@Diermot Looking forward to hearing what you glean from that.

Re your upcoming service. Sounds odd.

If first registered in 2024 and left on a Vatable Flexible service that is at 24 months, 18,000-20,000 miles. Jan 2026.

How many miles has your car done?

If they set to Fixed servicing then that was in 372 days, 9,400 miles or sooner.

Was the car not serviced before you got it in Jan 2025?

Edited 5 June, 20255 Jun by Ootohere

Mileage on the car is between 5K and 6K. I am going by the service information on the Amundsen from which it appears that a "lubrication service" is scheduled in about 120 days and an "inspection Service" is due about a year later. The car was not serviced when I bought it at around 3K miles. From an inspection of the dip switch the oil looks in good fettle.

42 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

@Diermot Looking forward to hearing what you glean from that.

Re your upcoming service. Sounds odd.

If first registered in 2024 and left on a Vatable Flexible service that is at 24 months, 18,000-20,000 miles. Jan 2026.

How many miles has your car done?

If they set to Fixed servicing then that was in 372 days, 9,400 miles or sooner.

Was the car not serviced before you got it in Jan 2025?

Mileage on the car is between 5K and 6K. I am going by the service information on the Amundsen from which it appears that a "lubrication service" is scheduled in about 120 days and an "inspection Service" is due about a year later. The car was not serviced when I bought it at around 3K miles. From an inspection of the dip switch the oil looks in good fettle.

Diermot

So, does your Fabia have the "Virtual Cockpit" instrument-cluster or not?

It looks like I do. Certainly what I have looks like what I see in the manual under Virtual Cockpit. I use the things on the right of the steering wheel to disable lane assist, and to get the big MPH display working. That's also where the display "Eco" comes up when I am free wheeling.

This Australian review of a 2025 Fabia withe 1.0litre 3-cylinder motor and DSG transmission may be of interest.

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-skoda-fabia-review

That car does have a MODE button and its use is described in the review.

(It's stating the obvious, but, if a Fabia does not have a MODE button, then there will be no means to select different driving modes as suggested in the Owner's Manual.)

The Fabia's Virtual Cockpit is described here

The analogue instrument cluster (as fitted to my Fabia) has a pair of 'fixed' circular dials for rpm and speed, as shown here.

I can disable Lane Assist and obtain a central digital mph readout using the steering-wheel controls exactly as you do, but I cannot choose between different 'looks' for the instrument-cluster as is possible with the Viirtual Cockpit. (And I do not get "ECO" showing anywhere when my car is coasting.)

Edited 6 June, 20256 Jun by DerekU

Diermot, it's up to you of course but I would want and annual engine oil and filter change (which isn't even a proper service for the engine let alone the whole car) especially on a car that does low mileage, more so than one that does average or high mileage.

If you are keeping the car long term then what happens to it in its early years can potentially be important to its life.

Personally I would book it in for an annual service now, it's a good time of year and the car is 16 months old (not 12 months as I would prefer) and I would ask the garage to switch the car to annual ("fixed") "services" so it done this time next year too.

With a 3-cylinder VW I would certainly keep to changing the spark plugs on schedule and changing the engine air filter (in fact I would change air filter sooner than VW say).

I don't know what car(s) you had before but you now have a 2024 car and a VW at that so a different kettle of fish to say even a 2017 car and to non-German marques or brands.

2 hours ago, DerekU said:

This Australian review of a 2025 Fabia withe 1.0litre 3-cylinder motor and DSG transmission may be of interest.

https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-reviews/2025-skoda-fabia-review

That car does have a MODE button and its use is described in the review.

(It's stating the obvious, but, if a Fabia does not have a MODE button, then there will be no means to select different driving modes as suggested in the Owner's Manual.)

The Fabia's Virtual Cockpit is described here

The analogue instrument cluster (as fitted to my Fabia) has a pair of 'fixed' circular dials for rpm and speed, as shown here.

I can disable Lane Assist and obtain a central digital mph readout using the steering-wheel controls exactly as you do, but I cannot choose between different 'looks' for the instrument-cluster as is possible with the Viirtual Cockpit. (And I do not get "ECO" showing anywhere when my car is coasting.)

Having read and seen the images you sent, I would have to say that I do not have a virtual cockpit. The space between the two dials seems to be the digital element of the display, and that is where Eco pops up while I am in free-wheel mode. It looks like this is a topic for discussion when I get the car serviced in a couple of months time.

1 hour ago, nta16 said:

Diermot, it's up to you of course but I would want and annual engine oil and filter change (which isn't even a proper service for the engine let alone the whole car) especially on a car that does low mileage, more so than one that does average or high mileage.

If you are keeping the car long term then what happens to it in its early years can potentially be important to its life.

Personally I would book it in for an annual service now, it's a good time of year and the car is 16 months old (not 12 months as I would prefer) and I would ask the garage to switch the car to annual ("fixed") "services" so it done this time next year too.

With a 3-cylinder VW I would certainly keep to changing the spark plugs on schedule and changing the engine air filter (in fact I would change air filter sooner than VW say).

I don't know what car(s) you had before but you now have a 2024 car and a VW at that so a different kettle of fish to say even a 2017 car and to non-German marques or brands.

Thanks for your words of wisdom, I will have a discussion with the service people at the Skoda garage. As for long term retention of the car, I am 82 now (and don't buy green bananas and more) so the long term in unlikely to be an issue for me. My last car was a Golf Gti, and it came with a button to engage Eco mode!

You had a VW car, unless it was from the last century sorry there's no hope for you. 😄

82 is nothing round my way, plenty in their 90s and the lady round the corner got to 103. How much you might want to drive now and in the future is a different matter. Until 3 years ago for the previous 16 years my (one and only) everyday car was a 1973 MG Midget, unless I have a large Lottery win if I ever get another car for myself it will be from the 60s or 70s (a Golf GTi Mk1 is the only German car I'd entertain but I like soft top cars, particularly for winter fun runs).

Getting them to change to annual "services" should be easy the rest you want to talk to them about good luck, if you're lucky you might help and info you want.

Good luck generally.

ETA: another tip keep the car 12v battery at a reasonable state of charge, if you haven't got one you might want to invest £15 (Aldi/Lidl) to £30 (one example Ring) in an appropriate charger maintainer to save possible hassles and premature change of the expensive battery.

Others are available, some unnecessarily expensive, Ring Smartcharger 4 (4-amps is plenty). - https://shop.ringautomotive.com/rsc904-4a-smart-battery-charger-maintainer.html

2 hours ago, nta16 said:

You had a VW car, unless it was from the last century sorry there's no hope for you. 😄

82 is nothing round my way, plenty in their 90s and the lady round the corner got to 103. How much you might want to drive now and in the future is a different matter. Until 3 years ago for the previous 16 years my (one and only) everyday car was a 1973 MG Midget, unless I have a large Lottery win if I ever get another car for myself it will be from the 60s or 70s (a Golf GTi Mk1 is the only German car I'd entertain but I like soft top cars, particularly for winter fun runs).

Getting them to change to annual "services" should be easy the rest you want to talk to them about good luck, if you're lucky you might help and info you want.

Good luck generally.

ETA: another tip keep the car 12v battery at a reasonable state of charge, if you haven't got one you might want to invest £15 (Aldi/Lidl) to £30 (one example Ring) in an appropriate charger maintainer to save possible hassles and premature change of the expensive battery.

Others are available, some unnecessarily expensive, Ring Smartcharger 4 (4-amps is plenty). - https://shop.ringautomotive.com/rsc904-4a-smart-battery-charger-maintainer.html

Many thanks for your sage advice: you have been a b ig help.

3 hours ago, Diermot said:

Having read and seen the images you sent, I would have to say that I do not have a virtual cockpit...

Well, either you have or you haven't - the difference between the analogue and Virtual Cockpit instrument-clusters is very obvious.

When I drove my Fabia this morning I kept a very close eye on how its DSG transmission was behaving.

When in D7, with my foot NOT depressing either the brake or the accelerator pedal, the transmission was shifting immediately from D7 to D, when the car started to 'coast'. Lightly brushing the brake or the accelerator pedal with my size 7 fairy foot caused D to become D7 or D6 (and possibly an even lower ratio might have been selected in certain circumstances - though I never noticed this happen during my journey). Occasionally, when in D6, the transmission would also shift to D.

I was wrong about "Eco" not appearing on my Fabia's analogue instrument-cluster. When the car's transmission shifted to D a small insignificant symbol (ECO in a circle) appeared just above the "trip" distance figure in the bottom-right corner of the instrument-cluster's central section. And, when the car ceased coasting and D became D7 or D6, the symbol disappeared. As I've had no difficulty identifying when the car began to coast (D7/D6 changing to D and the rpm dropping to around 1000) I've never noticed the ECO symbol before.

I also have my Fabia's analogue instrument-cluster set to display a digital speed readout in its centre (as shown below) but that readout was not affected when the ECO-in-a -circle symbol appeared above the trip distance figure.

Over-riding the digital speed readout with "ECO" seems an odd thing to happen. Have you, perhaps, got the "Eco Tips" option enabled in your car's instrument-cluster settings?

I can see now that I have Analogue displays except for bit in the middle. Your experience this morning is exactly that which I experience.

As for realising that the car has gone Eco I know immediately by a"seat of the pants feeling" that it has happened. I was used to choosing to go in and out of Eco in my previous Golf Gti by activating a switch. The difference between Eco and non Eco is that the tight corner ahead approaches much faster in Eco than in normal mode. That could catch out the unwary.

If I have Eco Tips activated, it must have been done before I took ownership. I must have a look for Eco Tips.

When my Fabia is 'coasting' (D showing on instrument-cluster) this is the symbol that appears above the "trip" distance figure.

It simply indicates that the car is in fuel-saving mode and that its automatic transmission and motor are 'idling'.

Other than your car's central digital mph speed readout being replaced by "ECO" (which I wouldn't like either) I really don't see why you should be concerned about this feature. All the Fabia's DSG transmission does is to reduce fuel consumption by disconnecting the transmission from the motor and to lower the motor's rpm to a fast tick-over. Touching the brake or accelerator pedal while D is showing should instantly reconnect the transmission and motor and the motor's rpm will speed up. If you dislike the feature so much and are uninterested in your car's fuel consumption, just put the transmission selector-lever in its "S" position when you start to drive and it won't 'coast'.

I'm unconvinced this feature would "catch out the unwary". I've driven all sorts of vehicles for almost 65 years and, if I were approaching a tight corner at a unsuitably high speed, I'd use the brakes to slow down. And if my Fabia's transmission were in D (fuel-saving mode) when I braked, it would shift out of that mode. If I were in a real hurry and driving with my youthful disregard for speed limits and common sense, my Fabia would very seldom be in D as It would either be accelerating or braking. If you want to drive like that, you've purchased the wrong car: you should have bought a Hyundai i20N that has 4 'genuine' driving modes (Eco, Normal, Sport and Track) and 204PS.

The Fabia Mk 4's instrument-cluster settings are many and I'm guessing that all those settings will originally be 'ticked' by default (or if the car's system is reset). The reason I suggested you check your Fabia's "Eco Tips" setting is that "ECO" does not replace the digital speed readout in the centre of my own Fabia instrument-cluster and my car has the "Eco Tips" setting unticked. There's nothing I can find online to confirm that ticking the "Eco Tips" setting will result in what's happening with your car, but I can't think of any other possibility and "ECO" and "Eco Tips" have an obvious family relationship. Try unticking the setting and - if it stops "ECO" obliterating the digital mph speed readout - please let the forum know.

Thank you, Derek, for all the work you have put into this. What I take from all the people who have offered assistance is that my Fabia is behaving as Skoda intended. I am content to live with that. Cars have changed so much over the 65 years I have been driving (particularly in the digital field), that I struggle to comprehend what they can do, and to some extent resent handing control over to them. But that's my problem. Thanks again, I appreciate your input. Tom