Hi,

I’m interested in the views of Fabia Greenline II estate owners who have had experience driving their Greenline estates, fully loaded [payload 530kg], on a motorway. I appreciate that this is not what the vehicle was intended for but I’d like to know what the capability is on an occasional basis [3000-4000 miles per annum].

How does the 1.2l engine cope with the load on the motorway at 70mph?

Do hills pose a problem?

Is there any chance of overtaking slow moving caravans/lorries on single carriageways?

What sort of fuel consumption is possible?

Although these topics seem to have been covered to some degree, I have not seen any comments relating specifically to a fully loaded Greenline II estate.

I'd definitely suggest if you are planning to load up a Fabia to that extent that you get the 105ps 1.6 CR. Real world economy will not differ that dramatically (still returns 60+ mpg) and you'd definitely benefit from the extra torque when carrying that type of load. I wouldnt even consider the 1.2 TDi for this kind of work.

Pipsyp the bloke asked for advice from Greenline not vRS estate owners.

The only thing i would say is a general comment about overtaking not specific to the Greenline, any 75bhp car weighing 1250-1300kg isn't going to be ideal for overtaking on a single carriageway, but it depends on how safe a driver you are and what types of risks you are willing to take, i'm a young male driver and will happily pass 20-30cars on my 50minute commute to work in my 68bhp red fabia mpi if i have too, it certainly isn't safe but it is possible. would my Mum attempt any of the same overtakes.... NO so that question depends on the person and only you can really answer that.

I don't own a Greenline diesel but I've had the pleasure of driving two different Greenline 2 1.2 cr TDI's now, however, not fully loaded. What I can say is that they are surprisingly torquey and quite lively compared to a petrol engine. 0.62mph is only part of the story and it feels quite fast. The 1.2 diesel may only have 75ps but it has 180nm of torque at just 2000rpm, that's more than the 1.2TSI petrol engine. And that's pretty staggeringly good for pulling heavy loads where BHP is not as important. Most 80-90ps normally aspirated petrol engines only manage somewhere in the region of 105-112nm of torque and usually at 3500rpm upwards. So the diesel feels like it's got some real grunt compared to the petrol engine mob. With two of us in it with luggage at a constant 75mph the car returned 74mpg over a 110mile run non stop. I call that cheap motoring. No doubt one of the Greenline boys will be along soon to help you further. Good luck.

Edited 23 September, 201114 yr by Estate Man

posted this by mistake...soooorry!

Edited 23 September, 201114 yr by Estate Man

Pipsyp the bloke asked for advice from Greenline not vRS estate owners.

The only thing i would say is a general comment about overtaking not specific to the Greenline, any 75bhp car weighing 1250-1300kg isn't going to be ideal for overtaking on a single carriageway, but it depends on how safe a driver you are and what types of risks you are willing to take, i'm a young male driver and will happily pass 20-30cars on my 50minute commute to work in my 68bhp red fabia mpi if i have too, it certainly isn't safe but it is possible. would my Mum attempt any of the same overtakes.... NO so that question depends on the person and only you can really answer that.

Sorry Sonner making a sensible suggestion. Not denying the GL2 is a clever little motor but its not really the best variant for serious load lugging...well in fairness the Fabia Estate in general whilst it has a very decent size boot isnt the best load lugger as it doesnt have self levelling suspension; only expensive proper estate cars have this. 1.6 CR 105ps diesel is definitely the best variant to choose IF the car has to be a Fabia estate. Personally I'd buy something more substantial if I needed serious ability.

.....And in any case i'm sure telling the OP that its possible to overtake 20-30 people on your way to work in your MPi was no doubt very useful to their decision making. All I can say to that is grow up before some poor ******* has to scrape you (and probably someone else) up off the road and put you in a body bag; its not big or clever.

+1 pipsyp I totally agree with you greenline ain't a car built for lugging heavy loads, engine will probably labour in those kind of conditions, however the crtdi 1.6 105bhp is the one I've got and it's torque is amazing , as for overtaking like a numpty well horses for courses young and bloody stupid if you as me! I'm no slouch but I tend to read the road in front pretty well, what's the point of overtaking like a dipstick you're only going to get too work sooner that's not good

How does the 1.2l engine cope with the load on the motorway at 70mph?

Do hills pose a problem?

Is there any chance of overtaking slow moving caravans/lorries on single carriageways?

What sort of fuel consumption is possible?

How about a response from a GL2 estate owner, rather than a 1.6 CR owner plugging their car?

Yes, we know the 1.6 CR is better for you... that's why you bought it isn't it?

Anyway...

I've had my GL2 loaded up to just over 400kg, so about 70% to 80%. Not what you asked, but I'll reply as I've not seen any other GL2 owners post yet.

As Estate Man said (this poster is very good and knows his stuff!) the GL2 has a good slug of torque right where you need it, which comes in at around the national speed limit. Because of this it will pull up hills well when loaded and doesn't lose speed like you'd expect a small engined car to do. It will take a little time to build up speed but will then sit at motorway limit excessive speeds all day long. With the gearing 3000rpm is something crazy like 90mph+ (and it will do it). Pickup from 60mph to 70mph is quite acceptable.

As Cruise Control is standard you can just set it at 70mph, which saves pressing the accelerator hard up hills when loaded. More relaxing.

Yes it will overtake on a single carriageway. But it requires a bit of planning.

You need to be ready when the gap arrives, which generally means dropping a gear so you are sitting at about 2000rpm. Then it will pull quite well, for a small engined car. Obviously the 1.6CR has 33% more engine, so it's always going to pull faster.

I can't be very accurate on fuel consumptions as I've not driven it loaded up a lot.

I can get 78mpg driving really carefully and 60mpg driving like my hair is on fire. 10mpg less until the engine runs in, which it does overthe first 10k miles as the fuel consuption gets better and better.

So once the engine is run in you should be looking at around 65mpg loaded up in my opinion.

I'd go for a test drive (take three big friends to sit in the back!) and also drive the 1.6CR though... unless there is a specific reason you are looking at the GL2.

Loaded you'll probably get 5 to 8mpg more out of the GL2 but at the cost of performance and £20 road tax.

The greenline is green car, so if you laden it heavy it will be detrimental not only to performance i.e pick up overtaking, also economy I agree once up to motorway crusing speed this would level out, it's proven ( I think ) you need a larger engine for economy whilst lugging and enthusiastic driving or the mpg will deteriorate quickly, if you require an economic vehicle and not carry too much load you cannot beat the greenline estate, but if your going 4/5 persons and a boot full of stuff it's got to be the estate version of the crtdi 1.6 either of the bhp but that's just the scientist in me , but as previous post says try them both with the same kind of weight, oh and pretty soon a greenliner will arrive soon and explain how much better the greenline is compared to the 1.6 diesel

oh and pretty soon a greenliner will arrive soon and explain how much better the greenline is compared to the 1.6 diesel

I already did.

But I am not blinkered to only what I own like a few others.

Which is why I say try both unless there is a specific reason you want a GL2... like going in and out of the congenstion charge area.

The other benefit of the GL2 is basic kit. You don't have to spec a lot of extra things unlike the standard Fabias. Things like ESP (essential), Cruise Control etc... are all included in the price. Which is why it's not as cheap as it could be compared to the budget Fabias.

I already did.

But I am not blinkered to only what I own like a few others.

Which is why I say try both unless there is a specific reason you want a GL2... like going in and out of the congenstion charge area.

The other benefit of the GL2 is basic kit. You don't have to

spec a lot of extra things unlike the standard Fabias.

Things like ESP (essential), Cruise Control etc... are all included in the price. Which is why it's not as cheap as it could be compared to the budget Fabias.

Luckily I specced mine to the hilt and only £20 road tax but I agree it's horses for courses, greenline is one of the best economic cars out there until the new KIA 88 mpg, but the whole package you get in the greenline is superior as you said it all depends what the driver requires

Also to be honest I've got 2 fabia's the crtdi & 1.4tdi and sometimes I really prefer the honesty of the tdi , if o had too decide one or the other i would choose to keep the 1.4 3 pot tdi (maybe )

Edited 23 September, 201114 yr by seboni121

Luckily I specced mine to the hilt and only £20 road tax but I agree it's horses for courses, greenline is one of the best economic cars out there until the new KIA 88 mpg, but the whole package you get in the greenline is superior as you said it all depends what the driver requires

Also to be honest I've got 2 fabia's the crtdi & 1.4tdi and sometimes I really prefer the honesty of the tdi , if o had too decide one or the other i would choose to keep the 1.4 3 pot tdi (maybe )

Funnily enough I've got a tdi too, but then it's completely different to the GL2.

My Fabia VRS mkI is a bit of an animal.

Funnily enough I've got a tdi too, but then it's completely different to the GL2.

My Fabia VRS mkI is a bit of an animal.

Ah a proper VRS a Mark1

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond – very useful indeed.

Going for a more powerful engine or choosing vehicles better suited to load carrying, are logical and possibly the safest options. There are many factors involved in in choosing the appropriate vehicle, as several of you have pointed out and to some extent, it is a case of balancing the compromises. The GL2 ticks so many of my requirement boxes for day to day use but for me to buy one, it would need to make a fully loaded return trip between London and Orkney two to three times a year. It sounds like that may be possible, due to the torque available, at motorway speeds.

Thank you particularly to Estate Man and BossFox for sharing your GL2 driving experiences. It would appear that Skoda have produced a usable rather than a showpiece, low emission estate.

Judging by some of the other threads, there could be a long wait so I doubt that anything will happen soon but best to get started with the test drives!

As I have the 1.6TDi CR in 105PS setup and suspect if I had the 90PS instead I would rarely if ever notice the loss of 15PS all I can say is try to get an extended test drive in a GL2 and have 3 adult passengers if no luggage. I would be more concerned about how it would drive on the roads further north in Scotland where you don't want to be stuck not able to overtake lorries etc. than on motorways and dual carriageways where you can keep a steady speed. Absolute power is not everything, torque and gearing is just as important.

Also while today a car with 75PS is considered fairly low powered 25 years ago it was reasonable for a family car although partly offset by cars being heavier and power steering etc sapping power.

Back in the 1970's / early 1980's we had an Allegro 1300 that went well loaded to Scotland at least three times then a 1500 estate that went several times. I've just looked up and the 1500 was 74bhp. Maybe it would seem lacking in power now but I learnt to drive in it and it seemed quite powerful, several of my friends were envious as they were learning in and then borrowing Mini's, Hillman Imps, Datsun Cherry 100s ....

A few years later I bought a 1300 Astra MK1 which I recall was 75hp when 1300 Escorts were about 60bhp at the time and again kept up fine with the traffic of the era and was reasonable for overtaking.

When car hunting recently I took a test drive in the GL2 estate... I do frequently carry at least three people and luggage and had to have a vehicle which would cope with the payload and not have to include frequent gearchanges on hill, etc. I have a test route which includes steepish hill by which I can compare various cars. The GL2 was simply not up to it... It would hold gear up the hill but it was a lower gear than the 1.6 or my 1.9 and there was nothing in reserve.

I'd also add that I didn't think it was as nice to drive as the 1.6, it was very like the 1.4 TDi i had a few years ago, very "peaky" on the power, personally I prefer the smooth power delivery of the 1.9 and the 1.6's I drove seem to be very similar. It seems that VW just can't get their 3 cylinder diesel engines to deliver smooth grunt!

To my mind if you buy an estate then you expect it to be able to cope with heavy loads, the GL2 can, but at a price... From what others have said on other posts and threads I'd suggest you look seriously at the 1.6 if you intent to carry any sort of load in it.

Edited 28 September, 201114 yr by The PM

BTW max payload according to the website is 455kg, there is also a 75kg roof load (doesn't make it clear if the latter is included in the former), but if you are going to use a fully loaded roofbox then that will definitely curtail performance at full motorway speeds, not to mention mpg!