Hi, anyone else having issues with the new Fabia vRS?

Purchased mine in February from Parkview Skoda in Reading, ex demo with 500 miles on the clock.

Found that the idle speed was somewhat erratic and then found that if the engine got hot (say after being in traffic) and you stopped, returned to the car 20-30 minutes later it would start ok but as soon as you accelerated away the engine cut out and then re-started, most disconcerting if you had spotted a gap in the traffic.

The car surged on occasions and was very keen to change down a gear (7th to 6th) at the slightest sign of an incline which I had not experinced with my previous 1.4tsi octy and the fuel consumption was very poor - 32-36mpg driven very gently (still believe in bedding engines in - showing my age here!).

So, car went back to Parkview for this to be investigated along with numerous rattles from three of the doors.

The fault, thankfully, appeared the first time the service manager drove it and the fault code apparent led them to a faulty fuel pump. Two week wait for a new one! Got the car back, they had fitted a new fuel pump but hadn't found any rattles but 1 mile after leaving the garage there they all were! So back I wnet, took the service manager out for a drive and surprise he could hear the rattles...arghh!!!!! He attempted to fix the fault to save me the 125 mile drive back again but decided the car needed new door panels.

The fuelling issues were still there too so contacted them by email, two weeks later, no response from them - been most unhelpful, so conytacted Skoda Customer Services - John Good was helpful and came back to tell me I would have to wait 6-8 weeks more for the door panels - what?!? No thoughts on the fuelling issues and no offer to rectify.

This is my fifth Skoda, guess it will be the last.

Anyway if any of you have similar experiences then please let me know as am taking legal advice about my position.

Many thanks

Tezza2

just a question but are you using super unleaded?

Nobody else has reported these problems?

I'll be running mine on Shell V-Power for its life to help it run better.

I bet it's been run on supermarket sludge for the 500 and you may be running better fuel so it's re-adjusting the brain ecu,to run on the fuel it's ment to run on

sounds like it could be a number of things (possibly a sensor) you need to get it scanned again and get the error it throws up.

Surely even though you have bought used not new all warranty work can be carried out by your nearest dealer, or indeed any Skoda dealer of your choice.

no problems... and the fuel consuption wont increase until its got some miles under its belt... I can easily get 47mpg on a gentle run (5500 miles) but couldn't better 35 with 500 miles on it!

I reiterate what otehrs have said? what fuel is being used? it should be 98+... only problem I have ever had with mine was the exhaust warning light on hard acceleration... the dealer put 95 in when I picked it up (14 miles) and yes, i was booting it at that miles I suggest you do too, or you may not bed the engine in properly.... since then (and I have always used at least BP ultimate (97) and v-power (99) where possible.....

cutting out sounds a real worry though, give them a chance to fix it, if they can't reject it and buy another !

Fuel V power or similar for the fuel as a must !

Cutting out this is really bad. Only comment i can make is the ECU still somehow learning ? On my RX8 it would take quite a while to learn if you disconnected the battery. Maybe as a demo it got loads of short journeys and as a reverse of learning the battery should be disconnected and then it re-learns from scratch again under you driving style. Not saying this should be done with a Skoda but you could do it with an RX8 and it helped owners in the past.

Maybe someone else can comment if this could be a 'fix' worth trying by disconnected the battery would re boot the ECU ?

Good Luck.

Do you need to use higher Ron petrol in the 1.2 tsi as well? Seems crazy you lot are committed to a lifetime of buying even more expensive petrol...

But if more expensive fuel gives you 180bhp and 184lb/ft on tap at all times instead of 170bhp and 170lb/ft I know what i'll be doing...

Dont believe the hype regarding use of Super Unleaded fuel only. TSI engine will run fine all day long on 95 RON fuel, doesnt cause any harm at all. Official VAG documentation and Skoda UK advise that reduced low end torque and a slight increase in fuel consumption are the only side effects, it wont damage the engine or cause poor running.

Copies of the VAG Official documentation are where?

in the review thread sticky at the top of the forum, i posted a link to a VAG PDF tech guide. In there it states 95ron is fine, but there will be a loss of torque and mpg.

what makes me laugh though is 4 pence a litre difference(at the maximum) over a 45litre tank = £1.80 per tank extra. the loss in mpg you get with 95 ron would very likely cancel out the extra £1.80 you save by not getting Vpower.

Edited 10 April, 201115 yr by janner_Sy

Interesting in regards of the gradeof fuel,is it not better if regardless of engine size or fuel burnt,the best is better I.e we all use a higher rom,I have the crtdi and tdi versions of the fabia I am tempted to run the v-power diesel to see if there is a difference,anyone using the v-diesel in the crtdi?,if so what is the difference?

Diesels don't have cetane/octane whatever ratings do they?

The only difference with the V-Power diesel is its cleaner.

Diesels don't have cetane/octane whatever ratings do they?

The only difference with the V-Power diesel is its cleaner.

Diesel has an octane number of about 15-25. The reason for this seemingly terrible number compared to the ones we're used to from petrol is the fact that diesel is combusted in a totally different type of engine. Diesel has low volatility, low knock resistance, yet high energy per volume. Because of its low knock resistance, diesel should not be used in a petrol engine as it will destroy it very quickly and efficiently.

Generally speaking, diesel fuel ignition quality is not measured in octanes, as these are a unit for gasoline. A similar reference value, but for diesel, is the cetane rating. The higher the cetane number, the easier the fuel ignites when injected into an engine. The cetane number is determined by an engine test using two reference fuel blends of known cetane numbers. The reference fuels are prepared by blending normal cetane (n-hexadecane), having a value of 100, with heptamethyl nonane, having a value of 15. The higher the cetane rating, the higher the fuel's propensity to knock! Choosing a very high cetane number will not make the car run better, but using a fuel with too low cetane number may prevent the engine from starting or running.

evryone says "it will run fine on 95" and it probably will (although the only time I have EVER had a warning light( Exhaust) was on 95 from the dealers when new!) ) and says you will save xxx £ by putting in 95, if you care about that buy a greenline! indded every test I have ever done (myself) over the years has proved v-power to give better fuel economy than 95, so It offsets the cost..

comming back from Weston (300+mile journey) the travelodge only had 95 and I was empty, so put £10 in to get to a better fuel stop, car ran fine (gentle driving so not testing power loss) on the motorway 43 mpg.... then found a shell with v-power (99) filled up to the top, proceeded to drive EXACTLY the same on the motorway, got 47 mpg......

just a question but are you using super unleaded?

Hi

Seems like this is a regularly featured question and when my fault first occurred I sought advice from VW, SKODA and the dealer - VW stated the engine was fine to be run on either 95 or 98 RON but also said that the best would be obtained from the engine using ultra low sulphur fuels, Skoda said 98 RON and the dealer stated that 95 RON was fine but if you wanted the full 180bhp use 98RON.

So, totally confused, I have tried 95 RON from Morrisons, Ultra Low Sulphur from Sainsburys and 98 RON from Shell.

The fuel consumption in all cases was with 2MPG of each other with the Ultra Low Sulphur being, marginally, the best. The 95 RON from Morrisons was, based on my own 'feel' for the way the car was performing was worst with the ULS from Sainsbury being the best but I do not use the full 180bhp of the car and this was not my reason for buying it although it is very handy for safely overtaking the very many tractors we have in Herefordshire!

Still waiting for a response from the dealer and Skoda Customer Service as to what they suggest but, worringly, the problem with loss of power is getting worse and almost caused me to have an accident on Friday evening when I turned onto a fast A road with plenty of space only to find the car cutting out on three occasions in quick succession slow I had to take foot off the accelerator only to have exactly the same issue when I reapplied power so it wa shazard flashers on and pull over much to the annoyance of the BMW behind me.

Seriously considering putting the car off the road whilst this is all resolved.

Tezza2

This covered more than once on these forums. If you buy the vRS run it on 98 octane fuel. If this is something you dont like doing then surely you have bought the wrong car ?

Sorry to sound harsh but this topic has gone through the mangle so much already.

+1. its only a couple quid more per tank. if you can afford a 14k car then surely you can afford to run it properly

This covered more than once on these forums. If you buy the vRS run it on 98 octane fuel. If this is something you dont like doing then surely you have bought the wrong car ?

Sorry to sound harsh but this topic has gone through the mangle so much already.

Wrong. Read the post above yours, it makes no difference to his car and Skoda have stated it should run fine on 95 RON fuel.

Wrong. Read the post above yours, it makes no difference to his car and Skoda have stated it should run fine on 95 RON fuel.

Not Wrong.

Look through the other threads on this please and then your see what others have said, people worried about future warranty work and will the 95 fuel damage the engine etc etc

At the end of the day the recommended fuel is 98 octane, why bother trying to beat the system and doing something different and then posting/moaning/worrying about it

Read this recently on a petrol price website - makes for a quick interesting read:

Using Super Fuels

One of our users commented that using higher octane fuel than your engine requires actually gives no benefit and may be a waste of money. This is because virtually NO engines require 98 RON over 95, and the market for 'super' fuels seems to be based on people's misunderstanding of octane ratings and the placebo effect of filling up with 'more powerful' fuel - making motorists think their engine is running better in some way.

What do the fuel companies say then, to justify the "increased power" claims for the super grade fuels? Some companies say that while all fuels contain cleaning additives, 'super' fuels contain more or better detergents to keep the injectors cleaner than standard fuel. Others say the fuel is a few percent denser which gives slightly more power per litre. These benefits may be marginal though in comparison to the extra cost involved so it is worth ensuring that your engine will actually benefit before filling up.

Some engines actually do need higher octane fuel, such as race engines with very high compression and some turbocharged engines, such as the import version of the Nissan Skyline. Also, a few vehicles, such as the new BMW K1200R motorbike, can sense knock and adjust their engine tuning to take advantage of higher grade fuels. Another user commented that the 2004 BMW 330 also does this, according to the driver's handbook it makes 231 BHP on 98 octane and 221 BHP on 95. This ability is apparently widespread amongst German performance cars using Bosch / Siemens electronic engine controls.

My vRS has yet to arrive so I cannot comment on how I think the car will perform, but there seems to be a trend developing: the majority of enthusiasts as well as the fuel companies praise the use of superfuels, whereas independent sources seem to support the notion that they're a placebo - with a cleaner engine being the only actualy benefit.

Another quotation:

Super Unleaded (97/98 RON)

Super unleaded is the highest octane petrol that is widely available in the UK. A higher octane rating means that the fuel will require greater compression (more pressure) to ignite. Some car engines - especially high performance Japanese cars - require the use of super unleaded, while performance cars like Porsches and Ferraris will also tend to use this fuel, although it may not strictly be required.

Super unleaded can be used in any petrol engine but will only provide a beneficial effect in a small minority of engines as most engines are not able to take advantage of the higher octane rating.

Premium Fuels - e.g. Shell V-Power, BP Ultimate

Several fuel manufacturers offer own-branded high performance fuels that claim to offer additional benefits in addition to a higher octane rating. The best known example of premium petrol in the UK is probably Shell V-Power Unleaded. V-Power Unleaded has an octane rating of 99RON, the highest available in the UK.

Shell say that V-Power Unleaded offers three benefits - improved lubrication, cleaning action and higher performance (for engines that can benefit) due to the high octane rating.

Two alternative premium fuels are BP Ultimate Unleaded and Total Excellium Unleaded. These claim to offer similar benefits to V-Power but are only rated at 97RON.

Premium super unleaded petrol fuels can be used in any petrol engine but only some drivers/cars will experience a noticeable improvement in fuel economy or performance.

Im quickly getting put off the idea of using a super fuel. I doubt a 1.4 TSI is one of the "few" engines that can benefit??

Not Wrong.

Look through the other threads on this please and then your see what others have said, people worried about future warranty work and will the 95 fuel damage the engine etc etc

At the end of the day the recommended fuel is 98 octane, why bother trying to beat the system and doing something different and then posting/moaning/worrying about it

Totally agree

The wife's Vrs has run on 98 fuel from day one and always will be.

It say's 98 ron on the fuel filler cap so that's what it gets, the cost is minimal........