Frugal Fabia (Skoda Fabia Comfort SDI 5dr)

Member Name: harry_broom

Product:	Skoda Fabia Comfort SDI 5dr
Date:	12/01/02 (470 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Frugal or What, Comfortable, Quiet

Disadvantages: Complicated Radio

I'd been using a Peugeot 205 GR for the past 5 years. This was bought from my neighbour who had it from new. I do around 20K miles pa. I knew that I would need to replace the car soon because of it's age (16 years old) and as I depend on the vehicle for getting to and from work anything else had to be at least as frugal (the 205 returned 50+ mpg - petrol) and reliable (I always had the 205 serviced regularly by a Peugeot dealer).
I did my research and narrowed my list down to the diesel variants of Fiat Punto, Seat Ebiza, VW Polo & Skoda Fabia. The Fabia was 1st on my list because of selling price. I also didn't want to buy new because of the first year depreciation and wanted someone else to bear the initial teething problems.
Having had a test drive with all of these models I settled on the Fabia. I just thought it was the best all round value for money of the four.
I went to my local dealer and told them what I wanted and about 5/6 weeks after that found the car I now drive - which I've had for about two months.
I get around 65 mpg and on a long run around 70.
The only things to go wrong have been fog light bulb failure, wiper fuse failure (apparently the factory fits a 5 amp fuse which blows at the slightest resistance like in cold weather) and windscreen washer bottle connections coming adrift, all of which have been fixed in minutes and at no charge by my local dealer.
So far my only critiques are an overly complicated radio and the fact that you can't lock the car from the hatch door.
For me this car is the perfect buy.

Summary: