I'm on the lookout to buy a Fabia but after seeing one on ebay with with the engine management light on and doing a quick search on here it seems like this is not uncommon. This has put a slight dampner on my enthusiasm to get a fabia, as I'm now no longer convinced on them being as reliable as I had previously thought. Should I be worried or not?

welcome mr punjabi geezer

to be honest you get the management light on usually when you have been fiddling with the car. they seem to be very reliable from what i have seen so far just little niggles that ever pop really a few rattles etc only had mine since 24 of september tho

much better than my old clio 172

I'm on the lookout to buy a Fabia but after seeing one on ebay with with the engine management light on and doing a quick search on here it seems like this is not uncommon. This has put a slight dampner on my enthusiasm to get a fabia, as I'm now no longer convinced on them being as reliable as I had previously thought. Should I be worried or not?

What age Fabia are you looking at getting? Mine is over 3 years and 60k miles old and I've had a few things go wrong that I wouldn't expect to, compared to similar age and mileage Jap cars I've previously owned which have been bullet proof. Others on here with newer Fabias have not hit very many problems apart from the odd rattle.....

Chris

What engine? Mine is a PD TDi, had for 18months now, not had a problem yet.

Always starts 1st time, does 55mpg, loads of power etc.

Some other people will be along soon to agree with me i'm sure.

Not sure I would want to buy a car off ebay myself, my engine light has never lit up since I have owned it. (since may 2003)

Not sure I would want to buy a car off ebay myself, my engine light has never lit up since I have owned it. (since may 2003)

Have you checked you have a "bulb" behind it Mine comes on everyday when i switch the ignition on.

Chris

Have you checked you have a "bulb" behind it Mine comes on everyday when i switch the ignition on.

Chris

well I'm looking to spend around

PG - Never had any probs with my 2001 1.4 comfort...

Well, none that weren't down to me

Think I'm right in saying the 1.4 8v is best avoided as the cooling system can give trouble. Otherwise Skodas have a great name for owner satisfaction as evidenced by the JD Power surveys done in conjunction with Top Gear http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/survey

I dont think they are any more unreliable than any other of the VW group, so I would treat anything on ebay with a pinch of salt. Also dont forget that people shout the loudest when something isnt right, never when its perfect.

Mine has been good (1.4 TDI) A few intermittant electrical gremlins but overall very good. Power Steering light sometimes comes on for no reason for a few seconds and the dash lights alll went off for about 10mins the other evening but other than that no probs in 11 months and 31,000 miles.

No probs with my TDI that haven't been caused by something I've done, i.e MAF went, have to blame the remap really. fuel temp sensor, not sure that was faulty anyway, dodgy ECU problem, had to blame remap again really, but problem never established, just "resolved".

Oh, and when the gearbox packed up on furby Mk1, its because I didn't put a headlight cover back on securely, and it fell off and worked its way into my gearbox cables.

No other serious problems at all though.

Think I'm right in saying the 1.4 8v is best avoided as the cooling system can give trouble.

Only really the thermostat, and its a doddle to change anyhow.

Head gaskets were common, but dont really seem to suffer anymore, think most of them have been sorted these days.

Still do alot of steering sensors on the 1.4 Fabia, but the new modded ones havent failed as yet.

But all in all if I had the ready cash I'd buy a second one without hesitation.

. Also dont forget that people shout the loudest when something isnt right, never when its perfect.

Well I'll quickly dispel that myth Mr Pugwash :P

The Fabia Vrs is perfect and I love it! well for me nearly anyway. Best car I've EVER had, and I still luv it 9 months on. No major problems whatsoever.

Had my vRS furby for 12 Months ( god thats flown past :eek: ).

No problems, that can be atributed to build or reliability. ( only some "pregnant goldfish" smashing the wing mirror ).

But then isn't his site biased towards skodas anyway

Steve