Hi all!

I started my new job this week, and have decided to get myself my 1st car.

From what I've heard Skodas are pretty solid and not bad value for money - but I need some help!

I've had a test drive in a 1.4l Fabia, it's done 50,000 miles approx, is a 2000 reg car and has had 1 previous owner.

It drove fine, we took it round residential streets and onto the motorway for about half an hour in total. Just wondering if anyone has had any major problems with a similar car around the similar mileage. I was unsure whether to go for the warranty on the car as it costs £400, and the car being only £1600.

Any advice would be great and would help me loads as I don't know much about cars!

£1600 way 2 expensive

I got my Skoda Fabia Comfort 1.4 16v with 58k on clock for £930.

Only problem I've had with this specific 16v model is engine oil consumption of 1L/700-800Mile, which from what I've been told/read, is a common thing with this engine (AUA/AUB).

Edited 9 September, 201213 yr by Baggy

£1600 is alot for a 1.4 Fabia.

My first car was a 1.4 16v Fabia Elegance spec and i got bent over with the price, £1400 for a car with an EGR issue and 79k miles on the clock. If its the 16v i would be cautious, the engines aren't that great with a lot of reliability issues.

If its an 8v OHV engine, as far as im aware they are pretty much indestructible, as long as the Head Gasket has been replaced with a modified one. even so i have never seen a 1.4 8v OHV Fabia for sale for more than £1500.

My advise would be to find a cheaper one, at the end of the day, the 1.4 16V should be run on Premium 98 octane petrol, and from a performance point of view the 8v (although it only has 68 bhp) has nearly the same amount of Torque (120 Nm for the 8v instead of 126Nm for the 16v engine). If you do go for a car with the 8v OHV engine be warned the road tax is high due to it being a Euro 3 emission standard. but the way i see it the increased expenditure in tax is still cheaper than the constant use of premium 98 octane fuel.

On another note, regarding early Fabias (prob before 2004/05) check the rear foot wells for water after it has rained as the rear door seals sometimes leak, if it has any service history, check for the Power Assisted Steering Sensor or Pump being replaced, they are an expensive pain the the back side if they go tits up and early plastic PAS sensors often got water ingress and went bad. Also see if it has had new rear Wishbone Bushes, theses are rubber bushes that hold part of the Front Wishbone to the subframe, these tend to perish but would show on a MoT.

I was in your position a year ago and i hope this has helped. Got any more q's just ask, Oh and Welcome to the Forum