Evening everyone

 

First post, I'm nearing the end of the PCP deal and now considering all the options.  One of which is retaining the car and paying off or re-financing as the car will have 40,000 miles and a full service history.  My thinking is that I know the car and don't know the history of any replacement vehicle and have the full service history for this one, better the devil you know!  Its been more than reliable and see no reason to change

 

As I intend to keep the car for 3 - 4 years and do around 10,000 miles or less per annum, what would be the normal things to look at over the next 30-40,000 miles apart from front pads and disks, tyres? my sister in law had the basic 60hp engine and it developed a water leak. This, she said, was a common fault.  Her's would be a pre-facelift model.  I tend to go for the face lift models as they will have any modifications, improved trim and so on

 

According to the dealership the DSG box is sealed for life, but after 5 years I feel an oil change would be in order as I mostly drive in town as the oil would degrade.

 

Its due a timing belt at the next service, is it advisable to change the waterpump at the same time?  I would like the serpentine belt changed at the same time as you will be taking the old one off, best fit a new one when you are re-assembling that end of the engine?  I'm planning to use a local non-skoda repair agency who quoted me around £400 for the job

Hi, welcome.

 

You might need to replace the car battery (and possibly 'code' it) if you don't own and use an appropriate battery charger maintainer after reading the instructions in the car's 'Owner's Manual' and booklet for charger maintainer.  You will have the battery last even longer and give better service if you carry out occasional, when required or convenient, full preventative recharges with the battery charger maintainer, best done low amps (4 or less) over aa long a time as required to get the battery to full charge.

 

What is the full service history on your car, as "servicing" modern cars comprises of very little actually done, has the brake fluid been replaced, spark plugs been replaced, engine air filter replaced, cabin filter, engine oil & filter changed every year?

 

For the DSG gear oil I'll leave to those that know more about it but it's not the same as a manual gearbox oil change which I've done on my wife's car using better oil than VW use (same for engine oil).

 

For the timing belt it may not need doing but you don't say what engine you have in your post or name plate, ours was done at 5-years but that was a VWŠkoda UK con now not done (pity the UK isn't like other countries and we could get our money back for that con, £429 in our case).

 

My name plate as only an example (these aren't seen on phones I believe but I wouldn't know). -

 

You would need to ask 2020 owners or look in the threads and posts to see any common faults with them, on my wife's 2015 the VW front dampers are poor and not long lasting, a remote keyfob stopped working (£190 to replace and program in) and I make sure the "spare", actually second, key is used with the other in alternate rotation to even out wear on remotes and their batteries and their keyblades and ignition barrel but I couldn't beat the lack of longevity of the item.  The factory brake pads and disks weren't as well wearing as I'd want (I changed to better) but they were bad (just not that good for wear).  Annoying clunks from the underside developed but as other owners have spent a lot of time and money on replacing parts and they still remain I've not bothered as nothing's mentioned about this at MoT time, only the replacement VW front dampers that are only a few years old, they were "misting" at 11 months old (2-year warranty) so a reoccurring Advisory.

 

Some VWs have coolant leaks, a friends 2019 1.5 had a charger cooler leak which I think is common.

 

Personally rather than a VW I would go for an older Toyota or Honda as those I think would work less expense, work and hassle but I understand the devil you know and you sound like you don't mind the extra work and expense it might take to keep the Fabia.

 

I'm surprised we've not seen more mention of Covid build quality and parts but other than radios and perhaps another battery monitoring issue (my wife's 2015 had the 97CU Recall) not seen much here on the Fabia mk3 forum.

 

If you're happy with your 2020 Fabia then sticking with it for another 3-4 years and 30-40k-miles shouldn't be too bad.

 

I changed the "lifetime" coolant on my wife's car but I think 10 years would be fine but many would keep it in the life of the car.

 

The German marques for decades have liked to show how 'clever' they are by over complicating things, especially their computer programs  so you want knows them working on them or that very rare thing someone who is good and gets information and checks and cross references his work (almost always a man unfortunately) particularly for diagnosis.

 

If the engine you have is one of the active ones personally I'd not stick with it too long.

 

Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, I do have the spare key, its still in the vehicle pack from when I collected the car on Christmas Eve 2020 and never used, changed the battery on the main one recently, I will certainly keep an eye on the dampers and any knock from the front suspension.  For me, I would start at the weakest part, the anti roll bar drop link which takes a beating over the speed humps!

it goes for its last service under the plan and second MOT in a couple of weeks, so will await any advisories and no doubt will be pounced on by the sales team

 

I think I have around £3,500 equity in the car, so that could be used towards the replacement, possibly something from the rising sun?  I did have a SX4 a while ago which was completely reliable, chain driven cam, easy and cheap to maintain.  I did consider a CRv, but they could be a little too big for me, ideal for the dogs though.

 

I did consider something from the PSA\Stelantis group, Peugeot or Citroen as I've owned these in the past, but after a little digging on the net I read horror stories about the puretec wet belts and the DV5 timing chains, they have an odd arrangement whereby they are belt driven to one cam and a 7mm drive chain, which wears and stretches, to the other side of the head.  I've had a couple of XUD engined Peugeot's both clock over 150,000 miles with no issues with regular maintenance.  Gone are those days I think!

I would leave the DQ200 DSG well alone. 

There are 2 oils in that box, in the MCU and in the Box, it is not 'Sealed for life' it just has not Service Schedule, guidelines, advice or recommendations for oil changes.

 

The Timing belt is not due for change.  That Recommendation, Schedule, Specification or Advice was changed last June / July. 

The Water Pump gets changed when faulty.  This is not a TDI. 

 

 

Edited 13 November, 20241 yr by Ootohere

Don't think of it as a "spare" key but the second key.  Alternate the use of the two keys in whatever way suits you, that way you know they both work and state of remote battery and where to find the second key (but you knew that, many don't hence only one key with s/h cars).

 

Do bear in mind that an MoT pass and advisories are only the car has meet the minimum statutory requirement to one (hopefully trained?) person's opinion at one point in time only it doesn't mean the car is as good as it could or should be or that work may not be required perhaps sooner perhaps a lot later.

 

To me PSA/Stelantis like Mercs and BMWs (and VAGs) are cars you hire or own early in the warranty but even then it's a risk, then I'm not standard in my choice or like of cars.  Even Toyota and Honda aren't as good as they used to be but they have further to fall.  Personally I'd barely want a car from this century.

 

The engines, if looked after (better than VW want) should last a very long time it's all the other bits I'd worry about including the computer programs and the ever increasing number of sensors and modules.

 

God luck with whatever you decide.

 

Edited 13 November, 20241 yr by nta16

 

 

Thanks for the replies so far

 

Its almost tempting to look for a first generation diesel octavia, about 4 years ago I was involved in recovering dash cam footage from taxi's around the North East, I saw one with close on 475,000 miles on the original engine and gearbox, 5th clutch, oil and filter's every 5,000 miles helped!  I to tend to follow a similar service pattern and never lost an engine yet and plan to do an oil and filter change every 6 months as I do short journey's now and the car is only used 3 - 4 days in the week with home working. Apart from a 307 1.6 hdi that decided to do an engine surge whilst returning home past the Metrocentre.  Interesting moment when I tried to turn the motor off, removed the key and the engine is still sitting on its governors with loads of black smoke.  The fuel from the return pipe was being drawn into the air intake causing the engine to surge.  No more peugeots then!

 

I look on advisories on the MOT as a heads up to have the items replaced during the year as on last years test they picked up the rear disks were corroded, these were changed soon after.  I did have a corsa with the misting front struts.  on the way to the test, the car received a steam clean to all 4 corners and the struts were replaced during the year along with the springs as the old ones were being taken off and for £30 the pair and the same for each strut top, the front end was sorted,  I think that, in the situation of changing drive shafts the pads and disks will have to come off, might as well put new one on at the re-fit

 

Interesting to know about the cam belt, I have a suspicion the dealerships will still recommend you having this done every 5 years keeping an eye on the profit!

 

Kevin

If a Skoda Main Dealership is advising still 5 years / 50,000 miles then that will just some Service Desk person most likely.

Their Skoda Approved Used cars or just Used cars with Full Main Dealer Service Histories will likely not get them changed at 5 years if the car comes in with it not already done.