Hi all

I have just acquired a 2001 Fabia 1.9 diesel Comfort as a runabout, 157K odd miles but took me from Oswestry to Plymouth yesterday for £31.55 - not bad for 268 miles !

Its a great little motor, and drives fine but sadly does not live up to the "Comfort" moniker as the drivers seat not at all comfortable.

I have searched the forum for other Fabis seat replacement threads but most, if not all, seem to involve a complete retrim/replacement.

All I want is a more comfy drivers seat, someone on Ebay is selling Mk5 Golf GTI drivers seats stating they will fit the Fabia.

Can anyone offer advice on a more comfortable seat that is a straightforward replacement ? I am not bothered f it doesn't match because this motor is only a runabout.

If not I will have to get one of those blow up rubber doughnuts as used by piles sufferers !

TIA - Nigel

Fabia Elegance seat.

Ah great - thanks !

BTW - I forgot to mention I am new on this forum and I will no doubt have more loads more dumb @ss questions to ask.

Only had the car foe 24 hours but already realising what a great motor it is !

I thought the Elegance and Comfort seats were the same? I agree though - the Comfort bit of the name is an oxymoron if ever I saw one!

Golf 5 seats won't fit unless they've been modified IIRC.

I think the Elegance and comfort seats are the same? I had the Elegance and have sat in the comfort. They're not the greatest of seats I admit. In fact it's only the VRS range that I recall being more comfy!

The VRS seats have been overlooked, they are more comfy than standard I tend to find, although sportier seats so define what you mean by more comfy

Certainly the bolster is a lot better...oughta be some cheapies as god knows enough people moan about theirs not being clean enough ! Will be pricier than stock seats though I imagine, good ones £150, maybe cheaper ones in tattier order for less?

I find both bolster and general cushioning of the VRS seats twice as comfy as non VRS Fabia seats. But I think it depends on the person, some people seem to hate them. As dominorising says, they can be had cheap on auction sites. Just steam them, shampoo them and bring them back to life!

Fabia VRS or Sport seats, SEAT Sport seats or Polo equivs.

Or follow Big Deano's guide to "hybrid" a set of MK4 platform seats onto the Fabia subframes.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/256746-how-to-guide-to-fit-seat-leon-cupra-leather/page__hl__+golf%20+seats#entry3117049

J.

Ah great - thanks !

BTW - I forgot to mention I am new on this forum and I will no doubt have more loads more dumb @ss questions to ask.

Only had the car foe 24 hours but already realising what a great motor it is !

Welcome to a brill forum. Ask away, it's all part of the fun!

Enjoy....

Welcome to a brill forum. Ask away, it's all part of the fun!

Enjoy....

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and helpful advice, I didn't go looking for a skoda even though I had driven several as courtesy cars a few years back. Then I found them to be capable and well made vehicles that were easy and pleasant to drive.

I got mine as I needed a cheap car as the AA had managed to trash the electrics in my Range Rover. I had bought a Vectra but had several issues so I took it back to the garage I got it from and now have a high mileage 2001 Fabia 1.9 diesel. So far impressions are very good, besides the uncomfortable seat it has had a slight bump on the back and the trims just below the windows on the rear doors are starting to bubble up. Also has developed a knock underneath when going over bumps, knackered xechaust mount rubber I guess, which I need to get soon to ASAP before it snaps and the exhaust could end up busted.

Besides that, it seems to be a nice little driver, plenty of load space for such a small car, nippy and economical - starts first time and does all I need.

I am so pleased with it that even though I was going to use it as trade in when the AA finally cough up for my car, I would like to keep it as a runabout.

Fabia VRS or Sport seats, SEAT Sport seats or Polo equivs.

Or follow Big Deano's guide to "hybrid" a set of MK4 platform seats onto the Fabia subframes.

http://www.briskoda....ts#entry3117049

J.

Hi

Thanks for the info.

As its only intended as a cheap runabout I don't want to spend too much time and effort on it.

Do the seats you mention bolt straight in ?

Knock underneath is most likely console bushes.

£150 job supplied and fitted. Use a vag indy.

Knock underneath is most likely console bushes.

£150 job supplied and fitted. Use a vag indy.

Thanks for the info.

Sounds interesting, would this make the gear change a bit notchy or is that just a characteristic of the gearbox ?

Other culprits of the same symptoms are

Dog bone mount, (May explain iffy feeling gearchange)

Roll bar bushings needing replaced.

Engine mount possibly needing replaced.

It literally could be any of these causing the issue.

At least you'll know what to look at first.

It's just most common to be the console bushes.

I had two Fabias and ended up paying for this work 3 times over my

ownership. It eats these bushes, there is now an uprated 4 web variant

being fitted which are a lot more robust. Whatever you do make sure

the original 2 web ones aren't fitted or you'll be back where you are now in

under a year paying for the work again.

If you ask for OEM bushings for an Octavia 2 then you'll get the right items.

here's a post by another member that visually describes what I am clumsily

trying to say about these bushes.

The original bushes as fitted at the factory only had one support running through them as per below:

They realised these were always failing and so released the revised bushes. These are what you will get if you purchase replacement bushes from your dealer. They no longer supply the original type.

I have these fitted and they're great. Much better than the original bushes, and no increase in vibrations.

They look like below:

The other option is the solid Cupra bush which is why you sometimes get excess vibrations through the cabin.

Taken from this thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/240249-console-bushes-voided-semi-voided-and-solid/page__hl__+bush#entry2821327

Thanks a load for providing such detailed info. Just need to find someone in the dublin area to do the work now as thats where I am next week.

I have got to the bottom of the knocking noise, I drove it along along a bumpy road and it seemed the sound was coming from the back.

So I got under the back and had a look. Immediately I noticed that the metal shield on top of the exhaust under the boot floor was resting on the exhaust pipes. It is held up at one side by a rubber doughnut that looked oK and on the other side by a small threaded stud that points down from the boot floor.

The hole in the shield hat attaches to the bolt had corroded a bit and the nut must have vibtrated loose and disappeared at some point.

I made a temporary fix with a big washer and the innards of one of the choc blocks that electricians use, a big one which I just screwed onto the stud. Probably knackered the thread but once I get it booked in for a service I'll get a better repair made.

Should hold up for a while anyway.

At least hopefully I don't have to pay out for these new mounts, and I can continue with cheap Skoda motoring !

Thanks again all for the warm welcome and helpful advice.

Got the little car serviced and the knocking was a loose nut on one of the rear shock mounts.

All fixed now, car is going well and clocking up the miles !