Whilst it's not one of those very nice whizz-bang vRS jobbies, we are nonetheless looking forward to our first Skoda - a little Fabia 1.2 SE Plus.

We're basically down-sizing; since we moved away from London (after 25 years living down there) our mileage has changed considerably - it's all fairly short journeys up here now, whereas in London it was public transport or travelling long distance in the car to visit family etc. Our present car (only a week to go now after 4 years' ownership) is a Citroen C4 Picassio which as a family hold-all is brilliant - it really is superb at what it'd designed to do. Trouble is, after having had 3 previous Citroens (which were all nigh on bombproof) the Picasso has cost us dearly over the time we've had it. Turbo failure, injector leaks, EGR valve woes etc etc. It's put me off diesels for life. It also seems we're not alone, especially where the DV6 engine is concerned. It'll be good to be back to a normally aspirated petrol engine.

We were also tempted by a very low mileage 1.2 TSi which our dealer had in stock but I do have an anti-turbo paranoia at the moment. Probably unfounded where the TSi is concerned, but it's still there. Oh...and this particular car was in solid yellow - the kids would've loved it but I think the novelty for us would have worn off after a short time.

Anyway, after doing some lengthy research, undertaking test drives etc in other cars, we've gone for the Fabia as we feel it will fulfill our needs quite nicely. It's comfortable, has enough space for us (we have 2 young daughters aged 2 & 8) and feels solidly screwed together.

What's quite nice is that both our cars are 3-potters now as my own car is a Pug 107 (Mrs Gromit tends to use the larger car as I also have a Honda Blackbird to play with).

So hello to Skoda ownership and all those on this fine forum. :-)

Edited 30 September, 201213 yr by Gromit

Hi and welcome aboard.

I have the TSI and love it and before that i had a Mk1 16v which was also great. The Fabia is comfy, well put together and has the biggest boot in it class for family stuff.

More cheese Gromit?

Hello there and welcome along

Thanks for the welcome chaps (that's me presuming you're both chaps of course!)

A not-unrelated-question if I may; has anyone put some serious miles on their 1.2 TSi's yet? We tend to keep our cars a fair few years - usually 6+ so longevity/reliablility is very high on the list. This Fabia will have to reach at least 80k miles and much of it will be local driving (it's quite rurual where we live so not much stop/start fortunately).

Bearing in mind that the TSi/85 isn't putting out a very high specific bhp/litre then I'm guessing the blower's effect on the engine is relatively mild, sort of an LPT a la the old Saabs? In which case it should be pretty solid, and under-stressed?

I've no personal experience of the engine but have only heard good reports

Welcome to the forum from Lincoln

Where abouts are you?

Welcome to the forum from Lincoln

Where abouts are you?

Thanks.

We're in Leasingham, just outside Sleaford.

Getting the car from Dennis Horton's in Lincoln (clearly our nearest dealer) who have treated us well so far. A couple of friends at work are on their 2nd Skodas from DH's and have always been very happy with the service provided.

Thanks.

We're in Leasingham, just outside Sleaford.

Getting the car from Dennis Horton's in Lincoln (clearly our nearest dealer) who have treated us well so far. A couple of friends at work are on their 2nd Skodas from DH's and have always been very happy with the service provided.

Ah yes, they've always been good with me too.

Have only really used them for parts though, although to be fair though, their parts dept are much better than VW

I've no personal experience of the engine but have only heard good reports

Would seem that it gets mostly good press from around the www without any real horror stories, bar one or 2 snippets regarding electrical/software gremlins on early cars. Reason I was asking is that I've had this thought whizzing around my head that maybe we might have been better with the TSi over the 1.2/12v. Saying that, the 12v is in a much nicer spec and colour (Capuccino, 16" alloys, privacy glass etc etc) than the bright yellow TSi and we're not after anything more than a solid 'runabout' sort of car.

*That's not to insult the Fabia at all of course. I was very impressed, especially its ride and comfort factor, no mean feat in a small car.

Just taken the cheque into Horton's and we should be picking our Fabia up on friday afternoon.

Our new baby - and what a delightful little car it is...

The car's done just over 7000 miles, is totally rattle/squeak-free, and is surprisingly nippy for 'only' 70bhp. Comfy too - it really does feel like a 'mini-Golf' (in a good way of course).

Now that looks well, here's to happy ownership

That looks really good.

Congratulations