Today I have a loan car while my Rapid is at the garage - a Fabia III SE Drive 1.0 TSI

 

Some comments, comparing it with a 65 plate 1.2TI estate:

 

the 3 pot engine is flatter than a flat thing until it gets to 2000+ rpm, it's alright if you keep it wound up.

rear brakes are drum rather than disk - no worries about rusty disks, but I recall the drums sticking on when parked on both the Fabia II's we had in the past.

the clutch action is nice, it starts to bite quite gently with the pedal still a long way down, and gear selection is easier and lighter on the newer car.

the locking does leave the boot locked when the driver is in the car and can be opened when the drivers door is opened.

(get back home - I'm playing with the menus on screen, and Mrs wants to get the shopping out of the boot: "open your door, will you?")

the infotainment is probably amundsen, as it has 8 buttons on the front and satnav (which is either not set up or hasn't got the maps/SD card in) but still put "N" or whatever compass direction in the top of the display.

you don't need to download radio station icons and mess about with an SD card - find what you want to listen to and press a place and the screen: bingo!, or Radio2, if you want.

I can't hear any noises from the infotainment screen area, but my hearing isn't as good as it was many years ago.

it has Skoda connect?

it has parking sensors front and rear - the front one startled me  bit(!) - but no rear camera.

it has a 49Ah EFB battery.

It is noisier in the car on poor road surfaces, but the cover over the boot area is missing - so that probably isn't helping.

it is on 215/45R16  Nexen N blue hd plus, while ours is on 15" Davanti's  - the less said about those the better.
the steering isn't quite right - I'm guessing somebody has kerbed it, or knocked it in some way, but the wheels look fine - It has a slight tendency to want to go slightly left on a straight flat road.

 

 

That's about it really - it's quite a nice car, but the boot's not big enough (compared to the estate/combi) and I couldn't comment about long term costs keeping Skoda connect going.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

John H

 

 

Edited 3 November, 20214 yr by johnh510
wrong sort of bite

That's a nice write-up!

Just to add something I noticed taking it back:

 

both electric front windows are "one touch", and will both open and close using a long press on the open or close button on the key fob.