It's been 1000 miles since my mother collected her Fabia http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/326968-1st-september-2014-delivery/#entry3922918

Sso I though I would give an update.

Its taken 7 months to cover 997 miles so there hasn't been many long drives as yet.

 

 

 

The only noticeable carpark battle damage so far is some scratches on the driver door handle:-

 

My mother really likes the Fabia it's very comfortable even with the harder suspension and with the automatic gearbox it is very easy to drive compared with a manual.

The space inside is a lot better than the old Primera whilst being a lot smaller car.

 

The only faults so far is the parking sensors don't always work and the passenger side door doesn't open every time even when its has been used before and not locked.

 

With my limited time driving the car I like it as well. The only comments I would make is that the breaks can be a bit sharp when applied and the engine isn't as peppy as I would have thought but I guess that is down to it being it so new and only running on 95 petrol.

 

Its a great little car so I'm looking forward to take it for a nice long run in the summer.

 

Just to finish off a quick walk round of the car:-

Edited 6 April, 201511 yr by AJR77

AJR77

please take note from the many VRS drivers and fill with 99 petrol ONLY. There are good reasons to heed this advice

AJR77

please take note from the many VRS drivers and fill with 99 petrol ONLY. There are good reasons to heed this advice

 

I know I don't need convincing I always buy Shell vpower but my mother only fills up at the near Texaco garage which doesn't sell anything but 95 RON. They still have red leaded pubs installed.

I have asked but she sys she isn't going to start buying "special" petrol.

its not special, its a requirement, point out the big sticker in petrol cap that says "98 RON!" lol...

 

the ECU will retard the ignition and reduce power and torque on 95 RON (and fuel economy , point that out to her) and it wont be properly run in (loosened up) until its got several thousand miles on it, so it will improve

 

Glad the ownership experiance has been largely unblemished

Why did your mother spend nearly £20k on a car she does 35 miles a week in yet won't spend a few pence extra to fill it with the proper petrol?

That's going to be a nice low mileage one for someone to pick up in the future

That's going to be a nice low mileage one for someone to pick up in the future

If the motor isn't stuffed from low octane fuel first.

I hope the passenger door issue and parking sensor have been repaired under warranty.

 

As for not being peepy,  there are plenty of Dealer Demonstrators on 95 ron that are peppy from 0 Miles on.

You just floor the throttle and they go, and even without being run in, there is something up if they do not break the national speed limits in 

7 seconds.

Why did your mother spend nearly £20k on a car she does 35 miles a week in yet won't spend a few pence extra to fill it with the proper petrol?

 

Over the summer now she is going to actually drive it a bit visiting family which she hasn't been able to do for the last couple of years.

The only reason she gets petrol from the Texaco garage is that it's really close to the house (so is Tesco BTW) and its a local independent garage that hasn't been turned into a car wash.

I notice that Texaco do sell 97 petrol but there is little change of it coming to the local garage seeing they haven't bothered removing the red leaded pumps from the forecourt.

 

If the motor isn't stuffed from low octane fuel first.

 

My mother said she will change it at the end of the PCP agreement as it will be 4 years old and there isn't much point buying the car outright as it is still a 4 year old car. 

Hopefully there will be the next generation of turbo electric engines out by then offering zero turbo lag and good performance in a small capacity engine.

 

I hope the passenger door issue and parking sensor have been repaired under warranty.

 

As for not being peepy,  there are plenty of Dealer Demonstrators on 95 ron that are peppy from 0 Miles on.

You just floor the throttle and they go, and even without being run in, there is something up if they do not break the national speed limits in 

7 seconds.

 

Its an intermittent fault there is no rush to have it looked at and the dealers would probably say its working so there isn't much they can do until it breaks.

I haven't seen it happen my self so I can't rule out driver error as being the cause. My ex's Fabia had to have new parking sensors because one of them failed.

We will mention it during its first service if it hasn't got worse. 

 

As for performance is concerned I've haven't had much opportunity to export it apart from overtaking so it was just seeing the mid range performance.

I find my car's mid rand performance adequate rather then electric. So I might be a little unfair towards the Fabia.

 

I will have an opportunity to be chauffeur over a long journey in the Summer so will have more opportunity to explore its performance (dependant on passenger approval).

Well, going into vRS from 300bhp S3 no wonder you do not find the performance electrifying .

Glad you like it  

Five observations:

1. My VRS loosened up over time and the MPG figure improved slightly. Incidentally, I treated it with care, never pushing hard for more than 1,000 miles, I believe firmly in "running in" a new car.

2. The difference in MPG figures between running about in town on short runs and a long run, even at 70 MPH is huge. I suspect that your mother is in the former category?

3. My MPG figure definitely improved by a couple of MPG after my first service - I am not quite sure why.

4. I doubt that your mother would notice any difference between 95, 97 and 99 RON.

5. Personally I have settled on 97 RON which is widely available and safely between Skoda's recommendation of 95 to 98 RON (check the fuel filler cap). I have a vague feeling that you may have "issues" if you swap around fuel grades.

A small point.  Skoda do not recommend 95 ron,  just show the minimum Octane that can be used.

The Recommended fuel is 98 Ron. (Super),  but there are no suppliers in the UK selling 98 ron,

so 97 can well have the engine performing more like designed, but exceeding 98 does no harm.

 

Re Improved Economy after the first service, this can be down to the better oil than is fitted from the factory.

(After a service, take care to check the oil level, just to see that for a few hundred miles the oil consumption does not increase,

just temporarily.)