Looking at fabia 1.4 85ps mint,good price ,but a lot of negative feedback on VAG forums,skoda look to have stopped this engine but seat and vw sill in use any feed back please on this engine or shall I hold back and look at the 3 cylinder engine,the tsi is out of my range.

The 1.4 85 bhp 16v engine is not one of VWs best efforts in my opinion. I have read that it has reliability issues and it is noisy, harsh and gutless on the road. I would definately go for the three cylinder in higher power twin cam 12 valve guise (the very base sohc 6 valve 60 bhp engine is very slow). The three sounds great when you rev it, goes pretty well and has lots of character. A mate of mine on here has just bought a Fabia 1 estate with the 70bhp engine and it is more than capable of lugging all his stuff around. Only thing with the triples is that the economy is nothing much to write home about but I think they are much sweeter than the 1.4.

be advised that the facelifted fabia comes with a 60 and 70bhp 1.2htp, both are 12valve, whereas the pre fl, the 60bhp is 6v and the 70bhp is 12v.

Edited 4 March, 201313 yr by fabia55

I have the 1.4 16v in my Fabia Mk2 (3). I don't consider it gutless, noisy or harsh in the slightest.

I currently get 41mpg out of it too, and I don't drive like a grandma either.

Perhaps I appreciate it more because I came from the 1.4 8v in the Fabia Mk1

Give it a test drive.

benjoe, I think some of the negative comments on forums are rather exagerated. There are no major warnings against any of the Fabia engines from reviewers like Honest John; and Autocar loved the 1.4 in the Fabia - sweet and flexible with good real-world economy.

I drive the 1.2 tsi and it certainly has more low-down torque than any normally-aspirated engine but I drove a 1.4 Polo hire-car on mountain roads in Spain and found it quiet, smooth and flexible. I also had a 1.2 HTP Fabia and found it good for a basic engine - it sounds fun but it's noisier and not as quick.

If you have found a nice car in good condition, go for it! Good luck!

Ben, I agree with Martin and fabandy. Problems in the main were confined to earlier engines with some of them suffering from exhaust valve trouble and cylinder head gasket problems around number 4 cylinder. That's all cured. My buddy has the Polo with the 1.4 petrol engine in it. He's had it from new, and has covered 120,000 trouble free miles and drives like a lunatic. His Polo is now 10 years old too. No problems. Another of my buddies has just bought an 09 Roomster with the same 1.4 engine in it. It goes fine and he will not experience any trouble with it I'm sure. Is it the best engine in terms of mpg and performance. No. But that doesn't matter for many drivers. It's solid!