Good afternoon.

 

I am new to the forum and don't have a clue about Skoda's apart from the fact I drive the emergency responses Skoda's from time to time.

And there one hell of a vehicle.

I work on the ambulances and have a small family also

I was a previously a soldier for ten years also

So what brings me here ,

On the look out for a cheap car pretty much sums it up and most Google searchs I do bring me here.

Seems a very nice bunch also.

 

I currently drive a 4x4 captiva it was an instinct buy which I have come to regret.

The car is flushing me out massively.

I put ten pound in every commute to work which is a 40 mile round trip.

The costs for servicing and parts are beyond belief.

Well you live and learn and hopefully I've learnt my lesson.

 

I have been looking at 1.5dci meganes I used to own one a long time back which to be fair was solid put 80k on clock didn't service it and it did me well.

I've also looked at focuses and Mondeo's but my wife seems to like puntos and 206s.

 

I want the car to be as cheap as possible and to run as cheap as possibly it will be my commuting car so to speak.

Needs to be relaible also .

 

Now that brings me to the Fabia.

I have found 2003 1.9sdi with 130k 

MOT until March

And same owner through

With Cambelt changed at 85k

Price is £450

 

Looks tidy on the photos bit of damage to one of the tyre arches but that isn't going to bother me.

 

Any advice ? 

Are they easy to work on?

Hold out for a TDI?( Turbos more money etc)

Ideally I don't want to spend more than 500.

Thanks

Bloody hell, -- you don't want much do you ! I guess I'm the wrong person to ask. My grandson is an MOT inspector and he looks after my car. In my time, I have driven Fords, Vauxhalls, Fiats, Audis Triumph, Citroens, VW's and Skodas. I have had 3 of the old rear engined Skodas that everyone laughed at but regular trips to Durham and back, total mileage of 600 and never once left sitting at the side of rhe road. I now drive a 2liter Skoda Superb estate diesel. 4 years old and 99,000 miles on the clock. It has never broken down and if I drive it super sensible, (not going over 55mph) I can squeeze 65mpg out of it. If I were to buy another car now, it would be another Skoda. --- Good luck.

Well the engines are very reliable. They have a mechanical fuel pump and no turbo obviously so there is very little to go wrong. Serviced correctly and you should have no problems.

 

They are good on fuel but very slow! The problem being that you may find yourself thrashing it to get moving which then has an impact on MPG... a turbo engine will work better in this case. So depends on what type of roads your commute is on. If it's hilly then avoid the SDI. If it's just A roads or motorway just doing the speed limits (or well below in traffic) then it will be ok.

 

MK1 Octavia with the 1.9 TDI 90/110 engine is also very reliable and will give similar (sometimes better apparently) MPG to the SDI.

8 hours ago, Godzillasdad said:

Bloody hell, -- you don't want much do you ! I guess I'm the wrong person to ask. My grandson is an MOT inspector and he looks after my car. In my time, I have driven Fords, Vauxhalls, Fiats, Audis Triumph, Citroens, VW's and Skodas. I have had 3 of the old rear engined Skodas that everyone laughed at but regular trips to Durham and back, total mileage of 600 and never once left sitting at the side of rhe road. I now drive a 2liter Skoda Superb estate diesel. 4 years old and 99,000 miles on the clock. It has never broken down and if I drive it super sensible, (not going over 55mph) I can squeeze 65mpg out of it. If I were to buy another car now, it would be another Skoda. --- Good luck.

Hahaha I don't want much but they are there for the taking .....

My commute is 70/30 of bypass and town driving.

No major hills to worry about.

Can the Fabia seat three children in the back okay?

Probably not if child seats are required.