What I Think of the Fabia

[Sigmcp20]

Well I have had my car for about 2-3 weeks now. It's a Fabia 1.4 16v 3 on a 2008 08 plate. It had 18k miles when I got it. I went out to look at buying the new shape fiesta a corsa or Astra. Ended up with a skoda. This caught my eye and I can't still put my finger on why. I hate black cars too. It looks good and is so praticle. I thought I'd do a quick update on here as many seem to have the VRS or the Monte. I would have loved to get one but due to insurance and funds I can't stretch that far (yet). I am 27 but had 0 no claims as I have has company cars for the past 6 years.

This fabia cost the same to insure as the 55 plate corsa I px'ed in did. I was a bit weary of getting the 1.4 engine as it was only 80 odd bhp as my corsa 1.2 was 82bhp. However due to having the bigger engine the Touque is great on it. I do a trip from Leeds to Aberdeen once every month and that extra Touque is great on the motorway. I took the fabia on the trip to Scotland 1 day after getting it. The difference to my old corsa was no comparison. As I sold cars for 6 years and have had all the Fords as company cars (I worked at ford) the quality and refinement on this car impressed me a lot for a small car. The cruise control was amazing I put it on at 70mph and left it for a lot of the trip. The climate is great and I am using the aux connection all the time. The only grip I have it goes when you put your foot down bit it has a flat area between 60-65 mph it takes a while to do that once past it will keep going on and on. Not condoning speeding but you could easly pass 70mph by a long shot. The comfort is Exellent helpped by the arm rest and visibility is great. Once again a down side is the RFL is high for a 1.4 but I am happy to pay this for all the comfort and gadgets this car has over and above rivals at the same price. As for MPG and miles. I filled the car up (which cost less to fill than the corsa) and my trip said 380 miles. My trip to Scotland is 386. However once I got on the motorway and put cruise control on the reading rose to 425 miles till empty. I normally take these computers with a pinch of salt but I made it all 386 miles without havin to stop for fuel. It was virtually empty by then but was great as it took a tank and half in corsa and just over in my mums Kia rio. So it's saved me money on that trip too. My average MPG read at just over 40MPG think it was 42-43MPG which isn't bad for a 08 plate 1.4 petrol. I haven't worked out my actual mpg but I am happy getting the full distance of that trip out of a tank. Around town as its mainly lower gears the car is very nippy and quick. I think I'm getting 30-32 mpg now. I don't drive to save fuel or anything so this is real world mpg.

I thought I would put a quick review of what I thought it was like up as when buying this car unless you want a 1.2tsi, 14tsi or dsl there aren't many read about the normal 1.2 or 1.4. I am left wondering now weather to paint my alloys black and tint the rear windows. Or maybe leave the alloys and wrap the roof and wing mirrors white. anyhow thanks for taking time to read this and I'm sure ill speak to many of u over the coming months as I enjoy my fabia ownership

[Panther_uk]

Nice to see someone enjoying their Fabia, My wife had an '08 plate 1.2 (60hp) Fabia 1 followed by a '59 plate 1.2 (70hp) Fabia 2 before moving onto the vRS this year. She loved both of them and I had no problem driving them either.

With regards to insurance I had a company car for 5 years and when I left the company they supplied me with a letter stating I had 3 years accident free driving and my Insurance accepted this as part of my No Claims.

[Sigmcp20]

Yeah I had a letter stating mine but insurance company's have apparantly changed there policy's now and not one would accept it. :( I had bought a car while having a company car and used a letter stating I had 3 years and then all company's accepted it (I to rid o the car less than 1 year later). By the time I bought this one they all said policy had changed and won't accept it anymore. Just rip offs realy

[Furbytom]

You might be surprised at the low premium for a vRS tbh. My 85Bhp Fiat 500 Twinair costs more to insure than my Fabia vRS!! :wonder:

[curleybar]

Good review, glad you are enjoying your car:

[Jabozuma]

I'd be interested what you think about Fabia II vRS as your rewiev was quite good

[Sigmcp20]

Just an update now as I have had my car for 1 year now. When I bought it I was going to cover 6k a year but I have moved to scotland and now do 20k a year. I bought it with 18k on clock and 1 year later it has 37500 on clock and I have adapted my driving style to get the most out of this car. So far its cost me 4 new tyres a service another oil change and I will be doing yet another oil change next week too. It has given me no problems as I drive 100 mile round trip a day for work. It is mainly single a roads I drive on. When I first started this drive daily I was acheiving 39mpg. After my first oil change this went to 41mpg. I then tried some fuel additive, this made my mpg drop to 39 again but after it had taken its affect and used a tank of fuel I was then getting 43mpg. The best thing I learned was not to use the cruise control as its drops the mpg probably because if the car is going up hill it will accelerate hard to keep the seed up. Also I have dropped my speed to between 50-60 mph now. Realistically this only adds 5 mins on my drive but saves me a fortune. Now believe it or not but all this combined means I can achieve 49mpg and on quite a few occations I have reached 52mpg. All this out of a 1.4 petrol I think is amazing. Now the cold weather is kicking in I have seen it drop to between 44-46mpg. Over all very happy with this little car as mentioned it was supposed to be a little run around but is now a 20k a year mile muncher and I am very lucky with the return. All it takes is good maintenence and the ability to understand how it needs to be run and for me to adapt to that to get the most out of it. I was thinking about getting a diesel but to be honest looking around and seeing diesels were getting 55-60mpg plus the added cost of fuel and the more expensive price tag I thought is it actually worth it....... for me no. It would take years to get back the money you pay extra for a diesel.

[Ootohere]

Welcome to the forum.

 

There are companies that recognise that you were on a Group/Company Insurance and you have a clean driving record.

& give a decent price by age and driving experience and use of other vehicles.

 

& sometimes the Discount for a First Time Policy, but an Experienced driver can be as good as a NCD.

You are also in one of the cheapest Post Code areas there is.

 

Just check with some of the very good Companies and Brokers on Briskoda.

 

george

[richardsfavorit]

Good reviews sigmcp20. I made the move to a diesel 18 months ago now - it is very hilly where I am and I saw a big difference in fuel consumption (saved a lot of cash!). It varies with how you drive, although it is interesting what newer petrols can do.

In terms of the spec level you must have the same as mine - it adds quite a bit of luxury with climate, cruise and an arm rest!

 

Glad your enjoying your car too.

[Sigmcp20]

Thats the car just gone over the 40k mile mark now. Got a 700 mile round trip to do over xmas so I have rotated my wheels as I bought the fronts 4-5 month ago and the rears only a month ago. I had the hunter geo done on it when I last changed the tyres but since I rotated them it has now got a pull to the left. Looks like another hunter geo is in order. I had the oil and filter changed 6 months ago so will be changing the oil again before the trip. I have also upgraded the bulbs to 115% brighter than standard (or atleast thats what they said on the packaging lol) they are definitely worth the money and light up the roads ahead so much better as I goto work at 0620 and head home at 1800 its always dark when I drive. I have now developed a juddering when light braking which indicates warpped discs but they are the original ones and even though they are still within side spec I will be looking replacing front discs and pads. I am wanting to lower the car a bit. If I bought vrs springs from a supplier would they fit mine ? I dont want it sat too low just a litte bit and the vrs seems like I nice ride hight.

Edited 15 December, 2013 by Sigmcp20

[Sigmcp20]

Well the car is sat on 62k now. Just had to Mot it too. Unfortunately it failed in 3 things. I did the pads before the mot as they were needed. I have had this car since 18k and it's now on 62k and the pads still had some life left in them but changed them to be safe. The discs are still in good order and well in spec. The parts it failed on we're a headlight bulb £5.99 and lower arm bush. £20. I changed both bushes at same time and it passes fine then. This car is proving to be a reliable and very low cost to maintain car. Only problem is now after 2 years and 42k miles I'm getting board of it. I don't know weather to part ex or do the work I been wanting to do for so long

I have seen these lowering spring

https://www.carnoisseur.com/products/details/9274/pi-lowering-springs-to-fit?vehicle=1066

Has anyone used these or have any experience of them ?

My other choice is to get rid for a more powerful fun car as my mileage has gone from 20k a year to less than 6k

[ang9444]

Well the car is sat on 62k now. Just had to Mot it too. Unfortunately it failed in 3 things. I did the pads before the mot as they were needed. I have had this car since 18k and it's now on 62k and the pads still had some life left in them but changed them to be safe. The discs are still in good order and well in spec. The parts it failed on we're a headlight bulb £5.99 and lower arm bush. £20. I changed both bushes at same time and it passes fine then. This car is proving to be a reliable and very low cost to maintain car. Only problem is now after 2 years and 42k miles I'm getting board of it. I don't know weather to part ex or do the work I been wanting to do for so long

I have seen these lowering spring

https://www.carnoisseur.com/products/details/9274/pi-lowering-springs-to-fit?vehicle=1066

Has anyone used these or have any experience of them ?

My other choice is to get rid for a more powerful fun car as my mileage has gone from 20k a year to less than 6k

maybe go for a vrs or even an Octavia vrs? As for springs, H&R are very good, have a look here: http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/products/search_car/product_sub.mhtml?car=skodafabia;category=loweringsprings