4 Years with my Fabia Estate TDi - Honest Review

Well it's time to say goodbye to my Fabia Estate after 4 years and 60K miles as my company car.

Unfortunately my fleet don't do Skoda's anymore so I have to get another make (Renault Meagne Sport Tourer) but I thought I'd share some honest thoughts on my 4 years of ownership.

Model: Estate 3 TDI 80 - options Heated Seats

Likes:

• Very well built and solid car - threw 4 years of dogs/kids/camping etc at it and it shrugged them off with no problems. Nothing fell off other than the front arm rest breaking due to kids testing how far it would bend!
  
• Excellent ride - feels very solid and composed if driven gently (not if pushed)
  
• Very practical car - amazing boot for it's size and well shaped - swallowed a large dog and camping gear regularly
  
• Value for money - outstanding given the practicality of the car for it's size/price
  
• Heated Seats great - well my had them turned on permanently!
  

Okay's:

• Economy - averaged about 50MPG which is not bad for a small diesel but hoped for 55-60 when I chose it. I think this is due to having to push the revs a lot to keep it moving at a reasonable pace (see below on Performance). We also run a Fabia I 1.9TDi and this consistently gives 55MPG+ as it doesn't need to be revved so much.
  

Dislikes:

• Handling - rolls far too much if pushed - our Fabia I is miles better in this respect.
  
• Performance - it was a little underowered in my opinion which meant you needed to put your foot down especially from 1st to 2nd pulling away from a standing start. This meant fuel economy suffered. Found that you had to get revs up in second otherwise it flat-spotted which could be a pain pulling away from lights.
  

Overall:

Sad to see it go really - although it had flaws it was amazing value for money at £15K 4 years ago - to put that into perspective my next company car is coming in at £22K and it's not much bigger.

Sort out the flat-spot and less rolling and it would be almost perfect.

I would have loved to have an Octavia Estate for my next company car but not an option.

Will continue to run our Fabia I as the second car and will definately replace that with an Octavia when it gets tired (altough it's now done 140K and still going strong).