Goodness! What an enthusiastic forum!

Just bought a lovely 2nd hand fabia the other day. Nice little 1.4 estate, W reg.

But the gearbox is horrible! 1st gear is cleverly hidden right next to reverse with the same kind of push-down action and 2nd is offset from first on the gate.

Am I lacking coordination in my arm or is it just this one gearbox....?

Pete

You shouldn't need to push down for first - It should be up & left, with no push down. And likewise 2nd gear should be simply down and left with no pushing down. They can be quite notchy on cold mornings, at first start, but usually they free up easily enough. If 2nd is offset a bit, there could be something a little amiss - perhaps just with the gear linkage cables?

and welcome to Briskoda.

:iagree:

sounds like a gear linkage problem to me!

Thanks! Methinks I will have to have a word with the dealer I got it from. I feel slightly uncomfortable now...

if you bought that from a franchised skoda then frankly that is awefull, that is such a noticeable fault that the person who drove the car to test it should have noticed that staright away...

go and complain!!

Yep. Its booked in to have the linkages sorted. There was much dismay, I think. I only hope it is not indicative of the general state of the car, which, personally, I thought was in good nick, which was why I bought it.

We'll see what they come up with when they get the gearbox out.

Thanks for the responses, people.