What to look for when buying a Skoda Fabia VRS

BeatMaster

BeatMaster

BeatMaster

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I've spotted a 2004 (54) Skoda Fabia VRS with 73,000 miles on in black, just standard equipment but I was wondering what to look for and what should have been done. I know the timing belt should be done every 4 years or 60,000 miles.

I'm currently in 2 minds whether to pass this one up or not as with it doing 73k compared to 40k or so which others have done at a similar age. Although this is about a £1000 cheaper - £5695.

Thoughts about the car itself and pointers on what to look for?

Thanks in advance.
 
Look for a clattery diesel engine with not much power. Look for a Skoda Fabia interior. Look for an owners forum who thinks its the next best thing to a Porsche 911 Turbo. Then look elsewhere.

Although 5695 sounds like a good deal.
 
[TW]Fox;11237175 said:
Look for a clattery diesel engine with not much power. Look for a Skoda Fabia interior. Look for an owners forum who thinks its the next best thing to a Porsche 911 Turbo. Then look elsewhere.

Although 5695 sounds like a good deal.
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You strangely remind me of Jeremy Clarkson :p

whitecrook said:
if it's in good condition, then it probably matters how many miles you are going to put on it and how long you intend to keep it..
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I do average mileage but prefer the way diesel drives compare to petrol, all the torque :cool: Probably be keeping it at least for 2 years+

Looks like I may enquire further into it. I heard that VAG's use oil...I mean how much are they likely to go through exactly?
 
my passat hire car went from middle of dip stick to below min within 1000 miles of brutal ragging, oil light also came on. i banged in some old 5-30W seems fine dunno what this PD oil is about?
 
The Skoda Fabia is a one of the most hideous modern cars I have ever had the misfortune to drive. I think it was the horrendous turbo diesel version that I had to spend one week and over 1000 miles with. I'm still scarred from the experience :(
 
IIRC, the Fabia can suffer from the same problem with the bushes in the front suspension as the Ibiza TDI / FR. The original OE spec had holes in and they just fell apart.
 
Ignore fox, he's being a idiot badge snob again. Doubt he's ever been in one anyway.

Have a look at Briskoda.com - owners forums. There's a couple of high miler owners on there.

Mine's got sod all mileage on it so I can't really comment (17k on a 05). 73k on a 54 sounds like mainly motorway mileage so I wouldn't worry unduly. As long as the timing belt has been done I'd be quite happy.

No problems with oil here - used a bit in the first couple of thousand miles. I've put in less than half a pint.

The light coloured seats show the muck unless protected. The power steering sensors on early non-vRS Fabia's can go wrong. Other than that check the usual stuff.
 
R124/LA420 said:
Something better? ;):p:D

I'm Sorry, but I am of an age where "Skoda" will forever mean crap of the highest order. :o:D
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Same as my old man, he'd rather buy an older / much higher mileage bmw for twice the price :rolleyes:

Not bad power 130bhp and 0-60 in 9 secs ish, hardly THAT slow. Pokey enough for a small car.
 
ethos said:
Same as my old man, he'd rather buy an older / much higher mileage bmw for twice the price :rolleyes:

Not bad power 130bhp and 0-60 in 9 secs ish, hardly THAT slow. Pokey enough for a small car.
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As would I, well, in my case, I bought an older higher mileage BMW for the same money, I certainly would not want to spend twice the price though!

As for power, my old 2 ton automatic 7 Series got to sixty quicker!!! (192 bhp) - Fox'll tell you that the 728i is sooo slow btw. ;)

My daughters stepdad has a Fabia and has had a lot of grief with it.

MagicBoy said:
I'm of an age where Skoda means cheap Volkswagen with nicer dealers.
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And my Father is of an Age where Volkswagen means Hitlers People Car!

Funny how time alters views ! :D
 
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I'm not a big fan of his bmw, pretty slow and doesn't feel anywhere near as solid as my vRS. (2001 320i).

Funny you should say about your daughters stepdad having troubles with the fabia. My dad has had LOADS of troubles with it, luckily he knows someone that works at bmw (family) so the 10+ trips haven't cost him that much.

As for yours getting to 60 faster, isn't the 0-60 on the 192 like 9.5 seconds!!! Plus that'd be like 3.5mpg :D
 
Early Fabias with the crappy pushrod engine can be a bit troublesome. Sisters Boyf got rid of his 51 a couple of months ago after electrical gremlins. He's being doing 25k a year for 3 years in it without problems. The later cars with the 1.2 are much better.

It's significantly faster than the quoted 9.6s to sixty. Autocar got a one-off of 7.8s, with an consistent figure of around 8.2. The power is secondary to the amount of torque.

Slightly off topic - was watching the Polo Bluemotion thing on Fifth Gear the other night and couldn't quite see the point. I can quite easily average the same fuel consumption figures in the Fabia with fat tyres and twice the power. I regularly get over 420 miles to a tank, nearly 500 on a long trip.
 
ethos said:
I'm not a big fan of his bmw, pretty slow and doesn't feel anywhere near as solid as my vRS. (2001 320i).

Funny you should say about your daughters stepdad having troubles with the fabia. My dad has had LOADS of troubles with it, luckily he knows someone that works at bmw (family) so the 10+ trips haven't cost him that much.

As for yours getting to 60 faster, isn't the 0-60 on the 192 like 9.5 seconds!!! Plus that'd be like 3.5mpg :D
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Iirc, the 728i does it in 9.6 sec, I doubt anybodys going to notice 0.1 sec.

My point was that it did not seem that quick (the Fabia) neither was the BMW, but the BMW 728i is not exactly a "hot car".

So what did your Dad have problems with? - a Fabia or the BMW? - I don't get your post there. :confused::o
 
MagicBoy said:
Ignore fox, he's being a idiot badge snob again.
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No he's not. I'm not a badge snob. Infact the first car I ever had regular use of was a Skoda. It got me on the road!

I love it when people call me a badge snob, it's amusing, especially given my car history.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with a Fabia VRS, in isolation they are actually half decent cars, but they are heavily overrated and until recently commanded ridiculous prices as a result.
 
R124/LA420 said:
Iirc, the 728i does it in 9.6 sec, I doubt anybodys going to notice 0.1 sec.

My point was that it did not seem that quick (the Fabia) neither was the BMW, but the BMW 728i is not exactly a "hot car".

So whad did your Dad have problems with? - a Fabia or the BMW? - I don't get your post there. :confused::o
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:o

The bmw (I thought the garage bit gave it away, guess I wasn't clear enough!!!). They still don't know what the problem is yet, even tho there is an error logged. They've changed multiple sensors and still no change. Annoying to say the least, they are seriously stumped.

0.1? People pay money for that sort of gain!!!
 
ethos said:
I'm not a big fan of his bmw, pretty slow and doesn't feel anywhere near as solid as my vRS. (2001 320i)
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This suprises me greatly. Even if you dislike BMW you'd have to concede the build quality on a 2001 3 Series is going to be better than that of a Skoda Octavia. I mean, it's like me and Golfs - I'm not a fan but I'd never try and say things about them which are simply untrue.

You watch this turn into a BMW thread and I bet I get blamed :(
 
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