Having 'lurked' on this forum for over 6 months, I finally collected my new Fabia Greenline 2 last Friday. It took around 6 months from order to collection, the car was ordered through Drivethedeal and the order was passed to a main Skoda dealer in the M25 area.

Having read other people's very useful and helpful reviews I thought I'd post with my initial view on the car.

For background my 'old' car was a 2001 Ford Focus 1.8 tdi estate which had done almost 180,000 miles. I looked at a lot of different cars when choosing the Fabia. I had originally intended to go for a 2/3 year old Polo Bluemotion until I read about the Greenline 2. I took one for a test drive one Saturday morning last September and walked straight back into the dealers saying I just couldn't fault it and the following Friday placed the order for a new one.

Initial review of the car is that it's everything I hoped it would be. I'm running the engine in as advised on this forum/the manual/Honest John, regularly hitting 3,000revs (without driving too hard) and varying the revs regularly. My 70m round trip commute to/from work is on a mixture of lanes, A roads, motorway and the car is doing between 64/70mpg. I'm not even trying hard to drive in an economical way at the moment so I'll look forward to how it performs when the engine's run in and summer diesel is available!

My only question - the auto stop start works perfectly when I stop in traffic. When I drive into a parking space the display states the stop/start is not possible (as you would want while parking). How does the car know it's being parked - is it because parking spaces are usually at a 90 deg bend and it knows the car has just turned sharply?

Dan

My only question - the auto stop start works perfectly when I stop in traffic. When I drive into a parking space the display states the stop/start is not possible (as you would want while parking). How does the car know it's being parked - is it because parking spaces are usually at a 90 deg bend and it knows the car has just turned sharply?

Gearbox in neutral?

Dan glad to read you are happy with your Greenline 2.

I do not know how the stop start knows you are parking. When I swing into my drive and pull up my GL2 will not use stop start.

I do suspect it is something to do with swinging into a parking spot which effects a sensor stopping the system from working.

It is a bit surprising how economical the car is, while some complain about getting between 50 to 60 the gallon on combined journeys I am struggling with getting high 50s for town driving - what a niche car it's more economical than my sisters hybrid.

Dan glad to read you are happy with your Greenline 2.

I do not know how the stop start knows you are parking. When I swing into my drive and pull up my GL2 will not use stop start.

I do suspect it is something to do with swinging into a parking spot which effects a sensor stopping the system from working.

It is a bit surprising how economical the car is, while some complain about getting between 50 to 60 the gallon on combined journeys I am struggling with getting high 50s for town driving - what a niche car it's more economical than my sisters hybrid.

Thanks for the comments. I think it is turning just before the car comes to a stop. Having read the manual it does mention this as one of the factors the car takes into account when activating start/stop.