Anyone own or driven the latest Fabia Greenline? Curious if it lives up to the supposed MPG figures.

Or does a 3 pot diesel still rattle every bone out of your body..?

Not owed but driven the Greenline II a few miles and from recollection mpg appeared good, high 60's I think on a 40 mile A road commute.

However the engine is not that smooth and I personally couldn't get on with the long gearing but with rear disc brakes it stopped far better than our TSI with old tech drums at the back.

TP

I think this is the engine that most road testers complain about, saying Fabia is a good car but the engines are coarse and noisy.

Unfair to the rest of the range. I get 42 mpg from my 1.6 petrol but, as it's not available new any more, would suggest the 1.2 TSi which are sweet and economical. Diesel is not the only way to fuel economy especially if you are not covering a high mileage.

i get avg mid 60's tank on tank, around town low mid 50's regularly see mid high 70's on run home from work, have seen high 80's on a number of runs

not as good as claimed but still not bad

engine rattles for a few seconds on cold quietens down quick. no vibrations from engine, more engine noise than daughter 1.6tdi monte

engine has a nice note over 3k rpm with a bit of loud peddle,

on the whole nice motor, passed 16k with mine today still 2k off first service and been told by dealer software upgrade due which improves mpg

Unfair to the rest of the range. I get 42 mpg from my 1.6 petrol but, as it's not available new any more, would suggest the 1.2 TSi which are sweet and economical. Diesel is not the only way to fuel economy especially if you are not covering a high mileage.

Makes sense but with the way road tax and the cost of diesel vs petrol work out over here, diesel is just far more economical in the long run.

Edited 18 March, 201313 yr by pajor91

greenline = £0 road tax and £0 london congestion charge

very capable on motorway and long runs, mine has done kent to devon several time no issues

only time you really notice the small engine is 5 adults or fully loaded boot on my estate

1st and 2nd not much of a slouch off the lights, slows a bit in 3rd once you get up to 60mph on mway you need to anticipate need to overtake a little more

Edited 18 March, 201313 yr by bluecar1

Makes sense but with the way road tax and the cost of diesel vs petrol work out over here, diesel is just far more economical in the long run.

Only if the diesel is doing the right journeys, diesels require long runs to aid the DPF

It's a noisy little engine but quietens down at speed, it's never going to be quite as smooth as a 4 cylinder. The gearing is very different from most cars -even other diesels and requires a lot of getting used to as it has large gaps and has very 'long' gears. Once you get used to it is fine though. It's very good on the motorway for such a little low powered engine and the diesel torque shines through making it far better than it's puny figures would suggest.

It won't get anywhere near the figures published for fuel economy -I'd suggest around 65mpg combined is fair (very few if any cars get their official figures these days) You can get much better economy on the motorway if you are prepared to really concentrate and keep the speed down, paying lots of attention to engine rpm rather than speed, I had a computer indicated average of over 85mpg once between London and Lincoln, but that's going at about 50 something mph (1700rpm) -I don't drive it like that normally though.

Compared to the other Fabias, the Greenline II is quite well equipped as standard.

I'm really happy with mine -I've had it 18 months and have done 32,000 miles in it, the only issue I've had with it was a squeaky accelerator pedal which was replaced under warranty although I'm sure a squirt of silicone would have fixed it.

Love mine. Don't find it too noisy. Engine performs well and certainly doesn't rattle ! Great motorway car with the cruise control invaluable. I drive normally and have not got enough patience to watch the revs etc to maximise economy, but I get mid 60's mpg on a long run and 55 - 60 on a mixed urban / carriageway journey. Not a hot hatch but nippy enough at the lights etc once you know how to drive it. Would recommend.

Take it for a test drive - if you can find one. If not, ask your friendly VW dealer to test drive the Polo BlueMotion. That's what my Skoda dealership arranged for me. I was pleasantly surprised by how sophisticated the 3 pot it. And enough grunt for me - even on the motorway, full of family and suitcases - at least until you hit a big hill.

In terms of MPG, I must say I am disappointed. It is not as good as previous cars I have had with HDi engines (but no DPFs), which 'should' use 20-30% more fuel according to the official figures.

I had one and liked it very much.

Once you get the hang of how to get the best out of it, it's an economical little mile muncher.

I averaged 72mpg (real, not car display) in mine because I tend to drive quite economically.

Did 20k miles in one year and only sold it as I bought a Yeti.

The diesel 3cyl is a bit noisy, but with stop start it switches off while you are not moving. Which is handy.

Like most low spec Fabias the steering wheel is rather cheap feelling, but it can be changed for a leather one.

The lowered Greenline suspension is good too, think it's the same as the sports suspension option on other standard Fabias.

You can carry good cornering speeds and keep the momentum up, saving the need to thrash the engine.

When I was at college doing my City & Guilds, we were taught that 3 and 5 cylinder engines were better balanced than 'even' number cylinder engines. Why, then, is it often commented that the 3 cylinder is 'rougher' than a 4?

My son has the Petrol 1.2, 3 cylinder Fabia 1 and it is smooth and economical. Is it 'cos it's a Diesel that it's less smooth?

I had the 1.9 pumpe duse in a Golf Plus, a bit noisy on start up but what a teriffic engine!!

When I was at college doing my City & Guilds, we were taught that 3 and 5 cylinder engines were better balanced than 'even' number cylinder engines. Why, then, is it often commented that the 3 cylinder is 'rougher' than a 4?

I'd have thought the more cylinders the smoother as you are pushing the engine at more points on it's revolution.

I was taught something different at college. Something to do with a 3 cylinder not being able to properly cope with the 4 stages of engine combustion. Needing a whopper of a flywheel to carry the engine over until one of the cylinders reaches the 'power stage' again. And then 6 or more cylinders giving an even smoother engine, if it's got more than one crankshaft due to there being less strain on each individual cylinder.

It's why I just asked it in the first place

I dunno, it's the sort of thing that can be argued out until the cows come home. :p

Theoretically (as I understand it), the less degrees the crank has to travel before the next combustion, the better for "smoothness" which is why you don't actually need a flywheel on a V12..

A 3 cylinder in-line engine is inherently unbalanced. The Vag 3 cylinder engine has most of the unbalanced forces balanced out by the use of balancer shafts. This does not completely balance the engine but is the best comprise that can be achieved.You need to have a detailed knowledge of balancing of reciprocating parts and rotary parts to have a reasonable understanding of engine balancing. Without going in to any detail you can't completely balance, out of balance reciprocating part forces by using rotary balance mass. And vice versa you can't completely balance , out of balance rotary forces with reciprocating parts. There are books on this ( I remeber Bevin's "Theory of Machines") but with all the velocity and acceleration diagrams of mechanisms it can be heavy going.

Thus a 4 cylinder engine has the reciprocating forces reasonably balanced (2 pistons / conrods going up and 2 coming down) but the piston/conrods exert an out of balance couple on the crank which causes the engine to be unbalanced . Even Porche had balancer shafts in their 944 2.9 L 4 cylinder to make it a bit smoother.

A 5 cylinder is better than a 4

A 6 cylinder is perfectly balanced Likewise any multiple of 6 cylinder is perfectly balanced ( 6, 12, 24 etc) This also applies to flat engines.

A 8 cylinder "V" engine is perfectly balanced (F1 engines have 2.4L V8s doing 18,000rpms !).

Edited 23 March, 201313 yr by vwcabriolet1971

whatever the theory about the number of cylinder and balancer shafts VAG seem to have built a cracking little 3 cylinder engine

no noticeable vibration in the car and for a 1.2 diesel goes really well,

one problem is they need to do something like ford where it can close the grill for aerodynamics or reduce cooling to aid warm up time as in cold weather takes until a uphill section before the engine generates enough heat to warm up

the other problem is related VAG need a different DPF technology as the regen kills any good economy you can get especially if in traffic and using the stop start, I understand the is a software update due for mine when serviced shortly that will improve economy and reduce regens, will see how this goes

I love my Greenline Fabia. I was so impressed that I managed to get down from Hartlepool to Basingstoke in half a tank of diesel.

I'm test driving a Roomster with a greenline engine tomorrow. With the intention of buying a Fabia estate greenline but finding it difficult to decide between it and a 1.6. I live in a rural area so mainly open country roads 40-50mph with villages at 30mph. Journeys of 10-20mins mainly but weekly days out 30mins - 1hrs long journey times. We do trips to family about a dozen times a year 2-3 hundred miles away mainly motorway. 70mph all the way. Camping trips annually require possible roof box and or trailer. A little towing locally too for trips to tip or collecting stuff for garden and building materials. Would say 90% of journeys are sort ones. We do about 15,000miles annually.

Any experiences shared would help.

I'd be looking for a petrol for that sort of driving. You might run in to issues with the DPF if you don't do long enough drives, plus the engine won't get warmed up enough in 10 minutes to give its best economy.

looks like my GLII will be off the road now,

getting new job and looks like a train commute, so GL will be on drive and only used at weekends unless swmbo wants to try it but doubt that as she has mk1 vrs to play with

the other problem is related VAG need a different DPF technology as the regen kills any good economy you can get especially if in traffic and using the stop start, I understand the is a software update due for mine when serviced shortly that will improve economy and reduce regens, will see how this goes

Had my first service on my late 2011 Greenline II this week at 30,000km. No update to the computer - only a cable change somewhere in the fusebox. Runs exactly as before...

Incidentally, the service cost 355€, which included over £100 for the engine oil alone. Long life servicing comes at a price...

it was confirmed by my dealer a few weeks back when I was sorting out my MDI cable that there was recently a code update for the ECU on my 2012 greenline II

Well my Greenline estate is doing 50mpg in central London and 70 mpg in rural Kent. This is with ladders on the roof and a boot full of tools and electric cable. Driving to the Alps for skiing (no tools or roof rack) it managed 55mpg alternating between 80mph and 1st/2nd gear traffic jams that lasted hours in half term week. The motorway tolls cost more than the diesel. Its a slow car, but then you can't go any faster than the car in front these days!

I bought my used Greenline a month ago (it had done 26000 miles when I got it). I'm based in Norway and on rural and intercity roads with speeds around 50mph I usually manage 75-80mpg, although I have seen my display at 85 and even 90mpg when really pushing it, but it's really no fun driving the car then, idling every slightest downhill I could find. On average, however, adding some urban usage, my figures so far are 68mpg, getting better for every filling, though.