I've had a Skoda Fabia 2010 Estate 1.4 TDI and it's now time to replace it.  It's been a solid car but the amount of issues with it is creeping up and with a change of jobs since lockdown means the days of needing a diesel to do long distances are no more.

 

I'm thinking of replacing it with a Karoq.  However at the Skoda dealership near me there are 3 choices for a used Karoq within my budget and I still can't make my mind up what to have.

 

1. 20 reg 1.0 SE Karoq - so has two years warranty left, and only 5k miles on the clock

2. 18 reg 1.5 SE Karoq - out of warranty but the larger engine which some reviews recommend

3. 19 reg 1.0 SE L Karoq - out of warrant but has a nicer spec 

 

For background:  (in theory) Day to day use will be around a market town and then occasional bursts on open A roads to other towns or nearest city, in an area fairly flat but with some big hills.   However about one a month there's a decent 200 mile round trip on the motorway to visit relatives or the coast.   I also do two driving holidays per year to France when the car is rammed.  It's just myself, wife and daughter so we're not transporting the masses.

 

My question is which option to go for?  The newest version, the largest engine or the best spec.  All are within £100 of one another so I make no saving regardless!

 

Yours views as current drivers are most appreciated...

 

Welcome. 

Avoid the 2018 1.5TSI out of the Manufacturers Warranty. 

Why is a 19 plate out of warranty...?

15 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

Welcome. 

Avoid the 2018 1.5TSI out of the Manufacturers Warranty. 

Thanks for the tip, that narrows it down to one!  Do you think the engine is sufficient for my needs?  I have read many conflicting things about the 1.0 and how it copes at higher speed.

Just now, Phil245 said:

Why is a 19 plate out of warranty...?

Sorry, typo.  It's an 18 plate.  Fat fingers on a small phone!

?

Are they Manual or DSG's?

What mileage are the other 2 cars?

1 hour ago, Gonzague said:

Do you think the engine is sufficient for my needs?

 

That is an entirely subjective matter that only you can answer.  It certainly wouldn't be anywhere near enough for mine.

 

Take it for a test drive when permitted ( 12th April?) and decide then. 

I suspect the SE spec has more equipment than your 11 year old Fabia, and SEL will have even more.  But you won’t really miss what you have never had.

If you keep your car to 11 years old, then another way of looking at it, is that the extra equipment is more to break down, and possibly needing costly repair in few years time.

 

I am guessing the 1 litre is the 115 engine, if it is, I suspect you will find it is much better than you expect.   More than sufficient for the type of driving you indicate.
 

If it was me, get the 1 year old car

 

I assume these are all manual.  I have a 1.0 SE tech DSG (auto) & find the performance is remarkably good - mostly it's only with 2 people but usually a lot of stuff in the boot & often on the back seat too.  it is a quiet car.  Motorway cruising is serene particularly on 'smooth tarmac' - almost as effortless at 90mph as 70mph, so plenty of power for my purposes & typically get 50mpg on such journeys.  From what people say, the manuals do a bit better still.  The most I've driven in one day is from London to Sheffield and back via Derbyshire - 400+miles involving climbing over the Pennines - I don't drive anywhere near the limit, but the car was great fun going over those hills and an enjoyable trip all round, even if half was on the M1.

 

The older 1.0 SEL will have 18" wheels with lower profile tyres, so the ride won't be quite as good as the newer 1.0 SE with 17" wheels & anyway I prefer cloth seats to leather. 

 

Not speaking from experience, but reports here show the 1.5 to be variable, most are clearly very good, powerful and economical, but there seem to have been some duff ones, particularly in the first year or two, maybe because it is a new, rather complex engine.  My impression is that the simpler 1.0 3-cylinder is consistently good.  One 1.5 owner wrote here recently about the problems he was having and at one point was lent a 1.0 by the garage while his car was being seen to.  He was really impressed with the smaller engine, both noise and performance - sadly I can't find the link just now.

 

See this link for 1.5 issues.  If the 1.5 car doesn't suffer those problems in a test drive, it could be a good buy.  I'd certainly take the opportunity to try both SEs, to see which is quieter and to check how much grunt you do surrender in the 1.0.

 

4 hours ago, e-Roottoot said:

?

Are they Manual or DSG's?

What mileage are the other 2 cars?

All manuals.

 

20 reg 1.0 SE is 5k

18 reg 1.5 SE is 22k

18 reg 1.0 SE L is 15k

1 hour ago, SurreyJohn said:

I suspect the SE spec has more equipment than your 11 year old Fabia, and SEL will have even more.  But you won’t really miss what you have never had.

If you keep your car to 11 years old, then another way of looking at it, is that the extra equipment is more to break down, and possibly needing costly repair in few years time.

 

I am guessing the 1 litre is the 115 engine, if it is, I suspect you will find it is much better than you expect.   More than sufficient for the type of driving you indicate.
 

If it was me, get the 1 year old car

 

That's a very good way of looking at it!  I've got a basic CD/radio which is erratic, and an air con system that seems to have a leak now and that's as high tech as it gets in the Fabia, so anything beyond that is a bonus!

34 minutes ago, Gonzague said:

All manuals.

 

20 reg 1.0 SE is 5k

18 reg 1.5 SE is 22k

18 reg 1.0 SE L is 15k

I would avoid a 2018 1.5 as others have said, those early 1.5s had some problems.   

If the SEL has 18 inch wheels, you will find the tyres are a rarer (and thus expensive) size, and potentially front pair may be fairly worn.  
 

All three of them have done 5-7k miles per year, so should be on fixed servicing, so check the service record is consistent and nothing is missed.  May as well request a service is done (as part of the sales deal) if one is due in next few weeks.

 

You mentioned a few hills in your initial post, so seriously consider putting a note in your calendar for August to get some seasonal tyres, as the factory fit modern summer tyres are rubbish in cold weather and cold rain (and useless in snow).  Don’t leave it until autumn as price jumps.

 

10 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

I would avoid a 2018 1.5 as others have said, those early 1.5s had some problems.  

 

 

Some of the above replies are misleading. There were SOME early 1.5tsi engines that had ONE problem ( the much talked about kangaroo effect ), a problem where a software fix should have been applied by the main dealer at least 18 months ago., that rectified it. If you're interested in any 1.5tsi of that age, just make sure the fix has ( or will be ) been applied. End of story. A simple test drive will show if the car 'kangeroo's' or not.

 

In saying that, if I were given the above list, mileages and assuming the cars were the same price, the 20reg 1.5 SE with 5000 miles is a bit of a no brainer. You might be able to obtain a service history of those cars but you don't know how they were driven. A low miles / newer car is always better.

 

I'm not sure what 'essentials' the SE-L brings over the SE. There's no question LED headlights are better than the standard ones in the SE and personally I'd want auto lights / wipers which the SE may not have as std. Other than that, any SE I've sat in in the showroom has been impressive, I thought the seat material for the basic model put many others to shame - I really liked it.

 

If I could have had a 1L engine I would have bought one, unfortunately it wasn't available in either model of Ateca and Karoq I bought. 

 

PS - 2020 SE - do you know who the previous owner was? It may have been purchased with a 2yr service plan, if not, the as the first service is now due, make that a condition of sale if it's not already done.  Not so long ago Skoda were offering a £99 2 year service plan with their approved used cars  - you may be able to negotiate something similar.

Edited 1 April, 20215 yr by Guest

Actually a software update or even more than 1 software update has not resolved the issue with all 1.5 TSI that  had an issue.  That means maybe a small number might have issues that a short drive in parts of the UK at April temps might not show.    The relevant thing is talking about a issue that might affect a car out of manufacturers warranty that many at dealership and Skoda denied ever existed.   Buyer beware.  PS, worth reading the Thread covering the issue where members had the cars with issues, some who never had them resolved or still do not. The few with cars that had problems know more about dealing with Skoda UK and dealership staff then those with fault free models. 

Edited 1 April, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot

Auto lights and wipers are std on SEs, at least they are on my MY2020 SE.    It doesn’t have SatNav but nav via CarPlay works a treat, plus no leaking sunroof.  The discerning choice, but I would say that!  

e-Roottoot is correct and Scot5 incorrect.

 

My 2018 (2019 build) 1.5 Manual SEL suffered both the kangaroo effect and loss of power when approaching a roundabout and has had two software updates. It does now appear to be OK but in the colder weather did lose power rather suddenly on occasions.

 

A difficult decision for you but if you read other Forum members experiences the 1.0 litre engine does  appear to have far fewer problems. Several owners have rejected 1.5 early cars  and whether you have a good car or a lemon appears to be a bit of a lottery.

 

IMHO modern cars have far too many questionable bells and whistles: Electronic handbrake, keyless entry, emissions saving by keeping the battery charge low and charging when braking, auto braking when an obstacle is detected, auto lights, auto windscreen wipers etc. etc.  If keeping the car for maybe 3 years under guarantee as many seem to do on these contract hire schemes these systems will probably be OK but the more complications the more chance of expensive failure. I seriously considered in February trading in my Karoq for a base model Octavia. I prefer Classic cars, simple, individual, easy to maintain and in many cases appreciate rather than depreciate. 

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/475452-15-tsi-problem-sorted/page/2

 

Sometime all there is is anecdotal evidence.

Getting the 'word' from Skoda, or dealership staff or salespeople with the special skill set required to stay employed is not enough.

Honesty is the best policy, and sometimes admitting there are problems and they will really try their best to resolve them at no cost or inconvenience to the customers or they will buy back the faulty models would be correct thing to do.

He has a photographic memory, so can presumably recall URLs on demand.

 

Edited 3 April, 20215 yr by xman

@Scot5  I remember everything i post and where i post it, as to the subjects,  and the latest on them, i remember where i read it and who wrote it.

My CV for Experience.

Many years car & vehicle trading, buying at auction etc since i was 15 years old, working in garages and motor engineering workshops, 

 and time served as a mechanic and car sprayer, and owning and driving cars, mine and others including cars in my family.       EDiT. I posted this in reply to a post removed by a Mod. So it is not in reply to or aimed at @xman who I read his  posts and I appreciate his knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

So if others actually knew something about what they were posting on here and about other members cars and the cars in general by talking to owners and techs / mechanics things might go better. Bother to actually find out the issues and keep up with them and know the background to what and why things are happening.

Just posting a statement that all is well, and that is that, and then it is supposed to be taken as gospel is an issue.  There is enough of that going on with employees at dealerships and customer services.

 

@Scot5

Strange that you post what you think you know about what cars i own and have owned, or have bought and sold over the time i have been a member of Briskoda.

I suppose i just found the forum online and joined it because it was about cars and stuff in general.

I read your post from joining to you gaining more knowledge from the forum or other sources and then coming away with some real crackers.

You call people armchair experts and you seem to know all about being exactly that.

Edited 3 April, 20215 yr by e-Roottoot
Removed references to a now removed post

As for the early 1.5 manual engine, there has clearly been an issue and hopefully resolved but if I was given a choice of buying the later version then I would.

 

However I have the earlier 1.5 DSG and overall I am happy with a slight niggle as to how it will behave long term. I actually priced up my car for a new build and the price has risen £5k since I bought.

 

So I will keep hold of this one and save myself £5k and the depreciation hit of another £6k and use that for any out of warranty costs.

 

The Karoq is a very nice car and I hope the OP enjoys it when they buy one.

 

Edited 3 April, 20215 yr by john999boy
Reference to a now removed post removed.

On 31/03/2021 at 15:13, Gonzague said:

I'm thinking of replacing it with a Karoq.  However at the Skoda dealership near me there are 3 choices for a used Karoq within my budget and I still can't make my mind up what to have.

 

1. 20 reg 1.0 SE Karoq - so has two years warranty left, and only 5k miles on the clock

2. 18 reg 1.5 SE Karoq - out of warranty but the larger engine which some reviews recommend

3. 19 reg 1.0 SE L Karoq - out of warrant but has a nicer spec 

 

I have driven and owned many cars over the last 50 years and have been totally blown away with how good the Karoq 1.0 SE is. I have the 'tech' version which adds SatNav and parking sensors but is in essense an SE and I would have another one without hesitation when this lease ends. I drove a 1.5 before deciding on the 1.0 and did not see the point of the extra cost plus the one I drove had the 'no power when approaching a roundabout' issue which the salesman said he had never heard of and I was probably in the wrong gear! A test drive will soon show you if you think you can live with the car, but I think you will be surprised how good it is. So my choice wouild be number 1. Happy shopping!

Thanks to everyone so far for their invaluable advice.  I've now booked a test drive today for the 20 reg 1.0 se to take place when the dealership officially reopens in under a fortnight.  Looking forward to it!

Personally, I'd get the SEL as  I like the kit but it's upto you.

Just to update, I did in the end test drive the 20 plate SE version and really liked it so got it for just under £16 which I though was good VFM.  It oddly felt familiar to the Fabia in some respects but with all the new technology (especially the electronic handbrake) like a space ship!  As SurreyJohn said I won't miss what I've never had so the SE spec seems like a massive leap for me.  I also had it serviced before purchase since it was due one soon.   

 

One question, with the digital service book, can any independent garage access it, subject to them having the right software or is it a VW dealership system only?  I've a local garage I've trusted immensely over the years and want to keep the warranty going, but don't fancy paying dealership prices!

£16k I mean - £16 would have been a real bargain!

Thank you for coming back and updating us.

 

I hope you enjoy your new car !