Armrest for Fabia Mk3

[fabiagn]

I'm thinking of getting the retrofit armrest for the front seats. the official part is around £140 which is a bit too much.

Anyone used either the official retrofit or a 3rd party armrest on the Mk3?

cheers

 

[Aredeth90]

I'm very interested in finding some information about this as well. When i put the order on my mk3, the one with an armrest from factory had a 2-3 months delivery time, where mine without one, had 2 weeks....so i went for it.

 

Although i do miss having one, especially when driving the boring motorways.

[fabiagn]

There is a 'Skoda Fabia iii Armrest' on ebay for £42 new. dunno if it's worth a punt?

[Gauss]

Omg, armrest is the must Holds portable cigar humidor and punch like a charm

[alltorque]

Have armrest as factory fit and wouldn't be without it. Adds comfort and nice bit of storage for minor odds n'ends. Not sure I'd want it with the manual gearbox, though...might get in the way and annoy you.

[duffer]

Try the armster website. I odered an armrest for my father's mk2 octavia and my son's Corsa. They were about £50.00 but good quality and very easy to fit. Delivery was quick.

[skodaTDI]

Really? You actually want it?  It's awful.. it just gets in the bloody way.. the position of it over the handbrake is diabolical.. seriously.. I've never known something so badly thought out and executed.. my armrest stays vertical and is unused since day 1... another storage compartment elsewhere would have been better, like the Mk1's Canned Drink compartment.. now that was useful!!!

[alltorque]

Really? You actually want it?  It's awful.. it just gets in the bloody way.. the position of it over the handbrake is diabolical.. seriously.. I've never known something so badly thought out and executed.. my armrest stays vertical and is unused since day 1... another storage compartment elsewhere would have been better, like the Mk1's Canned Drink compartment.. now that was useful!!!

Oh go on, don't be shy, tell us what you really think.

[skodaTDI]

Oh go on, don't be shy, tell us what you really think.

 

..and I'm not joking.. it does get in the way a little with a manual gearbox.. but more so the pulling up of the handbrake itself which is problematic..

[jlwah]

I don't see the problem with the armrest. When you're driving around town it stays up and when you're driving on the motorway you have it down for comfort.

[Alrighttreakle]

The armrest is relatively expensive at £140 and suggests 'professional fitment' however I fit one last week and i'm a Skoda professional but not a mechanic so it's not too difficult, in fact the bracket is held in by four bolts and takes about half an hour.

[pfaff]

Really? You actually want it?  It's awful.. it just gets in the bloody way.. the position of it over the handbrake is diabolical.. seriously.. I've never known something so badly thought out and executed.. my armrest stays vertical and is unused since day 1... another storage compartment elsewhere would have been better, like the Mk1's Canned Drink compartment.. now that was useful!!!

Are we talking about the same car? Oh no, now I see, you got a TDI hatch...

My armrest has been down horizontal since day one, wouldnt live without it, and never had any gear change problems (6 man) nor pulling the handbrake, if ever needed.

But I do agree on the cooled compartment!

[jeleoto]

Have to add that the arm rest is a pain as it gets in the way of the handbrake.

Had exactly the same problem with the previous car a Ford Fiesta St3 and with additional problem of interfering with the gear change.

Both cars spend most of the time with the rest vertically out of the way.

But will add the small storage area is of some use, so its all negative.

[rum4mo]

Okay, so I'll but in with my "two pence" worth!

 

I had the armrest on my previous car - a B5 Passat, and it was great, older people even used it to lift themselves up out of the passenger seat - which worried me in case it broke! Wife's previous car - a 9N Polo did not have one and I eagerly looked on ebay for one, but was getting a bad feeling about this as she hated driving the Passat with the armrest down, which seemed to be the case with garage people as it always came back from MOT with the armrest up, so that car never got its armrest! My current car - B8 S4 has an armrest but it is very short, although it is extendable, but still a bit short, so reaching the gear stick is okay, and that car has the horrible electric handbrake, so no issue with reaching that.  Wife's current car is the latest Polo SEL so it comes with armrest, it has 6MT so reaching the gear stick is okay, but reaching the handbrake is not, so, sad to say, even I only drive that car with the armrest up!  Another thing, when I find M-I-L fumbling to get the seatbelt on, it is usually due to the armrest being down (when I've been in the car waiting/reading etc), one other thing, maybe that Polo's armrest is slightly faulty, but I can't always get the ratchet to engage unless the handbrake is off - ie the armrest can be rotated to its lower limit.

 

So, to sum up, if you are buying the armrest that is the same length as the one in the current Polo, and I can't see why VAG would have different ones for Fabia/Polo/Ibiza, I would question why it is so long, if it was slightly shorter it would be okay for me, and also if it is just a design fault that stops it engaging the ratchet unless it is dropped lower than an "on" handbrake allows it to go - then sort it, finally there is the issue that it seems to block access to the seatbelt point.  Maybe even make it extend etc - but that would use up some of its space which in that body shell does not exist - nice/good idea but flawed implementation!

 

Edit:- just one thing, due to the shape of the underside of the raised armrest, I find that there is a suitable very short area to rest my arm on!

Edited 14 June, 2016 by rum4mo

[Goody1]

I've owned my car now for 16 months and have no problems with the armrest. I'm 6'2 and have the seat in its lowest position and as far back as it'll go. The armrest is in a slightly downward position and I find that with my forearm on it, the gear-lever is in an ideal position.

I do agree that it gets in the way slightly when putting the seat belt on, but not enough to bother me.

[RJVB]

On 14/06/2016 at 17:28, Goody1 said:

I've owned my car now for 16 months and have no problems with the armrest. I'm 6'2 and have the seat in its lowest position and as far back as it'll go.

 

That sounds like the armrest in my Octavia MkII, NOT the armrest in the Fabia MkIII! The former indeed as a front/back sliding feature, the latter does not.

 

The Octavia armrest is also larger.

 

As to the armrest in my wife's Fabia III, it's indeed awkward to operate the parking brake with the thing down, and it's too far from the seat to be of any real use while driving, for my wife at least.

 

In the upright position, it's a PITA (arm...) I'm also 6'2  (1m89) and cannot put the passenger seat as far back as I would to avoid having the armrest and its console press into my arm and ribs. It makes it impossible to reach into the back of the car or putting on my seatbelt without butting my elbow ... and with the seat too far forward my right knee keeps bumping into the door handle.

So yeah, the sooner we get rid of the thing, the better. If by the time someone here is still looking for an almost new original kit I'm sure we'll be able to agree on a price.

 

(This is also the kind of situation where you realise the Fabia is a cheaper line with hard plastics everywhere...)

[vc-10]

I'm also 6'2 and have no issues with the armrest. It stays down the entire time. It was awkward when I first fitted it to engage the handbrake, but I've got used to it now and don't notice it. 

[ffox]

I'm 5'8 and because of the handbrake issue my armrest stays up all the time.  Try one before spending money.

 

(My wife's Polo doesn't have an armrest.  She stows her vast handbag between the front seats and doesn't like the fact she can't do it in my Fabia!)

[RickW]

How does she operate the handbrake with her handbag in the way?

[ffox]

It's pushed back between the seat backs - where the armrest hinges.  It doesn't interfere with the handbrake at all.  Try it and see.

[RickW]

My handbag doesn't exist so I'm afraid I won't be able to try it. Would a sack of spuds be about the same size?

[RJVB]

The bigger questions are if her handbag is as hard and immobile as the armrest, and does she do drifting or any other style of driving that requires frequent access to the handbrake? ;)

 

I've begun to figure out how to get the cache off of the armrest stand, it's kind of fidgety. It appears you need to wriggle out the little tray behind the stand first, and they you can begin to undo the tabs the cache is held closed with from the bottom using an old creditcard. The cache is a 2-piece shell; at the rear it closes along the tread on the right hand side (UK driver seat), at the front this is on the left side. The rear comes undone quite easily because you can actually get your fingers under and behind it with the tray gone. I haven't yet attacked the front.

 

The only videos I've found to date show the operation in the previous model Fabia/Polo, has anyone found one for the current line-up? 

[RickW]

Yes,drifting and handbrake turns may be a problem.

[MTIE]

I think you should get the retrofit one from Amazon:

The links to the armrest:

https://amzn.to/2Sooncb

The reason I would recommend this to you is because it is cheaper