Hi folks,

I have been into a Skoda dealer today to discuss changing my car. I am looking for a Fabia 3 SE estate with the 1.0 mpi engine. Ideally with a couple of additions, namely tow bar and front fog lights, I'm too bothered about colour but would probably pay the £195 required for the standard white or red option , over the free blue option. The salesman disappeared for a while and then returned to tell me that there were none currently available in the UK. I was surprised by this. 

 

On the way home I wondered whether he meant none available to him, i.e. non at his dealership or sat in the docks around the UK that he is able to access. Surely he can't mean literally none available, can he?

 

I would be happy to wait for a factory order to get what I want. I just can't help wondering if he was looking to talk me up to a 1.2 or 1.4 that he might have in stock etc.

 

Any thoughts/comments gratefully received.

 

Thanks

 

matt

 

 

Edited 8 March, 20179 yr by mattshaw

Ring a couple of other dealer to see if you get the same answer about availability. 

 

Don't supose all sales people tell porkies

Thanks Auric,

 

I intend to get onto that later. I have just asked for a quote from the Briskoda quote thingy that Colin has set up too. I will use that as a starting block for dealers to call.

 

Thanks

 

matt

2 hours ago, mattshaw said:

Thanks Auric,

 

I intend to get onto that later. I have just asked for a quote from the Briskoda quote thingy that Colin has set up too. I will use that as a starting block for dealers to call.

 

Thanks

 

matt

Carwow is worth doing, only takes a couple of mins to enter details then wait for quotes. Good to use as a bargaining tool even if you don't buy from one of the dealers quoting 

Thanks Chief,

I'll get on it later.

matt

It might be because you want a tow bar on the 1.0. I'd expect most people who want the tow bar to be going for the TSI or TDI engines due to them having a lot more torque. I'd expect most cars with specific options to be factory order anyway, beyond what is commonly added.

I'd think long and hard about the 1.0MPI in the Fabia. My wife has it in her Citigo and whilst it's fine for that application I wouldn't want it in anything bigger. She's just bought a 1.2TSI 90 Fabia to replace it after I totally discounted the 1.0 on the grounds of it being somewhat asthmatic for the Fabia. 

Thanks vc-10 and SC03OTT,

It could be the tow bar request, although I assumed that it might be fitted by the dealer rather than in the factory. 

I get what you are suggesting about the bigger engines being better for use with a tow bar, but I don't actually plan on any towing, just a tow bar mounted bike rack. I appreciate this will all add weight, but is generally only used for short journeys.

I did question the 1.0 engine, but rarely do longer journeys, mainly the commute and short journeys around town. I'm sure it will work for me, but thanks for the heads up.

Many thanks

matt

Would a standard Halford-style bike rack that attaches to the boot lid not be a better option? Not to mention being much much cheaper!

If you are going to use a broker's price as a starting point when going into a dealers, maybe better to do the usual trio carwow + drivethedeal + orangewheels + any others that have been mentioned. I did that as I had worked out that I could only really go into my local dealer once with a "match this price" bluster it worked out okay, I was sort of smart and added inconvenience/travel costs for me to pick up the cheapest broker quote being offered.

 

Edit:- one weakness I can see in your plan is that you have not picked a volume/popular engine size for that model - that will limit the responses that brokers will give you. (changing mpi to TSI would fix that!)

Edited 30 March, 20179 yr by rum4mo

For the extra £500 get the 1.2 TSi 90.

 

Much more able car and easier to resell.

 

https://broadspeed.com/CarView/Skoda/Fabia/39965/TSI_1.2_90PS_Petrol_SE_Manual_5_doors