The new Skoda Fabia 1.6 comes home!

[Reinhard]

Hey, congratulations for the car. Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the 1.6! But whats with the pictures? They look like teaser pics of a soon-to-be-launched car do justice to the Fab soon, and post nice pictures please.

Happy driving!

[puchoo]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Congratulations on your new car, The Fabia is an excellent car, and would have loved to consider buying it, if not for the horror stories about Skoda's after sales.

Wish you many miles of driving pleasure.

Thanks. i am hoping that they have improved , he dealership experience was not the best but some of the other reports on the forum mention it being a straightforward process , so hoping for the latter but i have many miles to go before that.

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey, congratulations for the car. Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with the 1.6! But whats with the pictures? They look like teaser pics of a soon-to-be-launched car do justice to the Fab soon, and post nice pictures please.

Happy driving!

have to agree on that , they do look like teasers , but yes definitely more pictures coming and will do a photoshoot and upload over the weekend hopefully!

[rajcs]

Congrats on the new car and a well thought out buy. Wish you many a thousand miles of happy safe motoring with the black gazelle.

The buying experience made very interesting reading.

Originally Posted by puchoo

1. There are only 2 of us, why do we need a big car or a massive backseat?

2. So what if it has a big boot , where do we ever need to travel that we need more than 2 suitcases – or are you planning on taking more leave and taking me for more holidays every year?

3. Wouldn’t you rather save some money and instead of getting a wheelbase you won’t utilize fully, get something else for your self – single malts? DSLR’s? Buy me something perhaps…….!

Conversation with better half was hilarious and opened up possibilities we hadn't thought of

Originally Posted by puchoo

I do have a big concern with the upholstery in the car , the beige provides a fantastic aesthetic appeal but its not going to be easy to keep it clean and i am expecting small patches to start showing up soon. I am being very disciplined so far in not keeping anything on the seats , such as my laptop bag but at the end of the day there is little which can be done to prevent the Delhi dust from coming in.

I don't think you should worry on that count. After all..

Originally Posted by puchoo

4. You take 2 hours to clean the Wagon R every weekend , now with a car more than double that size are you planning to spend the entire Saturday on the road with a bucket?

The car is very dust proof if you keep the windows rolled up. However, it would be prudent to go in for good fitting seat covers to keep fabric clean.

Originally Posted by puchoo

I have not sat in the rear seat so cannot really comment on that except to say that there is ample leg room , the high transmission tunnel is a bit of a pain ....

Very true. The center seat at rear is almost useless. Fabia is a very comfortable four seater really.


You and the car deserve a long drive and may be we could see some more pix of that trip.

[Utopian]

Congratulation for the Fabia. It is pretty well priced at 6grand. A nice upgrade from the WagonR, I suppose. Kindly post some daylight snaps. We cant even make out the paint color form the ones you have posted.
Happy driving.

[puchoo]

possibilities we should quickly lay to rest! yes a long drive is what i and her need desperately!

Originally Posted by rajcs

Congrats on the new car and a well thought out buy. Wish you many a thousand miles of happy safe motoring with the black gazelle.

The buying experience made very interesting reading.


Conversation with better half was hilarious and opened up possibilities we hadn't thought of



I don't think you should worry on that count. After all..

The car is very dust proof if you keep the windows rolled up. However, it would be prudent to go in for good fitting seat covers to keep fabric clean.


Very true. The center seat at rear is almost useless. Fabia is a very comfortable four seater really.


You and the car deserve a long drive and may be we could see some more pix of that trip.

[puchoo]

Many thanks Utopian! yes , it is a nice upgrade and one i am quite happy with , no regrets whatsoever and nice to have a car where if you do go over a bad road or potholes your intestines are not shaking post crossing it!

i have just finished taking some pictures and will upload soon!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Congratulation for the Fabia. It is pretty well priced at 6grand. A nice upgrade from the WagonR, I suppose. Kindly post some daylight snaps. We cant even make out the paint color form the ones you have posted.
Happy driving.

[deepfusion]

Congratulations, Puchoo.

So, you went in with Arshia, is it?

I have sent you a PM. Please have a look.

[puchoo]

The first round of images , apologies for the late upload. Will do another set soon enough , the new 15 inch alloys are present. Captions on each image describe it.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by puchoo

The first round of images , apologies for the late upload. Will do another set soon enough , the new 15 inch alloys are present. Captions on each image describe it.

Congratulations Puchoo! And thanks for the images. Almost like a pictorial review. Personally, I feel this is one of the best hatchback in our country now. Drive safe

[rajcs]

A picture speaks a thousand words. An excellent write up - crisp and info packed.

BTW is there a 1.6 badging at the rear? Earlier it only said 16V indicating four cyl engine.

15" alloys and rear wiper are great addition and gives a better appearance to the car. All this at a very reasonable price - it's been a great deal for you.

[Santoshbhat]

Congratulations on your new Fabia 1.6. Good fit and finish and build quality is a Skoda hallmark. Most recent offerings from Skoda, barring the Sueprb 1.8 TSI's DSG have proven to be pretty reliable. Their A.S.S. is also showing signs of improvement. Wish you many miles of trouble free ownership experience.

Is the steering wheel made up of soft touch materials or is it hard plastic? If it is the latter, may I suggest you get it wrapped with some OE leather wrap? It will improve feel good factor immensely as it is the part of the car which is in contact with your hands for the maximum amount of time.

[puchoo]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Congratulations Puchoo! And thanks for the images. Almost like a pictorial review. Personally, I feel this is one of the best hatchback in our country now. Drive safe

Thanks vbsan! Will upload some more soon!

Originally Posted by rajcs

BTW is there a 1.6 badging at the rear? Earlier it only said 16V indicating four cyl engine.

15" alloys and rear wiper are great addition and gives a better appearance to the car. All this at a very reasonable price - it's been a great deal for you.

No , its still got the discreet 16v badge only , no announcement on the fact that its a 1.6

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Is the steering wheel made up of soft touch materials or is it hard plastic? If it is the latter, may I suggest you get it wrapped with some OE leather wrap? It will improve feel good factor immensely as it is the part of the car which is in contact with your hands for the maximum amount of time.

The steering is more on the hard side than soft , and i completely agree with you on getting a leather wrap , fortunately even though its hard its not slippery and allows for a very decent grip!

[puchoo]

New years eve gave me an opportunity to take the car out for a considerably longer drive than what i have been managing so far. About 30 kms each way (Delhi to Gurgaon) and run it on the express way as well , a couple of things from the drive

1. By the time we reached Gurgaon the MDI KMPL figure was upto 18.7 which is very decent , it was as a result of both spirited driving in patches as well as running at about 80 KMPH steadily for a few minutes in 5th. On the way back it was showing 17.8 with the spirited driving quotient being higher this time around

2. I recalled Rajcs post on the alignment , if i held the steering absolutely straight then i felt the car was moving towards the left as well , my wife was driving on the way back and did not give this feedback but i am pretty convinced , whether its an alignment concern or aerodynamics i cannot comment on but will probably take it for a check soon enough to the bridgestone guys ( In my experience authorized service garages dont do this job as well as Bridgestone does)

3. Noise levels are present , i do not mind the sound of the engine at all but there is some road noise which creeps in but matter of getting used to it i suppose.

4. Happy with headlights , low and high beam deliveries are satisfying

5. Steering appeared to weigh up nicely with increase in speeds , more highway running required to get a better feel

[rajcs]

Originally Posted by puchoo

2. I recalled Rajcs post on the alignment , if i held the steering absolutely straight then i felt the car was moving towards the left as well , my wife was driving on the way back and did not give this feedback but i am pretty convinced , whether its an alignment concern or aerodynamics i cannot comment on but will probably take it for a check soon enough to the bridgestone guys ( In my experience authorized service garages dont do this job as well as Bridgestone does)

I think it was MempheS D, who reported on tendency to pull left and not me. I have not faced such an issue on my car. In fact the alignment check I did at 10K km showed the values were within limit in spite of fair bit of rough road and hill driving. I am on OE Apollo Acelere 185/60 R 14.

On certain roads vehicles tend to slightly steer left to a certain extant due to the camber of the road. So drive around a bit to see if you really have a problem.

[puchoo]

My mistake! Must have been MempheS D.

Originally Posted by rajcs

I think it was MempheS D, who reported on tendency to pull left and not me. I have not faced such an issue on my car. In fact the alignment check I did at 10K km showed the values were within limit in spite of fair bit of rough road and hill driving. I am on OE Apollo Acelere 185/60 R 14.

On certain roads vehicles tend to slightly steer left to a certain extant due to the camber of the road. So drive around a bit to see if you really have a problem.