Hi everyone,

I’m considering buying a 2012 Skoda Fabia RS 132TSI Auto (MY13) in Australia with the following description: 

 

 

"For Sale: 2012 Skoda Fabia RS - Sporty, Stylish, and Tech-Savvy! Priced to sell! Odometer: 67,XXX km with rego until May 2025. Lowest km for sale when listed. Note: standard black/yellow plates will come on the car. Colour: Corrida Red with White Roof Features: • Sporty Performance: Experience the thrill of driving with the powerful twin-charge engine and responsive handling of the Fabia RS. Featuring both a supercharger and turbo, this little hatch is very quick and handles like it’s on rails. Only ever run on 98 • Tech-Savvy: Stay connected on the go with the upgraded Android Auto and LemonShark Apple CarPlay RCD330, BT handsfree with steering wheel integration. Front and rear electric windows, air-conditioned glovebox, Viofo front and rear dash cam fitted (non-hardwired) • Enhanced Performance: Late model CTHE engine, equipped with NGK Iridium BKR7EIX plugs, R8 coils and RTMG adapter plate for improved performance and peace of mind • Well-Maintained: This car has been meticulously cared for, with annual services at Peter Warren and Alto Skoda, and is in excellent condition both inside and out. Minor paint scratches / chips, and some blemishes on the wheels. • Two Keys: Comes with two keys for your convenience. Second key almost unused (still has factory barcode sticker). • Service Package: In the final year of current service package, with road side assistance included until March 2025. • Additional items: Genuine Skoda Roof Racks, a reversing camera I have not yet fitted, and a misc box of spares I have collected “just in case” over the last 8 years, some domestic, and some imported from Europe. • Brakes (discs and pads), Timing Chain, Water Pump and tyres (Falken ZE310’s): All replaced across 2023, ahead of schedule, ensuring the car is in top condition. Upgraded to another Skoda (Superb) for more space, and don’t have space to keep another car. History: • Purchased from Hobart Audi as a demonstrator April 2015: last new/demo RS in the country when I bought it, and had to transport it up from Tasmania. Built Sept 2012, MY13 (last of the RS), complied April 2014. Why You’ll Love It: • Low Mileage: With only 67,XXX km, this car has plenty of life left. • Comfort and Convenience: Enjoy a comfortable ride with modern amenities and a comfortable interior. Great sports seats. • Great Value: Get a sporty and stylish car at an affordable price. Don’t miss out on this fantastic car! Contact me for more information. "

 

 

 

I had the chance to check the car, and it’s in immaculate condition. It drove really well during my test drive, though I’m not an expert on this specific engine.

The seller has been transparent about the car's history, mentioning that some idle issues were detected back in 2019 but were resolved after installing new spark plugs and ignition coils. There are no recalls for this particular model, and the vehicle has been well-maintained.

I’m reaching out to the community for any additional insights or advice. Is there anything specific I should double-check before purchasing? Are there common issues with this model or the DSG transmission that might crop up even in a well-maintained car like this?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, tips, or any experiences with owning a Fabia RS. Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello, welcome to the forum.

Strongly suggest that you do careful research on possible engine issues with the Twin Chargers. Find out engine model (possibly E888 Gen2 or 3?)

 

Some E888 engines have had pretty catastrophic oil-use issues. I also recall that there were some issues with DSGs.

Some research suggests your engine will be EA111. Not sure with Aus. rego - but you should be able to identify the engine model by 3 or 4 alpha characters at the beginning of the engine number.

Some EA111 Twin Charger engines appear to have suffered similar issues to EA888 gens 1 to 3.  

Some potentially useful comments on the CTHE engine here:

 

 

Gaz

A thought occurs - do you get normal Torque-converter gearboxes or DSG in the Land of The Giant Hopping Rat? US and Canada get the TC version.

@Cantagar  Welcome.

Plenty PINNED Threads at the top of the page.      Do you feel lucky?, then go for it. 

 

Best re-check that RECALLs in Australia.  On the DQ200 DSG,

it must have been part of the 3 called since 2012 on them since the first one on the 2009-2012 DQ200,s.

But if all is well that is not an issue.

 

Has it never had Breather Mod 2 that some had in Australia, but maybe only if reported as High Oil Users. 

 

@Warrior193

The 8 speed Automatic was used with 1.4 TSI (Turbo only & not ACT) vehicles in some world regions where the World Harmonised Light Vehicle / WLTP did not matter as just European kidolgy.

From about 2018 i think. 

Edited 5 January, 20251 yr by Ootohere

I did not notice this thread is in the 'About to buy a Skoda' section.

The Pinned threads are at the top of the Fabia Mk2 section.  Various. Engine, DSG, buying a Used one. 

6 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

Some research suggests your engine will be EA111. Not sure with Aus. rego - but you should be able to identify the engine model by 3 or 4 alpha characters at the beginning of the engine number.

Some EA111 Twin Charger engines appear to have suffered similar issues to EA888 gens 1 to 3.  

Thank you, Warrior193. I will ask the seller for the engine model, but from what I can gather on the forum, all the engines have their own issues. Is that right?

6 hours ago, Gaz said:

Some potentially useful comments on the CTHE engine here:

 

 

Gaz

Thank you Gaz, yes I had a look at that post before writing this one. The car I'm thinking of buying is a CTHE with no recalls in Australia.

5 hours ago, Ootohere said:

@Cantagar  Welcome.

Plenty PINNED Threads at the top of the page.      Do you feel lucky?, then go for it. 

 

Best re-check that RECALLs in Australia.  On the DQ200 DSG,

it must have been part of the 3 called since 2012 on them since the first one on the 2009-2012 DQ200,s.

But if all is well that is not an issue.

 

Has it never had Breather Mod 2 that some had in Australia, but maybe only if reported as High Oil Users. 

 

@Warrior193

The 8 speed Automatic was used with 1.4 TSI (Turbo only & not ACT) vehicles in some world regions where the World Harmonised Light Vehicle / WLTP did not matter as just European kidolgy.

From about 2018 i think. 

Thank you! I reviewed most of the posts before creating this one. After checking with Skoda Australia, I can confirm that this vehicle is not currently affected by any recalls, nor has it been in the past. The car was a demo vehicle until the seller purchased it with less than 10,000 km on the odometer. However, I'm not certain if it was involved in any recalls prior to that.

The Engine is either a CAVE 2010-2012, 

or a CTHE from late 2012 to 2014/15.     They are not all going to have had issues.  The CTHE one that needed watching for was / is the timing chain & tensioner.

Along with the usual watching for the one plug that can burn out even with the CTHE engine. 

 

If the car runs OK then that is all that is needed. 

30 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

The Engine is either a CAVE 2010-2012, 

or a CTHE from late 2012 to 2014/15.     They are not all going to have had issues.  The CTHE one that needed watching for was / is the timing chain & tensioner.

Along with the usual watching for the one plug that can burn out even with the CTHE engine. 

 

If the car runs OK then that is all that is needed. 

The engine is a CTHE, Australia did not receive the first batch of Fabias RS, so I'm not sure if there are many CAVEs around here. The timing chain was replaced last year together with the supercharger belt and water pump.

This is the photo of the engine label. Does anyone know anything about it? I can see it is a CTHE but that's it, can't find much info online.

 

Thank you!

Sounds good.  Timing chain and water pump done and 2 belts.  The Supercharger clutch is part of the water pump.

 

Just a case of using good Spark Plugs then & i recommend DENSO, & not Long Life Oil, even in Australia. so not the VW 504 00 / 507 00,  5w 30 FS III, 

but 5w 40 FS, so VW502 00.  (Change this on a fixed service regime, 12 months, 9,400 miles or sooner.)

& 98 ron Super Unleaded if you can get it.

 

The 3.6 litres oil is not enough, that should always have been 3.9 litres with a Twin Charger.

I used to put in 4 litres at oil and filter changes and that was the correct level checked with hot oil.

@ the top of the Cross Hatch area on the dipstick.

(The issue with 3.6 litres and then the Low oil warning light not on until sometimes 1.3 litres low was the death of many twinchargers.)

Edited 6 January, 20251 yr by Ootohere

3 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

Sounds good.

Just a case of using good Spark Plugs then & i recommend DENSO, & not Long Life Oil, even in Australia. so not the VW 504 00 / 507 00,  5w 30 FS III, 

but 5w 40 FS, so VW502 00. 

& 98 ron Super Unleaded if you can get it.

At the moment it is equipped with NGK Iridium BKR7EIX plugs, R8 coils and RTMG adapter plate. I'm not going to lie I have very little knowledge about it so I'm not sure if these are good or bad but it is an aftermarket mod? I think I could find that oil here in Au and easy to get 98, just have to pay the price tag for it.

Someone knew what they were doing.   All good.

1 minute ago, Ootohere said:

Someone knew what they were doing.   All good.

Thanks for your help!

More photos from the seller in case they're helpful! 

On 06/01/2025 at 18:51, Ootohere said:

Sounds good.  Timing chain and water pump done and 2 belts.  The Supercharger clutch is part of the water pump.

 

Just a case of using good Spark Plugs then & i recommend DENSO, & not Long Life Oil, even in Australia. so not the VW 504 00 / 507 00,  5w 30 FS III, 

but 5w 40 FS, so VW502 00.  (Change this on a fixed service regime, 12 months, 9,400 miles or sooner.)

& 98 ron Super Unleaded if you can get it.

 

The 3.6 litres oil is not enough, that should always have been 3.9 litres with a Twin Charger.

I used to put in 4 litres at oil and filter changes and that was the correct level checked with hot oil.

@ the top of the Cross Hatch area on the dipstick.

(The issue with 3.6 litres and then the Low oil warning light not on until sometimes 1.3 litres low was the death of many twinchargers.)

Hi mate,

I ended up getting the car, and I love it so far! I have a couple of questions that you might know the answers to:

- When the air conditioning is on, the car makes a louder sound when revving or downshifting. I know the air conditioning compressor can often be an issue in cars, so I’m wondering if this is normal.

- I'm about to book a service with Skoda. How can I ensure they use the oil you recommended instead of the VW 504 00 / 507 00, 5W-30 FS III? Unfortunately, this is something I can't do myself.

- The front shock absorber cover fell off and melted on the exhaust pipe. I’ll ask for a spare part when servicing. Will this require urgent replacement?

- Do you have any advice on washing the car? In some areas, especially around the door edges, the paint is a bit flaky, and I don’t want to make it worse with high-pressure water.

 

Thank you!

Just never use a high pressure washer and you best deal with the rust sooner than later and not let the metal go to holes behind the paint.   The rubber in the back door at the bottom of the window is bad for rusting.      Not sure on the AC sorry, never had issues and my hearing is not great.    The oil VW 502 00 is 5w 40 FS is the oil that suits fixed regime reducing and is not long life.  If the car has had VW 504 00 so 5w 30 FS lll up to now then no problem if that is what the dealership has and uses.  Shock boot can wait.     Have fun.  

On 23/01/2025 at 17:17, Ootohere said:

Just never use a high pressure washer and you best deal with the rust sooner than later and not let the metal go to holes behind the paint.   The rubber in the back door at the bottom of the window is bad for rusting.      Not sure on the AC sorry, never had issues and my hearing is not great.    The oil VW 502 00 is 5w 40 FS is the oil that suits fixed regime reducing and is not long life.  If the car has had VW 504 00 so 5w 30 FS lll up to now then no problem if that is what the dealership has and uses.  Shock boot can wait.     Have fun.  

Thank you!

My wife has a 2012 VW Polo GTI.  She loves it despite it not being the most reliable of vehicles and the engine liking a drink of oil.

@whippersnapper Did it ever get the Breather Mod carried out and a software update?

There was a Breather mode Mk2 Introduced in Australia. 

Then the Oil Spray Jet Update fitting was the next 'Fix'  VW Group / Skoda introduced where there was excessive oil consumption.

 

Many just stuck with things as long as 1 spark plug was not fouling and then causing the tip to burn off. 

5 hours ago, Ootohere said:

@whippersnapper Did it ever get the Breather Mod carried out and a software update?

There was a Breather mode Mk2 Introduced in Australia. 

Then the Oil Spray Jet Update fitting was the next 'Fix'  VW Group / Skoda introduced where there was excessive oil consumption.

 

Many just stuck with things as long as 1 spark plug was not fouling and then causing the tip to burn off. 

Not sure about the breather mod from memory but definitely got the oil spray jet update. I just have a monthly reminder to check the oil and top it up these days. It’s a fun little engine but to give you a context I bought the Polo and my Subaru Legacy GT Premium wagon (Liberty in Oz) a month or so apart in 2012.  The Subaru has done 135,000km and the Polo about 75k. The turbo Subaru doesn’t use a drop of oil and the only issues it has ever had were the sat nav system needing resetting when it was a few weeks old and a gearbox sensor failing at about 100,000km that was a few hundred dollars to get sorted. The polo was in and out of vw for oil consumption and just from memory has had a water pump failure and a cracked PCV pipe and a few other things I can’t recall just now.

 

still we are keeping the Polo as it’s a fun city car and the kids drive it too.  I’m getting a new face lifted Octavia vRS to replace the Subaru hence being new here in this forum.

So, not good news, I think. I took the car for its annual service at the dealership yesterday. All good; they just changed the oil and oil filter. Today, I floored it while joining the highway, and the car got stuck in one gear without accelerating or revving. I lifted my foot and changed gear as normal. I tried a couple more times in sport mode or using the paddles, and the same thing happened.

 

I've had the clutch go in other cars, and they normally rev up when you continue accelerating, but this is not the case.

 

The fact that this happened one day, just one day after servicing at an official Skoda garage, is scary.

 

Has anyone had a similar issue?

Sounds like DSG mechatronic issues. 

It does sound like that. But it can be the less expensive Selector Forks. 

It can be the Clutch Packs. 

 

The car / DQ200 was too new to get Service Campaign '34F7',  Oil changed to Mineral and software.

 

Maybe built too early to get '34H5'  2013-2015. Software Update. Preventative.     The ones inbetween that got nothing sometimes show the 'Flashing White Spanner'.

Did this not come up? 

Edited 21 February, 20251 yr by Ootohere