My Fabia was stolen (car keys stolen in house burglary when I was on holiday and the car taken from outside). As far as I know it has not been recovered, so if you see a dark grey and black Fabia TSI Reg No SP15XAZ, tell the police! The insurance company settled immediately and gave me market value.

 

I've decided to replace it with a Golf instead of another Fabia. Although the Fabia was a good car in many ways I had a few issues with it. Various electrical problems were eventually solved by replacement of part of the dashboard (under warranty). There were a couple of annoying rattles and trim vibrations and the wipers were always noisy. Maybe my car suffered from being one of the earlier Mark 111s. As mentioned on this forum the headlights were poor. I thought that the standard of interior trim (plastics mainly) was quite poor compared with the Mark 1 Fabia I had previously. My biggest gripe though was the suspension which I found unacceptably noisy and unrefined, not helped by the 16" wheels I suppose - this was a big and unpleasant surprise. It was all a pity because there was a lot to like about the car - good quality bodywork, neat handling, quiet nippy and economical engine and lovely gearbox. 

 

You really appreciate the spaciousness of the Fabia when you sit in a Polo, which I initially looked at - the Polo feels very cramped and claustrophobic in comparison (no doubt the new Polo will be more like the Fabia when it arrives). So I decided on a Golf, which is a bit bigger than I need. I chose the 1.4TSI which of course is more powerful than the 1.2TSI Fabia but most of the time it doesn't make a huge difference. For me the most important differences are in the interior quality and the creamy silent suspension. Maybe a future Fabia will make these improvements to the interior and suspension in which case I'd be happy to return to the Fabia fold.

 

Meanwhile I will miss this very useful forum - there doesn't seem to be an equivalent for the VW Golf (apart from high performance ones).

 

Best Wishes  

I remained on this forum when I moved from a Fabia to a new crappy Polo that I stuck with for two years. Now back with an Octavia.