Hi,

Could anybody tell me of their experiences with the Skoda Fabia Combi/Estate- Diesel 1.6 TDI?

What is the average miles per gallon the car is achieving?

What is the build quality like?

Overall quality of the car?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Edited 3 March, 201115 yr by JamesMcAteer93

I have the Fabia Mk2 estate 1422cc TDI PD engined version (now not sold new in the uk). What model are you looking for in particular, new or used? Anyhoo, as you may know, there are several engine variants for the diesel. The Greenline 1.2 diesel (brilliant little engine), and the hugely powerful 1.6 common rail diesel. Once run in these engines give amazing fuel economy with zero road tax on the 1.2 and 1.6 75ps engined car and almost zero road tax on the other versions (90 & 105ps versions). My 1.4TDI is £30 per year. The engines are unburstable on pretty much all Skoda's. My 1422cc engine goes better than most 2.0Litre petrol engines and gives upto 74mpg on a run. Yes, I've actually hit that figure on a brim to brim several times now.

Build quality is excellent with Skoda winning many awards for their reliability and build quality. They are also manufacturer of the year. My car does not rattle or squeak anywhere. Ride comfort is excellent too.

My Skoda is the best car I have ever owned for reliability, economy and general unfussiness. It has not had to keep visiting the garage for silly adjustments and fixes for all sorts of problems that I would often get with new Fords and Fiats previously owned. Even Toyota cars never did me any favours with lots of problems with them when I bought new.

Hang about and some of the guys will tell you their experiences for sure. Good luck and let us know what you decide to get.

I have the Fabia Mk2 estate 1422cc TDI PD engined version (now not sold new in the uk). What model are you looking for in particular, new or used? Anyhoo, as you may know, there are several engine variants for the diesel. The Greenline 1.2 diesel (brilliant little engine), and the hugely powerful 1.6 common rail diesel. Once run in these engines give amazing fuel economy with zero road tax on the 1.2 and 1.6 75ps engined car and almost zero road tax on the other versions (90 & 105ps versions). My 1.4TDI is £30 per year. The engines are unburstable on pretty much all Skoda's. My 1422cc engine goes better than most 2.0Litre petrol engines and gives upto 74mpg on a run. Yes, I've actually hit that figure on a brim to brim several times now.

Build quality is excellent with Skoda winning many awards for their reliability and build quality. They are also manufacturer of the year. My car does not rattle or squeak anywhere. Ride comfort is excellent too.

My Skoda is the best car I have ever owned for reliability, economy and general unfussiness. It has not had to keep visiting the garage for silly adjustments and fixes for all sorts of problems that I would often get with new Fords and Fiats previously owned. Even Toyota cars never did me any favours with lots of problems with them when I bought new.

Hang about and some of the guys will tell you their experiences for sure. Good luck and let us know what you decide to get.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm looking at the Fabia 1.6 Tdi Common Rail- New. Not sure if i'm going for the 75/90/105hp yet and I am not sure whether to go for the SE, Elegance or Scout. Tried out the 75hp, seemed quite underpowered.

Edited 3 March, 201115 yr by JamesMcAteer93

Ive got what you are thinking about buying in SE trim with the 105bhp engine. The car has now done 5000 miles and when the weather is mild the fuel comsumption is around 58-62mpg, when colder the mid 50`s.

The performance of the car is superior to the previous Octavia 1/9Tdi PD I had and is very refined and quiet especially when cruising on the motorway. The accelaration is impressive and there is plenty of stick for when you need it. Due to the high gearing, the car doesnt feel happy in 5th gear until youve reached 50 mph.

The quality of the car is very good overall except the door plastics feel a trifle cheap and scratch easily.

Many on here would advise that the TSi is better. Maybe it is however if you like diesels, you`ll be impressed and not disappointed. The SE trim has everything I want in a car.

Seboni121 and Matty Le Swan also have 105 TDi`s, they are not disappointed with their cars either. Incidentally I test drove the 75bhp and found it gutless. the 105 is impressive, whereas I imagine the 90 is good!!

Edited 4 March, 201115 yr by threadbear

We're buying a vRS Estate. Cracking car for the money, great value, well equipped and although the quality of materials is not quite up to par compared with the new Polo its well bolted together.

I have to be honest we test drove two 60 plate cars with approx 4k on the clock and both had slight rattles, not major but worth being aware of.

I personally would go for the 1.6CR 105 Elegance, best diesel engine and spec and great value with the current VAT deal.

James, you may be aware already, but in case you are not...all the VAG diesels are very tight indeed when new and take a few thousand miles to loosen up and produce full power and best mpg. So any test drive at the dealer may not be very typical of how your own car will be when it's done a few miles. They all become smoother and quieter too. Typically, you can expect around 10-12% more power from any diesel you buy when it's achieved 8-10k miles. This is normal, and exactly how much power and when the engine produces it will depend on how well you run the engine in and how you drive it generally. As you may know, you don't have to do anything too special to run them in these days, but don't drive it too gently or be too heavy footed to start with. Follow the instructions in the book and it'll be fine. Oh...and my personal choice for my next motor is the 1.6cr, lovely engine.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm looking at the Fabia 1.6 Tdi Common Rail- New. Not sure if i'm going for the 75/90/105hp yet and I am not sure whether to go for the SE, Elegance or Scout. Tried out the 75hp, seemed quite underpowered.

Pretty much everyone on here likes their Fabia whatever engine size. The SE spec offers pretty much all the essentials and can be upgraded by value packs. On the other hand I doubt you'd recoup much of the pack outlay at resale

I'm sure you've looked at prices, but re value for money, the 75 is a fair bit cheaper than the 90, but the 90 is only c £200+ cheaper than the 105(though I guess there are further savings to be made on insurance).

In performance terms, the 75 is further behind the 90 than the latter is behind the 105 in terms of torque, and the 75 has a narrower peak band.

So I'd be tempted to think that if performance matters to you I'd consider the 105 for the small premium over the 90.

If it doesn't I'd be tempted by the 75, and spend the saving on going for a higher spec!

Hi,

Could anybody tell me of their experiences with the Skoda Fabia Combi/Estate- Diesel 1.6 TDI?

What is the average miles per gallon the car is achieving?

What is the build quality like?

Overall quality of the car?

Thanks for your help in advance!

I have a 1.9 TDi Estate and absolutely love it - nothing rattles, nothing has needed tweaking or fixing (25 k trouble-free miles so far) and the car offers a great balance of performance, economy (I average 51 mpg), load-lugging capability (I've had a chest height fridge freezer and a single mattress in the back in one journey!) and comfort (the '3' spec [now Elegance] is excellent for the money). Another aspect that I really value is the compact dimensions of the Fabia - it's narrower than the majority of modern cars which can be of great benefit when squeezing through spaces, opening doors in car parks, etc. Build quality is excellent but the interior quality doesn't match that of a VW or Audi - fortunately neither does the price tag.

My only experience of the 1.6 Tdi is a day's drive in a corteousy car (dealer said it was the 90 bhp version) and to be honest, although I was impressed by the refinement (it's definitely quieter and smoother than my PD engine) it was pretty gutless compared with my 1.9 105 bhp. If you plan to carry more than two occupants on a regular basis and/or need to carry heavy loads occcasionally then I would recommend going for the 105 bhp version.