Thinking of trading in my 2001 Fabia SDI for a "55" Elegance TDI. Had a lot of niggly problems with my present car, particuarly trim rattles, dashboard creak, suspension noise, electrical problems (including intermittent pas probs) etc. Don't want to have to go through all of that again, and I'v heard that these sort of problems were sorted out by the time of the facelift in late 2004. Does anyone have any knowledge of this?

You'll get niggly issues from most cars as old as your SDi. The later cars obviously do benefit from lessons learnt in the preceding years but I'm not going to try and kid you that it won't have some problems as time goes by.

In general they are reliable though.

I have a pre face lift VRS and the only thing i can hear is one rattle i cant locate so really happy with it.

I've had my 55 plate Elegance TDI for exactly a year now and have been delighted with it. It has been completely reliable, no creaks or rattles, has excellent performance and 60+ mpg economy. The rear door carriers leaked, which I fixed myself in about half an hour with some roof and gutter sealant, but other than that, can't fault it.

Thanks for your response. I do get the impression that quite a lot of the early bugs had been sorted out by the time of the facelift. I'll have a test drive and see what I think.

By the way, Im looking for a difference of £6000 between trade in (good condition, Y reg SDI Classic, 94K miles) and "55" TDI Elegance with sunroof, 20K miles.

Thanks for your response. I do get the impression that quite a lot of the early bugs had been sorted out by the time of the facelift. I'll have a test drive and see what I think.

By the way, Im looking for a difference of £6000 between trade in (good condition, Y reg SDI Classic, 94K miles) and "55" Elegance with sunroof, 20K miles.

Theres plenty of post 04 models around which suit your needs and budget. Had mine nearly for 2.5 years nows and apart from just one dealer repair which wasnt anything major and very much a one off, no problems at all.