Now i had my first Fabia a few year ago being 2000 sdi and loved them ever since, it had over 140k on the clock and was faultless! a few year on and a different fabia later i then bought my 2007 seat ibiza fr (being the same as a fabia vrs)

I've been on the forum for ages and seen many of these cars with over 150k on the clock and still going strong! reliability seems to be brilliant, that with decent performance and econemy was perfect for me!

Now i bought the car and it seemed fine, it was bought via eBay and the person seemed genuine enough nd had just bought a new mini cooper s, even showed me it and seemed genuinly pleased with his new car so having a good reason to sell his old one. its a 2007 ibiza fr tdi pd 130 with around 74k on the clock, full seat service history with it also.

- Now... on about day 2 the "hard starting"... started! this went on for about a week or two untill the car wouldnt start for long and kept cutting out.

- While the har starting was going on i noticed a really loud knocking noise every time i acelerated or broke.... it happend suddenly like somthing had snapped rather than a faint knocking getting worse. i then bought new console bushes and had them fitted with 2 new drop links, shame it was abit of a waste as it was a stone stuck on the scuttle tray but under the plastic bit rocking around. I noticed this straight away at the start of the job but decided to go ahead with the work anyway since i'd paid for the parts.

- With the starting at its worst i had to replace the camshaft sensor and coolant sensor which fixed my starting and cutting out problem.

- in the mean time i'd noticed my car idle's high on every start up... looked into this as much as i can and have decided its the alternator knackard. it only puts out 12v max.

- While all this was going on my rear caliper had decided to strt playing up and appeard to be seized. Had this replaced with 2 new calipers, etc as it was just as cheap to get the 256mm upgrade. This next part being my own fault but when i collected the brakes i got speaking to the guy who also said "well i've got a box here with 312mm front calipers i was going to sell also" so walked away with 4 box's full of brake parts.

- other notes on the car are the police siren noise coming from the turbo, a rattle from the dmf in 5th and 6th gear & it struggled to go into 1st and 2nd somtimes... done a search and seems to be a common problem before the gearbox knacks up.

- Also had to clean out the egr valve nd asv as these were badly caked in crap and while doing this noticed my brake servo pipe was split so that needs changing also.

Wish i never bought this stupid bloody car....

If the turbo, gearbox, clutch & dmf fail its going to cost more than the cars worth....

For those that had read all of this, Thank you.

Edited 18 November, 201213 yr by hutchysrs50

Sounds just my experience with my Fabia and my Golf. Put me off VAG for a loooong time.

Sorry to hear of your troubles though. :(

Seems very common to read about all these problems and it puts me off modern diesels.

Luckily my 2003 Ibiza Tdi 130 has proven very reliable apart from the cam/follower problem.

Heh my evilbiza caused me insane amounts of problems! Also an 07 fr TDi....turbo, flywheel and gearbox failure within 4 months of ownership.

Gave up on it in the end but wish I hadn't really :(

I fear that will be me soon with all the problems coming at once. I could take a hit on one or two problems... £600 for a new turbo or dmf and clutch but £1200 for them both + whatever a gearbox will cost is to much.

What sort of miles did your 07 ibiza have when it was having problems?

Ouch.

All the best mate, hope you sort it.

I fear that will be me soon with all the problems coming at once. I could take a hit on one or two problems... £600 for a new turbo or dmf and clutch but £1200 for them both + whatever a gearbox will cost is to much.

What sort of miles did your 07 ibiza have when it was having problems?

Only 52k mate I paid around £1200 for clutch flywheel second hand gearbox full service and timing belt at a local vw specialist.

Then £1500 on a hybrid and labour plus £600 on fmic

Hmm, sounds like yours was a keeper tbh mate! But i know the feeling of just getting it fixed and selling it before it costs more money!

Im a mechanic anyway so parts will be cheaper and labour is my own time, but after hearing nothing but positive comments then my own being so bad.... Thinking of selling up and getting a 2007 golf sdi...

Mines been spot on for the last three years.

Isn't it the diff that goes wrong in these?

That's a lot of bad news, these cars are usually extremely reliable. Not heard of many horror stories regarding the VAG group of cars using the PD130. You obviously got hold of the black sheep version!

sounds like a runt in a litter tbh. must just be unlucky!

Edited 19 November, 201213 yr by Ryy.P

My Cordoba (Ibiza with a bum) has also had some issues you describe above.

I'm having some hot-starting problems at the moment.

Our gearbox also had to be replaced after finding it very diffucult to get into 1st and a crunch into 2nd. We also started getting a whining sound in 1st and 2nd eventually ending in loud knocking noise from the gearbox.

We had it sent to a gearbox specialist you said the bearings inside the box had gone and needed rebuilding as it had munched itself.

New clutch, DMF, bearing and a recon gearbox (ours was beyond repair due to damage to the housing).

The garage first got the gearing wrong and think they used petrol gearing (70mph was 3500rpm!)

Also while in Germany in september in a traffic jam at 30c the A/C packed up with a puff of smoke from the bonnet!

Also a few other niggles we've had/have:

wiring harness to boot broken (repaired but having problems again)

driver's seat frame has snapped!

leaking coolant pipes into heater matrix

console bushes

CV boots

siezed rear brakes (managed to free them off luckily)

turbo pipes popping off due to snapped clips (most annoying at 130mph on the autobahn and having to bodge them with cable ties!)

Definitely turning into the most unreliable car we've owned but need to keep it for longer to get our money's worth for the £1200 gearbox repair!

Phil

Edit

we've had SEATs Skodas and a VW and a mate at work has an Audi, all of a similar age, petrol and diesel and none have convinced me that VAG reliability isn't either a myth or long since passed - Vauxhalls and Fords we've had have been loads better

Edit

Edited 29 July, 201312 yr by hutchysrs50

Most people i talk to have the police siren turbo noise, flywheel judder would just be the revs are too low, i get it aswell if i floor it, nothing to worry about, just dont floor it at low revs and/or wheelspin starts and your clutch and flywheel should be fine.... Should

Edit

Dont accelerate fast below 2200rpm in ANY gear! Downshift!

Edit

Just sounds like you bought a dog tbh. Any car will need to be looked after to have half a chance of lasting. As above, that driving style will ruin your clutch/dmf in no time.

Petrol or diesel if the revs are too low the engine won't like it. Just more noticeable in a diesel.

Flooring it in 2nd at low revs isn't too bad really as the gear is much lower but doing that in 5th and 6th isn't good.

When joing the dual carriageway near me I often do it in 3rd accelerating from about 30mph and don't feel any judder as the turbo has already spun up etc. Just goes.

Ours used to be very juddery and a lot of vibrations when flooring it in a higher gear. On the odd ocassion I have done it since the DMF and clutch change it is much much quieter.

Phil