OT: Anyone here got / had a Skoda Fabia? Thoughts please?

[T i m]

<Checks> Yeah, that looks like another practical car.

It is. She's a very 'practical' girl and so uses her car for all sorts of things. It could have dogs in the back one min, 3 peoples 'big dhop' the next and a lawnmower and other gardening stuff the next.

Looking at estates again I think her first offer to take on our Meriva (that she would be very familiar in after her Corsa as the Meriva A is based on her Corsa C) and us to have an estate again is a good idea!

As long as the spares situation is good, especially second hand stuff etc? (The 'Spaceback' looks the part though). ;-)

That's another good thing about the Corsa is they sold a fair few of them and so second hand bits are readily available.

Compare that with the 'best seller' Rapid (well, according to that site):

(although the good news is it looks like most of them are still out there). ;-)

I have no real experience of them, being mostly a 'Ford man' (Company Mk2 Escort Saloon, Mk4 Cortina Estate, Mk1 Sierra Estate (bought off the Company for £25 and drove for 23 years in total) and the kitcar built on a Mk2 Escort etc).

I have also had Rover 218SD (Honda Concerto with Peugeot Diesel?) that served me well and a couple of Bedford CF (Vauxhall?) Ex Ambulance camper vans.

Oh, we did have an (Dads) old 1.4i GL Astra saloon that was like a comfy old glove (and would take a 3 seater leather sofa on the roof-rack <g>) that got hit-and-run squashed by a lost arctic turning round one night. ;-(

I've had to do 'bits' on all of them (and daughters Corsa) and luckily because they were all fairly common / main stream, you could get pattern / second hand parts easily / cheaply for all of them.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

<snip>

Hmm, I only ever had one Sierra Estate as that lasted me 23 years. ;-)

Over the 23 years in the Sierra I was only let down twice. Once when the cam belt broke (safe engine, back running 60 mins later) and another when a brake caliper seized and I was taken home by the AA nominated recovery (where I had to fix the lights on the truck before we could set off). ;-)

Yeah, our Astra 1.4GL Saloon didn't need anything much that I remember and that had 125,000 on the clock when it was written off whilst parked. ;-(

The Meriva is 16 years old and I replaced the AC condenser rad a couple of years back and it's still working fine?

Daughter has driven a couple of her works Astra panel estates and I think she was happy with them so another option to keep an eye on. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[nothanks]

Aha! So you're the person who bought a C5, I've often wondered who it was ;-)

[T i m]

<snip>

I think you will find that all that were made were sold (new), all be it not at the full RRP. ;-)

*Everone* who has had a go in mine thought they are brilliant (and they were, ergonomically and technically, considering the limitations they were designed to comply to), it's just we weren't ready for them then as we aren't now, or even for std pedal cycles for that matter. ;-(

I mostly used mine like they use 'pit bikes' today and that was to get around when at a race meeting with my electric motorbike. Very handy for nipping up the shops and coming back with a load of cold drinks in the boot (given the car was the nearest we had to the pit garage). ;-)

The 48V quad motor C5 used to really go and was often entered in the 'Short Senior' race (15 mins, 48V, nothing to do with the height of the rider). ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News]

Weren't they popular as the cheapest car of its type on the UK market?

[T i m]

Yeah, I think so, or it may have been the cheapest 'half decent' car, compared with the likes of the Moskvich anyway. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[RJH]

Well yes, I suppose! I'd bought it at 100,000/4 years old, so I couldn't be sure of its history.

I took it to SEAT for a service/belt change, just to get it back on track. They picked up the coil pack issue - it had been on recall for a while. Impressed with their service.

[Chris Bartram]

I had a Mk1 Fabia vRS (so the 130 BHP PD Diesel, manual 6-speed) for a couple of years, from when it was about 14 months old and 20k miles IIRC, and did about 35k in it.

No trouble beyond a broken interior air vent fixed under warranty. Trim wasn't as smart as other VAG brands, but still better than some other cars. Fairly spacious for a small car.

Fairly quick (and felt very quick). 40-60 mpg. Comfortable, easy to drive. Generally pretty proven VAG oily bits and electronics.

Only got rid of it because I needed an auto.

I had an entry-level Mk2 Fabia 1.2 as a loaner when the vRS was in for a service, and that was fine too. Obviously it didn't go or stop like the vRS but it was a perfectly acceptable car.