Skoda Fabia reviews

I have recently sold my Skoda fabia after 3 years of ownership and thought I'd share my experiences. Firstly the looks are a little dated by modern standards, but after a good clean and polish it still looks a very nice car and appears planted and sporty with the green brake callipers, a subtle spoiler and flattened exhaust. The interior however is uninspiring. Don't get me wrong, everything works, all buttons and functions, it's just a bit dull. The worst part though is the cloth seats which are grey in colour. They mark easy and are a complete b**ch to clean! The engine is a solid performer. Yes it clatters around like an older diesel and sounds unmistakably like an older diesel but it can still make you grin with how it delivers it's torquey power. Foot down between 1750-3000rpm and it pulls well and can overtake effortlessly. It's not a 'fast' car but it's punchy. Keep it between those revs and you'll pick up speed satisfyingly well. Hold out for more revs and it runs out of puff oh so quickly. In it's hay day it would surprise many cars with how it could gather pace. Nowadays not so much, where every other car is a 2.0tdi and much more linear. Wear and tear aside it is reliable. The alternator packed up recently but other than that only the window regulator has broken causing the window to sink into the door. But it's never let me down on a winter's day or after long drives. It is a workhorse and feels like it's just happy to 'Keep going'. Best part though is the running costs. Fuel is easily in the low 50mpg without even trying. Try and it's very late 50's or even over 60mpg. Drive hard and you'll be low to mid 40's which is seriously excellent! Overall a decent car. Don't expect to break records or win many drag races but don't expect to be sat behind a Honda Jazz doing 40 in a 50mph zone for long with that torque.

Nice car. If you use the gear stick you can get low-end sporty performance. The 1.6 common rail diesel has excellent bottom end torque with fairly good economy: It's averaged 58mpg over 30k miles 50%/50% town and long distance. It's comfy, has adequate storage especially when the back seats are folded down. Its downsides are: just small petty things: 1) if you drive in the rain then the wing mirrors get covered in water droplets and you can't use them properly ... everything becomes a blur; 2) in the rain if you have the drivers window open slightly you get covered in water! ---- Clever design to suck rain in!; 3) the resistor pack for the heater blower fails like there is no tomorrow .... Costs a packet to get it replaced only to have it fail again within a few months; 4) wheel tracking is a major problem: the tyres wear out very quickly .... there's an inherent design problem somewhere that causes the tracking to get out of sync within a few months of it having been retracked (Gets expensive!); windscreen wipers need replacing almost annually .... they split in the middle and you can only buy whole units which make it very expensive. Nice things: Comfort; dashboard; roominess for this type of car; economy; radio/CD player; positive gearbox; .... but most of all, just what a nice EASY car it is to drive .... :) :) Rating overall: This could be a brilliant car apart from the basic failures of things that should not fail. Would I buy another one? Not quite a no ... My next car will be a Skoda Octavia Estate .... Why? Because it has that extra flexibility for boot capacity.

I bought this car in 2003 as a low mileage ex hire car that had coffee stains on the front passenger seat. This was rectified by a good valet service. Until I retired from full time work, I used this car for commuting, mostly on motorways. During the summer the trip computer normally recorded 59 MPG. A calculated consumption showed 54 MPG. During the winter this dropped to a calculated 52 MPG. The car was used every summer for camping trips for three people on the continent. The load area and the roof bars provided good load carrying capacity for all the equipment for these trips. This car performs very well and is sure footed and comfortable for both short and long journeys. I like driving on small mountain roads in the Alps and have not yet tired of the available performance of this car. To date the only time the car has failed to start was after it had not been used for 7 weeks while I was in hospital. It has covered just over 150000 miles and is now showing some signs of age. The air conditioning needs to be re-gassed every 10 to 12 months. There is an intermittent electrical fault on the back door lock, a rear side door has to be slammed before the back door can be opened and the service interval indication is no longer working. Last year some suspension components had to be replaced. Regular routine servicing is carried out as required on mileage. So overall this car is reliable, easy to live with, fun to drive when traffic conditions allow and economical to own.

I bought the car second hand from a Skoda main dealer 6 years ago. The current mileage is around 55-56000. I haven't had any major problems but there have been a number of minor issues. Perhaps the most serious was a seat belt failing to retract properly. My wife's Fabia Estate bought new in 2003 also had a seat belt failing to retract properly which makes me wonder if there is was a design/manufacturing fault. The seat belts had to be replaced. Another fault on both cars was significant damp on the floor. The Skoda dealer said words to the effect that this could happen if water seeped into the door between the door window and the seal and the back door wasn't opened very often. Extra sealant has been added (at our expense) which seems to have solved the problem. Concerning the control layout, the ventilation controls are below the audio unit and not always easy to see while driving. The layout would be better if the audio and ventilation controls were interchanged, which I believe has been done on the 2007 model. I've no plans to replace the car but my choice would be based on independent review and not necessarily another Skoda - there's plenty of competition. Verdict: OK but not outstanding.

Great 'super mini' estate car which is enjoyable to drive, most reliable and economocal to maintain. Now that fuel costs have risen I wish it had a bit better mpg ! I get just under 40mpg around town and up 50 on longer, 50-60mph runs. It is comfortable - folks are surprised how good a ride they get, front or back. Good little workhorse too; we can carry my wife's eletric mobility scooter (it comes apart for transportation)in the boot, fill the back seat with suitcases etc and easily travel at the speed limit on all types of roads, including motorways. Fold back seats down - or take them out - and you have a great space for carry stuff to the tip, fetching DIY materials and so on. Interior is smart, front seats and steering column adjustable, heating and aircon work well. Power steering really good, brakes excellent. A great motor, real value for money. I was a passenger recently in a much newer Ford Focus was like riding in a van compared with my Fabia. Simply worlds apart. Would I recommend it - definately yes. Would I buy a Skoda again? Oh yes!

My car has the original 8-valve engine, developed from the old unit used in previous Skoda vehicles. It is reasonably lively but economy is poor by modern standards. It is certainly not exciting to drive; rather it is comfortable and engenders confidence. It gets a mixture of local and log distance trips and quite often has a trailer or folding caravan behind it. It has been reliable, and durable. When parts have been required they have been readily available at reasonable cost. One remarkably poor piece of design is the location of the electric power steering pump and fluid reservoir. The easiest way to check the fluid level, and the only way to top it up, is to remove the air filter box, the battery and then the battery box. It's not surprising the level is so often ignored until it's too late. In a car in which so much is well designed, this deficiency is surprising. All together I have been very pleased with the Fabia and will probably buy another when this one finally expires.

I have owned my Skoda Fabia from new having owned one previously. What I like the reliability and low running costs ( 60 mpg is usual ) combined with VW's famous build quality. Not to forget that the body is galvanised, so no rust problems. Being a hatchback with lots of room it's also handy for collecting quite large items including recently a gate-leg table. It's very comfortable on long journeys and I'm never tired, it's also easy to park. The downside if I can call it that is with such a small engine it can struggle a bit on big hills but as I never drive faster than 60 mph. and my normal speed is around 50mph, it's not a problem for me. I have never taken any gear over 3000 rpm. even on big hills and you guessed it, I do drive easy and have looked after this car. Would I buy a 3rd Skoda, well the answer is most definitely YES because it's good value for money and has never let me down.

My Skoda Fabia Comfort has only done 43,000 in 13 years and is still reliable despite having spent most of it's life in the open air. Electrics are now becoming suspect, including window winding due in no small part to having weathered under a Silver Birch for many winters. Moss is causing problems in the rubber grooves. The power steering is also suspect with warning lights coming on after some miles but no deterioration in steering told it could be a faulty Lambada, however the 'lambada' was replaced before I purchased said car[ whatever a Lambada is]. I am retired and the car is only used for a weekly shop and just sits outside deteriorating. If treated better then I thing the Fabia would have remained in very good condition much longer. For a small car it is relatively comfortable but, not quite as flexible as my old Citeron had been.

This Fabia has an amazing amount of room for a small car. It must be the biggest "small" car on the market. We fit everything in it that we used to get into our family estate car & it is very versatile with the split seats. Not very powerful, with the small engine, but will still do a steady 70mph on the Motorway so what more is needed? Very cheap to insure & reasonable running costs. Four adults can fit in with comfort (five with a bit of a squeeze) & it has a surprising amount of leg room in the back. Over the four years I've owned it, I've never had any trouble with it - it's always been reliable - & for the price I paid for it I think it was excellent value. It's not very stylish or aerodynamic, but then I didn't pay the price for a sporty model. This one gets me from A to B safe, warm & dry. Well done, Skoda!

had a 1900 comfort mk 1 and enjoyed it, needed a new one as I wrote it off (!) and happy to go for a mk2 tdi. Improvements out weigh the negative points - main point over mk1 is the proper seal on back doors which no longer sucks water up, mpg excellent - driving up and down peak district hills still gets me at least 55mpg up to 70mpg on motorway trip. Don't like only having one light in the boot as I use it a lot including at night, and the mk 1 had a really neat storage area on the parcel shelf. Acceleration good and certainly sees me ok around these roads. Put a pair of winter treads on, with snow chains on the rear seat as a backup, and you can pretty much get anywhere in winter - only problem is clearance isn't great but I'm more than happy driving round this area in winter Would I buy a third one? Definitely.

I have recently returned to Skoda and am loving it. Best decision I've made in ages. Having owned both a Fabia & an Octavia, in 2010 I had to replace the Octavia and went for something completely different. Despite it being a comfortable ride the Vectra has cost me an arm & a leg to run & keep on the road. So I took the decision to return to a Fabia which is not only much more efficient (regularly around 65-70 miles per gallon) and only £30 Road Tax per year but it also gives me a great seating position and comfort even on longer journeys. The front doors open really wide so I don't have any problem in getting in or out of the car even when the arthritis in my knee is at its worst. The extra height of the new-shape Fabia also makes driving the car more comfortable. Fab Fabia! I'm so pleased to be back in the fold.

The car is so economical, urban driving returns 50mpg. Motorway returns 58mpg. Combined returns 62+mpg. the car is very comfortable, and solid built. I have had the car from new and is 7 Years old now (59K miles)other then yearly servicing and a set of tyres, everything is still original. The car doesn't owe me anything. The only downfall is the next to useless dealers, Miles apart from each other (my nearest 17 mile away), they charge extortionate rates, and muck up everything they touch. Also the warranty is not worth the paper it is written on, the dealers don't want to know or help. Even the head office don't exist, try writing and the address comes back as unknown, and no dealer will give you the head office proper address to write too, only to say they will sought the problem out (they don't).

4 star performance..the automatic Fabia has the lower powered of the two 1400cc twin cams so is never going to win the "traffic light grand prix" but is perfectly fine if you are not a boy racer. 5 star running costs...41+mpg throughout ownership 3 years and counting (probably do better in a manual). Service parts are cheap. 4 star comfort...acceptable seats and adjustments,all bits and pieces in easy reach (mine has heated seats being "Elegance " spec) Nice ride and handling. Ice cold aircon. 5 star reliability...not let me down yet. ( I speak of a low mileage example..its 12 years old with only 47000 miles) 4 star space & practicality...5 seats,split rear fold down for extra luggage space. perfectly adequate for the trips to the garden centre ,or diy shed.Loads of "cubbyholes " for odds and sods.

I have owned my 08 Skoda Fabia Sport 16v since July 2010, when it was two years old. It is my ninth Skoda since I bought my first Favorit in 1991. I have covered only 19k miles in the last three years, largely because I was made redundant two years ago and no longer drive daily. As with the previous eight models, the car is reliable, economical - I regularly get 40+ mpg on regular unleaded - and quite rapid when I want it to be. With the rear seats down and the rear parcels shelf out, it is Tardis-like in terms of load carrying capacity. I was considering trading it in for a Fabia VRs but, to be honest, I cannot justify getting rid it just for the sake of a new(er) model, and will probably drive it into the ground. Being a Skoda, I will probably still be trying to drive it into the ground in 10 years time!

Has available most of the extras normally associated with larger cars eg heated seats, cruise control, reversing assist and so on. Does not have the latest parking assist. On the whole it runs very well although the turbo charger failed after only 1500 miles. Also it seems that it is one of the VW cheating engines that will require "adjustment" at some stage which rather dents my confidence in the product. Comfortable with reasonable leg room in the rear and a surprisingly large boot space. Good miles per gallon, up to 59 mpg on motorways. This is not what is advertised though. In the booklet it suggests 78 mpg. However the actual mpg does compare reasonably well. Although in the supermini size, it has had 5 people on board which is very good for a small car. Road tax is £20 a year.

I had not owned a car for several years - only hiring when required - and put the required specification into a search engine and the Skoda Fabia was the result. I purchased it from a main dealer and have been very satisfied generally with its performance. I think the gear box is the best I have ever had in any car I have driven. I tend to use the engine to control the speed etc of the vehicle rather than continually using the brakes. Two minor criticisms: The tyres seem to wear rather quickly, possibly, because of the tight turning circle. In high summer around midday there is reflection off the fascia board which contains the instrument panel and makes them impossible to read.

Car regularly returns 58 - 63 MPG on a run. Steady 60MPH without hard acceleration up to speed, with no harsh braking. Let the car gather speed without forceful throttle. The only trouble I have with the car is a warped dual mass flywheel which Skoda would not replace under warranty (the clutch was replaced under duress). As such with 58k on the clock, it is now on its second clutch because the clutch faces and flywheel faces don't bite together properly, causing a nasty judder under pull away. To rectify this, the cheapest quote for a new flywheel/clutch kit is £1200 fitted! Also the car once warm will not go into 2nd gear without a loud crunch (bent syncro rings!)

I have owned this car for two years. It had relatively low mileage when I purchased it. It is a VRS model and performs well. I am not a racer but enjoy the fact that it is very responsive. It is a bit cramped and the boot is quite small. However it is adequate for myself and my wife - it is only when we carry passengers that it is less convenient and also the limited luggage space when going on holiday. It is reasonably economical, averaging around 48 mpg. It has proved very reliable over the period I have owned it. The seats are comfortable and overall I am very satisfied with the car and would certainly consider buying one again although I might consider a larger model.

Having faced the reality of a move to North Northumberland and the presence of two largish estate cars on our drive, I reluctantly decided to part with my beautiful X type Jaguar whose diesel power returned excellent performance with 40plus mpg. My wife'sxperience with Skoda Octavia 4x4 took me to our local Skoda dealer where a test drive convinced me that a 3yr old Fabia hatch would be an ideal replacement. £30 VED and over 60mpg if driven with care (and 50 plus if driven with more panache) has proved the wisdom of the decision to downsize. Even our two dogs are happy in the back of the Fabia (now equipped with a full size spare wheel).

Had previous model of this car for six years and no problems, this model has lots of annoying problems,, as others have said, wing mirrors are pretty much useless in the rain, rear window gets covered in road dirt when it rains and if you open front windows even a little you get a shower, and air blower resistor has been replaced twice in 18 months, and it is not cheap, and front tyres wear pretty quick, tracking seems to be an issue. I have solved the problem of road dirt on rear window by fitting mud flaps which are not fitted as standard. Apart from that it is a pretty good and cheap car to run. Would I buy another one? probably.