Been a while since I last posted but have a question aimed mainly at Mum’s and Dad’s who own Fabia Estates.

Been promising myself a new car for a while and the VAT deal seems too good to miss so I’m just about ready to order a Fabia vRS estate. My concern is exactly how practical it is as a family car. We have a little girl of nearly 3 and although the amount of stuff we need to take away with her is decreasing (high chair, travel cot etc no longer needed) there’s a good chance in the 3 years I would be intending to keep the Fabia that we will have another baby!

I currently drive a mk1 Octavia vRS hatch with a boot so big you could get lost in it and although the Fabia Estate has less space on paper, it looks big enough considering we’ve never managed to completely fill the Octavia. We will be getting a new car for my wife this year as well but she will be getting something smaller so the Fabia Estate will need to be the main family car.

So are there any Fabia Estate owners out there that use it is as their main family car? Do you find it large/practical enough? Would you recommend it?

Hi Richard

We have a baby and the fabia estate as the family car and its great. The boot really is ample for all the gear and baby seat fits in the back no problem. I can get more gear in our boot than my brother-in-law in his Audi A5 which is a much bigger car. The only issue would be if you want to carry two rear passengers and a baby as its not wide enough for that. If you want a rear passenger and baby then obviously no problems. My pal has also a fabia estate and two children under three years of age and its their only car and they also manage just fine. If you like the car then go for it as all the car you will need

So are there any Fabia Estate owners out there that use it is as their main family car? Do you find it large/practical enough? Would you recommend it?

It's fine IMO provided you are not very tall.

If you are (I am 6'3") then there is not a lot of space behind the drivers seat.

It is not practical to put our toddler behind the drivers seat as it's too easy for his feet to touch the back of the driver seat from his baby seat. If I had two children I would not use it as it would be a bit cramped, I'd get something a little bigger like an Octavia. But my wife is shorter than me and we only have one child, so it's fine. He sits behind her.

The boot space is good. No complaints there. I prefer it to our Yeti in that respect.

Not being in this position myself I can't comment directly. But if I were in the same position as you I think I'd look to an Octy hatch or estate, so the extra space was there if necessary. And also the extra cabin space. And you could still get a decent deal on a petrol model with the VAT-free offer.

With the prices for the Fabia vRS being as they are now, the gap's closer than ever to an offering from the Octy lineup.

Maybe not a particular popular opinion to hold in the Fabia II section of the forum, but thought I'd voice it anyway

They are great as everyday cars, mine gets used to haul everything about and we have yet to find anything that we havent been able to put in it. Much easier to use and less likely to get damaged than the hatch Superb.

Plus being an estate, the load area is a lot more practical than an Octy hatch as its a more or less square shape. Can just pop the roller cover off if you need loads of space, otherwise it keeps everything hidden!

And if you need more space, spec some of the storage box options!

They are great as everyday cars, mine gets used to haul everything about and we have yet to find anything that we havent been able to put in it. Much easier to use and less likely to get damaged than the hatch Superb.

Plus being an estate, the load area is a lot more practical than an Octy hatch as its a more or less square shape. Can just pop the roller cover off if you need loads of space, otherwise it keeps everything hidden!

And if you need more space, spec some of the storage box options!

That's a good point. I used to have an Octavia II and find the boot on the estate more practical as you can load it higher and its loading lip is much lower so far easier to get things in and out of it :yes:

I'm figuring on an estate vRS for two reasons: 1. More room for the dog in the boot. She's only little but i want to use the crate we have for her as she can't go on the seats like she does at the moment. 2. I've always liked estates, just like the profile, and much better for a trip to IKEA

One of the reasons why we purchased our Fabia Estate was that we came from a estate car and I thought either a Roomster or a Fabia Estate, as when we do have kids then I don't have to change from a Fabia hatch to a estate, since purchasing the estate it's been a good work horse taking stuff to the tips, and you can still have a good drive in it, I tend to think it feels like a hatchback compared to a estate, when we do have kids I will have no worries that it will cope with everything that will need to go into the car like buggy, high chair etc.

Davy

We have two Estates, Passat B6 and a Fabia Estate. Got 3 year old twins, like you just moving away from needing to carry a lot of stuff around.

We use the Fabia as our main family car, i drive the Passat as our daily car as my wife finds it too big to manouver.

The boot is great and in some respects better than the Passat, the depth is really useful. Regularly get two small bikes in it with the load cover pulled over.

I am 6'2" and think rear leg room is amazing for a car that size. Kids have now moved into stage 3 seats and they have enough room.

For longer holidays we take the Passat but I reckon with a roof box could easily survive with the Fabia. I am constantly amazed at how much bigger it is than my old Fabia 2 hatch.

We are now at the point of struggling to justify the Passat Estate size!

I've been wondering about kids. Are they an option worth having?

We've ordered a Fabia vRS estate to replace an 08 plate VW Polo 1.4 Match that's just about to come to the end of its PCP.

Since buying the Polo we've gotten a dog (4 stone of Pointer x Springer) and now have a baby on the way. I've got a MK6 Golf GT 2.0 TDi 5 door as a company car which is roomy enough but the wife wanted a car that she could get the dog, pushchair and some luggage in for when she goes back home to visit family (as I fairly regularly work away from home at weekends). For us the Fabia fits the bill perfectly.

Boot is usefully much bigger than the Golfs with the car still largely retaining supermini proportions which the wife wanted. Only slight downer is that whilst the boot is large it is quite slim and has a fairly deep drop into the boot for an estate. We looked at an Ibiza ST but I wasn't particularly keen on it, overall the Fabia seemed the better car; perhaps not better looking but definitely better built with a greater VAG group feel than the Ibiza. Is a shedload of car for £15k and that it's basically a Polo GTi with a much bigger boot is a real boon!

One thing I would say however is if performance isnt the biggest priority the 1.2 TSi 105 would be entirely adequate, plenty quick enough, refined and betters the equivalent 1.6 CR in my opinion.

Edited 22 March, 201115 yr by pipsyp

I've been wondering about kids. Are they an option worth having?

They're pretty expensive and fairly unreliable.