Options to tick - Ordering a new Fabia Estate: Opinions pls.

[DJ_EFK]

Hi all,

 

I have the go-ahead from my Director of Finance & Home Affairs to get Carwow quotes on a new Fabia estate after much research (including some questions posted here - Thanks to all that answered).

 

In terms of usage, I plan to do 12 - 15k miles a year on mostly A roads and M-ways, so I want this car to be as safe and relaxing / non-tiring as possible. I live in a rural area (very dark in the colder months!) and it'll be used for work / client meetings as well as a weekly commute from East Devon to West London & back (150 miles each way). I want this car to be as economical to run / maintain as possible and I intend to keep it until end-of-life.

 

I'm going for a SE spec, as I want the 15" alloys and none of the options I really want come as standard across the range, or if they do the cost of upgrading to the higher spec doesn't make financial sense compared with starting with a SE spec and adding them:

 

• Titan Blue
• 1.0 / 110 with 6 speed
• Full LED headlights with LED rear lights
• Adaptive Cruise
• Rear disk brakes
• Rear electric windows (I have young kids!)
• 3rd rear headrest
• Variable boot floor
• Winter pack (heated screen washers + front seats)
• Silver roof rails - As I think they look better / match the alloys - 90 quid for a personal preference.

 

Any I should consider adding? For example, I had considered but discounted the following, I would love to hear of others' experiences of them:

 

1. I am assuming front parking sensors or a rear camera are not needed / worth it on such a small car with good visibility like this? Thoughts?
2. Front centre armrest - worth having? I thought I read somewhere it's actually not comfortable and some who have it have removed it?
3. "Light and rain assistant with auto-dimming rear view mirror and rain sensors includes coming, leaving home and tunnel light" - It's 215 quid, I'm thinking it sounds an extravagance - Or is it genuinely useful / helpful? What is tunnel light anway?!
4. Dealer accessory boot tray and loading sill clear protective film - Can these be bought aftermarket (but same functionality / quality) for a saving, or better just to have the car supplied with these fitted?
5. The extended warranty for 340 quid for a further 2 years (or 100k miles) almost seem to good to be true? Is there a catch in practise? 

 

Final questions: Firstly, is CarWow the best place to get pre-negotiated deal on this - I understand there's also drivethedeal? - I intend to ask my local Skoda dealer to match the best quote regardless.

 

Thanks all.

Edited 23 February, 2020 by DJ_EFK

[AGFalco]

I chose the SE spec with the extras I felt would be useful to me, back in June 2016.

I bought the 1.2 TSI 90 PS with the 5 SP manual and also keep my cars for a long time.

 

I do most driving in the country ( north Dorset 11 K miles per year ) and felt the 110 PS with the 6 SP was not worth the extra.

I would have paid extra for a 6 SP manual if it was an option on the 90 PS, especially if I did more motorway driving.

 

Mine came with rear disks, 15'' Alloys and buttons on the steering wheel.

 

Paid extra for.

 

Full size Alloy spare wheel.

Heated Seats.

Upgraded Headlights.

Headlight washer jets.

Third rear headrest.

Found all of these are used/appreciated and were worth adding.

 

I didn't pay extra for the rear electric windows as most of the driving is done with just me in the car and my kid has two arms. 😉

 

1. I have the hatchback and have found no need for the front parking sensors or rear camera.

2. From what I have read the centre arm rest can get in the way especially if you have the manual gearbox.

3. I wouldn't bother. 

4. If you use the boot regularly the yes and you can purchase these later. I have fitted a rear bumper protector trim.

5. If you intend for Skoda to do the servicing for the first 5 years then yes. 

 

I would suggest you have the car servicing set to fixed servicing at every 9400 miles / 12 months if you plan to keep the car a long time.

You will find you go to the garage more often ( than once a year ) with your expected mileage though.

After three years I started doing my own servicing with the 4th one done at 38 months old and 37 k miles old.

Check the service plans available and read them carefully on timescale / conditions.

 

Run the tyre pressures at the loaded/high speed/economy settings will help with tyre/fuel costs.

My front tyres were changed at 27 K miles, with no inside edge wear.

I then put the rears to the front and changed them yesterday at 42 K miles.

During the summer I get 60 + MPG working it out tank to tank refilling.

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

[DJ_EFK]

Thanks AG. Really insightful / useful post for me - 60 mpg is the upper end of what I was hoping for - what speed do you cruise at? I tend to plod along at 75, sometimes 80 - Hence why I will order the 110 with 6 speed. 

 

Also have you noticed the road and/or wind noise that some road tests comment on is present at around 70mph? I was thinking a soundproofing kit from noisekiller or similar would help at least partly with the former.

 

Yes I will service mine at least annually (and I too will do it myself when the warranty has expired)- I was actually planning to have an oil analysis done at 12k miles to once and for all answer the question as to whether or not it would be ideal to have it done sooner with my kind of usage - always assuming the correct long-life oil is being used, I think it should be OK though. On the point of servicing and warranty, I thought an independent garage with the proper skoda equipment and access to their systems could do the servicing nowadays without invalidating the warranty?

 

Re: Tyres, yes I always run the fully-loaded pressures on any car, that's partly why I wanted the smaller wheels with lots of sidewall! Also ensures the future costs of replacements are lower - what's not to like?! - I was considering running the summer tyres from April to October and then in colder weather swapping to crossclimate+'s, however if I get anything like your mileage out of the summers(!!) then I suspect I will have tyres needing replacing due to age before wearing them out!

Edited 23 February, 2020 by DJ_EFK

[AGFalco]

Most of my driving is on single carriageway country roads where higher speeds are only for a short time / distance.

 

Last Tuesday went from home / North Dorset to Micheldever North Hampshire and back via the A303.

Car returned above 55 MPG with speeds up to 70 but with some poor driving conditions over 140 miles.

 

I can get more during the summer with better driving conditions.

I have found that higher speeds will reduce fuel consumption.

The Estate has a lower CD rating than the hatchback, and you have the 6 SP manual to help as well.

 

You definitely can learn how to drive this car to improve the fuel consumption.

I went from a Diesel to this Petrol and was hoping to achieve 50 MPG in the Fabia.

I can get 60+ MPG during the summer easily. Petrol is also cheaper than Diesel now.

It did improve over the first year of me driving it / running the car engine in.

 

Engine and wind noise is good, with tyre /road noise increasing with speed the one you might want to improve.

The noise can be worse if there is no thick parcel shelf in place. I don't know what the estate comes with.

 

Yes an independent can service your car. I don't use long life oil. 

I just find that if only Skoda has touched it there is none of the, well they did / didn't do this / that or the other arguments.

 

I rotate the tyres twice a year also to help with tyre life. I also went for the 15'' wheels/tyres.

On the Autumn rotate I also remove clean and regrease all the brakes and clean any rust off the disk edges.

Front pads and rear pads at 8mm after 42 K Miles. So no sticking brakes also affecting fuel economy / brake life.

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

 

[RickW]

Mines almost fully loaded,but one thing I love is the  adaptive cruise control, I would never want to be without it now.

[DJ_EFK]

Thanks both. Further decisions made are:

 

- low rolling resistance tyres for an extra £65

 

- I was considering keyless entry and start/stop just to save potential accidents with the key in the lock and the plastic trim around the ignition - my wife will drive this car too so was thinking as a bonus she’d also appreciate not having to fish around in her bag for the keys - But after speaking with her and weighing up the cost of this at £335, I’ve decided that’s not worth it.

 

- I’ve also decided to spend the £170 cost of electric rear windows on something else (and just learn to breathe / accept it if my little darlings find it amusing to roll down the windows while going along!)

 

- Similarly, blond spot detection and rear traffic alert: Not worth it in a car with such good visibility, I will just turn my head to glance before the manoeuvre and save the £410!

- Matone alloy wheels over Cygnus: Easy to clean, simple design yet will look good.
 

Light assistant: for £80 I can see the leaving / coming home function of this being genuinely useful over the years, as said above the rain sensing portion of the pack that includes this is definitely OTT though.

 

So total RRP according to Carwow is now £20,225 vs. £20,650 for my last build, for which Fish Brothers in Swindon (fairly ideal as I commute between London and Honiton as above) quoted £16,166 on PCP with a 21.7% discount, so applying the same to this new iteration that gives a grand total of £15,836 - I will reinvest this saving into that noisekiller kit as mentioned, this should give me a lovely refined but thrifty cruiser that will last many years with some careful running in (some great threads on that subject here!)

 

 

[DJ_EFK]

Forgot to add - I am not in a particular hurry for this car and hence I may wait until mid-March to see if any further incentives are offered.

 

Also does anyone know what the 110 Fabia will incur under the new first year VED rates coming in from April? I assume my order would take at least 3-4 months to fulfill.

[TerFar]

I would never forgo the DSG. 

You don't need front parking sensor or rear camera: rear parking sensor is adequate.

I rarely use the heated seats and I'm not sure how effective heated screen washers are.

I agree about roof rails matching the alloys: but I prefer both in black!

 

Good luck!

[gumdrop]

I would have had (mine was someone elses order) LED headlights and heated front screen.

It is a Monte Carlo and the seats are super.

[RickW]

The 'blond' spot detection sounds interesting.  Don't tell the Mrs 😉

[RickW]

By the way ,I love my heated seats and use them all the time in the winter.

[ncd]

14 hours ago, DJ_EFK said:

 

Light assistant: for £80 I can see the leaving / coming home function of this being genuinely useful over the years, as said above the rain sensing portion of the pack that includes this is definitely OTT though.

 

The leaving/coming home option lights can be enabled via Carista. Much cheaper than the dealer and you can also do other customization things as well :

 

https://caristaapp.com/vehicles/skoda/fabia/nj

Edited 24 February, 2020 by ncd

[RobA]

Apologies for high-jacking this thread but this is relevant to me.

 

I am currently on my third Citigo but am looking to upgrade to a Fabia SE 95PS as although the Citigo is fantastic it is a little gutless on hills and away from roundabouts, so am looking for a little more oomph which I found on a recent test drive.

 

The other issue with the Citigo is that the headlights are rubbish.  Full beam is good but on using just the headlights the throw is feeble and on a dark country road with lots of ongoing traffic is not very comfortable.  Also the ride is a little bouncy on our pockmarked roads.

 

Spec I am looking at is:

 

Solid Blue (I'd prefer a different colour but would rather spend my money elsewhere)

Heated seats

Armrest (the Citigo is the only car I have owned without one and I do miss it)

Spare wheel

LED Lights

 

On the last point, are the LED lights worth the £975?  I know they also come with cornering fog lights but in terms of beam spread and lentgh on dipped beams are they worth it or should I go with the standard lights and buy better bulbs?  Special Osram bulbs made no difference to the Citigo and didn't last long, so i'm not too keen on that.

 

Also I probably won't go for the rain sensor on the understanding that the Fabia has variable intermittent wipers?  The Citigo does not and I find I am constantly turning them on and off.  If the SE model does not come with the variable intermittent wipe then I will probably go for the rain sensor instead as I quite like also the auto dipping interior mirror.

 

The alternative is to move away from Skoda and try to find something that comes with Xenon or LED lights as standard but that may cost more than the Fabia...

 

Thoughts?

 

Many thanks

[gumdrop]

I don't have the arm rest, I had it on both my Yeti but rarely used it, I find it roomier without

Look at the price of Xenon bulbs!

Edited 28 February, 2020 by gumdrop

[RickW]

Definitely the armrest for me. Forget the LED lights,too expensive. Consider ACC,I wouldn't be without it now.

[TerFar]

Everyone has there own preference! We find the armrest a pia and always have it tipped up out of the way. But then it stops you leaning back to grope for something behind the seats. 

 

I agree that leds seem prohibitively expensive. Much would depend on how much night driving you do. 

[DJ_EFK]

@RobA

 

no probs on the hijack 🙂

 

The way I look at the lighting upgrade is this:

 

- I live in a rural area and it gets a very dark and also foggy / misty in winter

- I will be doing a lot of early morning and late night drives

- These will all be long-distance journeys so I need to be aware of what could cause fatigue / stress In my choice of car; being able to clearly see, having something easy to drive that can get out of the way of other traffic and not subject me to road / wind / engine noise is a priority

- There is also the statistical likelihood of being involved in an accident due to being on the road more than most in poor visibility conditions

 

This is why I have ticked all the safety related options available for the Fabia (the one I would also tick would have been the heated windscreen - Fords have come with these for ~20 years now, pity others still do not across their ranges). To me the cost of improved lighting is an insurance investment to help keep me safe. Your circumstances may dictate less of a need.

 

 

 

[DJ_EFK]

Wow - Found an old post that mentioned some other car broker sites - just plugged in my spec above to Coast2CoastCars - The following OTR price is the result, assuming PCP

RRP: £20,225

Carwow: £15,784 (22% discount)

C2CC: £15,242.80 (23% discount)

 

550 quid cheaper than what was already a great quote that I though couldn’t get any better already! As an added bonus the supplying dealer is in Aylesbury which is closer to me than Swindon.

 

What was interesting was that my local dealer in Slough was pretty reluctant to match the CW quote and was trying to push me down other paths instead (approved used, pre-reg etc. - but even he admitted there’d be no way I’d get all the options). I think this latest quote is going to be as good  as I’ll get, but maybe I’ll just wait a few weeks until the end of the quarter to see if I can £15k!

 

@RobA - Can you comment on the quotes you’re getting in Carwow and have you tried Coast2Coast? Suggest you do!

Edited 29 February, 2020 by DJ_EFK

[Simon300]

As a small aside: @TerFar mentioned DSG (which I have on my car and quite like, as does my wife) - if you have DSG I'd suggest the driving mode option to help with fuel economy when pottering around (in theory, I don't have it). However, at the moment you can't order a new Fabia with DSG anyway (my dealer said it was a temporary change to do with CO2 ratings being reworked... whatever that meant!) so it's a moot point unless you are looking for used/pre-registered 😁

[RobA]

18 hours ago, DJ_EFK said:

@RobA

 

no probs on the hijack 🙂

 

The way I look at the lighting upgrade is this:

 

- I live in a rural area and it gets a very dark and also foggy / misty in winter

- I will be doing a lot of early morning and late night drives

- These will all be long-distance journeys so I need to be aware of what could cause fatigue / stress In my choice of car; being able to clearly see, having something easy to drive that can get out of the way of other traffic and not subject me to road / wind / engine noise is a priority

- There is also the statistical likelihood of being involved in an accident due to being on the road more than most in poor visibility conditions

 

This is why I have ticked all the safety related options available for the Fabia (the one I would also tick would have been the heated windscreen - Fords have come with these for ~20 years now, pity others still do not across their ranges). To me the cost of improved lighting is an insurance investment to help keep me safe. Your circumstances may dictate less of a need.

 

 

 

Thanks for this.

 

I live in a rural area and drive a fair distance in the dark on unlit roads.  This is OK if I can use full beam in the Citigo but when I hit faster A-roads that are also unlit with lots of oncoming traffic the headlights in the Citigo are rubbish.  I am happy to pay for the upgrade but want some opinions first as to how good the LED lights are, otherwise there is no real reason to swap out off the Citigo (the lack of power is an annoyance but I have lived with it since 2013 when I bought the first Citigo so i'm sure I can live with it for a little longer!)

[RobA]

15 hours ago, DJ_EFK said:

Wow - Found an old post that mentioned some other car broker sites - just plugged in my spec above to Coast2CoastCars - The following OTR price is the result, assuming PCP

RRP: £20,225

Carwow: £15,784 (22% discount)

C2CC: £15,242.80 (23% discount)

 

550 quid cheaper than what was already a great quote that I though couldn’t get any better already! As an added bonus the supplying dealer is in Aylesbury which is closer to me than Swindon.

 

What was interesting was that my local dealer in Slough was pretty reluctant to match the CW quote and was trying to push me down other paths instead (approved used, pre-reg etc. - but even he admitted there’d be no way I’d get all the options). I think this latest quote is going to be as good  as I’ll get, but maybe I’ll just wait a few weeks until the end of the quarter to see if I can £15k!

 

@RobA - Can you comment on the quotes you’re getting in Carwow and have you tried Coast2Coast? Suggest you do!

Carwow if offering 24.3% off but this includes £2500 from Skoda with 4.9% PCP.  If I want to 0% then the contribution falls to £1250 making the total discount 16.8%...

 

 

[BarryG]

I've got a Fabia Estate SEL, it's in energy blue which looks brilliant imho. Keep it polished and clean and it really stands out. The armrest, I love it but it's a pain getting the seatbelt on. I went for hill hold as I'm lazy! Also, I went for sports suspension and it makes the car more comfortable at the rear. My previous Fabia was much harsher on the back of the car. Also, body roll is much better controlled and the car changes direction a lot better too. It's a small outlay but well worth it. I've also got the leather sports wheel, it's beautiful to look at and much nicer to hold.

All those options are not much money, but make the car much nicer.

It's a great little estate car.

[AGFalco]

22 hours ago, RobA said:

This is OK if I can use full beam in the Citigo but when I hit faster A-roads that are also unlit with lots of oncoming traffic the headlights in the Citigo are rubbish.

 

Most of my driving is in the countryside / A roads. I have a second car with the same headlamp set up as the Citigo.

 

On the Citigo they have 2 H4 bulbs, so the bulbs / lamps have to do two jobs.

Both dipped and main beam bulbs only have one filament that works at at any one time.

This set up is never as good as having separate bulbs / lamps for each setting.

 

When I bought my Fabia ( 2016 ) the car had 2 x H4 reflector headlamps as standard. ( not good )

I paid extra for the 4 x H7 projector/reflector headlamps with LED DLR / side lights.

This has two bulbs just for dipped beam and when you turn on main beam the other two come on as well.

So each bulb / lamp does one setting / job.

After I changed all the bulbs for better ones ( Osram Night breaker ) and adjusted the aim they are good.

 

I don't know what the present Fabia has as standard for it's headlamps.

I wouldn't buy the car if it came with just 2 H4 bulbs lamps.

I would buy the car if it came with 4 H7 bulbs / lamps as I did back in 2016.

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

[penguin17]

The armrest on the Fabia gets in the way for 99% of the time for us.  I only ever put it down for extended periods of motorway driving; around town and such I find it get's in the way of the gear lever/handbrake, or should I say it gets in the way of my arm when I'm reaching for those 😃

 

I've enabled auto-locking and hill hold on our MY15 SE L  (could be standard now?)  via VCDS.  I find both practical and great little 'freebie' upgrades.  

Edited 2 March, 2020 by penguin17

[DJ_EFK]

On 01/03/2020 at 23:03, AGFalco said:

 

 

When I bought my Fabia ( 2016 ) the car had 2 x H4 reflector headlamps as standard. ( not good )

I paid extra for the 4 x H7 projector/reflector headlamps with LED DLR / side lights.

This has two bulbs just for dipped beam and when you turn on main beam the other two come on as well.

So each bulb / lamp does one setting / job.

After I changed all the bulbs for better ones ( Osram Night breaker ) and adjusted the aim they are good.

 

I don't know what the present Fabia has as standard for it's headlamps.

 

@AGFalco a good question, I just went straight for the upgraded / LED headlamp option knowing how much I’d appreciate them each and every time I had to drive anywhere through rural Devon lanes at night, not to mention in bad weather in the winter on the long A303 slog I’ll be doing.

 

The Skoda dealer in Slough said he had never seen a a Fabia with some of these options (ACC, LED headlamps) specified, interestingly.