I love the Mk111 Fabia..but what's happened to Briskoda?

[GeneralPurpose]

I agree Skodaboy. Forums are slowly becoming less important for many and Facebook is where it's slowly moving to. Just look at how the manufacturers and dealers use Facebook. I'm an engineering technical mod on a couple of motor engineering sites for the trade and even those are slowing down as Facebook takes over. I've noted this site has also slowed down quite a bit over the summer (normal) but it seems to me it's slowing further at other times too.  I don't think sites like this will ever disappear though, especially any that are as good as this one! Thanks Colin!

 

 

[James777]

Had my 1st Skoda (Fabia 1.2 SEL DSG Hatch) for nearly 3 years now and although i had a major gearbox / mechatronic issue in the first 6 months this was well dealt with by my dealer.

I love the Skoda brand and will be sticking with them for the foreseeable future, the level of performance and economical running is matched perfectly really as you have ample power to move fast when you need it but you also have great return of mpg.

Build quality is fantastic and cant wait until i get round to ordering the new facelift model

[Gondo]

Hi, Ive just bought a Mark III estate, 2016 with 33000 km (i think about 20000 miles) and so far i absolutely love it! I just got the 1 litre 75 HP version, would have liked the turbo but there are none available second hand where i live (northern Portugal). My wife is 7 months pregnant with twins só we needed something with enough boot space to hold a twin buggy and within our price range it basically came down to a choice between a Dacia Logan estate or a nearly new Fabia estate. Theres also the Renault Clio estate here, which i dont think is available in UK, but that hás a smaller boot and is more expensive, but also looks nicer and has a 90 turbo engine which hás a good reputation here.

 

Anyway after 2 drives i'm really impressed with the Fabia estate. I got the Ambition version (i think that might be SE in UK) and it has everything i need - electric everything, bluetooth, nice multimedia system, and the manual air con seems to work great. But the best thing, apart from the amazing boot space, is the handling! Even with just 75 HP it is great to drive, much better than the 2011 Hyundai i20 i used to have. The Hyundai was 1.2 and i think had a bit more power, and the Fabia is admittedly very sluggish from standing start, but once you  have it up between 20 and 60 mph, on local roads it is great! Doing 60-70 mph is very comfortable, although it did start to lose speed on a long incline i did the other day. However for my needs it seems perfect! I think i might be a Skoda convert - wouldnt mind trying one of the more powerful versions for my Next car. On the mean time Im looking forward tô learning about these great Cars on this fórum!

 

Cheers!

Edited 15 August, 2018 by Gondo

[GeneralPurpose]

Welcome Gondo, great choice of car! I've driven the 75ps hatch version but not the estate. I'd imagine it goes very well, the hatch certainly does. I've had two Mk2 Fabia estates and loved them. The Mk3 is even better. If you need any help, this is the place to come (apart from your dealer of course).  Post often with your exploites, and congratulations on your forthcoming family event in 2 months time!

Edited 15 August, 2018 by Estate Man

[Gondo]

Thanks very much, Estate Man!

[rum4mo]

On ‎14‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 10:55, vc-10 said:

I love my Fabia. It's not perfect, but for the price and compared to the competition, it's fantastic. It's efficient, great to drive, very comfortable, and has a fantastic infotainment system. 

 

Interesting seeing what @rum4mo says about 2002 Polos... I had one for many years. Mine was a very basic 'E' model, with the 65PS 1.2, didn't even have power locks. But it was a great car. Finally died at the hands of my little brother in December, lost compression on one cylinder and it wasn't worth investigating. Still didn't strand him on the roadside! Had done about 170k miles by the end, including having 3 teenage boys learn to drive in it. I got it in 2009 when it had done about 82k miles. It had some problems over the years, but not anything major until the end. 

 

 

At just over 5 years old, first it was the ARB usual nonsense (plastic end stops), that meant that I needed to get my VW dealer to do that job as I had no way of getting the front subframe back in close enough a position to avoid excessive tyre wear due to misalignment, a month late it broke a front spring at exactly half height - that was my first experience of working on a fairly new VW Polo and it was a wake up call - every fixing was made of substandard metal so a 2 hour job ended up taking 2 days or more, very few associated parts came apart in one piece, to me having worked on my cars since 1976 and having worked on LRs etc since 1965, this was serious under specing of materials used, and that would have been by Skoda in CZ! Follow this a few months later with a leaking front exhaust flexi, with no new item available on the aftermarket yet, so it would need a VW Group part costing I think £380, so I did the leg work and bought a new flexi online and got an exhaust specialist to swop these parts, follow that a few months later with the usual front track control arm rear bushes needing changing, I just got a VAG Indie to fit SEAT Cupra solid rubber ones, perfect, improved the turn in a lot. So, between November 2007 and August 2008 I ended up feeding this 5 year car with over £1800 of hard cash on repairs only. Not what the adverts had a buyer to believe would happen to a buyer of a 2002 VW Polo!

[Pumatron]

I loved my 2013 Octavia 1.4 Tsi elegance.

(sold it to early due to my ill health)

 

I really liked by 2015 Fabia s 1.0 mpi 60

(stupidly sold it way to soon)

 

I DESPISE my 2018 Fabia 1.0 Tsi colour edition.

(Stupidity again, I “thought” it would be as good as my 2015 Fabia. Totally wrong!!!!)

 

I honestly cannot wait to be rid of it.

All I have to say as I really can’t be bothered to waste my time spilling the beans in all that’s wrong with it.

It’s currently sat in my garage, unused, unloved, not stuck any fuel in it since May and used it 4 times since May. 

 

It will be my last Skoda, and when I get time it’s going. 

 

Sorry if wanted something positive but I haven’t got anything to say that’s good (well not about my 3rd and last skoda anyway)

 

Sorry!!

[GeneralPurpose]

Pumatron, sorry to hear you have not been well. Hope you are ok now. 

 

I don't know what part of the world you are from but can your dealer not sort out your issues with the car? 

 

Bests...

 

[Pumatron]

15 hours ago, Estate Man said:

Pumatron, sorry to hear you have not been well. Hope you are ok now. 

 

I don't know what part of the world you are from but can your dealer not sort out your issues with the car? 

 

Bests...

 

Yeah, I dipped into the cancer club for a few months, thankfully for the moment I’m not a lifetime member!!

So, the dealer is “okay” but I loathe to have a car that’s done less than 700 miles pulled to pieces to fix numerous faults. That distracts the whole new car feeling and it never would feel the same again.

It’s a Monday morning car, a bad one, a runt of the litter if you like. I had to get one at some point and this is it.

It doesn’t stop right (nearly crashed twice, brake efficiency is appalling, you have to apply massive amounts of force on pedal), the brakes squeal, and can “feel” the road surface through the pedal, like the ABS is activated on every brake application. 

It momentarily cuts out (coughs) occasionally when accelerating and turning right, the wife stalled it the other day, it refused to restart-clutch down turn key and nothing, she had to get out and defuse the road rage behind her, get back in then try again, on 3rd attempt success.

It rattles/creaks in various places inside, there are various scratches and marks in the plastics, no idea from how or why, the hard Bridgestone tyres don’t grip and create awful cabin roar, the front suspension knocks, the gearbox is ridiculously tight, reverse and 3rd being a particular challenge, the front parking sensors bleep at fresh air, I have a duff front passenger radio speaker and it takes ages to fill with fuel (not that I’ve filled it up much). 

So there I said it, beans spilt over 678 miles of glorious ownership. Not!

My 2015 Fabia was a gem, occasional squeaky rear brake, that was all. Such an idiot for selling it.

The dealer did check the brakes and admitted they didn’t feel “right” but they claimed their demonstrator was the same....I realized I fighting a lost cause and really couldn’t be bothered with the car from then on. 

I’m a busy person (ain’t we all?) with little down time so rather than get stressed and battle it out with the dealer the plan is to hand it back and walk away. (Life IS to short).  I don’t actually need a 2nd car at the moment so it works for me. 

Enjoy that new Citroen, Estate man.

Onwards and upwards peeps.

[GeneralPurpose]

Pumatron, glad to hear you are ok. 

 

Yes, I can see you are not happy with the car, and I fully understand your feelings. What I would say is that all of those issues will be put right if you know what words to say to the dealer. The brakes are probably just the fact they are far from bedded in and that explains the lack of stopping power and indeed can cause feedback through the pedal on these Skoda's. Many demo models have glazed pads due to over enthusiastic braking by test drivers who of course don't care that the brakes are not bedded in. I wouldn't worry about the car never being the same again after being worked on. It will in fact be better!  Both of my Mk3 Fabia's had major engine work carried out and both were absolutely fine afterwards, except I did reject my first Mk3 Fabia as a fault with the engine was still not fixed by all the work carried out. Personally, I wouldn't let them win. Write a letter to the dealer principle politely complaining of the issues on your new car and get a proper assessment carried out. Also inform Skoda Uk customer services about the issue and tell them what you are doing. Make sure you tell your dealer you have informed Skoda. It doens't take much effort and does produce results. But it's all about the communication to the right people. This makes things happen. Do you live anywhere near North Essex? If so I can take a look at your car for you and advise you. I'm an ex-master tech...

[rum4mo]

I think that you can end up with "issues" when you replace a car with the next version "quite soon", ie exceedingly high expectations, I bought a brand new Ford Orion 1.6i Ghia MK1 (very late A reg whenever that was), I was very pleased with that car, performance was good, interior had XR3 front seats and instruments etc, outside had compliant front XR3 spoiler, only complaint being rear tracking that Ford said was fixed at factory, only for them to comment on when out of warranty when they advised that I got it sorted out, by then Ford had produced a way to correct that issue, check rear alignment and add or remove washers from the rear tie bars. Traded it in for a MK2, (an early E reg whenever that was), gone was the centre console and maybe the variable interval windscreen wiper control, so that was the first things that I needed to get organise luckily still fitted to the Escort convertible, interior including the front seats now same as normal Orion Ghia, front spoiler also gone - so I did not take to that one very well, just accepted my error and vowed to wave Ford goodbye - which I did as things had gotten even worse. Oh that one also had the issue with rear tracking becoming an issue with the tyres, demanded that was sorted under warranty that time as by then I knew the score!

 

At least with my wife's Polo, being a 6C it is a few moves away from the 9N version, so I'm viewing it from a completely different angle.

Edited 17 August, 2018 by rum4mo