Skoda Fabia 1.4 Estate

...started looking seriously at the Skoda Fabia. I had read a few comments about it in various magazines and I knew it uses a VW platform but with the cars fitted in Czechoslovakia. I read loads of good comments and favourable reviews, and I had even been to my local Skoda garage (in Greenford) to get an idea of what a car would cost and what I could get for my money. I wasn’t overly impressed by this garage’s range of used cars on offer, which is why ...
...to go back to a Skoda garage. I decided to go to a different Skoda garage (Brookdene in Watford). The salesman gave me a chance to have a look around before asking me if I needed any help. I was looking at the difference between the Skoda Fabia hatchback and the Skoda Fabia estate. There is about a foot difference in the length of cars, but the difference in the boot space seems so much more than that. So after considering my needs and sitting in ... more

When my last Volvo 340 started to become a bit unreliable in the winter of 1993, I decided that I needed a new car. There was no hesitation, I wanted another Volvo 340 and managed to find an H-Reg that was in good condition and I bought that. All in all, my 2 little Volvo 340’s have taken me through 18 years of driving.

At the end of June I was told that my H-Reg Volvo would fail its MOT, it needed around £500 work for it to pass. So I had to make a decision. Pay the money and keep the car for another year (otherwise I wouldn’t get the benefit of the work done), or just let it go and go and buy a new car. After a few tears I decided on the latter. I had already started to look at other cars and try to work out what my next car would be, but I just hadn’t expected to backed into a corner like this quite so soon. I had wanted to get my car through the MOT and then spend a few weeks looking round for the exact right car. But it was not to be, it was time to get moving.

I had already started looking seriously at the Skoda Fabia. I had read a few comments about it in various magazines and I knew it uses a VW platform but with the cars fitted in Czechoslovakia. I read loads of good comments and favourable reviews, and I had even been to my local Skoda garage (in Greenford) to get an idea of what a car would cost and what I could get for my money. I wasn’t overly impressed by this garage’s range of used cars on offer, which is why I had wanted to hold on to my Volvo 340 for a little longer.

So, once I knew my little Volvo was going to be replaced I knew it was time to go back to a Skoda garage. I decided to go to a different Skoda garage (Brookdene in Watford). The salesman gave me a chance to have a look around before asking me if I needed any help. I was looking at the difference between the Skoda Fabia hatchback and the Skoda Fabia estate. There is about a foot difference in the length of cars, but the difference in the boot space seems so much more than that. So after considering my needs and sitting in the driver seat and checking the rear-view vision in both cars, I decided for definite that I was interested in buying the estate version.

After checking out the used car availability on the Skoda website (www.skoda.co.uk) and visiting the Skoda garage in High Wycombe, I went back to Brookdene in Watford and chose an October 2001 Skoda Fabia Estate 1.4MPI in Nature Green metallic with air conditioning and central locking. The cost - £6500 including a full year’s vehicle tax, not bad – I’d negotiated them down from £6995.

I’ve now been driving the car for a month, so the question is, what do I think, am I pleased?

Bodywork – the car is nearly 2 years old and I’m the third owner. The second owner had small children and I think that the few small scratches around the handles are because she had trouble fumbling with keys when trying to get everyone and everything in the car! I’ve bought a touch up pen and I’m going to just cover them up. The body work is under warranty for 10 years and is made from galvanised steel which should be fully rust resistant, so I’m not too concerned about the tiny marks, and it’s to be expected on a used car.

Interior – the car I’ve bought has the standard grey cloth interior. Again, it’s noticeable that this car has had children in it as the cloth is slightly soiled. I’ve bought upholstery cleaner and I’ve no doubt that the small stains will be cleaned quite easily. The car also came with floor mats which I prefer to have to ensure that the carpet does not get muddy on those horrible wet days.

Engine – I’m completely clueless when it comes to the technical aspects of car engines as I expect quite a few people on this site would be. I opened up the bonnet and it looked completely different to my old Volvo engine – there is this big huge black box with places to check oil and water, where previously my car engine was a swirl of metal. It looks nice and neat and it sounds good. Yesterday while my car was running, I got out to get something out of the boot, I was trying to work out if my car was still running or not while I was standing outside – it purrs very quietly.
Power – ok, my last car had a small engine and so has this. I’m not bothered about being able to streak along at 150mph, you can’t go that fast anyway (legally!). I’ve found that a 1.4 engine adequately suits my needs and I’ve found both my old Volvo and this car are extremely nippy around town. I’ve beaten a Porsche at the getaway at some traffic lights (needless to say, he overtook me a couple of minutes later!) As I drive around London, sometimes you need to put your foot down and go for it; otherwise you would be sitting there 3 hours later with 10 mile tailback behind you. On those occasions when I’ve had to do that, I’ve found that my car responds well with no sluggishness.

Dashboard – on the dash, the rev counter is on the left and the speedometer on the right. The rev counter includes an area in red which is not to be ventured into unless you want to wreck the engine. The speedometer has one minor niggle for me, it has in bold the speeds of 20, 40, 60, etc, however, 30mph is not highlighted – I personally feel that should be a feature of a UK based vehicle, but I shall get used to it! In an LCD display within the rev counter is the on board computer. This is my little toy!!! On the end of the windscreen wiper control is a button which you can use to scroll down the features of the computer. You can scroll down through a digital clock, mph, average mph, miles per gallon, average miles per gallon, time of journey, temperature. I’ve been transfixed by this feature ever since I’ve had the car, it’s just one of those gadgets that you really enjoy playing with!! The speedometer contains an LCD milometer which can be zeroed by pushing a small button near the milometer.

Steering wheel – ok, this is another quirky little feature of my car. The steering wheel has a lever underneath which locks the steering wheel in position. If you pull it down you can then adjust the steering wheel in and out or up and down in order to get a perfectly comfortable driving position. Please note that this shouldn’t be adjusted while you are driving!! I spent quite a while adjusting this when I first bought the car to make sure my driving position was comfortable, and I shouldn’t really have to change this again.

Seats – I’ve found that the seats are quite hard and I find that this is a good thing. If you seat is too soft, it doesn’t aid alertness whilst driving. The driver’s seat and the front passenger seat have levers to move the chair forward and back as normal. The driver’s seat also has an additional lever on the side which can be used to heighten or lower the seat. Both front seats also have the ability to change the seat angle position. There are three back seats - the middle back seat has a lap belt. The seats can be lowered to increase the size of the boot space – you can lower all three at once, or you can lower a single seat or two seats separately. This means you could still drive with one or two people in the back and still increase your boot capacity.

Boot area – moving swiftly onto the boot – this is the reason I bought the Estate rather than the hatchback. The boot capacity is ample – I’ve found modern cars seem to have reduced the boot capacity and my old Volvo hatchback had about 3 times the boot capacity of the Fabia Hatchback. The Fabia Estate boot is probably just a little bit larger than my Volvo’s. The boot has a sliding shelf which can be pulled over to hide the contents – I generally leave this in place at all times, then no one can see how messy the boot is!! I do have one gripe about the boot though. There is no way of unlocking it with a key. To open the boot you have to open the driver’s door and pull on the lever to open the boot – there are times when I would like to open the boot without opening the car, but I’m sure I will get used to this minor niggle.

Air-conditioning – how on earth did I drive around in the summer without this? I always thought that air-conditioning was an unnecessary luxury, but that’s before I owned a car that had it!! I’ve used it in the hot weather and I’ve used it to aid demisting when it’s been wet. In addition the air-conditioning vents also have a vent in the glove compartment and a small compartment next to the steering wheel. This means that if you have the vents open in these two compartments, you can use them as a cool box – a wonderful idea! As a note on air-conditioning, my uncle gets lots of work every Spring fixing air-conditioning units in cars which have stopped working over the winter. To make sure that doesn’t happen, my uncle recommends that you use the air-conditioning for ½ hour a week, every week – come rain, snow or shine!

Petrol consumption – I’ve only used my car in London urban traffic so far (which have included a number of traffic jams!) – the petrol consumption has so far ranged between 30mpg and 36mpg (or so my little on board computer tells me!) The lower range is when I’ve been using the air-conditioning. I’m sure on a long run the petrol consumption will be good.

Petrol type – use normal unleaded – details of what should be used can be found inside the petrol cop cover along with the tyre pressures.

Dimensions – shock horror, the Skoda Fabia Estate is actually smaller than my Volvo 340 – I would never have believed it. The car seems so spacious yet it’s compact, I like this in a car.

Glove Compartment – the glove compartment is actually quite large. When you open it up, it doesn’t look that big, but there’s a tray inside which you can lift up and there is another part of the compartment underneath. As noted before the glove compartment can act as a cool box when the air-conditioning vent is switched in the on position, which I’ve already used in the hot weather bringing some dairy products home from Sainsbury’s! In addition, the lid of the glove compartment contains 2 cup holders when in the open position, and a holder for a pen.

Driving Experience – well, am I pleased – yes. If I were to go back in time, I would still make the same decision, I’ve bought the right car for me. Now that I’ve got over my “driving new car nerves”, I’m finding it an easy and enjoyable car to drive. The visibility out of the front windscreen is excellent, the back view not as good as my old Volvo, but look at all cars, and they all seem to have reduced back screen visibility to what I’m used to and you’ve just got to get used to using your mirrors more.

So, I’m happy. But would you buy a Skoda? I asked a couple of male work colleagues what they thought of Skodas. The response was that they thought them excellent cars, but they wouldn’t want to drive them unless the badge was changed! Personally, I’m not bothered about whether a car is “cool” or “uncool” to coin phrases from Top Gear, but, I do want value for money. I think I’ve got a lot of car for not as much dosh as similar age and quality cars. I do believe it is going to be a very reliable car. On reliability - it achieved 97% reliability in a recent Which magazine review. Out of 205 Fabia owners questioned, 3% said their car had broken down or failed to start in the last 12 months - this put Fabias in the top third for reliability. So forget your brand awareness, buy a Skoda today!

 

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