Picked up my new (to me) 1.9TDi Ambiente Estate today so thought I'd post my first impressions.

It's a 56 plate in Storm Blue.

It looks better than I remember and the £300 spent on roof bars was a good decision. I love the solid feel to the doors and tailgate too.

Economy on the motorway isn't quite as good as expected according to the computer. I'd hoped to get better than 60 MPG at 60MPH (I drive slowly) but it looks like 55MPG is where it's at.

One thing I don't like is the fact that the clock is part of the computer display. That should be seperate in my opinion. Silly really.

Driving position is good, excellent visibility too. The rear screen seems a long way away...

I like the fact that the rear view mirror is 'invisibly' attached to the screen.

The red lights at the bottom of the door are a sensible touch, and the sound system if first rate.

Very good so far then, I assume that nobody will mind if I post my opinion again after a few weeks with the car.

Finally, I am tempted to get cruise control fitted. My ECU will allow it.

Would I see any economy improvement with it fitted? Obviously from a comfort point of view it's worthwhile, but if I can justify it with better MPG then I'd certainly go for it.

Cheers all, safe motoring.

Welcome to Briskoda.

Glad you are enjoying the car, my vrs is topping 55.0mpg on a long run that we do, mainly get about 50-52 on other runs and about 38-43 in town.

Feel free to air your opinion about the car in a few weeks time.

Davy

Welcome & it's good to hear your views.

SWMBO drives a Fabia Tdi Elegance Estate, with cruise fitted and TBH we don't see much better than 55mpg at motorway speeds whether using cruise or not. However, cruise is a great add on if you do a lot of motorway driving regardless of fuel economy !

The Fabia Estate is a terrific small estate car and it's even better when it's re-mapped, this makes it a much nicer & sportier car to drive IMHO.

Looking forward to hearing more of your views in due course.

I have had a Fabia TDI Elegance estate with cruse control which since I do a lot of town driving and have to pass a lot of cameras I find putting it in 3rd gear and switching on the cruse control keeps me out of trouble ) The cruse control on a longer run is great and is much more relaxing and the last long run I got about 60 to the gallon at about 65 to 69 mph. Have just filled up and got 41.5 to the gallon on town running

C Control will not help in your quest for more MPG, but still nice to have in those average MPH sections

Cruise won't be quite as economical due to it not lifting off on the downhill sections until it detects the speed creeping up, although there won't be much in it. It's still great to use in everyday driving though and useful along strectches where there are known speed cameras.

Welcome! Nice write up and look forward to hearing more thoughts soon.

Safe driving!

Jon

Welcome - agree about the clock as that's an annoying feature!

I'm not convinced cruise will help with the economy as it can't anticipate as well as you can, eg if you're going down hill you can allow the speed to run a little higher and use the "free" speed gained to get up the other side.

May make the car more desirable come retail time though.

Chris

No cruise control it is then. :-)

I have noticed my car pulls slightly to the left. Is this normal or might I need it to be looked at?

Thanks

Steve

My clock is separate from the computer display :P Cost alot to do but is worth it

Cruise control is a lovely feature and can be fitted to your fabia.

Fabia-vrs.com - Home Page

Have a look at stus site ^^, its really informative and a credit to the bloke, he's put alot of effort into it and it really shows really usefull and a must for any fabia owner.

____

john

No cruise control it is then. :-)

I have noticed my car pulls slightly to the left. Is this normal or might I need it to be looked at?

Thanks

Steve

If its a very gentle wander to the left then its normal:eek:

I love my combi, it's got a pd160 intake, a resistor tuning box, hearse bars on the roof and vRS wheels - an RS4 estate for the short sight sighted

Actually I feel compelled to add a bit more now after 3 days of ownership.

The pulling to the left is perhaps more severe than it should be and the garage is going to take a look.

I've worked out that there's a double set of stats on the computer which is really cool. Nice touch Skoda.

Economy is better than I first thought. I drove steadily to Bristol and back and returned 66 MPG ( Sat at 55MPH on the motorway which is naughty but I just wanted a 'best case' figure )

I'm finding the heater controls annoyingly low and annoyingly small.

They could have been placed higher and the row of switches/cubby hole much lower in my opinion.

I'm even more impressed with the sound system now that I've been driving on my own. I assume that the new version has an MP3 socket though my dealer says they can do it on mine via a flylead. Will go for this I think.

Performance when I put my foot down is still making me smile and through a few country lanes the handling is a thrill. Don't think I could tolerate a harder ride though, so a vRS might not be such a good idea.

I am now seriously considering trading in my wife's RAV 4 D4D-VX for a Fabia hatch. Probably an Elegance, and certainly a 1.9Tdi

Sadly I'm going to need a towbar soon, so it's going to be bodywork cutting time. Ah well.

Cheers all.

I'm also going to instal towbar to my estate fabia soon. Any tips or pictures about the fitting would be great.

I've worked out that there's a double set of stats on the computer which is really cool. Nice touch Skoda.

The set with the '(/)' symbol are an average over the last 2000 miles or since you last reset it. The set without is the average for that journey (plus a break of up to 2 hours for motorway stops, etc...)

Hi all I also bought a fabia 1.9tdi comfort est 6-7wks ago top mpg i've had was 58 on good runs not even motorway cumbria to newcastle, now im avg upto 50.

My only gripe at this moment is the price of the OIL!

Because it has to have PD oil.

Comments welcome

I really like the look of the estate - i.e. not like an estate at all, more like designed from the ground up to look that way

Both "Senior Management" and myself run 1.9tdi Elegance Estates and have done for nearly 3 years. I swopped my previous car as soon as I tried hers and we got 60+mpg over 5000 very varied miles in France. My car is slightly less economical but still does over 55mpg. I put it down to the wheels and tyres which are the optional 16" Poli rims with 205/45/16 tyres. Cruise control (standard on the Elegance) does not improve mpg - just the opposite IMHO.