ive got a 1.4 fabia classic,the last owner had a few problems with it i.e coil pack.

i checked the the fault codes for the engine and nothing is showing so far,am sure its only runing on 3 or are these engines always so gutless?

Edited 16 March, 201214 yr by Joe67

My wife's is (1.4 Classic MPi)... 8 valve, so pretty basic.

It's one of the last Skoda engines before VW put theirs in it, I believe.

Plus side, it has been reliable so far (although I still have to do the head gasket... One day.

Gutless? Well it's got 68bhp so it's all relative.

It's not a tyre shredding monster but it's torquey enough for a design that dates back to the 60's, hits 70mph reasonably comfortably and will return 42+ mpg (41.46mpg average over 2,365 miles so far and getting better each fill) if driven with consideration and seems to do quite well in terms of longevity. No timing belt to worry about (120k interval on the chain though you probably want to do it before) and it's also easy to work on despite the odd quirk. It's only major failing is it's VED class due to poor emissions.

Gutless? Well it's got 68bhp so it's all relative.

Well for someone brought up in the Moggy Minor /Mini era, my 70BHP, feels like someones tickled .

it picks up ok on flat ground lol but soon as it hits any hills it struggles big time,just thought it should be doing better.it had coil pack issues before and i was expecting vcds to show somthing but theres nothing so far,i know its only a 1.4 68 bhp but am sure theres suttin up.

Agreed.

I was like a cheshire cat when I leaped from 1.4 mpi to fabia vrs, a world apart !

1.4 is indeed very slugglish on hills etc, but should seem fairly perky at higher speed and I used to find it more useful around 70-80mph. Gutless, a bit harsh but probably not far from the truth.

The wifes 1.2 htp is actually cleverly designed, for such a tiny engine with less cylinder producing more torque actually seems at least as quick as the 1.4 - plus less tax !

So yes it does seem to be a bit of a fat slow old lump, but I would have kept ours (relegated to missus car) if we hadn't updated it to the fabia II purely for reliability side, not to race 1.2 corsas

Wonder if anything could be done to tune it to give it a bit more legs, could be worth trying a different airfilter and see if they can be mapped?

Mine (a recently purchased Y reg 8v ) also struggles on hills and doesn't have much in the way of acceleration even on the flat although ,with 88K miles, it is obviously past its best. However, accepting its limitations,it's still quite nice to drive.

Even the 1.4 16V isn't "fast" (there are probably quicker corsa 1.2's) but would be a better proposition than the 8v, about 11 seconds to 60, the 8v should be around 15s

(for some reason I'm sure I saw some details in the past on some official skoda brochure for the mk1 suggesting it was more like 18s maybe Im mistaking this with the diesel though)

So there you go, you should be aiming for 0-60 around 16 secs, try it on a nice (v quiet) flat straight road ( night time might be best provided theres no haulage about) and time against that for a rough comparison

Hi, I can identify with a lot of what's been said above. Struggles low down and on moderate gradients. However get it up to 60/70 mph + and she picks up quite well. Don't buy for the performance but you'll get a lot of other good attributes + plenty of room in the estate.

I have an 06 Fabia Automatic and 'sluggish' and 'slow old lump' were things that came to mind when I first got it. I previously had a Corsa 1.4 which was much punchier bit I put it down to smaller (Corsa) body with the same size engine. I have since got used to my Fabia and like it a lot.

Having said that there's something wrong with it at the moment (loss of power when accelerating from stationary, maybe spark plug problem or similar) so I'm waiting for the RAC to come and have a look

I've recently bought my fabia and totally agree, gutless is the word going up hills or even a slight gradient. I think there might be some work that needs doing on mine cause it actually has more pulling power in 3rd than 2nd gear!! Just out of interest, on a fairly moderate sized hill (that isn't very useful is it) say one where you have to downshift to 2nd, what's the top speed you can manage in 2nd gear? Cause mine can only reach about 10mph tops with foot to the floor and I know this is a sluggia but this just seems to be a bit over the top (or under the top for me).

I was pretty sure there was a clutch prob but mechanic said it was fine and ecu came out fine so I'll probably have a mega service done on it and hope for the best. If that fails my last option is to pack my bags and move to east Anglia/holland, where trundling up hills with my hazard lights on will be a distant memory :-)

I've tried another fabia before and it got up hills better but it was a 1.2 so I'd be really interested to know how much m's ph you lot can whack out of your 1.4 mpi's going up in 2nd gear. Thanks :-)

Gutless, well NO.The little diesel lump is a chip off big brother's shouder. It's fiesty ,especially when the turbo kicks in . Not a hot rod ,but there's timesI wonder if the 70 bhp on the box is wrong . Never had a "GOING UP HILLS PROBLEM" .2nd tops is heading up toward 30 .Never had the need to push that far, as 3rd can be used at 1500 rpm , and 4th soon after ,with a lot more aceleration on tap .

Your confusing the diesel 1.4's with the older 1.4MPi's (which are sluggish at lower speeds, no question) I think...

You find? The missus 1.4MPi is sluggish on hills at the moment, but I'm thinking rattling chain setting knock sensor off for that. When we bought it, it wasn't rattling, and the little bugger strolled past my 1.6 Auto Astra that was pulling 65 up a long, steep hill with a crawler lane. It's keeping the thing in the legal low speed limits that difficult on ours, ha. 102k on the dials.

Was very much a "WTF?" moment, watching this little Fabia nail me. To be fair, I wasn't giving it welly, the autobox needs a fluid change..but no, I can't say as I found it to be gutless in the slightest! Come to that, it took us both up a VERY long, steep hill with a sharp corner on Friday, in 3rd, holding 30 with her foot to the boards. OK, I agree 2nd would have been fairer to it, but that lump just kept going.

Didn't feel like it could give any more and was maxed out, but it wasn't screaming it's nads off...

Edited 26 March, 201214 yr by Sirbendy

If your timing chain is getting *too* baggy then it starts to affect the valve timing.

I did the chain in my Finacé's last 1.4MPi and it was like driving a different car initially, had loads more power in the lower rev's and just felt generally more usable. After a few weeks/a month the chain was clattering again and it had lost that spark though, Shame.

I don't think the MPi has a knock sensor, I've never found one on it anyway. AFAIK it just uses the pre-cat lambda sensor to tell what's going on.

Dave.