Hi,

I'm new here, and I hope this isn't in the wrong place!

For various reasons, change of circumstances, and recovering from illness, I have decided to get a new car, I'm currently borrowing a 2008 diesel Yaris which is actually a very nice little car. This has made me want something small and economical.

I've had enough of big powerful cars and need something relaxing. I had a 530d Touring which I wrote off...

It came down to a toss up between a Fabia and an Audi A2. After some research the Fabia 1.9SDI looks right up my street (no I dont want a turbo!).

This example for sale in Oxford looks reasonable at £1,395:

http://www.motors.co...b7-a60cbfbcaef5

I've contacted the owner, it has just had an MOT but it has no history so no idea if its had the cambelt done. Also the air-con is described as "Air conditioning should be working but actually the last time I used it was when I bought the car - it's never that warm around here."

So, can I get the history direct from Skoda?

If the air-con is worn out I guess it would not be worth fixing, the buyer has said it hasnt been used which is certain death as it wont have been lubricated right?

It has a small dent in the rear door behind the driver.

Is this a decent deal (after typing this out I'm thinking walk away!)?

This one below looks good but is at £2,695, but perhaps this is a better deal than the 1st one as I might end up spending just as much getting work done, I dont know what the cam belt costs but I bet its £400 or so, also this one has done a lot less miles, and is newer.

http://www.autotrade...527sa?logcode=p

It's a £1,300 pound difference.

I've only just started looking today, should I wait a bit and see what comes along?

Thanks !

Edited 8 November, 201213 yr by Dunkuk

I love the colour of this one, its about 100miles from me wheras the other 2 are about 40 miles.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261118698173

The sdi's are not that good on fuel due to been so undered powered. You thought about getting a 1.9 tdi pd100?

I like the look of the £2695 one. The price is about right, she looks in good nick and has the FSH and the cambelt done. It's a much newer car and it's quite likely only one owner really, 2005+7=2012. Preregistered by Skoda? If you can get to have a word with the previous owner you may be able to get a really good idea as to whether there are any problems.

I've had my 1.9SDI for 7 years at an average mpg of 58 and you can feed them sunflower and veg oil from Tesco's at £1.00 per litre. You can't do that with the pd engine. If you adapt your driving style they are excellent workhorses and far less to go wrong.

You have to hammer the SDI's to get them to move and you can forget overtaking on the main roads. Think very hard whether you can live with the snail pace (0-60) around 17 seconds!!! Very reliable I believe.

£299 for a cambelt from a Skoda dealer.

The guys already said he doesnt want it to be fast!

SDI's are good reliable motors and get you from a to b cheaply, the more expensive one is a good bet unoless you can get the first one down to a grand, once bought service it, get the cambelt and pump done then your onto a winner

The sdi's are not that good on fuel due to been so undered powered. You thought about getting a 1.9 tdi pd100?

Eh? No, you're right... An easily do able 60 mpg is a bit pants... :wonder:

And as someone said, very reliable. Ours never let my wife down once in 4 years of ownership.

We sold it because it had started to look tatty after 4 years of my wife and her Mum

bumping into things (Mostly her Mum tbh...) mechanically it was spot on on.

Was just about to have new discs, shoes and pads fitted but sold it before I could book it

in for the work. Had the bushes done once, and replaced clutch at 100k. A great little car

which will suit the op as long as he finds a good clean one. I found ours very good in snow actually.

An easy car to drive gently and in traffic.

Go for the highest spec you can find would be my advice. Ours was an Ambiente.

If you can go Elegance then you'll have a couple more features.

(Make sure air con works, can be v.expensive to repair)

Wow, lots of replies. These things seem to have a cult following.

Yes I have looked at the turbo ones, to be honest if I wanted fast I'ld get a vRS as the insurance is only about £50 more for me.

But I really like the idea of the SDI! It's the complete oposite of the ego-boost cars that I used to want. I was looking at getting a Morris Minor so these are probably quite fast compared to them.

Also there is a cost advantage of the spare parts, there is no turbo to go wrong, and the power delivery will be smooth from idle. The comment about this not being a PD engine is interesting, I thought this was a common rail engine?

Very useful comments, I think it will probably be better to ignore the 1st cheaper car on the list, I should probably splash out on something that has a history. I think it will probably be worth more in the long run when it comes to selling it. I can afford to spend a little more, I was looking at quite a bit more for an Audi A2, perhaps £2k more for a similar age/milage. I really like the idea of buying a cheap Fabia and then using some of the money saved, say £1k, to buy a set of decent tyres, new suspension bushes, new stereo etc and still have £1k saved over the Audi.

Going for the highest spec is a fair point too. Although I am actually quite impressed with the spec of most cars, they all seem to have ABS for example. It does make me laugh that some of the cars have parking sensors, I think if I cannot park one of these I should probably not be driving!

Edited 9 November, 201213 yr by Dunkuk

I just did some reading on the SDI injector pump, it is indeed the pump that controls the injection, perhaps this is why it is more reliable and the parts are cheaper than the PD units. I did't realise this, but it's a bonus!

You won't get an elegance as they didn't make an SDI one. The SDI engine has a single fuel pump operating all 4 injectors, the pd TDIs have a pump on each injector.

The SDIs are great in town as they will trickle along with no throttle input and similarly in snow. Overtaking is a matter of using your head, the acceleration in 3rd and 4th isn't that bad. Cruise all day at an indicated 80 on the motorway. Cheap on insurance, fuel and, yes, I suspect it is a bit of a cult thing, those who have them love them. I would advise you not to get a classic or the later spec that have the thinner wheels. The ride and roadholding is much better with 185/60-14s. Or get a classic and change the wheels.

I've got plenty you can have for nothing.

Ok, good info about the wheels, I have been looking on ebay at sets of wheels and it's overwhelming, there are Audi, VW, Seat and Skoda wheels that will fit. 185/60-14 sounds like the size that was on my MK2 VW Jetta, a good chunky size.

I find it quite interesting after not having had a VW since the Jetta and what with cars getting bigger all the time that the Fabia is about the same size as a MK2 Golf, wheelbase is within 8mm and length is about 15mm shorter. The Golf 1.6d had a 0-60 time of about 20 secs I think. I think the nearest equivelent back then would have been a 1.3 petrol Golf which wasn't that slow.

Thanks for the wheel offer, I do travel from Hampshire to Leicester about once a month so do go past your way so you never know.

Mine cost £2140 from SM Specialist cars in Bedford a couple of weeks ago.

54k, 2001, 2 owners (1 for ten years), FSH, 9 months MOT, 3 months tax & 3 months warranty.

Feels solid and pulls well throughout all the gears. Cruises easily at 80+ without any stress. Instantly noticed the fuel savings, which, although according to the figures, match the 1.9TDi, in the real world the SDI is startlingly cheap to fuel (used to own a mk4 golf TDi 90).

A few downsides-

The engine is rather unrefined, and is noisy <20mph (first gear). The spec of my classic is poverty-level, with manual windows and mirrors etc and the car doesn't feel as planted as VW equivalent polos and golf I've driven.

Overall though, a masterclass in utilitarian-chic!

the car doesn't feel as planted as VW equivalent polos and golf I've driven.

Are you running on the skinny wheels and tyres. A change to 185/60-14 tyres and the 6J wheels makes a big difference. I have a about 10 wheels with tyres with legal tread going free to anyone who will pick up.

.

I might be interested in some wheels but I'm thinking to far ahead!

A noisy engine doesn't bother me, I like engine noise. I think cars should be more noisy to be honest.

I just had a look at a petrol one in town for size. I'm 6'4 and had plenty of space at the front and amazingly could sit in the back seat with the drivers seat set up for me. Big boot as well, bigger than the Yaris.

£2,140 sounds good for a low milage car. I think you pay about £500 or more for the aircon, so i think you got a good deal there.

I have found an advert for another one:

http://www.gumtree.c...ery-item-full-4

I spoke to the guy but he could not speak english that well, I think he said it has a service history, his phone cut out which didn't help.

I think I will have a look at the 2nd one in my original post and the one in the link above over the weekend. I need a check list, I'm thinking:

The standard checks, does everything work, smoke from engine, coolant clear, no clunks etc

Fabia specific, not sure what i should look for

Rear carpets are dry?

Are there any rust traps on the car? The one I looked over today was remarkably clean for a 10 year old car.

Edited 9 November, 201213 yr by Dunkuk

Are you running on the skinny wheels and tyres. A change to 185/60-14 tyres and the 6J wheels makes a big difference. I have a about 10 wheels with tyres with legal tread going free to anyone who will pick up.

.

oh yeah it's rolling on polo mint tyres! I'll check the spec and might just take some off your hands! Whereabouts are you?

oh yeah it's rolling on polo mint tyres! I'll check the spec and might just take some off your hands! Whereabouts are you?

Near Kettering, Northamptonshire.

Well I've put a deposit on this one:

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/skoda-fabia-comfort-sdi-19-diesel-03reg-95k-mot-12-month-and-taxed-5-month/113088920

the guy selling it is going to recharge the air-con as it didn't seem to work, and I said I will definately buy it if he can get it working. The price will be £1,550 if he can fix it. It drove well and was very clean inside and out. The price compared to an Audi or bigger can is amazing!

I've just started to look at the price for parts, suspension etc. What is great is that the dealer parts are not much more than the aftermarket ones, which I've never come across before, I like the idea of buying genuine parts from the local dealer.

I take it that it has got some service history and the cambelt has been done about 80000. if the air con doesn't work I would knock him down on price if it's a good motor otherwise. Who needs aircon here other than for a max of a couple of weeks a year.

Well, it has the MOT history and it has just passed an MOT and I can see it has been looked after. I think for £300 for the cam-belt I would probably get it done, it is still about £1000 less than the othe cars I was looking at. I do use the air-con a lot, especially on trips to France in the summer and motorway journeys in the UK so it is important to me, the seller is getting it checked out so hopefuly will let me know what is wrong and I can decide then if it is worth it.

Well he just called and said the air-con is fixed, just needed re-filling with gas. So I will buy it tomorrow. I will be asking a few questions over the next few weeks then about upgrades / fixes.

I thought this was a common rail engine?

SDi =Suction Direct Injection, ie 'normally aspirated'. TDi and Common Rail both use high pressure pumps to force the diesel into the combustion chamber, atomising the fuel finer than normal injectors therefore making the fuel more combustible.

Hi, no this engine uses a normal injection pump, I was a bit suprised but it does mean a set of injectors is only about £100!

Well I've been driving it a few days and I love it. The engine is actually very good, the lack of turbo lag is quite obvious and it is quite fast if you avoid the brakes!

MPG is fantastic as well, I'm averaging 62mpg mix of town and A roads driving gently. It is very similar to my Mums Yaris which is a super low emission model with £30 a year road tax so I'm very pleased.

Welcome to the SDI club, they are smashing little motors.