Fabia VRS Estate - Thoughts?

[Sam_68]

Balmoral said:

I wouldn't recommend a used one, they can drink oil which is a known problem, and I personally hate the 7spd DSG as fitted to this car (which is a bit different to other DSG's in the VAG range, and it's use as a manual is limited IMO). My car drinks oil and the gearbox sounds like a bag of spanners at times. I wouldn't touch one outside of the manufacturers warranty. A new one might still be a proposition, as one would assume these issues have since been rectified.

Mine is one of the very early cars like BG's (indeed a couple of weeks older than his, I think).

It doesn't drink oil (though some obviously do - ironically, they seem to fare better when thrashed mercilessly from new ) and the gearbox doesn't make funny noises, but unlike my previous Octavia vRS estate (which was absolutely faultless thoughout the 90K+ miles I ran it) it hasn't been without its glitches. In 33K miles so far I've had:

• Rear wiper motor failed (fixed under warranty)
• Boot lock solenoid developed an intermittent fault (fixed under warranty)
• Passenger window occasionally stops working, but re-sets itself when you remove and replace the fuse)
• The gearbox threw a tantrum once losing half the gears, accelerating hard from standstill out of a sharp bend... I think the wheelspin must have confused the computer and caused it to disable one of the two clutches. It reset itself when the ignition was switched off and restarted.

...so the reliability has been a bit of a disappointment, and it might be a bit of a gamble once the warranty is up.

If you treat the DSG gearbox as a quick, responsive automatic, it makes sense (though it does sometimes get confused and take a couple of seconds to sort out the right gear), but it still lacks the level of control you get from a manual.

[white_goodman]

If you fancy the Fabia then I would try one. There must be some good ones out there. Skodas generally seem to be more reliable than VWs and Seats for some reason and the dealers are supposed to be more helpful so you should be alright. The Fiat Panda 100HP is quite a fun, cheap to run, practical little car. Not automatic but well equipped, cheap and has roof rails. Probably not quite as roomy as the Skoda though!

It sounds like my commute is similar to yours. I drive a Subaru Impreza WRX Estate. It's not economical but it is fairly compact, practical, fun to drive and has a measure of off-road ability with the 4WD. The fuel costs were a bit of a shock coming out of a Polo TDI but then I'm not doing 30000 miles per year like I used to, so running costs are doable. It's been pretty reliable "touchwood" and the engines are strong. I appreciate that it's quite a bit different to a Fabia but definitely worth a look and cracking value for the performance on offer!

[tom felty]

nice car is that

[ArnageWRC]

Tophatron said:

Both offers exclude the vRS though, AFAIK..

I've had 2 mk1 vRS Fabias, but couldn't really warm to the mk2 - felt a bit cheap inside and looks worse than the previous model (IMO!). Some of the reliability problems people have had are a bit of a worry too.

I've still got my Mk1 vRS Fabia, but when I've finished paying for it in September, I'm thinking of the Yeti, will come in handy with MTB-ing and watching Rallying. I've looked at the new Fabia vRS, can't warm to it....looks a bit 'MaxPowered'....if you know what I mean.

[HBFS]

I probably have one of the highest mileage mk2 vRS's in the country (Hatch) @ 34k miles

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my car. I love it when I have a sub 50 miles drive, anything after that and I can get a bit fed up with the noise. I guess it has a firm ride too, but I can cope with with for lower mile journeys as longer journeys tend to be on a smoothish motorway.
I'm not sure how this compares with other small hot hatches as I've not driven any others...

I'm a bit annoyed with all the comments I've seen about reliability/ oil use. I think things are being overplayed, especially the person claiming three new engines - I don't believe that at all. Most of these 180bhp TSI's will be under warranty. If it goes wrong just go in and get it fixed! Apparently a lot of cars are most unreliable in the first two years due to niggles and bedding in.

Mine used about a litre of oil between 1500 miles at one point, so I took it in and it got fixed.
Have done 10,000 miles since with maybe a small top-up.
I did have an engine fault the other day, which again got fixed under warranty and Skoda kept me mobile with a courtesy car with no charges whatsoever.

When I read about oil usage complaints, I do wonder if people have actually taken these cars in (UNDER WARRANTY) to be looked at.

You can buy an official extended Skoda warranty - 5 years/ 100k miles for £295 or just £160 for 4 years and 80k miles.This warranty has exactly the same reasonable T&C's as the original warranty.

If you do relatively low miles, say 15k. DO IT, it's great fun!

OP, or others feel free to PM me with any questions about the car

[danyeates]

HBFS said:

I probably have one of the highest mileage mk2 vRS's in the country (Hatch) @ 34k miles

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with my car. I love it when I have a sub 50 miles drive, anything after that and I can get a bit fed up with the noise. I guess it has a firm ride too, but I can cope with with for lower mile journeys as longer journeys tend to be on a smoothish motorway.
I'm not sure how this compares with other small hot hatches as I've not driven any others...

I'm a bit annoyed with all the comments I've seen about reliability/ oil use. I think things are being overplayed, especially the person claiming three new engines - I don't believe that at all. Most of these 180bhp TSI's will be under warranty. If it goes wrong just go in and get it fixed! Apparently a lot of cars are most unreliable in the first two years due to niggles and bedding in.

Mine used about a litre of oil between 1500 miles at one point, so I took it in and it got fixed.
Have done 10,000 miles since with maybe a small top-up.
I did have an engine fault the other day, which again got fixed under warranty and Skoda kept me mobile with a courtesy car with no charges whatsoever.

When I read about oil usage complaints, I do wonder if people have actually taken these cars in (UNDER WARRANTY) to be looked at.

You can buy an official extended Skoda warranty - 5 years/ 100k miles for £295 or just £160 for 4 years and 80k miles.This warranty has exactly the same reasonable T&C's as the original warranty.

If you do relatively low miles, say 15k. DO IT, it's great fun!

OP, or others feel free to PM me with any questions about the car

Thanks for this. Still a bit undecided. I really like the car, but can't believe all these horror stories!

Must admit, I am tempted by this, but I'm not quite ready to buy just yet! http://www.skoda.co.uk/gbr/finance/offers/novat/Pa...

It seems it does cover the VRS and DSG models.

[Chrisw666]

danyeates said:

Must admit, I am tempted by this, but I'm not quite ready to buy just yet! http://www.skoda.co.uk/gbr/finance/offers/novat/Pa...

It seems it does cover the VRS and DSG models.

It doesn't seem to cover any of their models people would actually want.

I've been tempted by a Fabia but scared off by tales of oil use and general issues that have landed them in the dealerships, if you can put up with that hassle try and find a good lease deal on one, at least that way you won't wind up out of warranty with 2 chargers, a complex gearbox and a bag of expensive German electronics to fix.

[Tophatron]

danyeates said:

Thanks for this. Still a bit undecided. I really like the car, but can't believe all these horror stories!

Must admit, I am tempted by this, but I'm not quite ready to buy just yet! http://www.skoda.co.uk/gbr/finance/offers/novat/Pa...

It seems it does cover the VRS and DSG models.

Unfortunately it doesn't. From that link:

0% VAT model exclusions: Fabia 1.4 SE, VRS and DSG. Octavia Scout and 4x4. Superb Estate all diesel models. Roomster DSG models. All Yeti models

0% APR Representative model exclusions: Fabia 1.4 SE. Fabia S, SE, SE Plus, Monte Carlo, Greenline, VRS and DSG models. Octavia S, SE, SE Plus, VRS, Greenline, Scout and 4x4 models. Superb Hatch S, SE, SE Plus. Superb Estate all diesel models, S, SE, SE Plus Petrol models. Roomster S, SE, SE Plus, Greenline and DSG Models. All Yeti models

It's a shame, as it did last time around and it made the vRS super cheap, less than £13k from memory.

[edward1]

I know you said that an oil burner was out, but if you like the fabia then have you considered the 1.9 diesel.

My father in law has a 1.9Pd engined fabia (now 3yr old) with the VAG group 1.9PDI 110hp (i think) engine. I goes OK and delivers good mpg 45-50 and doesn't have the dreaded dpf.

I always find the car a little narrow, especially from the load area. Apart from that it is better built than a ford or Vx, handles well although could do with deeper profile tyres. It is as bad a ride on rough roads as my polybushed XKr running 20" rims.

[PaperCut]

Sticking with VAG, have you considered a Seat Altea? A sort of MPV-style hatch that has a fairly big boot (or the Altea XL) which is about the same size as the Fabia. Also has that 1.4 TSi engine and DSG (i think!). Granted it won't be as fast as the vRS, but it doesn't have the sporty connotations that does. Just a suggestion!

As a side note, i know you were wanting to keep costs low but the Altea XL Freetrack (albeit a rare car) comes with either a 2.0 TFSi 200bhp petrol or 2.0 TDi 170bhp diesel, part-time 4wd and does actually handle very well. Looks good in a sort of rugged/sporty way and has lots of room and a big boot! Can be had for under £10k.

[BettySwollocks2]

please dont listen to all the oil moaners, at the end of the day theyre the only ones that make a fuss because if someones car is running fine then theyre not gonna say anything about it.

The fabia is a great car, I have been running my hatch for 12 months and 11000 miles and it has used 1 Litre of oil in that whole time. Never had any problems with the car whatsoever apart from a rattle in the Dash which has now been fixed.

the best thing for you to do OP is go and grab a test drive, I test drove the estate and it was great, went for the hatch as I dont need the size of the estate.

[Tophatron]

PaperCut said:

As a side note, i know you were wanting to keep costs low but the Altea XL Freetrack (albeit a rare car) comes with either a 2.0 TFSi 200bhp petrol or 2.0 TDi 170bhp diesel, part-time 4wd and does actually handle very well. Looks good in a sort of rugged/sporty way and has lots of room and a big boot! Can be had for under £10k.

Rare all right, I didn't even know they existed!

[GreatGranny]

You want to cut the cost of your motoring yet are talking about buying a brand new car on finance.

Haven't the PH massive taught you anything?

Spend half your original budget on something like this

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

[danyeates]

Tophatron said:

danyeates said:

Thanks for this. Still a bit undecided. I really like the car, but can't believe all these horror stories!

Must admit, I am tempted by this, but I'm not quite ready to buy just yet! http://www.skoda.co.uk/gbr/finance/offers/novat/Pa...

It seems it does cover the VRS and DSG models.

Unfortunately it doesn't. From that link:

0% VAT model exclusions: Fabia 1.4 SE, VRS and DSG. Octavia Scout and 4x4. Superb Estate all diesel models. Roomster DSG models. All Yeti models

0% APR Representative model exclusions: Fabia 1.4 SE. Fabia S, SE, SE Plus, Monte Carlo, Greenline, VRS and DSG models. Octavia S, SE, SE Plus, VRS, Greenline, Scout and 4x4 models. Superb Hatch S, SE, SE Plus. Superb Estate all diesel models, S, SE, SE Plus Petrol models. Roomster S, SE, SE Plus, Greenline and DSG Models. All Yeti models

It's a shame, as it did last time around and it made the vRS super cheap, less than £13k from memory.

Doh, must learn to read properly! I missed the word "exclusions"!

[danyeates]

GreatGranny said:

You want to cut the cost of your motoring yet are talking about buying a brand new car on finance.

Haven't the PH massive taught you anything?

Spend half your original budget on something like this

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

It’s not so much that I’m looking to cut the cost of my motoring, it’s more that I want to retain the low cost of motoring that the Civic has offered, but I’d like a newer car with a bit more go! Nice Leon though...

[Balmoral]

BettySwollocks2 said:

Stuff about 'moaners'

If you've got a good un, I'm pleased for you. But there are genuine issues with this drivetrain, and those issues are not rare. We're not talking about a 'one off' or a tiny percentage of owners experience.

I had two previous Fabia vRS and I would have quite happily bought either of them at the end of their lease, especially the last one, a Blue LE.

But not this one, It's a POS and I can't wait to bail out of it.

[sjg]

I've got a hatch, which has been fine so far - none of the supposedly-common issues around oil consumption and the like.

Wanted an estate, but I needed a car in a hurry and there were none that suited and at the right price. Local dealer had a 3-month-old demo hatch that was fully specced up and at a very decent price. I really like it, plenty of power, DSG works well, and for me it's incredibly cheap to insure.

You won't get 40mpg around town, my combined figure including quite a bit of motorway is hovering about 37. I'd expect low 30s or worse if it's all 6-mile journeys in traffic.

As others have said, I'd be a bit wary of buying one that will be out of warranty quite soon - the twincharger engine and DSG have plenty of expensive possible failure points. When I get to the end of 3 years I'll be looking at warranty options and thinking hard about whether I want to keep it.

[Sam_68]

Balmoral said:

...there are genuine issues with this drivetrain, and those issues are not rare. We're not talking about a 'one off' or a tiny percentage of owners experience.

But to be fair - and as has been pointed out by others - the oil consumption issue seems to be something that either the car leaves the factory with (in which case get it fixed under warranty) or else never happens... there's no evidence to suggest that it's something that can develop later in the engine's life?

Similarly, whilst the electrical gremlins I've suffered don't inspire confidence, they're factory quality control issues more than anything, so once fixed under warranty there's no reason to expect them to recurr.

I'm still ambivalent about mine (one of the good ones in terms of oil consumption, and probably one of the highest mileage examples out there - I went through the 34K miles mark on the odometer yesterday), but that's due to the characteristics of the DSG gearbox and the pretty average handling (unacceptable levels of torque steer and tramlining for a modern hatch, IMO), both of which people can make their own minds up about on an extended test drive.

Edited by Sam_68 on Wednesday 14th March 18:15

[daydotz]

im another concerned owner i bought a a polo gti hoping for years of trouble free motoring my cars not even 12months old yet and has had extensive engine work which is no guarantee it wont happen again im aware of cars that the fault has returned and some even started having problems later on


problems with dsg and misfires are also a worry

[Sam_68]

sjg said:

You won't get 40mpg around town, my combined figure including quite a bit of motorway is hovering about 37. I'd expect low 30s or worse if it's all 6-mile journeys in traffic.

This is true - sjg must have a reasonably light foot to manage an average of 37, even.

I average between 28mpg (summer) and 32mpg (winter, when I tend to drive more cautiously), with pretty much a 50/50 mix of rural roads and motorways with the odd foray into Bristol, shopping. I've seen as low as 18mpg average on my brisker drives home from work in summer - it's not a particularly fuel-efficient engine.

Short journeys in traffic, I'd suggest you need to assume 28mpg and take anything more than that as a bonus.