Hey all,

 

I'm wanting to get rid of my civic I-ctdi and am tempted to take a look at a fabia 3. Unlike VW where you can get all the old model brochures the same doesn't seem possible with skoda!

Can anyone tell me anything that this car comes with, whether the 105 will take a small remap and how reliable they are?

 

Thank you

We have the 1.6 petrol 3 from about 2008.

Cloth interior in cream or black.
Climatronic
Cruise
Maxidot
Dance radio with aux input (No changer or bluetooth, nor MDI, it has the aux by the handbrake)
Front fogs
Glovebox lids (not standard one Fabia 1)
16inch wheels unless optioned. The ones we have are nice, seem to have held up well.
Front centre armrest.
Electric heated mirrors and front electric windows, rears are windy.
Steering wheel radio controls were an option.


Would suggest the 105 diesel will be better, the petrol is almost worse on fuel than my mk1 vRS Octy.
I also think the 1.9 Diesel 3 came with Stability control, but don't quote me on that.

Diesel is the 1.9 so will take a map and be reliable. No point on the petrol.

Any other questions re spec, let me know.

Firstly thanks for your very helpful reply

 

The one I'm thinking about looking at is a 57 plate, with 40k on the clock. I assume the features would be the same? I just don't like the build on the civic, nothing feels solid and the impending clutch failure makes you wonder every day whether it will do it or not (a wonderful feature of the 2.2 I-ctdi is the chocolate clutch!)

Yeah, ours is a 57. Bit more miles than yours, 57k.

Drive it and see what you think, not everyone likes the upright driving position. It does feel solidly put together, but it does have the typical Skoda rattles.

It's a good car, suits the purpose well.

Thanks again mate how do you find the handling of the car? My only concern with this one is that it's not from a main dealer, but the honda dealership I got my civic from! I've got comfortable with a long warranty and breakdown cover.... Though from previous vag ownership my bora never really went wrong!

Hi Mike, I recently got a 2008 Fabia 3 1.9 TDI and am loving it. It's the same spec as hardcorehobbit mentioned, although I have heated seats too. Mine has many, many more miles than the one you're looking at (160k), but the service history was 110% and was 1 owner from new, so I went for it. I previously had a Fabia 1 VRS so I know the PD engines are bulletproof.

 

It still feels like a new car and hardly has any rattles to speak of. Most of the noise comes from the crap I've shoehorned into the lower glovebox!

 

I'll be remapping mine soon, should be up to around 140-150 according to the mapper himself.

 

The standard Dance radio is OK at best. The radio reception on mine wasn't great, adequate, but not amazing. I swapped it for an aftermarket pure Android based car pc stereo thing from China and the radio's been fine since, although I am using an aerial booster. The front door speakers caused a hell of a lot of rattling of the front door cards which was annoying for a few days after purchase, but I've since had time to fit my little subwoofer in the boot so I turned the bass down on my headunit and all sounds great now the sub's handling the lower frequencies.

 

It's a good little car so I'd go for it if I were you.

Handling is okay, it's fairly light.

Steering is light, brakes are typical VAG (a bit high up the pedal for me).

Car rolls a bit during harder cornering, it's not really a sports car in any way.


I'd still give it a go, it is a good car. Colour dependent though... ours is black magic.

I have a Fabia 3 1.9 TDi 105 estate - superb car which I simply don't want to replace as it's been utterly faultless and has all the power, comfort, economy and carrying capacity I need.

I have a 2008 Fabia brochure in front of me as I write, and can tell you that the level 3 standard equipment is as follows:

16" Atria alloys

Rear parking sensors

Black side mouldings

Climate control

Cruise control

Curtain airbags

Floor mats

Front armrest

Front fog lights

Leather 4-spoke steering wheel, gear knob and gaiter

Maxi-dot trip computer

Seat belt warning buzzer

Mine also has rear electric windows, aluminium Fabia door sill footplates and smart headlight covers but these must have been specced by the dealer as mine was an ex-demo.

Great car.

Gah! Parking sensors! Can't believe I forgot those. Also displays proximity sensors on the Radio screen.

I have  a 4 year old Fabia 3 PD 1.9 tdi bought about 1 month ago with only 17k on the clock. Has all the gubbins above included.

 

Still smells and looks brand new. (was previously owned by a guy called Herbert, so it needed freeing from its dour trips from the OAP day centre lol)

 

Already remapped it from 105 to approx 140 and it handles like a completely different motor.

 

I was particularly looking out for this engine as I had a Seat previously with it and its so reliable, powerful and economical.

Edited 6 November, 201312 yr by promethian

I have  a 4 year old Fabia 3 PD 1.9 tdi bought about 1 month ago with only 17k on the clock. Has all the gubbins above included.

 

Still smells and looks brand new. (was previously owned by a guy called Herbert, so it needed freeing from its dour trips from the OAP day centre lol)

 

Already remapped it from 105 to approx 140 and it handles like a completely different motor.

 

I was particularly looking out for this engine as I had a Seat previously with it and its so reliable, powerful and economical.

Congrats - you've found a peach of a motor there! And barely run in at 17 k. Been thinking of getting a remap on mine but all the good remapping businesses recommended in this and other forums are quite far away from me (South Oxfordshire). Did the remap entail a significant hike on your insurance premium?

Congrats - you've found a peach of a motor there! And barely run in at 17 k. Been thinking of getting a remap on mine but all the good remapping businesses recommended in this and other forums are quite far away from me (South Oxfordshire). Did the remap entail a significant hike on your insurance premium?

 

I remapped it with an STS from Shark so it can have either the original map or the performance map whenever I decide

 

The STS is a good way of doing it, if you are like me and don't live close to any mapping business's. It was so easy to apply the performance map and the results are impressive....like driving a different car. I had the PD130 engine in an Ibiza and the remap makes it equivalent (taking in consideration this has a 5 speed box and the PD 130 had a 6 speed box)

 

Adrian Flux sorted insurance and was only an extra £75.

I remapped it with an STS from Shark so it can have either the original map or the performance map whenever I decide

 

The STS is a good way of doing it, if you are like me and don't live close to any mapping business's. It was so easy to apply the performance map and the results are impressive....like driving a different car. I had the PD130 engine in an Ibiza and the remap makes it equivalent (taking in consideration this has a 5 speed box and the PD 130 had a 6 speed box)

 

Adrian Flux sorted insurance and was only an extra £75.

Hmmm, self-tuning wasn't something I'd considered. Food for thought - thanks for info!

They are hopefully moving the car from one of their other dealerships for me to take a look at this weekend

 

Thanks for all your help guys! Does anyone know of an online version of the fabia brochure from this period?