Hi everyone, new to the group and glad to see lot of experience is available to newcomers. We live near Cambridge and are retired so funds need to be spent wisely. The Skoda Fabia range offers greatest value for money and the promise of long life and reliable motoring.

We've chosen the Skoda Fabia hatchback 1.2 TSI 105 PS with DSG in Pacific Blue with options cruise control, spare wheel, black protective side mouldings and rear parking sensors.

Current Skoda deal knocks 20% (equivalent to VAT) off the list price making a new car very attractive compared with second-hand models on the forecourt. With the ability to have the specific options we wanted, it was no contest (savings = £1.8k) :clap:

The dealer wouldn't quote better than four months delivery because he said the dealership had sold this year's “allocation†too quickly?

I have a question relating to the DSG gearbox and in particular the two clutches. In a normal car or one with Tiptronic automatic gearbox, the clutch is only opened for a short time as the gears change. With two clutches, I understand that one gear train is active and the other is set ready for the next change and that this clutch is open. This means that the clutch release bearing is permanently pressed in. Does this mean that one or other of the clutches will fail or have they designed to release bearings specifically to be under pressure for most of the driven miles of the car?

The dealer has a number of extras. Regarding servicing, as I understand things I can pay approximately £20 pounds per month for three years and this covers all servicing, fluids etc and replacement of parts due to wear and tear (ex. tyres).

In the third year, it also pays to get the car through the MOT and the cost of the MOT. Did I hear this right? Any views?

Also, the "SAFEGUARD" paint and upholstery treatment. Anybody had experience of this treatment?

Regards

Retiredbri (and retiredbabs)

Hi retiredbri,

Other than the vRS this is without doubt the best engine and gearbox combination. Might not be quite as economical as a CR diesel but all round is smoother and more potent. I havent driven a 1.2 TSi with the DSG but have driven a vRS (have an estate on order) and can only imagine it will be a perfect match for the engine.

As far as I am aware the DSG gearbox should last the life of the car without any maintenance other than oil changes. I suspect this goes for the clutches also but I'm not a mechanic so dont quote me on it. If the car isnt doing big mileage I dont think this will ever really become a concern in any case.

Personally wouldnt bother with the add on maintenance package, £720 over three years is quite a bit of outlay in my opinion. With our last VW Polo we got a 3 year service package for £199 I believe so dont think this is a good deal. We're not doing it with ours.

Safeguard.....if you're looking to keep the car indefinitely and can get the dealer to give you a very good deal on it (or preferably throw it in) then you cant go wrong. We've got Autoglym Lifeshine (same thing really) on our Polo and it certainly has helped keep the bodywork and wheels fresh without any polishing whatsoever. Hasnt worked very well with the interior though, drivers seat is terribly watermarked. If you are PCPing the car and intending to change within 1/2 or 3 years I wouldnt bother.

Sounds to me like you've ordered an SE with one of the option packs. Nice choice but curious why you didnt consider an Elegance as you get Cruise and Parking Sensors and side skirts as standard along with a number of other niceties like Head Airbags and Climate Control. Appreciate its all down to finances but sounds like its a retirement treat. With the current VAT free deal why not treat yourself?

Thanks for the info

From pipsyp... As far as I am aware the DSG gearbox should last the life of the car without any maintenance other than oil changes. I suspect this goes for the clutches also but I'm not a mechanic so dont quote me on it. If the car isnt doing big mileage I dont think this will ever really become a concern in any case.

I've started to come to the same conclussion - there must be many thousands of DSGs out there and that have been in use for many years so any problems would have shown up by now.

... add on maintenance package...

I'll wait till nearer the time and get an exact price with options.

.... Safeguard.....

More homework and thanks for the data on Autoglym Lifeshine.

.... why you didnt consider an Elegance ......

We did, it was £500 more. We already have a car with climate control that uses far too much energy so prefer to turn on the A/C as required. Also, current car has arm rests that just get in the way. The other thing was the 16" wheels - We are looking for a "not too hard" ride and I thought that the lower the profile of the tyres, the more "thumpy" the ride.

..... sounds like its a retirement treat...

Not quite - We both got early retirement offers that you would die for (or perhaps not ) so we bougt a Motorhome and have great fun at affordable prices. When you retire, you know where every penny of income is coming from but not where it will go out to so saving £500 means more to spend on liesure/holdays etc.

regards

Brian

Thanks for the info

I've started to come to the same conclussion - there must be many thousands of DSGs out there and that have been in use for many years so any problems would have shown up by now.

I'll wait till nearer the time and get an exact price with options.

More homework and thanks for the data on Autoglym Lifeshine.

We did, it was £500 more. We already have a car with climate control that uses far too much energy so prefer to turn on the A/C as required. Also, current car has arm rests that just get in the way. The other thing was the 16" wheels - We are looking for a "not too hard" ride and I thought that the lower the profile of the tyres, the more "thumpy" the ride.

Not quite - We both got early retirement offers that you would die for (or perhaps not ) so we bougt a Motorhome and have great fun at affordable prices. When you retire, you know where every penny of income is coming from but not where it will go out to so saving £500 means more to spend on liesure/holdays etc.

regards

Brian

Hi retiredbri,

Fair shout, SE is pretty well specified anyway but if it were my money i'd go Elegance, cant see there being a great sum of difference in cost, particularly if the SE is having one of the £400ish option packs put on it. VAT free deal makes it even more attractive.

Couple of things to bare in mind: -

Climate control - the AC can be switched off permanently just like a car with manual AC. Default behaviour is for it to be on, but it doesnt have to be.

Only real difference between the standard Climatic and Climatronic systems is that the latter can control air output and distribution automatically, whereas the Climatic can only keep a constant temperature, its air output and distribution controls are all manual. I wouldnt pay to have Climatronic but it is a nice thing to have as a standard feature.

16" Wheels - wont change the ride much at all, particularly given that the Elegance does not have sports suspension as standard. You'd barely notice it and they will look nicer (I really like the new standard Elegance Comet alloy, v smart).

Arm rest - can be folded up permanently and wont get in the way, is actually quite a useful thing to have on an auto. We're not having one on our vRS but its only because we were very lean with optional extras.

For the sake of very little extra money, personally I would go for it but it's your retirement, your money and entirely your call. Regardless you'll enjoy whatever you choose I'm sure.

Hi, I hope you get the bits and bobs for your car that your comfortable with.

I am only going to make a comment on the Safeguard paint and seat treatment. My wife had it in her previous car and on the seats it seemed to make no difference after a couple of months. The paint i would say was marginally better with it, but as we only keep the car 3 years it was probably wasted on the paint side. However if you plan to keep this for many years then maybe the paint side might be worth it. I would definately haggle on this though if you do go for it as from memory they wanted £ 400 for the treatment but I remember us getting it down to £ 200.

Good luck.

I have a question relating to the DSG gearbox and in particular the two clutches. In a normal car or one with Tiptronic automatic gearbox, the clutch is only opened for a short time as the gears change. With two clutches, I understand that one gear train is active and the other is set ready for the next change and that this clutch is open. This means that the clutch release bearing is permanently pressed in. Does this mean that one or other of the clutches will fail or have they designed to release bearings specifically to be under pressure for most of the driven miles of the car?

Regards

Retiredbri (and retiredbabs)

Don't worry about that, there are no clutch release bearings on this set up, it has two multi plate concentric(i.e. one inside the other) clutches of a similar design to those found on a motorbike. I'm not sure which way round they work but most likely will be opened by a bevel spring and closed by hydraulic pressure on a piston. Many people have got thousands of miles on these gearboxes fine.

Ian

Current wait on 1.2TSi DSG is 20-22weeks. My Dad has a 1.2TSi DSG Elegance on order.

He did look at an SE with option pack but you do get a great deal of spec for the extra £500 or so on the Elegance.

Don't worry youself on DSG reliability, there are very few issues now and most of these failures happen early on and you have three years warranty. Clutch durability has never been an issue on either the wet clutch DSG or the new 7 speed dry clutch DSG.

Do not pay for Safeguard, diamond brite or any other so called permanent finishes, they dull over time and are a bugger to remove. The only one worth considering is the Autoglym Lifeshine treatment which you can keep topped up with the odd aquawax. VW and Audi recommend Autoglym Lifeshine

Don't pay dealer prices, they will only get the valeter to do the job and pay him about £30 to do it. It will be cheaper to pay a proffessional approved local valeter to do it for you, you'll get a much better job at a fraction of the price.

These guys do full Lifeshine treatment with lifetime warranty for £120

www.howclean.net

Cheers

Lee

Edited 23 February, 201115 yr by logiclee

Hi All and thanks

The cluch makes more sense and certainly the Safeguard/Autoglym comments have convinced me that the dealer price was far too high. I will probably do it myself.

While waiting, I've downloaded the Owners Manual - thanks for the link DGW - so can "gaze wishfully" at what it looks like.

Regards

Retiredbri

Hi, I hope you get the bits and bobs for your car that your comfortable with.

I am only going to make a comment on the Safeguard paint and seat treatment. My wife had it in her previous car and on the seats it seemed to make no difference after a couple of months. The paint i would say was marginally better with it, but as we only keep the car 3 years it was probably wasted on the paint side. However if you plan to keep this for many years then maybe the paint side might be worth it. I would definately haggle on this though if you do go for it as from memory they wanted £ 400 for the treatment but I remember us getting it down to £ 200.

Good luck.

Hi Bullyboy,

Totally agree with you here. Definitely helps keep the paintwork and wheels fresh but i've not noticed any improvement with the interior. Wife's car we usually change every three years on a PCP now, looking back dont think we should have bothered getting it done. It is quite costly too.

Like you say if you're looking to keep the car indefinitely its a good investment but otherwise it's really not worth it, particularly if you keep the car clean anyway.

Don't pay dealer prices, they will only get the valeter to do the job and pay him about £30 to do it.

Agreed. Forgot to mention my brother works in the trade. He told me the physical kit to do the job cost a dealership approx £30! The rest of the charge is workshop time because its a labour intensive exercise to apply it then a nice big profit creamed off at the top.

If you can get it thrown in or very cheap then you may as well other than that forget about it and just clean it regularly.

I had Autoglym Lifeshine on my Octy, but manged to get a very very good deal, as i told them i could get it done a lot cheaper elsewhere, so agree if you can get it for approx same price as outside dealer & get the case with the polish, shampoo, glass cleaner, wipes etc its worth it.

As far as the AC / Climate is concerned, from experience it doesent matter if you have this on, as i found out from owning a fabia vRS the pump is always on, so my fuel consumption didnt make any difference.

Agreed. Forgot to mention my brother works in the trade. He told me the physical kit to do the job cost a dealership approx £30! The rest of the charge is workshop time because its a labour intensive exercise to apply it then a nice big profit creamed off at the top.

If you can get it thrown in or very cheap then you may as well other than that forget about it and just clean it regularly.

+1. My Brother used to work as mechanic at dealership and told me that they buy the kit in to do it at approx £50 then charge customer £400 to get it done. Oh and the fact its unlikely to be done with any proper care and attention -your likely to get a work-experience kid spending 20mins waxing one off onto your beloved paintwork.....

......As far as the AC / Climate is concerned, from experience it doesent matter if you have this on, as i found out from owning a fabia vRS the pump is always on, so my fuel consumption didnt make any difference.

Hi lfc958,

We currently have a Citreon with A/C plus climate control and it looks like the A/C pump is running but I think it is just the pully part of the magnetic clutch drive assembly to the A/C shaft. When I switch on the A/C switch, there is a clunk as the magnetic clutch operates and looking under the bonnet, both the left and right parts of the A/C pully/clutch assembly rotate. The engine speed drops slightly and the pipes/heat exchanger then start to work.

I recall the Citreon instruction book telling you to turn on the A/C periodically to stop the seals from drying out and that it will sometimes turn off if the engine coolant temp is too high (to reduce the load on the engine).

Any views?

retiredbri

Hi lfc958,

We currently have a Citreon with A/C plus climate control and it looks like the A/C pump is running but I think it is just the pully part of the magnetic clutch drive assembly to the A/C shaft. When I switch on the A/C switch, there is a clunk as the magnetic clutch operates and looking under the bonnet, both the left and right parts of the A/C pully/clutch assembly rotate. The engine speed drops slightly and the pipes/heat exchanger then start to work.

I recall the Citreon instruction book telling you to turn on the A/C periodically to stop the seals from drying out and that it will sometimes turn off if the engine coolant temp is too high (to reduce the load on the engine).

Any views?

retiredbri

It all depends on the set up, some setups have the compressor running all the time and the temp is controlled only by using the heater to control the temperature. What you have on the Citroen sounds like the other system where the cooling is controlled by the electromagnetic clutch switching in and out. Disengaged and only the pulley will be turning, engaged and you will hear the click and the centre part of the pulley will start to turn, dragging the engine down a bit. You are right about the lubrication, the coolant in the system contains a lubricant to look after the seals in the compressor.

Ian

certainly the Safeguard/Autoglym comments have convinced me that the dealer price was far too high. I will probably do it myself.

Regards

Retiredbri

If you want to do the Lifeshine yourself then about £25 for the kit.

Lifeshine on ebay

Don't pay more than around £120 to have it done by a pro Autoglym valeter.

You will only get the lifetime paint warranty if you have it done by an autoglym approved valeter though.

Autoglym Lifeshine info

Cheers

Lee

Edited 24 February, 201115 yr by logiclee