…and though its early days, so far I am a happy boy.

Thought I would post a quick early review for others who come to the forum as I did thinking of buying a fabia…

I swapped a beloved 1.9 diesel mazda 6 and I expected a power compromise but I have found the Fabia’s 1.6 tdi quite punchy and fun, lets me overtake confidently etc.

I have the scout in corrida/Ferrari red, now known in our house as the Skerrari. I love the fabia’s distinctive look, one of the things that attracted me to it and the Scout gives the estate version some extra road presence in my rural location.

I don’t know how accurate the mpg computer is, but if it is to be believed then I am already on an average of 56-60mpg without even thinking about driving style. The fuel does seem to be getting me a LOT further than the mazda managed.

My average journeys are 1-2 hours long. I have noticed that the first 5-10 minutes the mpg is a poor 40 or so and I wonder if anyone doing an average of 15 minute journeys or less are not going to get the benefits of this economical engine.

I was fortunate enough to get the ‘old’ badges and so have avoided the indignity of being mistaken for a Vauxhall driver (what were skoda thinking?)

I hope reliability will allow me to keep this smile on my face for a good while.

Any hints and tips for breaking it in and elegant pimping are welcome…

If you wanted it pimped should have had the monte

Enjoy it.

No need to 'break in' its not like new shoes, i know what you mean tho..

You have probably got the coating off the new brakes discs and pads/shoes already.

Running in just needs some sympathy given to the drive train for the first 500-1000 miles as in the Owners Manual.

Your tyres newness should be off them now.

Check and set the tyre pressures & set the TPMS.

You can check the wheel nuts tightness incase you need to change to a spare.

Check the spare, jack, cap remover etc, to see its all there.

Have fun, you might have some snow coming to go looking cool in.

george

Thanks George, I have avoided thrashing it. Will be good to see how she handles the snow.

Seboni, yes i've seen the pics of the new monte estate, looks fantastic. Just would have stretched the budget too far.

One thing I would recommend you doing is, at some time in the not too distant future, take the wheels off, especially the backs. I had a rear puncture recently, and could I get the wheel off? could I buggery. The damn thing had seized on the hub/drum. Fortunately I was at home and I had access to a nylon hammer and was able to beat the living **** out of the inside of the wheel without damaging it to get it off. I cleaned up the mating surfaces with some fine emery then coated them with coppaslip. Hopefully that will stop that happening again. Dread to think about what would have happened if the puncture was found at the side of the road at midnight. I've since done all the wheels just to be on the safe side, glad I did too. The fronts weren't too bad, but the other rear needed a "seeing to". HTH.

This problem of sized wheels has been raised before on the forum

At the earliest opportunity you need to remove the wheels and apply some grease to the hubs.

It is also good practice to check the factory has not over tightened the wheel bolts.

I once had a puncture and even ATS who I had to call out had problems with realising the wheel nuts.

John

Trev2, a tip for stuck wheels. Back out the wheel bolts ~5mm and lower the car off the jack. This should free them, if not, rock it. Works every time and no risk of rim damage.