live in London and are looking for a car to get you out of paying the congestion charge then this is a reasonable choice. It’s one of the cheaper options available beneath the 100g/km barrier and it’s usefully compact and easy to drive. But it is only really the central London excuse that justifies the Fabia Greenline, and even then there are others that qualify for free entry and offer better refinement.

The Fabia itself is still a practical and well-priced hatch, but if you want that teamed with the best possible economy the 104bhp 1.6 TDI is almost identically priced and would likely result in similar real-world economy (claimed figures of 109g/km and 67.3mpg) in a more flexible and usable car.

^^^ so why go for a greenline ?

Diesel .... 55mpg for the twenty thousand miles a year I drive over mainly rural A roads and occasional dual carriageway is pretty shocking when Skoda claim 'combined' of 83.1 mpg!!! AS I've said elsewhere the car I got rid of a Punto diesel regularly got me 80+ to the gallon [ always measured of brim to brim]

Greenline looks from what you are saying its maybe the wrong car for you ?, engine way too small ? 3 cylinder is better suited for town ish driving rather than the type of driving you do I would have thought?

Now I really am wondering whether to be confused or bemused.

First off I was told, I wasn't revving the arse enough out of my engine, which I tried of course Then someone next suggested I move out of North Wales as I was travelling too many farm tracks. Another insisted I must run the car in for 8,000 miles to be countered by another member that, surely we can't get good figures until we have run in our engines for 40,000/50,000 miles! Mine has done 24,000+ by the way. Yet another member insists I shouldn't use 'supermarket fuel'. For ****s' sake ALL diesel in the UK complies with EN 590! One guy even suggested never to use 5th gear? What the **** is 5th gear doing in my car? And now I discover I have the wrong type of car for driving on rural roads as to get good mpg I should shunt my way around town all afternoon presumably in 1st and 2nd gear with an odd amble into third if I can get two sets of traffic lights in sync to show green.

Unless Skoda discover something is wrong with my particular car and I have had it into the dealers since new [now 16 months old] four times for them, to once, put a new EGR valve which never affected my mpg and three times for them to say bugga all wrong mate, then I stick with my earlier premise that Skoda are lying ******s!!

Sorry folks, I'm sure many of you are trying to help but nothing is making sense at the moment!

greenline11, from your description I don't think there is any doubt you have a problem with your engine, of some sorts. Be it a fault or a driving issue. But it really isn't rocket science to tech on these beautiful little 3 cylinder units. There is absolutely nothing complex about them and they are tough as old boots. If you are not getting satisfaction from your dealer I suggest you go to another one for a second opionion. Of course, if no fault has been found on previous visits, it is actually possible that there is nothing wrong with the engine and it is responding in the way it is, to the way it is being driven. Diesels do that. Especially if driven at too low revs in high gear for too long. EGR valves seize and clog and need replacing etc etc. Even the engine idle speed can be affected if the engine is becoming 'clogged' up over time with too much slow driving at too low revs. I've seen it all over the years on all sorts of diesel cars, big and small. The Greenline can be quite sensitive to how it's used regarding how much fuel economy it gives, as all modern diesels are now. It needs to be driven, I mean really driven and not plonked around. The Greenline particularly just doesn't like 5th gear when used inappropriately as it's an ultra high overdrive ratio. That's why I and others suggest you don't use fifth gear below certain speeds. It's just not needed in urban driving at all as anyone who has driven one will tell you. In fact even 4th gear isn't needed until at least 40mph, again that's how it's designed. Obviously, not seen your car, not saying there is nothing wrong with the car but it does beg the question: "what is going on with you car if the dealer has three times told you there is nothing wrong" and yet you still have a problem! It just might be the driving style as is usually the case with this car unless someone works hard to adapt to it. And no, I'm not insulting your driving or you. Lots of people have problems adapting to these new ultra efficient diesels under certain driving conditions that's why this thread has proven so popular and helpful to so many.

Edited 3 February, 201313 yr by Estate Man

Duplicate post

For those who say they can't get decent figures even when intentionally driving steadily at 55mph, these are my last ten fuel figures, admittedly only from the maxidot and not on a brim to brim fill check

Journeys are out and back from Lincoln, in a 1.6 CR 105bhp Fabia Elegance estate

Excuse the pun, but when you 'brim' the tank, does it confirm those sort of figures?

Excuse the pun, but when you 'brim' the tank, does it confirm those sort of figures?

Probably not, because those figures are interspersed with 2.5 mile runs into the city centre at snail's pace, unfortunately

greenline11, from your description I don't think there is any doubt you have a problem with your engine, of some sorts. Be it a fault or a driving issue. But it really isn't rocket science to tech on these beautiful little 3 cylinder units. There is absolutely nothing complex about them and they are tough as old boots. If you are not getting satisfaction from your dealer I suggest you go to another one for a second opionion. Of course, if no fault has been found on previous visits, it is actually possible that there is nothing wrong with the engine and it is responding in the way it is, to the way it is being driven. Diesels do that. Especially if driven at too low revs in high gear for too long. EGR valves seize and clog and need replacing etc etc. Even the engine idle speed can be affected if the engine is becoming 'clogged' up over time with too much slow driving at too low revs. I've seen it all over the years on all sorts of diesel cars, big and small. The Greenline can be quite sensitive to how it's used regarding how much fuel economy it gives, as all modern diesels are now. It needs to be driven, I mean really driven and not plonked around. The Greenline particularly just doesn't like 5th gear when used inappropriately as it's an ultra high overdrive ratio. That's why I and others suggest you don't use fifth gear below certain speeds. It's just not needed in urban driving at all as anyone who has driven one will tell you. In fact even 4th gear isn't needed until at least 40mph, again that's how it's designed. Obviously, not seen your car, not saying there is nothing wrong with the car but it does beg the question: "what is going on with you car if the dealer has three times told you there is nothing wrong" and yet you still have a problem! It just might be the driving style as is usually the case with this car unless someone works hard to adapt to it. And no, I'm not insulting your driving or you. Lots of people have problems adapting to these new ultra efficient diesels under certain driving conditions that's why this thread has proven so popular and helpful to so many.

...........................

I think you may have missed a post or two of mine. I HAVE been driving it harder always keeping the revs well above 1,500 rpm in whatever gear I engage and have been doing this for the last three tankfuls and no improvement whatsoever so far. The car was taken into my dealer last Friday because the engine was 'hunting' on tickover on a warm engine I might add. They didn't find a fault code but their technician acknowledged the engine was indeed showing a highly irregular signature, The dealer invited me to take the car back if the problem persists and they will record the signature data and download it to Germany for analysis by VAG presumably. Why on earth they couldn't do that Friday I'll never know as they had the fault in front of them though they hadn't a clue what.

For those who say they can't get decent figures even when intentionally driving steadily at 55mph, these are my last ten fuel figures, admittedly only from the maxidot and not on a brim to brim fill check

Journeys are out and back from Lincoln, in a 1.6 CR 105bhp Fabia Elegance estate

........................

But you are quoting straight off the dash ... how does that relate measuring tankful to tankful?

When I read my dash for consumption figures the instrument says perhaps 65 or 66 to the gallon but never borne out when I go tank to tankful where it never comes out more than 55 mpg and quite often less!

I'm rarely anal enough to bother with brim to brim checks, hence why I made a point of saying those are maxidot figures

The overall figures will obviously be lower due to the town journeys at rush hour times, when the maxidot figure is nearer 35

For those who say they can't get decent figures even when intentionally driving steadily at 55mph, these are my last ten fuel figures, admittedly only from the maxidot and not on a brim to brim fill check

Journeys are out and back from Lincoln, in a 1.6 CR 105bhp Fabia Elegance estate

Hi Brimma I see you get great mpg figures as I do, your like mine are very consisted so we must be doing something right ?

There is a very useful website called www.spritmonitor.de, which allows users to enter and monitor their fuel consumption figures.

Better still you can interrogate their database to yield some interesting results for real-world motoring.

I selected Skoda Fabia 2010-2012 Diesels, and divided the statistics between <80hp and >80hp, to select Greenline and other diesel models:

Here's what you get:

<80hp: 187 vehicles - Average 4.64 l/100km (range 3.50-6.72) - that's 61mpg(UK) - and pretty much equal to my average

>80hp: 92 vehicles - Average 5.14 l/100km (range 4.07-6.72) - that's 55mpg (UK)

Conclusion: Greenlines are better!

(or careful drivers are more likely to own Greenlines and log their data)

(or Greenline owners are more likely to be liars!)

Other analysis of the same database has shown that the fuel consumption of VW Golfs has steadily increased over the last 30 years!

Edit: further breakdown by engine power:

0-80hp: 187 vehicles - Average 4.64 l/100km (range 3.50-6.72) - that's 61mpg(UK) - and pretty much equal to my average

80-95hp: 43 vehicles - Average 5.00 l/100km (range 4.07-6.72) - that's 56mpg (UK)

95+ hp: 49 vehicles - Average 5.24 l/100km (range 4.07-6.39) - that's 54mpg (UK)

Edited 3 February, 201313 yr by Igloo Vindaloo

Other analysis of the same database has shown that the fuel consumption of VW Golfs has steadily increased over the last 30 years!

Igloo vindaloo this is born out as I had fabia 1.6 crtdi 105 and now the golf version and the golf has better mpg ?

Looking at that graph, you were lucky - diesel Golfs are averaging about 5.7 l/100km (49mpg) now (2010-2012 models).

Greenline 11.

It's interesting what you're reporting. I have tried using higher revs in the past, but have found it to be no better, or more recently far worse. When I first started posting on this forum, I tried all sorts of driving styles and found the slow and steady route to give better results. Keeping the revs up as stated, did not help. Results were slightly lower, but probably within margin of error. More recently (albeit probably 10k miles ago now), I tried again, and the results were substantially lower. The number of people saying to keep the revs up makes me think this is the correct style of driving for this car. However, mine simply doesn't like it. Sounds like yours doesn't either. Your tickover being somewhat erratic is also something mine has on occasions. It's a real mixed bag and very difficult to predict. I've begun thinking its me, but sometimes the engine stays at 1000rpm long after it is warm and refuses to idle back at 750rpm. On other occasions, with almost identical conditions, it has no problem doing this. Also, before its warm, the rpm can be seen to waver between 750 and 1000 all over the place.

To try and get some more information, I've decided to finish the current tank and then try keeping the revs up again and driving at faster speeds.....I might even try 70mph!! See what happens with the fuel economy. Got to admit, I suspect its going to plummet (has done in the past), but the extra looseness now might make a difference.

Just done an 80 mile round trip today in my 1.6 TDI CR 90 scout. Monitoring the trip using cruise control (safely) at 50 mph since most of the roads had this speed limit, the trip computer showed a return of 71.4 mpg. Its the style of driving folks!

Having read this thread with interest, and having recently changed from a 1.4 tdi fabia to a 1.6CR tdi Roomster I was keen to try out the theory of driving style. Since change back in Dec I have been driving in the same style as I did in my old Fabia and have been averaging in the region of 40mpg urban and between 50-60mpg on a run.

I have today though decided to adapt the style of driving as mentioned in this thread, holding gears longer and staying in lower gears longer. On a local trip this morning of around 10miles to the shops my urban MPG recorded an immediate jump to 48mpg up from 40mpg.

Thank you for all your advice on this thread!

Jon, thanks for posting and that's great news! It is usually what most of the posters in this thread find when they experiment with their driving technicque. It sound like you are doing ok.

........................

But you are quoting straight off the dash ... how does that relate measuring tankful to tankful?

When I read my dash for consumption figures the instrument says perhaps 65 or 66 to the gallon but never borne out when I go tank to tankful where it never comes out more than 55 mpg and quite often less!

Hi Geenline, this is an interesting point you make. Don't forget your trip computer will give you a different figure to your calculated average mpg for a full tank when doing the brim to brim thing, if you zero the trip at the start of each journey. The EU fuel consumption figures are based on a 'per journey' figure and calculated for the use of a whole gallon for that type of driving ie: urban, extra urban etc etc. Not per tankful which will never be the same as the 'per journey' figure unless you drive non stop to use up the whole of the tank in one go of course. That is normal and is because of a huge number of variables which you prolly know about, but will include for example 'cold starts and cold driving' which uses an expotential amount of fuel per mile driven and lowers the whole tank mpg's considerably. When your trip is telling you 65-66mpg, what sort of motoring and distance are driving to get that ie: urban, dual carriageway etc?

Hi Geenline, this is an interesting point you make. Don't forget your trip computer will give you a different figure to your calculated average mpg for a full tank when doing the brim to brim thing, if you zero the trip at the start of each journey. The EU fuel consumption figures are based on a 'per journey' figure and calculated for the use of a whole gallon for that type of driving ie: urban, extra urban etc etc. Not per tankful which will never be the same as the 'per journey' figure unless you drive non stop to use up the whole of the tank in one go of course. That is normal and is because of a huge number of variables which you prolly know about, but will include for example 'cold starts and cold driving' which uses an expotential amount of fuel per mile driven and lowers the whole tank mpg's considerably. When your trip is telling you 65-66mpg, what sort of motoring and distance are driving to get that ie: urban, dual carriageway etc?

.......................................

You've lost me completely. If I don't reset the trip meter then the figure simply accumulates from day to day and surely is giving the 'average' the computer sees the car doing over that time. If I reset the meter say when I fill up, and then don't reset until I next fill up, then the computed reading at the end should be what my calculation is on my brim to brim fill calculation of mpg! It never is, as the computed reading is constantly over optimistic usually by ten/twelve miles to the gallon. That is why I'm so scornful of people reporting XXX to the gallon relying purely on the onboard computer and not correlating the actual mpg on a calculation derived from a brim to brim fill up! Is there really any point in reporting a cars' mpg when we all know these onboard computers are throwing out all sorts of nonsense? NO!

As far as I can see, cold starts etc ARE incorporated into the EU tests so the 'journey' on the test is not as unrealistic as some people make out, at least in theory.

The EU figures have been flogged and make no mistake Skoda are liars. If your driving technique has helped one or two, fine, but seriously, it has made not scrap of difference to my returns unless you are talking about reducing them further. The car is a ******* flop!

I realise you are trying to offer advice but it simply isn't working with my car or me. From posts here I wonder if some are from Skoda employees or are they just being so sycophantic they are likely to get stuck up their own arse if not careful. If Greenline 11 diesel owners here are happy with returns of 55mpg then carry on happy in your world. For Gods' sake, the petrol derivatives are giving better returns!!! I bought the car to enjoy a hell of a lot more miles to the gallon and now find I'm spending many, many hundreds of pounds more a year than I expected all because Skoda are lying ******s!

Greenline - I would be concerned if my 80+mpg capable car (IF you believe the figures) was only giving me 50+mpg.

Are you literally doing "old school" brim to brim calculations with the amount added, over the distance driven? Or relying on what the average screen on the computer says?

Average Screen 1 - signified by the circle with a line through it and a "1" in the corner gives trip average - it stays counting for 2 hours (IIRC) after you turn off, if you were to restart.

Average screen 2 - as above, but with a "2" - is accessed by pressing the button under the stalk. As I understand it, this is the average per tank, or for a longer duration (last 500 miles? anyone know definitively?).

Not wishing to suck eggs - I was confused by this. If you zero the trip, this zeros the trip meter, but only one average trip (no1 I think).

I back up what my computer tells me with pen and paper, when I can and am getting between 48 and 50mpg consistantly.

The average trip screen (no2) is telling about the same.

My driving environment is as follows:

Out of my estate (20-30mph)

A-road:

- 50 limit for 1 mile, 5th gear.

- 40 for a town (1/2 mile, big hill in and out too)

- de-restricted for 2 miles (somewhere in here the blue engine temp light extinguishes, unless it's really cold)

- 50 for 1/2 mile - watch for cats :-(

- de-restricted for 2 miles,

- country roads, including a town at 30 then almost single track for 3 miles, another big hill.

- Drop daughter at nursery.

- TOTAL 10 miles.

Turn around and repeat in reverse, as my work is 200m from my house.

Do the same in the evening.

Do that 5 days a week.

Occasional trips in evenings, usually no more than the above. Weekends can be short trips to the shops or whatever, or longer trips.

Fuel tank (45 litres), gives me 420 mlies or so, 48-50mpg.

I would get upset if someone told me that to get 66mpg, you need to do a trip of more than 10 miles, or drive at a constant 55mph, or whatever. I'm realistic, I won't get much better. I haven't done an in depth analysis, but I tried to drive that trip a few times without poking the accelerator more than it took to keep it running. The trip average screen clicked over 60mpg that time.

I find the trouble with the gearing and road type I cover, means that even if the average trip speed was 50mph, it's the bits going from 60 to 30, or less, accelerating, dragging up hills in traffic (so no dawdling) and generally keeping it "on boost" that seems to kill the economy - as indicated by the average meter or instant meter.

I have seen that effect dwindle if I drive it for further - I suppose it gets warm, acts more efficiently etc.

Would a Greenline be better? Maybe, but I disocunted the tiny 3 cylinder for my driving needs. Would a 75 or 90 BHP 1.6 CR get better - possibly. They have the same sort of torque figures and it seems to be the hilly bits that sap it, not the high speed drag where power comes into play more.

It just "feels" as if the car drops off the boil really easily around 55-65 mph and then labours in 5th to accelerate. This MUST sap economy, but equally, if in 4th, it screams to upshift - figuratively (engine sound) and literally (dash indicator).

I believe the gearing is out of sync (not a technical term - a PDIBKism) with the engine, almost overgeared in 5th, undergeared in 4th. A 6 spd box might fix that, but in my wife's Golf, the same engine and presumably gearbox, "feels" completely different, the result being the bigger car returns better economy.

Overall, this is helped by my wife's 160 mile commute twice a week, but in between she is only doing a 4 mile round trip, twice a day (school run). The long trip drags up the average.

I did the 160 mile trip for a work meeting recently (mine, not hers, places were close enough) in a Superb TDI (probably 1.9? 5spd) and that told me it had managed 52mpg, I was doing a steady indicated 80mph on the motorway (75 according to satnav) and sensible speeds in the twisty bits either side. My car did better on the same trip, but didn't like the motorway at indicated 75 and the Golf is fine - feeling solid and comfortable.

WEIRD.