So I purchased a Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V 100bhp(test mpg 44mpg) Y Plate over the weekend for the girlfriend, bargain price of £850 with fsh and a big dent in the boot!

I currently own a Fabia 1.4 MPI 68bhp and as some of you know a slightly tuned Felicia 1.6 gxli, with head work that makes it feel more like 90bhp.

I always gave my Fabia 68bhp credit for it’s good fuel economy (55mpg to a tank) and

for its noise refinement, smart interior and solid quality feel.

What i can say it that the Felicia is certainly the more engaging car to drive, both faster and more flexible through the gears.

After having the 68bhp Fabia I had built up certain expectations for the 100bhp model, to my disappointment ultimately.

Okay so first impression of the 16valver was a much smoother start up and idle than the 8v czech engine, it was immediately apparent that this was a much newer VW built twin cam engine, the engine felt much freer revving and smoother.

So I set off immediately relishing what feels like a eager engine, after about ten minutes I find myself in a car with a warmed up engine turning off the roundabout onto a 70mph dual carriageway. I keep the car in 2nd and take it up to redline. Not until 4500rpm does the car feel like it really gets going but the increase in power at that point is notable.

The Gearbox, probably due to it being 10yrs old with 75,000 miles did feel a little loser than my 1.4mpi gearbox but interestingly the car is buzzing along at 3000rpm@ 60mph

Whereas in my 8valver the car sits at 2500rpm at 60mph which is the Same as the Felicia. so taller box for the 68bhp model!?

On the road I found the 100bhp Fabia to be slower and less punchy than my 75bhp Felicia and overtaking required more planning.

TO be very honest i was surprised how the 100bhp Fabia felt only VERY slightly faster than the 68bhp model, and found myself changing down gears like i would in the 68bhp model up hills when the Felicia would be charging up the hill in 5th gear.

Performance figures perhaps suggest why this is, firstly to weight! The Felicia is a 150kg lighter than the Fabia, But even that can be put aside for this comparsion.

The Felicia old 1.6 8v engine develops 75bhp@5500rpm and 0-62 in 11.7secs

The Fabia 1.4 8v has 68bhp@5550rpm and 0-62 in 15.4secs

The Fabia 1.4 16v has 100bhp@6400rpm and 0-62 in 11.5secs

So why does the Felicia feel the quickest..... and the 100bhp Fabia only slightly quicker than the 68bhp Fabia!

Well it’s all about the torque of course

The 68bhp fabia has a reasonably 88lb ft of Torque

Yet the 100bhp Fabia has managed only 4lb ft extra with a figure of 92lb ft Whereas the Meaty little Felicia generates a whopping 102lb ft of torque standard!!!! This gives it that turbo diesel like mid range punch that makes overtaking a doddle

Now my Felicia has more like 90bhp and 110lb ft of torque which means it shows the 100bhp Fabia a clean set of heels in any traffic lights grand prix.

So after 200miles including a 3hr drive in the 100bhp Fabia i can conclude that yes it has more go than the 68bhp Fabia and yes it has better refinement than a Felly. But to all you 68bhp Fabia owners, i’m on your side here, the extra cost of maintaining the 16v belt driven engine along with increased insurance and fuel consumption it hard to justify for all those except the purist speed nuts.

After a day with the 100bhp Fabia getting back in the Felicia with it’s more comfortable seats and buckets of torque was a pure pleasure

Fabia 100bhp 1.4 16v

Plus points

Smooth refined engine

Rear disc brakes

Negatives

Not much faster than the 68bhp model

Artifical steering wheel feel

Please please let have some other opinions on this

Edited 24 August, 201114 yr by Sonner

I've owned a fabia 2.0 in the past and a long string of felicia's, the fabia is a lot more refined, the fabia handles so much better too, its a shame they have used such long gearing in an effort to make them quieter otherwise the fabia would be so much nimbler..

The late 1.4 16v engines they use in them with the roller rocker arms are actually pretty good, especially in a lighter car like a lupo, but sadly they seem to wear out piston rings and start to burn oil if you thrash them..

Fwiw I'd saw get the one with the pd100 engine if you do a lot of motorway driving, they have a much narrower power band but at motorway speeds they always seem to be in the sweet spot in the rev range where you get a mountain of torque for overtaking muscle...

A lot can be said for the felicia being better with it's low-tech approach to everything, simple electrics etc, the fabia can be a bit of a Pig for electrical gremlins, stuff like the tailgate release solenoid, steering angle sensors, electric power steering pump, central convenience unit faults

The vw gearboxes used on the fabia with their hydraulic clutch system and cable change system is by far and away better than the old school felicia gearbox setup, and they the vw boxes are much more durable too...

I found on motorways the Furby '68 1.4' felt like it was crying out for a 6th cog. I used to do thousands of miles of motorway driving with my old Furby, and often found it tiresome.

I do a fair amount of driving on dual carriageways to wirk and back, but i don't have too much of an issue with the gearing of the boxes, probably because i rarely do more than 60mph on the motorway.

To compare apples with apples though, when the Felicia came out it was a budget car, with the top spec GXLI 1,6 coming in at £9695 OTR

this meant it's direct competitors where the Daewoo Lanos 1.6 and the Hyundai Accent 1.6 both just under the £10k mark too, in comparsion against them the Felicia was by far the best geared for motorway driving and had the tallest gearbox of the three.

Tom in regards to your comment about the Fabia, i wouldn't ever rate it as a good handling car, yes it does grip well but with excessive body roll compared to the Felicia and the numb artifical steering i would rate the Felicia as the more rewarding drivers car, you get alot of feedback through the wheel of a Felly. Both are bags of dung compared to the 944 which could easily be described as the best handling car of the 80's and still in todays world is a very quick car capable of destroying any hot hatch currently on the market(except Megane Trophy 265 RS)

Mod can this thread pleased be moved to the mk1 fabia section now as most felicia regulars have now viewed this

Thanks

With those 16v engines you don't get as much grunt down the rev range at the 8v units but they will get more power higher up the rev range.

I never really like the felicia for motorway driving at all and we would normally go in the peugeot. Mainly down to fuel economy. A 70 mph run in the felicia and it felt like it was screaming a bit and would guzzle.

Also I thought the 1.4 fabia (8v) was a reworked 1.3 skoda engine not the 1.6 vw unit.

Would definately go for a diesel one everytime though. Even an SDi.

Phil

The Fabia 1.4 8v was the old Skoda OHV lump just with a revised bottom end

The Fabia 1.4 8v was the old Skoda OHV lump just with a revised bottom end

Yeah that's right, the later 1400 ones have a bearing girdle on the crankshaft mains to stiffen up the block, and they have hydraulic cam followers which does away with having to set the valve clearances manually on the rocker shaft.. There was a fellow on here running a later engine block with the 1300 crank and liners for road rally use.

Tom was your 1.6 16v engine swap as easy as the 1.4 16v 100bhp swap.

I'm thinking of putting a more powerful lump in the felicia once i come back from my eurpoen tour in it.

Oooo and TOm whats the engine code for the 1.6 16v engine you have in ur Nimbus Pickup... is it AJV, ARC or AVY and whats the differnce between them in terms of putting them into a Felly.

just wanted to check the 1.4 16v 100bhp engine is AFH engine code yeah??

The engine in my pickup is an avy polo gti 1600 bottom end with a afh 1400 cylinder head.... But there are other combinations of head and block you can use to make it work, it's not any harder to put the 1600 engine in as it is essentially the same block with a few minor differences.

Sadly you can't use the 1.6 8v block because they are 9mm taller and are missing a few vital mounting holes needed for the timing belt setup. However some of the 1.4 8v blocks can be used but this would mean a full strip down to change the crankshaft and rods over, also it's possible to put a 1600 crankshaft in the afh 16v block too but it's a lot of work.

You won't find an ajv engine in this country, they were never available in uk specification, only german models. I'll put my thinking cap on and try to think if theres anything else that can go in for cheaper.

Well you have seen my motor a few times now, but you know i couldn't do an engine swap by myself... i just don't have the tools or anywhere off road to do it, but if i had say £300 and another £200 for you to chuck at the swap do you think we could source and fit a afh if not something more powerful. we can discuss it a little more when i come down to Hayling.