Am thinking of trading in my VW Polo for a Fabia. Can anyone share their thoughts on the 1.4 TDI PD 80 2? Top Gear commented on its noisy engine amongst other things. Would be really grateful to hear thoughts from anyone who has this model! Many thanks!

Very good solid engine with alot more grunt than u would expect from a 1.4 due to the turbo.. noise is beacause its a 3 cylinder but due to the less power/ torque u dont get the problems the 1.9tdi suffers from (dual mass flywheels.. turbo failure.. etc)

If ur after a reliable small car for medium/ long distance driving u cannot go wrong with the 1.4tdi in a fabia or polo.. oh and they can do upto 70mpg aswell which is awesome considering they still have enough grunt for overtaking etc

Great car, good mpg.

DB.

You already own a Polo.....so you are already unwittingly driving a Fabia as they are broadly the same car.

I have the 1.9 TDI in my Fabia, which is great......it's more unrefined than my 2.0 TDI Octavia, but I think this is down to putting a big diesel engine in a small car.

Although I get good economy from my Fabia, I do kind of regret not holding out for a 1.4 TDI.......there weren't any decent ones around when I was looking, plus I really wanted an Elegance model (1.4 TDI is not available on Elegance models)

When my 1.9 PD100 Octavia II went in for a dealer service I was given a 1.4 Polo TDI which is essentially the same car. I hated it. So much so that I pulled over half way to work and actually ran a reg check to see what the hell they had given me.

80bhp in a Fabia should be fine (my mpi only had 68 from new) but it felt gutless for overtakes and was lacking power round the country roads the Octavia used to power through with ease. I only did 100 miles so it's hardly a definitive test but I'd not be in a hurry to replace a 1.9 with a 1.4.

Numerically I wouldn't expect the economy savings to be massive in real cost per mile terms, you'll make small savings on VED and possibly insurance assuming spec/age/value is like for like but with the same service/running costs you have now.

Numerically I wouldn't expect the economy savings to be massive in real cost per mile terms, you'll make small savings on VED and possibly insurance assuming spec/age/value is like for like but with the same service/running costs you have now.

That's the conclusion I came to at the time......there's hardly any difference in VED between the two (on the Mk1 Fabia at least) and unless you are really young, insurance is likely to be the same too.

My average fuel economy in my 1.9 TDI Fabia is 61.3 MPG (7.5% better than book combined figure) since I got it 6 months ago. This is slightly better than the book combined figure for the 1.4 TDI. Would It be possible to better the Book figure on the 1.4 TDI? Probably, but not by 7.5%....so for me, fuel costs may have been very slightly lower on the 1.4 TDI...but not by much.

When I first drove my Fabia I felt the same about the power of it compared to my Octavia. After driving it a while I realised the cause of this was a combination of lazy throttle response and long gearing......I was trying to do things in 4th gear (like my Octavia can) which it wasn't capable of......for instance you can't comfortably drive at 30 mph in 4th gear on the 1.9 TDI, the gear is too high.....you need to drive at 35 mph (or change to 3rd).

I considered the 1.4 and the 1.9 when l was buying my Fabia.

I can't remember finding anything bad about the 1.4 but I decided that I would feel the benefit of the extra 20bhp that the 1.9 PD100 provides over the 1.4. I also had previous dealing with a PD150 variant of the 1.9 so knew a bit about it.

In my opinion (and that's all it is, not fact) the 1.9 TDi PD100 is quite an 'under-stressed' engine, especially in a small car such as the Fabia. As the car is quite small and light it is very easy to get excellent mpg from.

I've never driven the 1.4 but can't help thinking it may have to be worked more and therefore be harder on fuel than an equivalent 1.9.

Hope that helps.

I have both a 1.9tdi fabia and a 1.4tdi polo..

I can confirm the 1.9tdi is alot smoother but the 1.4tdi is ALOT better on fuel consistantly.. the thing runs on air !! .. and at £35 a year road tax there are alot of savings to be had..

If u dont need alot of power and ur not bothered about diesel noise then 1.4tdi is the way to go

Iv also had the 1.9 sdi + the 1.4tdi is alot quicker than that

and at £35 a year road tax there are alot of savings to be had..

An awful lot of Mk1 1.4 TDI Fabias are £100/year to tax. Only Mk1 1.4 TDI fabias built from 2006 were £35/year to tax......not many of them around as the Mk2 came out in 2007.

An awful lot of Mk1 1.4 TDI Fabias are £100/year to tax. Only Mk1 1.4 TDI fabias built from 2006 were £35/year to tax......not many of them around as the Mk2 came out in 2007.

Good call .. ye its only later ones with £35 tax..still cheaper than the £120 for the 1.9tdi + group 7 insurance instead of group 9 for the 1.9tdi (100bhp)

The 1.4tdi is bombproof tho

Yes, I have one of each, one at £100 the other at £35.

DB