Hi there. I'm new to the site. I've never bought a Skoda before but I'm seriously considering buying a Fabia Greenline 2 due it's free road tax and high MPG. What I would value is your actually experiences on driving this car - do you find the running costs low, is it reliable, is there anything I should look out for? etc. Have you any advice on buying / driving this car. Your comments would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

Hi, I have had mine for 5 months and really like it, it's cheap as chips to run, no road tax and I get 75mpg on average, can get 90mpg on routine journeys but it does require concentration. It's great value and seems well built, our other car is an Audi a3 1.9tdie. My old car was a Citroën Berlingo and I really miss the space(the van like car was huge). So I would say, if you want a small to medium car, there is none better at the moment. I however want a bigger car again, the kids are cracking up, so have put mine up for sale, it's on eBay along with a few others.

As said, there a good car, good on diesel, good price, the only problem is the massive lead time.

I wouldnt worry about looking out for much at the minute, just the normal, hasn't been crash damaged, good paintwork, etc etc, as all the cars will be under a year old, so if any problems you will have a dealer warrenty.

Are you looking for a estate or a hatch?

I've had mine since January and have done just over 8000 miles.

I like it. But you have to accept that it's no road rocket. Although it will keep up with other traffic on the motorway, you'll get much better mpg sticking to a lower speed.

You drive about sensibly and can average 70mpg once the engine has done a few thousand miles. Yes, you may get 90mpg on the odd run, but you'll realistically not average that over a whole tank of fuel.

It also comes as a well specced vehicle, you don't need to add a lot of options as all the important stuff is included.

What I like:

Economy,

Build quality,

Standard equipment,

Styling with the aerodynamic front bumper,

Boot space in the Estate.

What I don't like:

The steering wheel is horrible cheap plastic - get a leather one fitted by the dealer!

Waiting time to buy one.

To me personally the estate is better as it's a reasonable sized 5 door car with space to put things in the boot. Plus it looks better as they didn't need to stick a huge rear spoiler on to help the aeordynamics.

But that's just my opinion, as I have one.

Yeah I agree, regards the mpg, I always drive economically to and from work and always get 90mpg there and 85mpg back. It's when I add in a motorway trip at 70mph(it prefers 55mph if you have the patience) a few rruns on unfamiliar roads or a couple of hurried journeys that my average goes down to 75mpg.

I do think it's a lot to do with familiarity if route, ie I know exactly when I can take my foot off the gas to coast up to the roundabouts etc

All just my opinion of course.

Yeah I agree, regards the mpg, I always drive economically to and from work and always get 90mpg there and 85mpg back. It's when I add in a motorway trip at 70mph(it prefers 55mph if you have the patience) a few rruns on unfamiliar roads or a couple of hurried journeys that my average goes down to 75mpg.

I do think it's a lot to do with familiarity if route, ie I know exactly when I can take my foot off the gas to coast up to the roundabouts etc

All just my opinion of course.

Out of interest are you using the MPG thing on the car or calculating it from tankfulls or using fuelly?

I use fuelly (CT17) as the MPG thing in the car overreads by about 10% on mine.

Hi there. I'm new to the site. I've never bought a Skoda before but I'm seriously considering buying a Fabia Greenline 2 due it's free road tax and high MPG. What I would value is your actually experiences on driving this car - do you find the running costs low, is it reliable, is there anything I should look out for? etc. Have you any advice on buying / driving this car. Your comments would be greatly appriciated. Thanks

Hi,

Ive got a fabia hatch and only really want to repeat what others have said really. Ive only had mine a month and a bit and done 2000 miles and im getting 66mpg and thats with a few spirited runs etc. Build quality is brilliant and i would recommend the maxi-dot extra only as its got everything else and this just sets it off nicely. Tbh i havent really noticed that its only 1.2 as i came from a 1.0l petrol yaris so it seems to have more go in it but i guess if your use to a more powerful car you might. The only negative is the waiting times, i waited 3 months for mine i know some have waited shorter and longer and 3 seems to be the average but even so its a long time to wait.

Any other questions i would be happy to help you out as i was thinking about it long and hard and posted multiple questions on here but honestly its a great little car.

CT17, I use the trip computer for individual journeys, but for tankfuls I work it out by brimming it etc, I find it is 2mpg less than the onboard computer. I also use road trip lite app for iPhone,(it just does the brimming sums) keeps a record of them, graphs etc.

FYI I can get my wife's a3, 1.9tdie way over it's 63mpg claimed average which really annoys her.( I can get it to 'show' 90mpg on my work run also) not sure about it's overreading.

Any thoughts on my methods ? What average are you getting ?

CT17, I use the trip computer for individual journeys, but for tankfuls I work it out by brimming it etc, I find it is 2mpg less than the onboard computer. I also use road trip lite app for iPhone,(it just does the brimming sums) keeps a record of them, graphs etc.

FYI I can get my wife's a3, 1.9tdie way over it's 63mpg claimed average which really annoys her.( I can get it to 'show' 90mpg on my work run also) not sure about it's overreading.

Any thoughts on my methods ? What average are you getting ?

I use Fuelly as you just put the info in and it's done for you.

Averaging 71.8 mpg over 8104 miles from new, which includes running the engine in.

My link here: http://www.fuelly.com/driver/ct17

It's handy as you can track what other drivers of the same car are getting. :yes:

I would emphaise what CT17 said inregards to the steering wheel

it's certainly worth speccing the £175 optional leather wheel because the standard one it horrid!

It has an 8 speaker stereo too

and not that people buy this car for handling but the lowered suspension and stiffer springs to lend it to a slightly better disposition mid-corner over the stanard S and SE models.

in terms of size i have always marvelled at the Fabia's(both mk1 and mk2) ability to fit 5 adults in relative comfort and with more legroom than 3series beemers and c-class mercs.

i would suggest driving the Greenline 2 before buying not a 1.6tdi 105 SE that my dealership tried to liken to it or the 60ps 1.2htp either.

the Greenline is the odd one out in the fabia line up and really shouldn't be compared to it's brothers and sisters.

Could i afford one i would buy one in the blink of an eye

best of luck.

try going onto a VW forum and ask Polo bluemotion owners what they think about the Greenline 2.... but remember they will be bitter and jealous because Greenline 2 owners are a few grand better off after their purchases and average better mpg. hehe

To me personally the estate is better as it's a reasonable sized 5 door car with space to put things in the boot. Plus it looks better as they didn't need to stick a huge rear spoiler on to help the aeordynamics.

But that's just my opinion, as I have one.

I dispute the part about the spoiler! Haha, I didn't realise it looked so out of place till I picked up my car, not my fault there was none in the country when I was ordering. :(

I still think the hatch is a reasonable size, compared to polo, ibiza, etc. I got a double mattress in the back of mine.

I've had mine since January and have done just over 8000 miles.

I like it. But you have to accept that it's no road rocket. Although it will keep up with other traffic on the motorway, you'll get much better mpg sticking to a lower speed.

You drive about sensibly and can average 70mpg once the engine has done a few thousand miles. Yes, you may get 90mpg on the odd run, but you'll realistically not average that over a whole tank of fuel.

It also comes as a well specced vehicle, you don't need to add a lot of options as all the important stuff is included.

What I like:

Economy,

Build quality,

Standard equipment,

Styling with the aerodynamic front bumper,

Boot space in the Estate.

What I don't like:

The steering wheel is horrible cheap plastic - get a leather one fitted by the dealer!

Waiting time to buy one.

To me personally the estate is better as it's a reasonable sized 5 door car with space to put things in the boot. Plus it looks better as they didn't need to stick a huge rear spoiler on to help the aeordynamics.

But that's just my opinion, as I have one.

Had mine since October last year and have to agree with CT17. I use my car as the only family car and it spends a lot of its time running around town with the odd blast. I am on Fuelly as well (Dempsek) and average 54.8mpg not on brim to brim but cut off to cut off = on long runs I can get over 70 mpg allowing for 5% variance between fill and car readout.

As said, there a good car, good on diesel, good price, the only problem is the massive lead time.

I wouldnt worry about looking out for much at the minute, just the normal, hasn't been crash damaged, good paintwork, etc etc, as all the cars will be under a year old, so if any problems you will have a dealer warrenty.

Are you looking for a estate or a hatch?

Hatch - don't need the extra space. Well I didn't think I needed more space!

Edited 12 July, 201114 yr by JollyGreenFabia

I've had mine since January and have done just over 8000 miles.

I like it. But you have to accept that it's no road rocket. Although it will keep up with other traffic on the motorway, you'll get much better mpg sticking to a lower speed.

You drive about sensibly and can average 70mpg once the engine has done a few thousand miles. Yes, you may get 90mpg on the odd run, but you'll realistically not average that over a whole tank of fuel.

It also comes as a well specced vehicle, you don't need to add a lot of options as all the important stuff is included.

What I like:

Economy,

Build quality,

Standard equipment,

Styling with the aerodynamic front bumper,

Boot space in the Estate.

What I don't like:

The steering wheel is horrible cheap plastic - get a leather one fitted by the dealer!

Waiting time to buy one.

To me personally the estate is better as it's a reasonable sized 5 door car with space to put things in the boot. Plus it looks better as they didn't need to stick a huge rear spoiler on to help the aeordynamics.

But that's just my opinion, as I have one.

Thanks for that. I've never really considered an estate as I didn't think I needed the extra room but you never know when it might come in handy. It seems like you get far fewer opional extras on the estate though. Reading some of the other posts alot of people recommend the leather steering wheel with the radio controls, curtain air bags and maxi-dot display so i'll think about these. Can you buy a spare wheel for the Greenline 2 as I really don't like relying on the foam kits which every car seems to have now.

Thanks alot guys that's really helpful. Currently I drive a corsa 1.7cdti hatch and measure my MPG from fuel cut off at the pump, see how many litres I've put in and compare this to my miles driven and I'm averaging about 45MPG which isn't great considering my commute each day is 20 miles on single lane A road average speed 40 - 50MPH, 20 miles on dual carrigeways at 70 MPH and about 6 miles in built up areas at 30 - 40 MPH. I will consider using Fuelly - how does it work?

Edited 12 July, 201114 yr by JollyGreenFabia

I've had mine since January and have done just over 8000 miles.

I like it. But you have to accept that it's no road rocket. Although it will keep up with other traffic on the motorway, you'll get much better mpg sticking to a lower speed.

You drive about sensibly and can average 70mpg once the engine has done a few thousand miles. Yes, you may get 90mpg on the odd run, but you'll realistically not average that over a whole tank of fuel.

It also comes as a well specced vehicle, you don't need to add a lot of options as all the important stuff is included.

What I like:

Economy,

Build quality,

Standard equipment,

Styling with the aerodynamic front bumper,

Boot space in the Estate.

What I don't like:

The steering wheel is horrible cheap plastic - get a leather one fitted by the dealer!

Waiting time to buy one.

To me personally the estate is better as it's a reasonable sized 5 door car with space to put things in the boot. Plus it looks better as they didn't need to stick a huge rear spoiler on to help the aeordynamics.

But that's just my opinion, as I have one.

I do about 20000 miles per year and motoring is one of my biggest bills which keeps on increasing!! I used to drive a MK3 MX5 2 cars ago which was great fun but now I need a hatchback so I'm aiming for ecomony rather than a rocket but I do miss it! I can be doing long motorway journeys of 400 miles at 70 MPH every 6 weeks and commuting at 300 / 350 mile per week mainly on 'A' roads so I hope I would get a good MPG out of a GL2. I can put up with the car i've got for another 3 - 4 months if I have to as long as the GL2 is worth the wait!

Edited 13 July, 201114 yr by JollyGreenFabia

Hi,

Ive got a fabia hatch and only really want to repeat what others have said really. Ive only had mine a month and a bit and done 2000 miles and im getting 66mpg and thats with a few spirited runs etc. Build quality is brilliant and i would recommend the maxi-dot extra only as its got everything else and this just sets it off nicely. Tbh i havent really noticed that its only 1.2 as i came from a 1.0l petrol yaris so it seems to have more go in it but i guess if your use to a more powerful car you might. The only negative is the waiting times, i waited 3 months for mine i know some have waited shorter and longer and 3 seems to be the average but even so its a long time to wait.

Any other questions i would be happy to help you out as i was thinking about it long and hard and posted multiple questions on here but honestly its a great little car.

Thanks for posting - I appriciate you making the effort

Had mine since October last year and have to agree with CT17. I use my car as the only family car and it spends a lot of its time running around town with the odd blast. I am on Fuelly as well (Dempsek) and average 54.8mpg not on brim to brim but cut off to cut off = on long runs I can get over 70 mpg allowing for 5% variance between fill and car readout.

That's good to know - my current turbo diesel does about 45MPG and is costing me a fortune!!

I would emphaise what CT17 said inregards to the steering wheel

it's certainly worth speccing the £175 optional leather wheel because the standard one it horrid!

It has an 8 speaker stereo too

and not that people buy this car for handling but the lowered suspension and stiffer springs to lend it to a slightly better disposition mid-corner over the stanard S and SE models.

in terms of size i have always marvelled at the Fabia's(both mk1 and mk2) ability to fit 5 adults in relative comfort and with more legroom than 3series beemers and c-class mercs.

i would suggest driving the Greenline 2 before buying not a 1.6tdi 105 SE that my dealership tried to liken to it or the 60ps 1.2htp either.

the Greenline is the odd one out in the fabia line up and really shouldn't be compared to it's brothers and sisters.

Could i afford one i would buy one in the blink of an eye

best of luck.

try going onto a VW forum and ask Polo bluemotion owners what they think about the Greenline 2.... but remember they will be bitter and jealous because Greenline 2 owners are a few grand better off after their purchases and average better mpg. hehe

The dealer can let me test drive a 1.4 Greenline - not the new version so I hope it will be pretty similar. I would feel bad for taunting the bluemotion crowd though.....

Edited 13 July, 201114 yr by JollyGreenFabia

.

Edited 13 July, 201114 yr by JollyGreenFabia

If your after a hatch, I have one. Were are you based?

Also, mines done around 3600 miles, still running in, it's averaged around 83mpg on my best tank full so far, that was the sort of A road/motorways you seem to be doing.

JollyGreen Fabia,

In answer to your question you can buy a spare wheel kit, which includes the foam insert for the boot, a spare wheel, jack and wheelbrace. Cost is about £130. On other Fabias it's a £55 list option, but you can't get it as a list option on the GL2.

One odd thing though is the tyre size.

On a regular Fabia the tyres are wider and the spare is a general one for the whole range. This means that the spare is usually a bit thinner than the road wheels, but on the Greenline II the spare is actually 1cm wider that the tyres fitted to the car as the GL2 gets thinner tyres than other Fabias.

This does not effect it's use, but worth noting as I found it a bit odd that the spare is wider. Rolling radius is the same.

If I had known this when ordering though, I'd have asked the dealer to suppy a tyre the same size as the road wheels as it will fit in the boot well.

Oh and the 1.4 and 1.2 have completely different engines, so drive very differently in my opinion. The 1.2 is smoother and quieter.

Try a different dealer, my local place actually borrowed my car so a customer could test it as they didn't have one.

I'd pretty much support what everyone else says. In the two months I've had my GL2 hatch I've been quite busy so I've only managed a thousand miles but its a joy to drive.

I've had a couple of niggly issues with mine (see my thread on initial experiences) but it doesn't take away from the fact that its an awesome little car. Though what others have said about the effect on fuel efficiency is true, you get that little 1.2 3 cylinder engine up to 70mph and you can almost hear it saying, "yeah, and what?". Acceleration can be slow but once you work out the gearing and where the turbo is you can use it to get going quickly when necessary.

Couple of things to offer a counter view to what others have said:

- I like the spoiler on the hatch. Like me, it came straight out the middle of the 1980s! Might just be me though...

- i actually quite like the basic steering wheel for its simplicity. I don't think it feels horrible at all even on long journeys. The one I test drove had the basic so I decided to save the money and I'm glad I did. Again, prob just me!

Oh, and the thing with the spare wheel is to do with keeping emissions down. Once it leaves the factory they don't care though so there's a space for one as has been mentioned.

There are a few demos knocking around. Hope you find one!

If your after a hatch, I have one. Were are you based?

Also, mines done around 3600 miles, still running in, it's averaged around 83mpg on my best tank full so far, that was the sort of A road/motorways you seem to be doing.

I'm based in Eastbourne so that's about 330 miles south of you!!

JollyGreen Fabia,

In answer to your question you can buy a spare wheel kit, which includes the foam insert for the boot, a spare wheel, jack and wheelbrace. Cost is about £130. On other Fabias it's a £55 list option, but you can't get it as a list option on the GL2.

One odd thing though is the tyre size.

On a regular Fabia the tyres are wider and the spare is a general one for the whole range. This means that the spare is usually a bit thinner than the road wheels, but on the Greenline II the spare is actually 1cm wider that the tyres fitted to the car as the GL2 gets thinner tyres than other Fabias.

This does not effect it's use, but worth noting as I found it a bit odd that the spare is wider. Rolling radius is the same.

If I had known this when ordering though, I'd have asked the dealer to suppy a tyre the same size as the road wheels as it will fit in the boot well.

Oh and the 1.4 and 1.2 have completely different engines, so drive very differently in my opinion. The 1.2 is smoother and quieter.

Try a different dealer, my local place actually borrowed my car so a customer could test it as they didn't have one.

Thanks for that - why did they make the spare a different size to the regular wheels. It makes no sense unless it's a spacesaver. Usefull to know though. I'm considering winter tyres as well so I might get these put on when ordering because if I order one it'll be oct / nov before it's delivered.

I had already booked the test drive before I read your post. I test drove the 1.4 last week and it felt very good - if the GL2 is smoother then it's going to be a great car. The dealer hasn't seen one yet!!