Hey all! I'm Simon, I'm 36 and from Norfolk UK. I'm thinking of trading in my old BMW 318ti Compact for a Fabia. I'm gonna go test drive one this afternoon...it's a 54 reg 1.4 16v Ambiente, 33,000 miles, gun metal grey, full skoda service history and 2 previous owners. It's up for £3495 which, considering the mileage, I think is a reasonable price...although there are 1 or 2 parking scuffs on the body work and it needs taxing, so there's room for bargaining. Are there any issues I should be looking for as I don't know a great deal about the Fabia.

Cheers people!

Check in the rear footwells for any moisture, pressing down on the carpet should show if there is. This would be leaky rear door carriers which is extremely common and you should haggle with the dealer to fix it should they be leaking. Its easier getting it sorted now rather than when you notice it in the winter whe its always raining, making it extremely bothersome to repair. Don't know too much about the 1.4 engine I'm afraid as I have the tdi...

Drove it. It rattled and squeaked a lot, and the engine sounded very noisy above 3500 rpm! And the rear footwells were indeed wet. For a car that'd only done 33k I wasn't very impressed at all tbh. I'll keep looking though.

Yeah something not right there. I have got an 04 plate VRS with just coming up to 44,000 on the clock. It had 30k on last February when I bought it and it has never once rattled or squeaked. I have been absolutely thrilled with it since I have had it so you are doing the right thing in keeping looking

Sounds rather ropey. Fabia's are built like little tanks should not be getting rattles or bangs. And if you are could be worn console bushes etc... Sounds like a dog to me, good that you walked away fella. Plenty of cars left in the sea...

Edited 26 July, 201114 yr by TorqueXIsXCheap