Faults:

Wheel bearings, exhaust, brakes.

Bonnet release snapped.

Oil leak.

Clutch judder.

Rust on rear hatch.

General Comments:

A pretty boring little car, but reliable enough as per Skoda.

Not much to look at, and the interior is not very spacious. Dull and grey inside, and my car is a weird light metallic green on the outside.

1.2 is slow but economical. Drives OK for the age and miles.

Servicing and running costs are very reasonable. Fabia is nothing special, but if you want a reliable hatchback, they are worth a look even at this age. Mine is still going strong at 14 years old with nearly 100K on it.

Faults:

Nothing has gone wrong. Long term reliability remains to be seen, I have only had the car a year.

General Comments:

A smart fast little car, this Fabia vRS is fun to drive.

DSG auto box shifts very well, and does not affect performance. I'm thinking a manual would be more fun, but this DSG box is so good it does not matter in this car.

1.4 TSi will do around 40 mpg, good for petrol and very good considering the performance. 7 seconds to 60 mph and 140 mph top speed.

If I have any complaints it's not the most comfortable or practical car, but it is a small hot hatch, so you cannot expect this from it. You buy this car as a fun to drive run about, nothing more.

Faults:

Absolutely nothing.

General Comments:

It took me a while to warm up to the Fabia, but a road trip halfway across Germany broke the ice. It was fun, with enough power to get along, good enough chassis to be "chuckable", and quite a lot of personality for a mass-produced box.

The interior was basic, but adequate; with enough space for 4 adults or (just) able to fit 3 child booster seats (up to 2 with backs and headrests, plus a small booster) across the rear seats.

The furthest I drove it in one go was 900km, and it coped just fine with the motorway, although having cruise control would have made things less tiring. Allowing for the speedo not being entirely accurate at high speed, it was able to achieve the official top speed of 175km/h on the autobahn too. I only sold it because I got a great offer to part exchange it...

Faults:

Nothing as yet.

General Comments:

This is a very fast Fabia. Very powerful, but let down a little by the automatic DSG gearbox, which makes the driving experience not quite as precise and instant as I would like. Hesitates when pulling away from junctions / roundabouts, which means more care needs to be taken in those situations. There is no manual option.

The 1.4 TSI 180 bhp engine is powerful, being supercharged, and then turbocharged at higher revs. So lots of fun if you have the space to indulge.

Other niggles which spoil a potentially great car. No front fogs: these are now daylight running lights. No interior rear light. (Cheap or what?) Darkened rear windows: OK, I know these seem to be favoured by some (why?), but they're just pretentious.

Good points? Heated seats. Heated mirrors. Ipod/iPhone/ compatible bluetooth sound system with voice control. Reversing sensors. Comfortable seats. Electronics, which help when cornering quickly, braking the inside wheels. Holds the road well enough. Not too firm.