I've got a 19 plate Fabia as a loan car while they fix the vRS under warranty.

 

It's terrible.

 

Yeah, that's about it.

 

Alex

I've had a couple of Fabia's as loaners when my Octavia's been in for stuff and I rather like them. I do wish they'd put a quicker motor in one though. 1.4TSi in a Fabia would be great.

9 minutes ago, Lingnoi said:

I've had a couple of Fabia's as loaners when my Octavia's been in for stuff and I rather like them. I do wish they'd put a quicker motor in one though. 1.4TSi EA888 TSI with 265 BHP with an overboost function in a Fabia would be great.

FTFY

 

I love our little Fabia 3, a 1.2 TSI SE L; though when I drop that off and I get a bog standard, diesel one as a courtesy car I feel a little aggrieved.  

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by penguin17

 

What's up with the vRS? 

 

If I got a curtesy car as long as it goes I wouldn't be too bothered if its only a day or two. I once got a high mileage small Rover like the one above, now that was a proper shed. 

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by VRS_White_Hatch

Well this thing is a 1.0 with a total of 73bhp.

That's just too low for any car for a start.  It struggles on the flat, let alone a hill.

 

You can't get a stroller in the boot, I had to put the seats down to get it in.

 

Lucky I only had one of my kids with me.

 

You can't use the handbrake wth the armrest down, it gets in the way.

 

The seats aren't anywhere near as comfy.

 

It got good economy, but I'd rather just pay for fuel!

 

I'd imagine the 1.2 would be acceptable if you have nobody planning on using the rear seats and don't carry anything substantial in the boot.

And I guess it's an unfair comparison as it's a  vRS octy compared against a basic supermini but it was a bit of a step down to say the least.  I was laughing all the way home...

What does “it’s terrible” mean?

 

I used to have one along with my current vRS and I wouldn’t have described the Fabia as terrible. 

I swapped my Fabia 3 DSG 1.2TSI for a 1.0 manual Octavia in August.  I have to say the Octavia is far quieter and a more refined car but you would expect that as it is much bigger.  The 1.0 litre engine is a cracker in my opinion and is good enough for me.  That said, I liked my Fabia (have had 4 of them in total over the years and all of them were reliable) but am enjoying the extra space in the Octavia.

You wouldn't buy a fabia as a high speed load lugger though. It's horses for courses. Imagine how you'd feel it was superior to the vRS??

It's no different for me really; I sometimes have to drive a vRS 230 and I feel it's a step down in both quality and performance compared to my Superb 

 

[runs for cover and waits to see how many nibbles I'll get]

 

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by penguin17

Simply Clever if the OP said it was a about a 73 bhp 1.0 

 

So @Alex-W  is it a 75 ps and is it a MPI or a TSI ?

?

Could it be 60 ps, or did you actually check?

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

It's an SE-L which apparently means it can only be 73bhp.  But we're taking the difference between a big and a small fart here either way.

 

54 minutes ago, Roottootemoot said:

Simply Clever if the OP said it was a about a 73 bhp 1.0 

 

 

Where's the fun in that?  

Now SE-L are only available as 95ps Manuals, but then maybe the 19 plate you were in was 75 ps.

 

You will be able to dine out on the story of how bad a Fabia was.

Ticled your fancy as you were laughing all the way home...

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

3 hours ago, VRS_White_Hatch said:

What's up with the vRS? 

 

 

 

Needs a new headlight, the aim was too high and wouldn't auto level.  Seems the unit itself is broken.  No idea why but it was like it when I got it so it's being done by them!

 

To be fair, it's got a fair few features on it, auto wipers, parking sensors, keyless entry, cruise control etc, but they're all completely in contrast to the fact that the car is so incredibly underpowered.  Plus, they're just not needed....  It's not built to cruise in and it's tiny so why would you need sensors?    Id rather everything manual and a 1.4 engine myself.

3 hours ago, VRS_White_Hatch said:

 

 

 

 

Ok, so terrible is maybe a bit of an exaggeration.  It's a bit of a contrast though.  

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by Alex-W

37 minutes ago, Alex-W said:

 

Needs a new headlight, the aim was too high and wouldn't auto level.  Seems the unit itself is broken.  No idea why but it was like it when I got it so it's being done by them!

 

To be fair, it's got a fair few features on it, auto wipers, parking sensors, keyless entry, cruise control etc, but they're all completely in contrast to the fact that the car is so incredibly underpowered.  Plus, they're just not needed....  It's not built to cruise in and it's tiny so why would you need sensors?    Id rather everything manual and a 1.4 engine myself.

 

Ok, so terrible is maybe a bit of an exaggeration.  It's a bit of a contrast though.  

 

Keyless entry? ah you don't have to put an actual key in the door? 😂

 

I know what you mean, personally I don't want keyless start it's a gimmick that has resulted in an upsurge in car theft. Parking sensors cost the manufacturer very little so are always a good optional extra to throw in on special additions saying extras worth £xxx 

 

I wonder if manufactures have a theory that if you load up a small car with decent extras young drivers might trade up over time to your bigger models? Or older drivers trade down to them because they don't want to give up fancy gadgets they had previously? 

 

Some clever people probably make a living studying these things. 

 

 

I had a fabia two cars ago.  It handled like a boat, the brakes were spongy and it didn’t feel safe.  The city mpg was awful.  The injectors packed in, got replaced and packed in again.  I sold it and it put me off skodas until I test drive an Octy

@RobGy  

Welcome to the forum.  It is nice to talk,

so maybe you could say what age of Fabia and what engine just to help others understand a bit better, or at least me.

I love the Fabia, owned three. 1.9TDi, 1.2htp, 1.2Tsi. I also had 1.0TSi for 5 weeks when the DSG died on my Octavia.

 

It's a budget supermini but has more space than Fiesta or a Polo, it's a little taller than most and easy to get in and out of for such a small car.  It's light and nimble around town and refinement is not bad at speed.  Very economical.

For £12.5k You can't complain considering a VRS has a list price of £28k

My current commuter I'd argue offers much more refinement and solidity over the Octavia but it did have a list price of £45k

 

 

This is true, it's all relative.

I would imagine the 95ps version is far more capable tbh and a lot of the differences will be apparent in any small car.

 

I just downloaded the brochure out of interest and was shocked to see they only do a 60ps and 95ps engine option over the whole range though.

Considering the Monte Carlo edition actually starts over 17k that seems bizarre.  It also seems quite limited compared to the competition.

 

I mean, a fiesta ST line with 100bhp is about the same price, but they have 125 and 140ps options too for not much more.... 

9 minutes ago, Alex-W said:

This is true, it's all relative.

I would imagine the 95ps version is far more capable tbh and a lot of the differences will be apparent in any small car.

 

I just downloaded the brochure out of interest and was shocked to see they only do a 60ps and 95ps engine option over the whole range though.

Considering the Monte Carlo edition actually starts over 17k that seems bizarre.  It also seems quite limited compared to the competition.

 

I mean, a fiesta ST line with 100bhp is about the same price, but they have 125 and 140ps options too for not much more.... 

 

A Monte Carlo with 95bhp is £17k?? Utter madness. Why would anyone buy new at that price. A neighbor has a Black Fabia badged Monte Carlo and it looks a nice car, I imagined it was in the region of £12 - £15k and I presumed that a Monte Carlo would have a bit of go in it. 

Just now, VRS_White_Hatch said:

 

A Monte Carlo with 95bhp is £17k?? Utter madness. Why would anyone buy new at that price. A neighbor has a Black Fabia badged Monte Carlo and it looks a nice car, I imagined it was in the region of £12 - £15k and I presumed that a Monte Carlo would have a bit of go in it. 

We had a 105bhp 1,6TDi 2013 Fabia Monte Carlo and it never got much quicker than this even with the 1.2TSi engine with similar power but less torque. We paid around £9,500 back in 2014 for a one year old model.

Re Fabia.

In the UK until a few weeks back the 60ps 1.0 MPI's were discontinued, now they are back and 95 ps manuals 

as 110ps Manals and any DQ200 DSG's are discontinued.

There are RDE2 issues coming up and then the RRP's were and are crazy and Skoda have Scala to punt.

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

The 110PS TSi with DSG offered good pace around town.

 

The list prices just let Skoda offer seemingly brilliant discounts and PCP contributions.

But currently a dead parrot unless Skoda are going to resume production, 

so Used / in stock is the only option on them.

8 hours ago, VRS_White_Hatch said:

 

What's up with the vRS? 

 

If I got a curtesy car as long as it goes I wouldn't be too bothered if its only a day or two. I once got a high mileage small Rover like the one above, now that was a proper shed. 

Hey!!! The old 200's were awesome! They almost never rusted or broke apart at the seams... 

 

1 minute ago, Gmac983 said:

Hey!!! The old 200's were awesome! They almost never rusted or broke apart at the seams... 

 

They were so good BMW decided to kill off the company in 2004 and save the British public anymore pain.