Hi all, just joined because I am toying with the idea of buying a Skoda and wanted to gauge some real feedback from Skoda owners themselves.

The car is a 2006 Skoda Fabia Estate, 1.4 16v petrol. It is the Elegance spec, it has one lady owner and full service history, it has done 99 thousand miles.

I admittedly don't know much about Skoda, other than they are owned by V.A.G.

 

I'm looking for some feedback on whether people think it's a good potential or not, I know there are other engine choices such as the 1.9 diesel, but insurance wise these are out of my price bracket as I am a younger driver and the insurance is significantly more on those, so only the 1.4 petrol I'm afraid for me. Is the 1.4 petrol 16v a good engine ?, is 99k not worth considering ?.

Manual or automatic transmission?

I've had nothing but good experiences with the 75bhp variant, but in the UK that was only sold in Fabias with automatic transmission, I think. Mine's in a manual 9N Polo, on about 150k and going strong. 

 

2 hours ago, Lando98 said:

Hi all, just joined because I am toying with the idea of buying a Skoda and wanted to gauge some real feedback from Skoda owners themselves.

The car is a 2006 Skoda Fabia Estate, 1.4 16v petrol. It is the Elegance spec, it has one lady owner and full service history, it has done 99 thousand miles.

I admittedly don't know much about Skoda, other than they are owned by V.A.G.

 

I'm looking for some feedback on whether people think it's a good potential or not, I know there are other engine choices such as the 1.9 diesel, but insurance wise these are out of my price bracket as I am a younger driver and the insurance is significantly more on those, so only the 1.4 petrol I'm afraid for me. Is the 1.4 petrol 16v a good engine ?, is 99k not worth considering ?.

 

It's one of the more reliable engines, elegance is a nice trim level and 99k with history suggests it's been well looked after, estate is very practical too.

I'd certainly buy it if I were in your position.

1 hour ago, Wino said:

Manual or automatic transmission?

I've had nothing but good experiences with the 75bhp variant, but in the UK that was only sold in Fabias with automatic transmission, I think. Mine's in a manual 9N Polo, on about 150k and going strong. 

 

 

Hi Wino, it's a manual transmission. I read somewhere that it's a 100bhp engine, I might be wrong thou.

Can anyone tell me what the cruising RPM is on the 1.4 at 70mph in 5th gear, I don't often go on the motorway as I have no need, but I'd be interested to know what it's like.

7 minutes ago, Lando98 said:

Can anyone tell me what the cruising RPM is on the 1.4 at 70mph in 5th gear, I don't often go on the motorway as I have no need, but I'd be interested to know what it's like.

 

3500 RPM, redline is twice that, peak torque on the BBZ is about 4500 RPM, pretty quiet and relaxed at motorway speeds.

I bought mine, first reg Dec 03, two and a half years ago with 114,000 miles on it, it's now approaching 140,000 miles. I had a new clutch fitted a few months back, other than that no problems at all apart from electrical gremlins in a door switch. It's nice to get in a car and have it start first touch of the key.

I take the back seats out completely to give more room for stuff.

As far as I know it's still on the original timing belt.

I don't drive it hard and my Fuelly  records show 45.1 mpg. It's nice to have some power in reserve, the 100hp allows you to get on smartly if required.

It's one of the nicest cars I've had, if it breaks I'd look for another.

 

Depending on the price, it could be a really good buy. the engine on mine still runs sweetly.

 

One thing to consider when buying a Skoda Fabia Mk1 is the superb technical advice you'll get here.

 

9 minutes ago, totoro said:

It's one of the nicest cars I've had, if it breaks I'd look for another.

That's a great recommendation, and I agree.

 

@Lando98 there are two different versions of the 1.4/16v, a 75bhp one and a 100bhp. Most manual gearbox Fabias in the UK have the 100bhp, all of the automatic ones have the 75bhp.

Basically the same engine, some minor hardware differences and different mapping in the ECU.

As said, one of the best petrol engines in the mk1.

12 hours ago, Wino said:

That's a great recommendation, and I agree.

 

@Lando98 there are two different versions of the 1.4/16v, a 75bhp one and a 100bhp. Most manual gearbox Fabias in the UK have the 100bhp, all of the automatic ones have the 75bhp.

Basically the same engine, some minor hardware differences and different mapping in the ECU.

As said, one of the best petrol engines in the mk1.

 

13 hours ago, totoro said:

I bought mine, first reg Dec 03, two and a half years ago with 114,000 miles on it, it's now approaching 140,000 miles. I had a new clutch fitted a few months back, other than that no problems at all apart from electrical gremlins in a door switch. It's nice to get in a car and have it start first touch of the key.

I take the back seats out completely to give more room for stuff.

As far as I know it's still on the original timing belt.

I don't drive it hard and my Fuelly  records show 45.1 mpg. It's nice to have some power in reserve, the 100hp allows you to get on smartly if required.

It's one of the nicest cars I've had, if it breaks I'd look for another.

 

Depending on the price, it could be a really good buy. the engine on mine still runs sweetly.

 

One thing to consider when buying a Skoda Fabia Mk1 is the superb technical advice you'll get here.

 

 

Thanks for the great replies, filling me with more confidence. I've usually owned Fords in the past, so this would be the first VAG car I'd own. Going to arrange a viewing with the seller to go and look at it, is there any recommendations bar the usual things to check on a MK1 Fabia when looking it over ?.

13 hours ago, Wino said:

That's a great recommendation, and I agree.

 

@Lando98 there are two different versions of the 1.4/16v, a 75bhp one and a 100bhp. Most manual gearbox Fabias in the UK have the 100bhp, all of the automatic ones have the 75bhp.

Basically the same engine, some minor hardware differences and different mapping in the ECU.

As said, one of the best petrol engines in the mk1.

 

The most important differance in the hardware is different camshafts for the 75 bhp and the 100 bhp. Both 75 bhp and 100 bhp are there with different motorcodes, due to very minor differents in hardware. A 2006 Fabia with 100 bhp engine could have engine code BBZ (that is the 100 bhp version of the 75 bhp BBY). I sold my 2003 Fabia Combi with BBY engine over three years ago and with 194.000 kilometers driven, this car is still running and it is not exception. I know examples of Fabia's with this engine and between 400.000 and 450.000 km on the counter.

 

Technical parts are identical for the Fabia and Seat Ibiza/Cordoba (6L -generation) en VW Polo from the same generation. For example I had to renew the lambda sonde for my Fabia, and the same lambda in a VW-box was 25% cheaper than the same lambda in a Skoda package.

Edited 27 May, 20215 yr by Fabia-format

On 26/05/2021 at 18:43, Lando98 said:

2006 Skoda Fabia Estate, 1.4 16v petrol

Unknown, because at this sort of age condition is more important than mileage. OTOH one of my friends did buy a similar age to this Fabia in 2010, and still has it.