Evening all,

I am yet again thinking of buying a mk3 Fabia as a daily driver (once I get rid of a few cars).

Some of the ones I'm looking at are now pushing 100k and was wondering what sort of mileage are these capable of? When I looked at them previously they were too 'new' to really get an understanding. I appreciate there's a fair few engine variants but would want a 1.2 TSI preferably on a 6 speed box (monte edition).

I understand mileage isn't everything and that some low mileage engines can go at any time, vice versa with high mileage cars that have been well looked after can go forever (my mk1 VRs is on 170k and the engine is like brand new, but everything else around it is failing!).

What sort of mileage are you all on and on what model/variant? Any issues so far?

Thanks in advance,

James

1.2 TSI 90 2016 89K Miles 5 door manual gearbox.

Had from new. £20.00 VED.

Tyres last about 30K miles.

Last fuel tank 64 MPG

Original clutch & battery.

Brakes are all original but about 2/3 worn.

Had 10 services.

8 Small and 2 big ( including spark plugs and air filters in the big ones every 4th service. )

No oil consumption between services.

Never missed a beat.

Never broken down.

Apart from service parts.

Both lower front wishbone rear bushes have been replaced. One had delaminated.

N-S-R brake caliper rubber boot over the piston was ripped. Possible impact damage?

So cost for parts less than £50.00.

Plan to keep long term.

I do try to look after my cars.

Thanks. AG Falco

@AGFalco^ makes me want one just like that.

If circumstances change and you want to sell, please let me know. 😁

AG Falco looks after his cars far, far above average., I too would certainly buy one of his cars if I wanted that type of car.

As a non-VW or VWŠkoda fan whose wife bought a 2015 Fabia 1.2 TSI 90ps SE 5-speed manual at 18 months old (10k-miles) I can give you my experiences with that and very general info from what I've read on Briskoda of later Mk3s.

Current mileage is something over 70k-miles (I forget figure).

1.2 (4-pot) engine is fine, VW 4-pots have always sounded a bit rough to me and I'm used to BMC/BL engines of the 60s/70s and no doubt the 3-pot sound worse but the 1.2 90PS is very capable. Normally there's just the one or two of us in the car but the few times there's been 4 (reasonable weight) adults in the car the extra weight has been noticeable to me a bit (as a previous driver of cars much lighter than lardy modern cars, particularly VWs) but still very capable.

There are various sounds from the engine bay at various time but if you have a VWŠkoda already you they won't matter to you.

On my wife's car and other earlier Mk3s the front dampers are poor quality and "mist" oil potentially just about from brand new, well that was the case with the replacement dampers the Dealership fitted (to replace the factory originals that "misted" enough to fail their MoT at 6 year old and 41k-miles).

There has just about always been noises from the underside when going over traffic calming and up and down potholes, very bad on my wife's car in the very cold of winter, others have had the same and spent money, time and hassle on unsuccessfully trying to resolve it by replacing obvious parts so I've not bothered and it passes MoTs (not that MoTs mean that much as you possibly know).

Interior fabric on my wife's car isn't the best quality but it's holding up fine.

The UK VWŠkoda cambelt con was dropped a couple of years ago (too late for us unfortunately).

Brakes and tyres won't be factory at 100k-miles so that's just usual s/h car stuff.

You could look and see which models and years had the fuel rail bolts shear I can't remember it being on the 1.2 but I could well be wrong.

There was a battery recall which I think would be more about VW ballsing-up the battery program rather than any battery.

The newer the car the more important maintaining a reasonable battery state of charge becomes if you don't want warnings and a short life to the expensive battery.

Just prior(?), during and after Covid years radio quality seems to have dropped and perhaps other issues (starter relays that doesn't like the cold on some 2018(?) 2019(?) models. Throttle body issues on some others - see the threads and posts on here for details.

It appears to me the Mk1 Fabias were well made then general overall quality drops off with the Mk2 and later Mk2 and perhaps more so with the Mk3 but that's not to say the Mk3s are bad cars generally overall they are good within reasonable expectations (but I'd always think to look for an older Toyota or Honda for the same money if I ever wanted such a car).

With a turbo it's history particular what VWSkoda call a "service" and their "maintenance schedule" timely work to these would be a minimum standard (rather like an MoT) (very, very few people would work to AGFalco schedule in my decades of experience).

I changed the "filled for life" coolant on my wife's car and would do so on a 100k-mile car and I changed the manual gearbox oil on my wife's car and would certainly on a 100k-mile car unless it was under say 5-6 years old. I use a bit better oils than VW suggest and my wife noticed an improvement on the gear changes. The engine also now benefits from better oil now I'm able to do those too.

As always you also buy on condition and be aware that a car with good cosmetics could be a poor runner or hidden faults and a scruffier car could have excellent mechanics, electrics/electronics.

HTH. Good luck