Fabia reliability?

[tracey]

Hi

I have Fabia 1.4 8V MPI X reg after previous owning a Toyota Rav 4 and in just one year I have had nothing but problems - sensor lights powering steering replacement , temp sensors replaced, injectors replacing after a full service costing £480!! another £141 the following week for injectors??which initially was diagnosed by Skoda dealer to be a coil kit problem which was fitted and removed and injectors were replaced..... I just wondered if other Fabia drivers have experienced ongoing problems with these cars? I was reluctant to change my vehicle but did so to save on fuel costs and spent 6 months researching reliable cars studying mags, Which reports, Top Gear website etc and it was between Yaris and Fabia in the end, I plumpt for the Skoda because of extra room in boot and its a far heavier solid car BUT reliable ?after owing one for just over a year Im wondering if I made a good choice. I love driving the Fabia very easy and comfortable but should I sell on before I get more problems or do you think after a 5 years it has replaced parts to go problem free? would be grateful for any honest comments.

[ChrisRs]

Your ommitting one major thing.................Its a 5 year old car. I would trade it in for a newer model if you can afford to. Reliability will be better!!!IMO

[ap0gee1978]

Fabias do seem to be a bit 'buggy', but it does seem your experience is a bit worse than most. I can understand why your engine problem was mis-diagnosed at first as coilpack failure seems a fairly common problem with modern petrol engines (not just the ones in Skodas, as they went in my old Renault too!) - just hope the garage cut you some slack on the cost of the injectors! The light sensor failure thing is pretty common on Fabias too - Autocar's long-term vRS had to have its third brakelight replaced because of it, and I'm sure they weren't the only ones.

I must say, my first reaction to your list of things you've had replaced is that most things that can go wrong have probably been replaced by now, as you suggest. It's possible that the problems that you've had fixed were the same ones that led the previous owners to trade it in, and now they've all been sorted, I'd be inclined to stick with it if that turned out to be the case! 5 years isn't that old for a car these days, so I wouldn't expect any problems with rust or what-have-you for a long while yet.

At the end of the day, it's always a bit of a lottery with any car - I see just as many Toyotas and BMWs on the hard shoulder as any other type of car - and as long as you're happy with the car, you should keep it. But the moment you start thinking "I'm not sure about this," then you should get rid of it.

[edit] As regards Robbo's comment above, the only real reliability advantage of a new car is the warranty. Most cars go wrong either when they're new (manufacturing faults), or when they've worn out (mileage will tell you this to some extent). I'd personally be surprised if your 'fixed' X-reg Fabia is any more or less reliable than one that's a couple of years old... [/edit]

IMHO

[tracey]

thanks for your comments - i think ive just been very lucky with other cars in the past - had problem free experiences and ones I had just not really researched just bought on gut feeling, its just a bit annoying that I did my homework this time and Ive had so many problems, its obviously luck of the draw so to speak - and I didn't think a 5 year car in this day of car production was very old and with modern technology they are built for reliable service of at least 10 years. Anyway, I am not a car expert but you have convinced me to stick with the car - i cant really afford a new one but i did think about buying a Honda Civic 5 year old with whatever money I got from Fabia. I wish Id got a Honda now or is that all overated rumour on their reliability?

Thanks guys I appreciate the comments keep em coming!

ps do you Skoda drivers ever take your cars to non dealer garages - Im beginning to think Skoda dealers aren't any more efficient than the back street mechanic? and expensive too!!

[Guest Fabia 12v]

Would hope now you've had the faults fixed it should run ok, we have members with W reg fabias who havn't had any trouble etc etc. Sometimes its just down to the particular car.

Common Problems on the Fabia are:

Power Steering Sensor

Leak through rear doors

Washer Jets pipe coming lose

Fuel Filler Cap cable poping off

With your fabia been an X reg it was one of the early ones and although not old things arn't built as well as they used to be... its also common practice that earlier cars come out as sort of 'test mules' and then all common problems found are then sorted out on later models, im sure even now '06 models have different bits from '05 models as faults/adjustments are logged and altered.

Hope your problems sort themselves out and you have the car a good long time.

[ap0gee1978]

ps do you Skoda drivers ever take your cars to non dealer garages - Im beginning to think Skoda dealers aren't any more efficient than the back street mechanic? and expensive too!!

Since my nearest dealership closed, I've been taking mine to an independent VW/Audi garage round to corner from where I work. While they're not 100% brilliant (but what garage is?!) they do as good a job as the dealership used to, but at about 60% of the cost.

[tracey]

Well now I think I will go and buy a VRS Fabia brand new in that case!! trade in for mine now 54,000 miles - good condition ?? anyone

[stopan1j]

Tracey,

Faults you have had unfortunatley seem normal items that fail or need replacing on most cars with time - how many miles has your car done? Fabias are good cars - the 8v 1.4 engine is normally the ones that magazines and reviews the tell you to avoid, it not as refinned as the others that are mainly from the VW stable - however its a good reliable engine based on Skoda's own engine design thats been around for years that is basically an over bored 1.3 Felicia engine. It is noisyish engine with an old design going back decades that has been made to cope with modern emission/injection requirements that were never really expected of the unit.

That said you had a good car thats not a lot different in other respects to the ones coming off the production line today.

Now you have had these things sorted hopefully you can enjoy your car more - its best to have a car that you know whats been replaced etc buying secondhand is always a bit of a lottery.

[ScoobyChris]

My 2001 Fabia had quite a few problems which I wouldn't expect on a 3-year old average mileage car. Cost me quite a bit to get put right, but fingers crossed the person who bought it off me this year has not encountered too many more problems.

It certainly didn't live up to the reputation for build quality and reliability I'd been led to expect! :(

Chris

[tracey]

Hi Stopan

funny you say about reviews telling people to avoid old 8v engines I read somewhere on here I think that the 8V were better engines, but you are right I dont think they are!! anyway you cant beat a new car!

[tracey]

Hi Scooby Chris

why are you still posting on a Skoda website? thank god someone else understands so what da reckon stick with it or pass it on? ive still got a bit of value there before its worth sod all!

[lozgti]

Wife ran 1.4 8v mpi for three years without a hiccup.Shame you are having problems but it happens (my first Audi A4 had to be towed off the drive).

Best to offload it maybe

[KaraK]

Your ommitting one major thing.................Its a 5 year old car. I would trade it in for a newer model if you can afford to. Reliability will be better!!!IMO

yeah but thats pretty bad for a five year old car - my scooby was rock solid and that was 7 yrs old with 130k on the clock when, ahem... remodelled it

In two and a half years of ownership the only major bits that needed replaceing out of scheduled consumables due to age were a radiator (rubber bit on the side perished!) and a wheel hub, which to be honest was down to me being a numpty and not recognising the signs to change a bearing!

I think its just the same old VAG story... some of them are just lemons and fall apart while the rest will run forever without a blip!

[skodayouth]

Hi Stopan

funny you say about reviews telling people to avoid old 8v engines I read somewhere on here I think that the 8V were better engines' date=' but you are right I dont think they are!! anyway you cant beat a new car![/quote']

I Think that Back when the 8v was being sold the price was good which is probably why they reccomended it, Also The 1.4 8v is fairly torquey. I Have had a few electrical problems, but no mechanical problems. Some of the things I have seen in car magazines say that it is prone to catastrophic coolant leaks (Cant remember where that was from). I See people on Ebay All the time selling them and saying "It might be a skoda but it's a VW Engine", but it's not so I never really expected much from mine, It's put a few M5's in their place though! (They were stationary). Is it just the Main part of the Engine that is Skoda, I Am Assuming that all the bit's connected to it are VW?

[ScoobyChris]

Hi Scooby Chris

why are you still posting on a Skoda website? thank god someone else understands so what da reckon stick with it or pass it on? ive still got a bit of value there before its worth sod all!

Still here cos I made lots of friends and you haven't met the Mondeo guys :eek: If it was me, I'd be getting shot of it because I need my car to be 100% reliable and I'd always be wondering what was going to break next.

Would also echo KaraK's comments, my 5 year old Scooby was running like a dream with 80k miles on and my 8 year old TDI Disco with 100k miles on was seemingly indestructible (on and off road!)....

Chris

[spottydog]

I had a 1.4 8v W reg, bought at a year old, 8,000 miles on the clock and had nothing but trouble with it.

Power steering fault, twice.

New steering rack.

New cylinder head gasket.

New water pump.

Faulty ecu.

Windscreen leaking, twice.

Had it for a year and got sick of taking it to the dealers so got rid of it. I know people with newer 8v's have had no problems at all.

It obviously hasn't put me off the fabia because I bought a VRS and still think for the overall package any fabia model still comes near if not top of the class.

[DanGB]

I think ive just had a bad expereience with mine, within two-three months I had replaced:

Coolant temp sensor

Anti roll bar

Tie rod end

New Steering rack (leaking)

Its a Y reg with 25k on the clock then.

[tracey]

Fabias do seem to be a bit 'buggy', but it does seem your experience is a bit worse than most. I can understand why your engine problem was mis-diagnosed at first as coilpack failure seems a fairly common problem with modern petrol engines (not just the ones in Skodas, as they went in my old Renault too!) - just hope the garage cut you some slack on the cost of the injectors!

Hi Opogee

I dont know if they did cut some slack to be honest - to replace the coil kit with 50 mins labour cost with part (needed 3 coil whatevers) total

[nel]

I have an 02 plate 1.4. fuel and its great. Basically the late plate cars had all the problems sorted at maufacture. Late 1.4 are cheap to buy because of the poor early plate write ups. I feel confident would do well in a crash so it's good for the kids.

[JMK2]

I'm on my 4th Fabia- a VRS

1st was an X Reg SDi Classic. Did 28000 miles in 6 months - only prob was the boot jamming shut.

I then digressed and bought.... an alfa 156

I came back for a 53 Reg 1.2 64bhp Comfort. No problems - someone drove into the back of me - my car was fine, the other a write off.

I went to an octy and a MG ZS. Octy had a horrible gearchange and other faults. Hated it so want back to a New 1.2 Ambiente.

Couldn't cope with 2 cars so got the VRS. However the ambienet is the 1st car that left me stranded (fuse fault). The timing chain also grinded.

So out of 4 Furbys 3 were/are fine and one let me down. Not bad I suppose.

[WW_VRS]

Surprised gear change on the Octy was horrible, I've only driven one and I cant say it was horrid but I was not particularly trying to make progress or anything at the time.

There are definitely some faults with the Fabia, but fortunately most can be sorted with relative ease and without costing too much.

I completely agree that if you loose faith in a car's reliability it's probably worth getting rid of it. It could be a lemon, or just a bad car.

Had two Peugeot 205s, both had some electrical fun but a few wire-replacements & switch replacements later they were fine. One of the two had a problem with it's carburettor (sp?) and it developed a flat spot that could stall the car when driving off at roundabouts etc. When a lorry nearly went into me as a direct result I got shot. Nice first car though (up to that point LOL)

[heresmo]

Hi Tracey

Mine's about 5 years old now (bought from new) and the only problem I've had is the oil light coming on when it shouldn't have, so I guess you must be very unlucky :frown:

As I don't do high mileage (it's mostly less than 30mph and traffic queues), it doesn't really give the battery chance to recharge, so the power steering light comes on smetimes and it decides to stall occasionally, especially after running the fan full blast whilst de-icing before I set off.

It might have developed a "flat spot" that WW_VRS mentioned, since it stands a lot - I'll have to ask the garage about that.

I'm hoping mine will last a bit longer, since, as you say, service charges and the high cost of petrol make it difficult to add pennies to the "new car fund".

So, just my experience for info - posted without recommendation one way or the other.

Best regards

Mo

[Goochie]

I had a 10 yr old 1.2 Vauxhall Nova that never ever let me down. Started perfectly first time, never missed a beat, had done 60k miles.

I take my Skoda to various back street mechanics

[Moose]

You mention you use a dealer in Sussex, which one? If it's my local then I know of a VW specialist thats very close by.

[fluffmeister]

I have had mine since June and have just turned 12000 miles, as of yet there have been no problems other than squeaky pedals which the dealer did not sort so I stripped them and coppaslip'd them myself, no more squeaks.

There is a bit of a mix and in quality I would say as the dash etc seems well thought out then the glove box is a real low quality item, as in roughly finished compared with the rest of the dash.

over all though it's a great little car, so far ...