2005 Skoda Fabia 1.9TDI Estate 1.9 turbo diesel from Serbia

Summary:

You will know why it's cheap

Faults:

Nothing went wrong with the car, but it shouldn't at 24000 should it?

General Comments:

The car was generally a disappointment. The good points are the engine which while a lot rougher than the 1.9 TDIs in VW and Audi had enough power for the car to feel quick in traffic and to instill confidence when overtaking. The handling was good for the power and was quite firm in corners, but the large rear end tended to drift out in tight turns. The driving position is great and the car is generally quite easy to drive.

The main problems are the horribly tought out interior and the poor level of comfort. The plastic is cheap and fits poorly. The Glove box can be opened only if there is nobody in the passenger seat otherwise their knees will get bruised. The seats are very uncomfortable and driving for over 1.5 hours induced neck and back pain. Getting 4 people into the car means you have to leave your good driving position moving the seat up to leave some leg room in the back. The dealer was horrible, with several attempts to cheat while negotiating the purchase. Finally he delivered the car with several options missing, claiming it is a fault with the general importer (tried to settle by giving a set of cheap rubber mats he claimed were worth 50 euro). Checking this I also found that skoda trim levels (what's included) vary from country to country, but the price does not. In other words in UK you get a lot more for the money than in Serbia.

Overall a car that could take some abuse, but it also dished it out (mostly on my back). Good for short trips with 2 adults (one with bruised knees) and 2 kids under 12. Anything else and you're asking for trouble. I would rather buy a used Volkswagen than a new Skoda again.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 9th July, 2007

2005 Skoda Fabia rs 1.9 tdi pd from Croatia

Summary:

Economical, well designed pocket beast

Faults:

Nothing wrong with the car so far.

Works good, quite for a diesel.

Initially,I thought that this car would be faster.

After about 2 months I got it chip tuned from 130bhp to 165 hp

Took about 2 seconds from my 0-100 time. Before it was 9.5, now it’s 7.5.

Before I got the back seats, spare tire and the door panels removed it was 8.0.

Honestly I miss the sound of the exhaust. It’s now really fast for a diesel, but you can’t hear the power. I am not looking for that vulgar and “I have a hole in my exhaust” sound. I want a powerful sound that is kind to your ears…. Like a tune….

I also did not like the stock shocks and springs setup. It was too high and in hard braking the rear of the car would sometimes slide around. Got that fixed by installing bilstein after-market shocks and spring setup. Lowered the car for a 3.5cm in front and 3 cm the back.

General Comments:

Now it is fixed to the ground and corners really well. I would recommend everyone who has this car to invest some cash and do these modifications. It is now definitely not the same car…..

Fuel consumption in probably gone up for about 0.8l/100km.

City, normal drive- 7.5 City sport drive 11.0 (max- mostly between 9-10) …open roads- 5.4

Top speed is now 230kph because of the chip (+20)

P.S.: Should shift gears at or slightly below 3500 because after that the car looses power. (this is normal for a diesel)

Hope I have been helpful.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 1st June, 2006

31st Jul 2006, 06:56

Now this is a good review! I'm from Croatia too and have the Fabia vRS (I have my review down here somewhere on www.carsurvey.org ;) ). Everything you said is true, the acceleration time, the fuel consumption, handling... You keep thing objective, other like to exaggerate a bit (like a Fabia vRS doing 7s 0-100 or even less, LOL).

Mine does 0-100 in 8 seconds too, the fuel consumption in town is the same (mostly 9-10l/100km) and the open road is exactly the same, 5.4l ;)

The rear end likes to wobble around a bit if you go into understeer and let the gas pedal off too quickly. Nothing anyone should be concerned about. But the nose is heavy and there is a lot of tyre squeal when doing nimble corners. You get the best of two worlds, comfort and handling (although, neither is that good ;) ).

Oh yeah, the service shop is just horrible (stolen batteries from keys, 3 of 4 alloy wheels scratched...).