Play nice, the lot of you!

This is an interesting thread with plenty of decent information in it, if it keeps spiralling downwards after this it will be closed and moderation of users posts will kick in.

Cheers.

Well said, if the car is faulty you should be taking it up with Skoda with some of our help/advice - not having a battle amoungst ourselves. What estateman said in his posts on this page is well said.

Good luck with the car and if you go back to the deaer on a couple of these issues keep us posted on the outcomes.

Play nice, the lot of you!

This is an interesting thread with plenty of decent information in it, if it keeps spiralling downwards after this it will be closed and moderation of users posts will kick in.

Cheers.

Will do BigW...thanks!

I liked my MK 1 Elegance 1.9TDi Estate too. I agree it was a good design but in my opinion it is now dated and does not compare favourably with the MK11 model which, again in my opinion, is a far superior car. The worst part of the MK1 for me is that it leaks like a sieve. Even after sealing the door cards it is far from satisfactory. The new car is light. airy and very nimble and I find it a pleasure to own and drive. My view is that ALL cars are awash with glitches and whilst some simply don't mind them, others find them a chore. However, the Fabia has far less 'glitches' than most. That's why they are highly rated by the motoring press and others in the know. However if you pay fabia prices and expect Audi quality there might just be a problem.

Well said, if the car is faulty you should be taking it up with Skoda with some of our help/advice - not having a battle amoungst ourselves. What estateman said in his posts on this page is well said.

Good luck with the car and if you go back to the deaer on a couple of these issues keep us posted on the outcomes.

I have taken the car in to Skoda twice - they changed the climate unit twice and have still not resolved the problem. As far as the engine is concerned they refuse to do anything beyond say there are no faults on the computer - so as far as they are concerned there are no problems.

I wrote this review as my experience of living with this car for 2 years. I simply said the experience has been poor,so much so that I will not buy another Fabia - and my faith in Skoda is diminishing.

It seems a couple of members will not accept anything but praise for Skoda - fair enough - I do have issues with those who keep telling me to shut up or say they give me advice - when all it basically is is "stop moaning" or "take it up with Skoda".

Personally I feel the moderator has been very diplomatic, it seems his comment is not directed at me, but those throwing the insults on this thread.

end of discussion.

I have just bought my first car: an '08 Fabia 2 1.2 HTP (70 Bhp) with 60k on it from a Skoda main dealership, which cost £4990. Similar models with 20-40k on the clock seem to sell for around £7,000. From what i've seen/heard, it is the best in it's class for running costs and practicality, and as a first time driver it is £600 cheaper to insure than the equivalient VW Polo, or anything else for that matter! I would question what type of driving xman has done to get this Mpg reading, as 11,000 miles in 2 years sounds like a lot of town driving...

herzeleid22, Welcome to the site mate and congrates on buying a great car. You'll have some fun it.

It does sound as if xman has been a low mileage driver with his car if he had only covered 4500 in the first year at the time of his valuation for trade in. If that sort of figure was repeated in the second year and it has been used mainly in urban/town driving then that could account for several things that he complains about. Shorter trips don't allow the engine to run in very well. The engine remains tight. The cat starts to clog, the injectors get dirty as do the valves. If it's been run on regular supermarket fuel the valves often develop a sticky brown coating of carbon, even on the valve seats that can cause lumpy tickover. Even a good blast down the motorway doesn't remove this coating on the valves and injectors. It needs a special treatment to get it good again and get the performance and economy back. Additionally, if the car has mainly been used at lower speeds during it's life the engine will use more fuel when driving faster due to the fact the engine isn't used to sustained revving at higher rpm at speed, it will still be tight and probably will remain so for the rest of it's life. You probably know all that from what you say in your post, but it's worth making sure people are aware of it. Whether this applies to xman's car I cannot say of course. But hey ho...

Again have fun with your car and post often to let us all know how you are getting on. Bye for now.

Edited 28 July, 201114 yr by Estate Man

My 1.2 HTP has a lumpy idle and the dealer said there's nowt wrong with it so I too would love to know of this easy fix please...

If it's been run on regular supermarket fuel the valves often develop a sticky brown coating of carbon, even on the valve seats that can cause lumpy tickover.

Urban myth- where do supermarket fuels come from??

Hi Sat1983. Funnily enough I think it comes from the supermarkets...tee hee. Lots of people have posted about supermarket fuel but often haven't realised what happens to it. Not all supermarket fuel is worse than branded fuels but I won't go into it here as it's been covered in other threads and is pointless just now. Don't want to bump xmans thread. Just do a Wiki on it and you'll see what I mean. There are other articles on the net too about it. In fairness, the supermarket stuff is a bit better now than is was even 3 or 4 years ago. The fuel companies have changed the way the additives are added as well. When I used to visit the fuel depots it was added manually by the tanker drivers (quite a while ago as you may appreciate and were just dissolving packs that were added to the tankers). It's done electronically now I understand but the good fuel that supermarkets sell comes from other tank altogether. It's an interesting subject.

I've knows 10s of people run their cars 10 year+ on supermarket fuel with no issues whatsoever. What I'm trying to say is a lot of whats on the net us scaremongering imo- just take care of the car and it'll take care of you.

The Wife's Blueline 1.2htp has now done 7000 miles since it was first registered in July 2009, she tends to put supermarket fuel in it and there is no lumpiness in the idle whatsoever.

Hi Moley, yes that's good. It depends on so many factors but if it works for your wife stick with it. It's just that secondary cleaners that the supermarkets tend to put in to most of their fuel (as opposed to first grade stuff) ain't great at keeping the engine clean inside and problems may not show up for some time. Just a few short years ago, in the workshop we could easily tell an engine that had been run on supermarket fuel once we had the head off. Usually it had come in for lumpy idle or poor performance, burned valves etc. Ford issued information about their research which proved that supermarket petrol was causing problems in the long term on some engines. Other manufacturers noticed it too. Problems often don't show up for some while and performance drop off is so gradual you don't notice it and the owner thinks everything is ok. My franchised dealership where I worked took it on board to advise customers not to use it in their cars either. They still hold good to that even today. But, some supermarkets have raised their game a bit now so who knows how good long term it is for your engine. My car is too valuable to me to use it. I don't use even their diesel, again due to mainly secondary detergents being used. I use Esso which has first and secondary cleaners in it. Each to his own I guess...cheers bud.

I've knows 10s of people run their cars 10 year+ on supermarket fuel with no issues whatsoever. What I'm trying to say is a lot of whats on the net us scaremongering imo- just take care of the car and it'll take care of you.

Hi Sat...yeah...I know what you mean. I would just say see my above post. My information comes from within the motor trade and experience as a tech, not the net as such. Whilst there have been some changes since I left the trade, to supermarket fuels...with the introduction of high spec high grade stuff their basic fuels are still pretty much the same. You are right, there is a lot of scary stuff on the net though. :yes:

Hi Sat...yeah...I know what you mean. I would just say see my above post. My information comes from within the motor trade and experience as a tech, not the net as such. Whilst there have been some changes since I left the trade, to supermarket fuels...with the introduction of high spec high grade stuff their basic fuels are still pretty much the same. You are right, there is a lot of scary stuff on the net though. :yes:

Yep this supermarket thread is a bit of an old chestnut but there appears to be something in it. A couple of years ago there was a real issue with diesel being wrong mix causing lots of problems. The faulty fuel was traced to Supermarket fuel, apparently the wrong balance of additives was added. I know nothing of the politics involved but it made headlines for a week or so on the main TV news chanels. This doesn't mean Supermarket fuels are any better or worse than any others but it did indicate they were 'dosed' differently at the refineries to other branded fuels which kinda makes the point Supermarket fuels are indeed different to others.

I recently traded in my just under 2 year old Fabia estate HTP, with 25000 miles on it... paid a tad over 10k for it and got 6k from the dealer so very happy with that. I reckon average fuel economy was around 47mpg overall, less on the motorway if I went at 70mph but up to low 60s if I tried hard. Yes, the road noise was loud and I had aircon issues that were resolved by the dealer. Overall a great car, and that engine was not in the least bit breathless, in fact mine flew.

I now have a Roomster diesel which is by far a better car, much less road noise, feels more planted on the road and generally has a better quality feel about it... and am really happy. After years of Fiats its Skoda for me now

Hi Sat...yeah...I know what you mean. I would just say see my above post. My information comes from within the motor trade and experience as a tech, not the net as such. Whilst there have been some changes since I left the trade, to supermarket fuels...with the introduction of high spec high grade stuff their basic fuels are still pretty much the same. You are right, there is a lot of scary stuff on the net though. :yes:

Fair enough, you are better placed than I am to know the exact details. I wish we knew exactly one way or another though, there is never an official source out there saying one has slightly better cleaning properties than another!

Fair enough, you are better placed than I am to know the exact details. I wish we knew exactly one way or another though, there is never an official source out there saying one has slightly better cleaning properties than another!

Better placed? Maybe,,,but you can make a judgement for yourself too. If your car has run on supermarket basic fuel for a period of time, switch to a branded fuel and run it for two of three tankfuls. You will usually notice a difference. To start with your engine may run rough for the first two or three of hundred miles as the first grade cleaners clean out the fuel pipes and harmlessly burns away the gunge from your injectors and valves. You may notice on the second fill with the good stuff a small improvement in pickup. The more of the good stuff you use the cleaner the engine becomes. Only problem is if you've run it on super market stuff for ever and a day it won't improve without a strip down.

But TBH...there has been a lot of stuff in the car mags about quality of fuels over the years. It was a huge issue in the 90's and at the turn of the century but haven't seen anything particularly lately except on the net. Fuel is constantly changing. The stuff we all used a few years ago is a bit different now so things are getting better but there's still a way to go from what my ex-colleagues tell me. It was interesting that when attending a new engine training course 6 years ago the factory tech showed us the affects of supermarket fuel on that engine. It wasn't good. The head and valves were in poor condition after 60,000 miles yet another engine of the same type run on branded fuel was as clean as a whistle with no problems. All down to the cleaners in the fuels. Hey ho! :yes:

Edited 30 July, 201114 yr by Estate Man

I recently traded in my just under 2 year old Fabia estate HTP, with 25000 miles on it... paid a tad over 10k for it and got 6k from the dealer so very happy with that. I reckon average fuel economy was around 47mpg overall, less on the motorway if I went at 70mph but up to low 60s if I tried hard. Yes, the road noise was loud and I had aircon issues that were resolved by the dealer. Overall a great car, and that engine was not in the least bit breathless, in fact mine flew.

I now have a Roomster diesel which is by far a better car, much less road noise, feels more planted on the road and generally has a better quality feel about it... and am really happy. After years of Fiats its Skoda for me now

I came from Fiats too Lemon. Thought I hadn't seen you posting in our section lately. Very glad you are pleased with you new Roomy. Lovely cars. Have you reviewed it yet in the Roomy section?

I havent yet, they seem a little less enthusiastic over in that section tbh

Give it time Lemon...I'm sure you can warp a few minds like you've done here....:D

I haven't posted for a while, but this thread sparked my interest.

I also have the 70 HTP which I bought at christmas just gone.

08 plate Fabia 1 HTP 70, has the climatic air con and a few other extras that are above the base. Bought it with 20k ish on the clock for £4999 from a Vauxhall dealer who'd taken it in part ex. For the price I think it's great. I bought it as my old car had died suddenly and due to lack of finances I needed something cheap to run/own & be reliable. So far so good.

I do mainly town driving (Sheffield/Rotherham) - average about 40mpg, out for a run keeping just below 70 - I get close to 50 mpg. On a rough week traffic wise it may get down to 37/38. This is petrol of course - best mpg I've had out of my previous petrol's was about 30 in real world, so thumbs up. Insurance...it's like the lowest insurance group going, I'm fully comp in a terribly rated postcode (somewhat out of date as now a nice/low crime area) with only a few years ncd and I pay a few hundred less than the wife in her 1.4 bravo. Tax is £100 ish for 12 months. The tyres I have are crap so it's a bit slippy in the wet (nothing to do with Skoda) - but other than that it's real fun to drive. My last two cars were 1.6 litre 16v 110+bhp - this little Skoda is waaaaaaaay more nippy off the mark, scooting round roundabouts, sharp turns relatively quick....it's a city drivers dream....again for the price (I'm sure the 1.4's would be even better). It's fully capable of going quick down the motorway with little effort, but mpg drops and noise rises......A good reason to drive legal/economical. Yes the boot is a little narrow so I have to but my golf bats on the back seat or split fold them. But the interior space for the class is awesome. Nothing like sitting in a cramped fiesta/punto etc. Idle is lumpy under certain circumstances, those being first thing when you start the engine, if you have the air con "on" then it idles a bit ugly at first...but fine once warmed up. Power drops off a bit with the aircon too, but it did in my previous cars, I just remind myself it's a 1.2 . I have had an issue with the electric window not responding, saw a thread re resetting it with the key...bingo we're fine again. Interior looks drab/dated, but I bought this as a cheap functional car - I was amused to see the same switches/levers & panels in my boss's Golf TDi.

All in all after 7 months and 6000 miles ish I'm very pleased, enough so that in a year or two, when I have some money available and can buy a larger car I will probably be looking at the Octavia's first before the competitors.

That's great cb! Glad you are pleased. The thing about Skoda's generally is that if you do ever get a problem, they are usually very easy to fix as many on here have found out. And doesn't the 3 cylinder engine make a nice noise when you wind it up! :yes: Keep posting...