So I have ventured from all things Yeti to the dark side that is Fabia,

As i rate the brand so much, I have advised my friend to get a Fabia, looks like she might be going for a Monte Carlo 1.2 TSI 105ps 5spd in black pearl or red.

Extra's she is looking at getting are curtain airbags, rear parking sensors, maxi dot and spare and possibly rear electric windows and climate control. I have said ESC is a must(apparently there are two sorts??) and cruise control.

I have her thinking about options and working out what she wants, and then told her to try find the best price(she's in south east, so no where to far)

So, my question to you lovely people, without spending hours of my precious time that I need to waste, is what advice do you have for her?

Is that a good spec? Are there any problems that she might want to think about? What are stock levels like atm/delivery times?

Should she look at any other cars?(poss wrong place to ask...) A Volvo C30, was original desire, but lack of remaining stock/poor visibility meant it was a no, she has a polo, looked at polo, I said fabia is better.

So what do you think (or should I just run away and continue to annoy the yeti folks)

Thanks in advance, and my word that Monte Carlo is dribble worthy- I would go white, but the red is nearly up there...

ESC plus comes when you specify cruise I believe (this also gives you hill hold control)

maxidot is a £150 option, nice toy not sure what extra options it gives you?

parking sensors are great

spare is a must, can of goo is next to useless in many circumstances

rear electric windows , nice to have but prob used rarely

curtain air bags good feature to have

whats the car going to be used for? school runs, short commute, long commutes?

Thanks for your reply blue car, I think it'll mainly be used on the commute to work(under 10 miles) and shorter trips into town with the occasional longer run

I have ESC with hillhold in Yeti and it is great, and would always say go with a spare, even if you don't change it yourself.

I also have maxidot, which I am used to, so don't really know how it differs from without

Couple of things to be aware of spec wise that might have altered my final spec had i known......

It wont come with a rear courtesy light unless you spec the sunroof, something that always griped me with my vRS estate.

If you spec the headlight washers you'll get a 5 litre rather than a 3 litre wash bottle and also a low fluid warning.

Spec Maxidot, doesnt offer lots in terms of vehicle configuration (its menu system is considerably more simple than that of the Octavia/Superb) but gives you a much nicer trip computer display, gives more detailed text based warnings and a proper water temp and fuel level dials rather than a silly "i'm cold" warning light and digial fuel gauge thats horrible to read. You can also display your audio info and nav info on it (if fitted). Maxidot comes included with Bluetooth but doesnt come with Nav on its own which it does on other trim levels.

If going to the trouble of specifying ESC get ESC plus as your get tyre pressure warning and hill hold control thrown in, both v useful.

......oh and having had a Fabia its a good little car but i'd still preference a Polo 1.2 TSi R-Line manual.....more expensive of course but IMO considerably better looking, much nicer inside, drives better and benefits from having a 6 speed gearbox. I like the Monte Carlo but the Polo is a v tasteful quality item.

One of those would probably be my warm hatch of choice if I was in the market for one.

As this is about me, I thought I'd weigh in. :-)

No kids, no food shopping trips (gets done at lunchtimes) and a short commute to work. Truth be told I do one or two 50 miles+ trips on motorways a week; maybe more with the new wheels. I think, not including my short commute, I probably do another 50 to 75 miles on average to the various places I choose to go. Some weeks I do more, rarely I do less as my friends mostly live far away and the countryside has few cinemas etc.

On many of these journeys I have passengers in the back seat, not to mention I'm one of those odd drivers who likes open windows but not necessarily the ones across my face, hence the rear electrics making more and more sense to me.

I'm pretty good on tyre pressures, keeping my screenbottle full, making sure my headlights are of use

etc - do I really need a monitor/wipers for that if I already do it myself?

The RLine is a bit too flash for me. As far as I can tell it's a bit like a GTI and the benefitd would be wasted on me. Appearance isn't the biggest care I have and speedy/sporty type cars are probably a waste of my money, although I do think the Monte Carlo looks badass in black. Red is good but there are sooo many red cars now: it'd be boring or like a Mini and the norm for the model.

The rear window in a Polo is wide but a bit shallow which I could live with but the Skoda had better all round visibility, for me at least.

Edited 21 April, 201313 yr by Auntie_chrissie

Auntie Chrissie, as your in Kent, Adamsons in Walmer maybe worth a punt. I got an excellent trade in there with my Octavia and they have continued to give excellent customer service since!

I`m a red car man and black is a real pain to keep clean! Your choice afterall!

Edited 22 April, 201313 yr by threadbear

Caffyns in Tunbridge Wells.

Highly recommended - I have purchased 3 cars from them, had 10 years of quality service and my parents have had 3 car from them

Recently got a new Skoda Rapid from them, 2 weeks ago

Appearance isn't your biggest care!!!

My word, first you would only consider a C30, as they were pretty, then you refused to look at various cars from other brands coz they looked horrible! Looks seem to be your main criteria!!!

OH deary me, Now you're here, I'll go back to the Yeti section where some say women aren't allowed! :peek:

And you do go to the countryside....

What I meant by appearance was that I don't care what other people think about my car as much as I do: I'm not going to buy something so that it gives a certain impression, of me, to others. If I were to get one of the flasher versions, which I don't need, that would be what I was doing. And you know that! :-P

Our Monte is only 'lightly' optioned based on previous Fabia ownership and taste.

TSI 86 - feel the smaller output engine suits the 5 speed box better than the 105

ESP+ (inc TPM & HHC) - useful additional kit

Headlight washers - lights in the winter are prone to getting covered in muck

Cruise - handy for long motorway runs and speed check areas.

Spare from previous car

5 year warranty - cheap extra at £250

Would have gone for curtain airbags as well but I didn't get round to asking the dealer to add them in time.

TP

Thank you TP. :-)