On the whole i'm happy with my 2008 fabia but it tends to be spoilt by the howling noise from the engine.it is rev dependent and does not stop with engine warming up.I changed the aux belt but no difference,I suspect it may be the meshing of the gears driving the balance shaft. Anyone out there got any enlightenment? As I understand it ,if this is so ,it is a no go situation for the home mechanic.

Its the balancer shaft because its a triple

The later models have an optimised set up which stops it.

Theres nothing you can do to stop it from doing it if youve got an earlier model, its a characteristic of the engine.

Ever heard a triumph motorbike? Theyre the same

Edit:

I quote from skoda:

"The tweaks made to the engine include replacing the old link chain driving the valve timing mechanism with a cogged one. Additionally, the weight of the crankshaft has been reduced. "

So it could be the chain...

Thanks very much for such a prompt reply to my query, as you say it seems i just gotta live with it !

I had a 2007 Polo with the 70ps HTP (although I don't think VW called it that, same engine anyway) and now have a Fabia 1.2 TSI 86ps.

I test drove a Polo with the slightly older 64ps before ordering my Polo. I was expecting it to lack power but was pleasantly surprised. I owned the Polo for 5 years and the engine never missed a beat. It outperformed most other 1.2 petrol cars I'd driven (Fiesta, Clio etc) and gave me about 40 mpg with mainly town running. As said above, they're not really designed for motorway driving: the gearibg means you are driving at high revs and the fuel economy suffers.