I have a '21 plate Mk3 Fabia brought from a Skoda dealer in the UK in Feb of this year. It has been back to the dealer 4 times now. I am not interested in discussing the how/why, but .... If I decide to swap this Fabia for a new Mk 4, are they more reliable?

 

I've seen several people who say the Fabia are either brilliant or every Skoda since Covid has been a waste of time. I understand we all have different opinions, but what are you guys thoughts on the Mk 4 for reliability. The Which magazine review still lists it in the top 5 of cars in that size. Just want some more input before I decide which way to go....

 

TIA

These "What Car?" articles may be of interest.

 

https://www.whatcar.com/skoda/fabia/hatchback/used-review/n808/reliability

 

https://www.whatcar.com/news/reliability-survey-most-reliable-small-cars/n26142

 

What you would like to know is how many Fabia Mk4 cars (not just those marketed in the UK) have needed under-warranty work since they were sold and what that work involved, but that information will be commercial-in-confidence and there's no chance that Skoda would release the data.

 

You haven't said what your '21-plate Fabia Mk3's problems have been, but - if they have involved the car's 'tech' - it wouldn't surprise me if Fabia Mk4 cars (even more loaded with user-unfriendly techie stuff) prove to be problematic in this area. 

 

Statistically, you'd be better changing to a new Honda, Toyota or Suzuki....

I've had my Mk4 Fabia Colour edition for just over a year now - it was 6 months old when I bought it.  Can't fault it for reliability. Have had no problems  - save for an intermittent tiny squeaky noise coming from the dashboard which I cured myself and the handbrake needs adjusting slightly which will be done on the next service.  Excellent fuel consumption and quiet comfortable ride. Some reviews say the interior is not quite so luxurious as other cars - I personally have no complaints about that.     

I've had 4 Fabia's from new since 2015. Two Mk'3's (1.2tsi & 1.0tsi) & two Mk4's (1.0tsi & 1.5tsi).

 

All have been suberb, aside from an airbag recall on the Mk4 1.0tsi, none have needed to go into the garage for work.

 

Now, I will preface this by saying I normally swap cars before the 3yr mark so they are untested past the warranty stage.

 

Aside from some interior squeeks every now and again, I really cant fault the quality of car. The price of them new however is a bit steep depending on what spec your after. Like Derek said, there are some solid alternatives at this price point.

I'm on my second Fabia , like bluntsteakknife I keep them 3-4years, the performance is good and the interior is as well.

 

Only two months in and I agree about the tech being a bit annoying. The apes who clearly develop the infotainment software should be replaced with computer programmers and the madman who thought it was a good idea to deliver the user manual over the internet but make it impossible to find your tyre pressures should be replaced by someone conscientious and sane.

 

Mechanically it's been great though.

I agree with the last comment in that the electronics and software are well below my expectations.  As for reliability who can say as we are talking about a current model but for us the Monte Carlo is certainly great to drive.  Built in sat nav is the way to go because Skoda have made it very difficult to mount my large screen Garmin unit. Pity they never made sat nav available on the mc we ordered.  Connectivity is tricky to set up and there is an abundance of gizmos that annoy rather than assist.  Love the rear camera and parking sensors though.

@bazz2004 I just connect my Android phone via USB cable and use a combination of Waze and Google Maps on the centre screen.

 

It works lovely. I used Waze most of the time but it can send you on a bum-steer if you're heading somewhere obscure so I use Google Maps for times where I'm navigating to a very specific location.

 

Waze's selling point is that it's much more adept at warning you of speed cameras, disruptions and random obstacles than Maps.

 

Of course, both hoover up your privacy data but, such is life, with a smartphone.

I'd never heard of Waze but it looks interesting. We now have a workable solution though. Our Garmin DriveSmart 65 is very good but I had trouble finding a stable and easy solution for mounting it.  The
Fabia dash with its textured surface and slope is not helpful. Looking directly at a smart phone screen wouldn't be acceptable for us because they are small.  I've never been a fan of smart phones.  I like tech but was too slow to adopt one.

On 28/06/2024 at 23:26, JFrankMiller said:

Only two months in and I agree about the tech being a bit annoying. The apes who clearly develop the infotainment software should be replaced with computer programmers and the madman who thought it was a good idea to deliver the user manual over the internet but make it impossible to find your tyre pressures should be replaced by someone conscientious and sane.

 

Mechanically it's been great though.

Regarding the user manual - My car came with a printed manual, but my Fabia is the Colour edition with the Virtual Cockpit feature and there's no mention at all of that in the manual and furthermore no documentation whatsoever on the Skoda website about it.  Luckily I found a couple of videos that somebody had posted on line that were a help. About the tyre pressures - mine are on a printed label stuck to the offside rear door frame.   

4 hours ago, bazz2004 said:

I'd never heard of Waze but it looks interesting. We now have a workable solution though. Our Garmin DriveSmart 65 is very good but I had trouble finding a stable and easy solution for mounting it.  The
Fabia dash with its textured surface and slope is not helpful. Looking directly at a smart phone screen wouldn't be acceptable for us because they are small.  I've never been a fan of smart phones.  I like tech but was too slow to adopt one.

You  wouldn't have to look directly at a smart phone screen with Android Auto - the sat nav app appears on the infotainment screen  

It's reasonable to expect there to be well thought out videos and instructions on how to set things up. I found nothing useful.  It's simply not clever to leave owners to grapple with these issues.  Fabia owners tend still to be from the older generation who are less tech savvy than Skoda seem to believe when it comes to smart phones, apps and connectivity.

On 30/06/2024 at 11:57, john1952 said:

Regarding the user manual - My car came with a printed manual, but my Fabia is the Colour edition with the Virtual Cockpit feature and there's no mention at all of that in the manual and furthermore no documentation whatsoever on the Skoda website about it....

 

I'm a mite surprised by your statement...

 

The hard-copy Owner's Manual for my 2023-built Fabia contains two pages relating to the Virtual Cockpit (VC) and includes a QR code to a video describing the VC's operation. And exactly the same VC-related information appears in the on-line version of the printed 2023 Manual.

 

As your car is a 2022 model, I wondered if my 2023 Manuals (hard- and soft-copies) might be more informative about the VC  than equivalent Manuals for earlier Fabia Mk 4 cars. Obviously I don't know what's in your car's 'printed' Manual, but the on-line Manual that should be relevant to your car (Issue date 29/11/2021 Part Number 6VA012720AB)  has the same Overview/Operation/Settings information about the VC. 

 

The only difference (and this MIGHT be significant) is that the printed Manual for my 2023 Fabia specifically refers to the VC as "VIRTUAL COCKPIT" (in the text and in the Manual's index) and also in the on-line Manual, whereas the 29/11/2021on-line Manual calls the VC "Digital Instrument Cluster". Interestingly (for a IT geek like me!) looking for "Virtual Cockpit" on the 29/11/2021 on-line Manual using the Manual's Search feature and "Virtual Cockpit" as the search-term successfully retrieves the Overview and Settings sections for the Digital Instrument Cluster.

 

I'm accustomed to drive with silence in a vehicle's cab, so I'm not interested in my Fabia's infotainment system as far as its radio, media and phone capabilities are concerned. My Fabia's in-built navigation system was an attractive feature in principle, but I'm addicted to Garmin stand-alone sat-navs, and am comfortable with how they work given the way in which I plan longer journeys,  plus my Fabia's mapping has proved to be amusingly untrustworthy.

 

The snag is that most cars now being marketed in the UK are very well endowed with technical 'information' kit. If Apple had designed these systems there'd perhaps be a reasonable chance of standardisation and user-friendliness, but that's not the case. My 2021 Hyundai i20 was much the same, with a 650 pages printed Owner's Manual (with a pathetically short index) and - because of the infotainment system's complexity - instructions on how to use it only held on-line.

 

There's a recent Fabia versus Corsa article in the current Auto Express magazine.   Summary here

 

https://gb.readly.com/magazines/auto-express/2024-06-27/667bf4d8cbaa1e108794fd3f

2 hours ago, DerekU said:

The hard-copy Owner's Manual for my 2023-built Fabia contains two pages relating to the Virtual Cockpit (VC) and includes a QR code to a video describing the VC's operation. And exactly the same VC-related information appears in the on-line version of the printed 2023 Manual.

 

As your car is a 2022 model, I wondered if my 2023 Manuals (hard- and soft-copies) might be more informative about the VC  than equivalent Manuals for earlier Fabia Mk 4 cars. Obviously I don't know what's in your car's 'printed' Manual, but the on-line Manual that should be relevant to your car (Issue date 29/11/2021 Part Number 6VA012720AB)  has the same Overview/Operation/Settings information about the VC. 

Looks like Skoda have updated their manuals for the Fabia since I got mine (2022 model).  I've just Googled "Fabia Manuals" and there is a link to a site with a completely new set of documentation with links to videos etc... They're a bit basic, but give you a basic idea of how it all works. I managed to work it all out myself previously by just playing around with the Virtual cockpit system one afternoon when I had nothing else better to do!  There's no instructions as far as I can see on how to set the service level indicator, but again, if you Google, then there are other sites which tell you how to do this.      

Strange...

 

On-line Skoda Owner's Manuals can be selected through this 'portal'

 

https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

 

The earliest on-line Manual for a Fabia Mk 4 car is for the production period beginning 2021/6 and that Manual has an Issue date of 14/6/2021 and a Part Number 6VA012720AA. That Manual includes information about the Digital Instrument Cluster (Virtual Cockpit).

 

Assuming that Skoda has - for all Fabia Mk 4 cars - linked on-line and printed Manuals via the Part number (as is the case with my own car) on your printed Owner's Manual the Part Number will be the last line in the left corner of the rear cover. The Part Number format begins 6VA012720, followed by two letters beginning AA, then AB, AC etc. for later Manuals. My 2023 Fabia's Manual's Part Number is 6VA012720AE and the Part Number of the most recent Fabia Manual has a Issue date of 2/9/2024 and a 6VA012720AG Part Number.

 

While it's possible that Skoda might edit the on-line Owner's Manuals retroactively, it won't be able to do the same with the printed Manuals that have been provided to buyers who have taken delivery of new Fabias. Consequently, there OUGHT to be information about the Digital Instrument Cluster somewhere in your printed Manual even though the Manual's index does not refer to it as "Virtual Cockpit".

It might be worth knowing what the Part Number is on your printed Manual.

 

This is because I've noticed that the last Manual produced for Fabia Mk 3 cars had a Part Number of 6V901272AA and an Issue date of 20/6/2022.

 

The Fabia Mk 3 never had a Digital Instrument Cluster (Virtual Cockpit) so there's nothing about this feature in that Manual. If, by some weird chance, you have a Mk 3 Manual, that would explain why there is no information in it about the Digital Instrument Cluster (Virtual Cockpit).

On 28/06/2024 at 12:17, john1952 said:

I've had my Mk4 Fabia Colour edition for just over a year now - it was 6 months old when I bought it.  Can't fault it for reliability. Have had no problems  - save for an intermittent tiny squeaky noise coming from the dashboard which I cured myself and the handbrake needs adjusting slightly which will be done on the next service.  Excellent fuel consumption and quiet comfortable ride. Some reviews say the interior is not quite so luxurious as other cars - I personally have no complaints about that.     

Hi, can you tell me how you fixed the noise form the dashboard?

Inserted a very small piece of rubber in the tiny gap in between the vinyl dashboard and the windscreen glass near the left hand side A pillar.