18th Mar 2006, 12:57

I got the car chip-tuned to 164hp. Pulls very hard; the gears are too short, first four are shot in no time.

A bit more smoke.

The powerband is now shorter than before, the pump is felt up to 3800rpm when the power runs out quickly... Too bad since at stock 131hp I revved it regularly to 4500rpm, response and power was more linear.

Anyway, in one word, the the car is *BRUTAL*.

7th Aug 2007, 04:44

Just to update the status of the car.

Now at 33500km.

I've had the "silent blocks" replaced with the ones from the Ibiza Cupra at 27500km. The car's steering response was massively improved, I just couldn't believe the difference! Steering was extremely sharp until 1000km ago...

I was driving on the highway, around 150km/h, the car started shaking... More, then more and more... Until something suddenly CRACKED from under the bonnet and the car started loosing direction. At first I thought I have a flat tyre, but all of them are fine... Now the car was pulling to the side, shook aggressively above 120km/h and the steering was "butter-a-like".

The car's steering is no more precise, I have a feeling like something that is holding the steering wheel firm to the suspension is broken.

I was at my official dealer and they did a "suspension adjustment", that thing they do with lasers to center the wheels. Which got rid of the pulling to the side, but shaking was still there, I got that fixed with new & balanced tyres, but the unresponsive steering is not fixed.

Unfortunately, the car behaves 100% normal the way it is so I don't really have any arguments for the warranty and don't know what to do, I only know the steering was a dream, before that something cracked from under the hood.

Other than that I had a pierced hose (the one coming from the EGR), seems like a design flaw since the hose is constantly rubbing against a sharp bolt. I got a new one under warranty, but it was still getting rubbed so I intervened and stick a sponge to that part of the hose.

I've changed the disc/pads/brake fluid. It was in very poor condition, I'm assigning that to my poor driving habits (lots of uphill/downhill racing).

I've burnt two pairs of tyres (the stock ones), now I'm on Dunlop Sport MAXXs instead of the stock Continentals SportContact2s, and I can't judge the performance because of the steering problem mentioned above (although I think the Contis are much better).

The fuel consumption is astonishing again, now at 7.5l/100km in city.

Oil consumption is pretty fair, in 6000km at 7/10 lines on the dipstick. I guess that's 0.3l of oil consumed.

I'm very satisfied with the car all in all!

P.S. I raced a Fabia 1.9TDI 100hp with a custom remap, it BEAT my 131hp + remap to 164hp (156 measured)! I couldn't believe it, it just has more acceleration... Judging from the black-blue-white smoke coming from the exhaust, it's heavily re-mapped and the durability is compromised...

14th Sep 2007, 17:54

Okay, a little update again.

There was a knocking sound coming from the suspension when turning the wheel left-right. It was pretty loud, that was the steering rack and it was changed under warranty.

But still, the wobbly-wobbly turning isn't solved, I'm scheduled for another service in a few days... The warranty is just about out.

And the clutch is bothering me, seems like the flywheel is busted so there is no smooth and linear delivery of power when depressing the clutch pedal, but rather like a sluggish and harsh delivery... That is not covered under warranty because of my remap, but the "tuner house" gave me a written warranty in case if this happens, they take over whatever is damaged by the remap... Pretty nice I guess, I'm scheduled for them tomorrow, will update ASAP if anything is solved.

21st Sep 2007, 18:49

Ah, no help from the official dealer, the only thing important to them is that the car is in one piece, only if something is broken down seriously then they pull the warranty (eg. if your car stops and you cant move). So none of my problems are solved and I'm being fed up with the car :- (

- the mushy steering is probably a busted torsion bar in the power-steering pump

- the mushy clutch is a busted flywheel

And just the other day, while the I was staying still in traffic the clutch didn't want to disengage!!! The car was in gear, with the clutch pressed all the way down, but the car wanted to move and the engine rpm lowered, you can only move the gear knob to neutral with excessive force!

- that is probably a busted clutch cylinder.

Heh, three problems, none solved under warranty because of their policy mentioned above.

All of the things are very expensive to replace except the clutch cylinder which should be around 50€.

Will consider selling the car.

P.S. I removed the remap and went to the stock one, the car is now a dream, NO SMOKE, not one little bit of smoke, absolutely amazing. and the power is not THAT very different, it still has the grunt. I will also consider if I'll ever put it back (at least if there would be no smoke).

P.P.S. if anyone else would try the car as it is now, they would tell me I'm mad and delusional because the car runs perfectly. That is actually very good if I plan to sell it :-) but the truth is that the whole car somehow became unscrewed, like everything went loose :-/

22nd Jan 2008, 14:54

I have just bought a Skoda Fabia 1.4 IPM, this car I am told is an eight valve. My concern is an erratic tick over, the car doesn't seem to idle properly when stood. The dealer where I bought the car says it is a characteristic of the eight valve, and they are all the same. Has anybody had the same problem or should I seek a second opinion.

23rd Jan 2008, 06:13

Ask on briskoda.net - a bunch of very helpful Skoda enthusiasts.

17th May 2008, 09:41

Again a little update on the car. Now at ~43500km:

- front left wheel bearing was busted, I got that replaced under warranty (a spare part warranty, the factory warranty expired)

- that aluminum hose at the back of the engine (between the engine and the chassis) is broken, actually it's support beam, so now it's hanging in the air instead of being fixed. Does not impact performance or anything, just nasty to look at.

- I got a "tenth" opinion for the mushy steering; the mechanic got INTO the car, ducked under the steering wheel, grabbed the shaft that goes from the steering wheel to the steering rack and guess what... *KLING* *KLING*... so that's probably what's broken, and what HAS been broken when I was at the dealers when under warranty, but THEY overlooked it... I'll try to get that under warranty when I grab some time.

All in all, the car is OK, and I'm very pleased with it.

p.s. for the 1.4MPI owner, yes it's pretty common for those engines to be rough while idle.