Hi, I'm going to look at a 2004 fabia vrs on Saturday and wanted a little advice really. Do the cars have any specific common faults or issue? The vehicle has just had the camblt and water pump changed which is good and saves me a job! It had covered around 60k so not too high really.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks olly

Sounds good, at a dealers or private? Look for FSSH, listen for rattles, check uneven tyre wear, leaky rear doors, other usual stuff like paintwork/rust really.

It's a private sale, and he sounded pretty genuine. It's all hpi clear etc and will give it a very thorough check over Saturday. Thanks I didn't know about rear door leaks. Where do they tend to rust? As some cars have certain common rust spots.

Thanks for the help olly

With the leaking doors, feel the underside of the doorcards for the rear doors, the front are moulded plastic so look for any water seeping through, also water sitting on the seals is a good indication, i'd also feel under the floor mats, press hard into the floor as the sound deadening is pretty thick.

Also have a look at the spoiler, because they are bonded on they can sometimes come off at one or both sides.

The rear windscreen wiper is also worth a check, its a fairly simple fix if there is no washer fluid going to it etc but its something else to knock the price down.

These are a few of the things I picked up on when I bought mine with roughly the same mileage as the one your looking at.

Good luck

they dont tend to suffer from rust problems, but areas to check would be the arches especially at the joins where the wee spoiler of the arch liner comes into the arch. im not aware of any others if there are any, buy it! youll love it! lol especially coming from a ka lol i came from a clio lol

Edited 18 March, 201115 yr by wilsy7

they dont tend to suffer from rust problems, but areas to check would be the arches especially at the joins where the wee spoiler of the arch liner comes into the arch.

Yup - either end of the sill where the wheel-arch liner overlaps it - it's prone to rubbing the paint off, which will lead to rust.

Thank you for all the helpful replies, I'm confident it will be quite a good car by the seller himself but will check it thoroughly. I really want it though as I have out grown my car literally and have wanted a vrs for years now. If I do buy it I'll put some photos up on Saturday some point.

Thanks again for the information.

Olly