Hi all,

I am Michael, I'm old enough to know better and I live in Stourbridge. I am the proud owner of a 2004 Skoda Fabia Mk1 Estate with the 1.2 HTP engine where the previous owner was a fan of parking by feel, and deaf considering the absolute drone the exhaust is giving right now.

It's a long and fruitless story about how I became the owner of the vehicle. It started away back in 2020 where upon the impending birth of my first born child my wife demanded I bought a more reliable/safe car. I bought a 2006 Land Cruiser which was cursed. While it was off the road for the first time of many technical (and EXPENSIVE) issues, I thought it'd be a good idea to spunk £1,500 on a Rover 827SLi. That can never worked. At all. So while I got the Land Cruiser working, the Rover festered. I then saw sense 18 months ago and sold the Land Cruiser and bought (on a whim) a Subaru Legacy Estate. Great car, I should never have got rid of it, but when child number 2 came along in December last year I PX'ed for a Peugeot Partner. Reason being I found it increasingly difficult to strap my now 4 year old in to it, so I thought I'd get a taller car. I bought a nail, and sold it at a loss 6 weeks later when it only worked for 2 of those days. Strapped for cash and really done with cars, I decided to not buy another car. I have a 2010 Peugeot 107 which I recommissioned and I've been driving that ever since. The problem though was that kids tend to grow, and my 4 year old is a tall lad and with me being 6ft 3 he was struggling in the back of my 107.

While this was going on, I decided to give the Rover one last go. I failed. I came to the conclusion it needed electrical work which was many hundreds of pounds, many hundreds of pounds which I don't have (or wanted to spend to be honest), so I was starting to decide whether to scrap the Rover or move it on to someone who enjoyed inflicting pain upon themselves.

I then came across this Fabia for cheap. £400. I decided it'd be a good stop gap and while I tried to strike a deal with the seller, I mentioned that I'd have to get rid of the Rover first to placate the long suffering wife who now maintains a "1 in, 1 out" rule. He suggested a swap for the Rover, and while I said it was fit for scrap he felt it was worth the challenge. So we did the swap, he got the Rover and I got the Skoda.

Other than a 40 minute drive home, I've not really been able to drive for one reason or another. It's got a slipping clutch, the exhaust is LOUD (like a wet fart at a funeral loud), front electric windows don't work, driver's wing mirror has left the chat, and it's cosmetically challenged. However, a new clutch kit has been ordered, new window switch, and the exhaust has just separated from the clamp so that in itself isn't a huge deal. A friend has a unit and owes me some time for helping him move cars, so we're pencilled in for the 29th August to sort the clutch out etc.

I have never owned a Skoda or any other VAG product, I've only ever driven my Mother In Law's Fabia which was a Mk2, but I am seriously impressed with the Fabia at it's age. Everything feels lovely to touch, the action of the indicators for example. The interior, even though the previous owner was teething or had dogs that are responsible for chewing the rear head rests, is really good. Clean, nothing seems to be missing, very well kept and presented. Even if the car is a 3 month, 6 month deal, it just needs to cart my sorry arse to and from work and be able to transport my two boys places while I load it with various tip run items etc. But initially, and I say this in the hope of not annoying the car gods, so far this car doesn't seem too bad.

But I think it's evident from the start of this post that I either have pure bad luck with cars or I give them the kiss of death. This is a free car essentially, with a new clutch, and if it carries on working then I'll be happy.

I can only assume, from all that, that your handle stands for Man Who Hates Them Cars... 🤪

Crumbs, the Land Cruiser must have had a hard life! - those things are practically bomb-proof!

6 hours ago, Ali-B said:

I can only assume, from all that, that your handle stands for Man Who Hates Them Cars... 🤪

Ah no, close. My Wife Hates This Car.

She's on the fence about the Fabia for the moment based on the last load of cars. But I think if it works out she'll hate it because of the big dent the previous owner put on the front wing. I've never seen an MOT on a car explicitly point out a dented front wing, but my Fabia has that. And I'm kind of loathed to change it because of it.

5 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

Crumbs, the Land Cruiser must have had a hard life! - those things are practically bomb-proof!

That's a whole other story really. Injectors needed doing, that cost me £1,800 (and that's just parts and me doing it). Air suspension broke and was a PITA to fix. Bit of welding too. It was my dream car really, always wanted one (well I wanted an Amazon but was talked out of it), only way I'd buy one now is if it was cheap and knackered and I had the time to restore it. That's the only way I'd guarantee it to be bomb proof. I think people just buy them and Toyotas in general and take "reliable" to mean "don't need to look after it".

The front windows may be the drivers side motor. It controls the passenger side as well. There known to fail electronics but Breezy Pete on here repaired my sons for me. Clutch change is not bad. Managed to do my sons on car ramps and suspended box rather than get it out from under car although the plate between the bell housing and engine gets caught up and get new bolts for driveshafts. Watch the bolts that go into dogbone bush at rear of box. They are different lengths and if you get them mixed up you will trash the steering rack as its above and the bolt goes too far in. I replaced slave while I was at it as although its external if it leaks you wont notice. There excellent cars and so far fairly easy to work on and pretty reliable.

Alasdair

37 minutes ago, Alasdair1 said:

The front windows may be the drivers side motor. It controls the passenger side as well. There known to fail electronics but Breezy Pete on here repaired my sons for me. Clutch change is not bad. Managed to do my sons on car ramps and suspended box rather than get it out from under car although the plate between the bell housing and engine gets caught up and get new bolts for driveshafts. Watch the bolts that go into dogbone bush at rear of box. They are different lengths and if you get them mixed up you will trash the steering rack as its above and the bolt goes too far in. I replaced slave while I was at it as although its external if it leaks you wont notice. There excellent cars and so far fairly easy to work on and pretty reliable.

Alasdair

Yeah I heard about the motor, but the passenger window works on it's own switch so I just bought a replacement drivers switch for £8. If it doesn't work then I'll sort the motor.

Thanks for the heads up on the clutch change. I was aware of the slave cylinder but thought they were internal, I'll change that too while I'm at it.

On my sons 1.2htp 55 plate its external but the actuator rod is inside. His clutch totalled itself suddenly with no warning. When I did the clutch there was a very slight leak from the internal rubber gator part so fitted a new one. There not expensive.

Alasdair