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Old 2nd July 2008, 23:17   #1
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Skoda Fabia 1.2 MPI

When I heard about Skoda bringing their famous Fabia to India, I was excited. This seemed like a perfect choice for my first car. However the pricing turned out to be a bummer - 8+ lacs was clearly out of budget. But then Skoda introduced the 1200 cc one. With 6.12 lac on-road price (Hyderabad - Classic version) the dream car was now in reach.

Current delivery time for the 1200cc Fabia is running at 6 weeks so a ownership review will be little slow to come but meanwhile we can rake in as much fun and info (and rumors too). Please post your test drive/ dealer experiences here (related to the 1200cc).

[note]There is a super cool post running about the Skoda Fabia diesel at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...cs-pg-6-a.html. NetChef did a master job with the post and quite a few owners have shared their experiences and pics at that post. All the same, there is not much about the 1200cc petrol, so I thought a new post dedicated to the 1200 CC Petrol Fabia would be helpful, hence this post.
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Old 3rd July 2008, 13:37   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdvaithC View Post
[note]There is a super cool post running about the Skoda Fabia diesel at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...cs-pg-6-a.html. NetChef did a master job with the post and quite a few owners have shared their experiences and pics at that post. All the same, there is not much about the 1200cc petrol, so I thought a new post dedicated to the 1200 CC Petrol Fabia would be helpful, hence this post.
AdvaithC: That's exceedingly nice of you to say, Sir. Mucho gracias.
If I have anything of value to add to your 1200 CC post, I'd be honoured to do so.
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Old 3rd July 2008, 13:54   #3
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well the deliveries of 1.2 fabia seem to be delayed because the car is undergoing some tech changes as it is underpowered. skoda are trying to improve the driveability, probably low end torque.
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Old 3rd July 2008, 14:44   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdvaithC View Post
When I heard about Skoda bringing their famous Fabia to India, I was excited. This seemed like a perfect choice for my first car. However the pricing turned out to be a bummer - 8+ lacs was clearly out of budget. But then Skoda introduced the 1200 cc one. With 6.12 lac on-road price (Hyderabad - Classic version) the dream car was now in reach.

Current delivery time for the 1200cc Fabia is running at 6 weeks so a ownership review will be little slow to come but meanwhile we can rake in as much fun and info (and rumors too). Please post your test drive/ dealer experiences here (related to the 1200cc).

[note]There is a super cool post running about the Skoda Fabia diesel at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-d...cs-pg-6-a.html. NetChef did a master job with the post and quite a few owners have shared their experiences and pics at that post. All the same, there is not much about the 1200cc petrol, so I thought a new post dedicated to the 1200 CC Petrol Fabia would be helpful, hence this post.
Hi Advaith, I am also thinking of buying 1.2 classis and have been talking to Tafe here in Bangalore. The onroad price here is 6.2 lacs.

The salesperson from Tafe Access called me and was saying that he can get me any color any variant on 15th July if I book the vehicle this week so the wait should not be 6 weeks, please check with your dealer.
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Old 3rd July 2008, 17:03   #5
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Originally Posted by bhp1 View Post
well the deliveries of 1.2 fabia seem to be delayed because the car is undergoing some tech changes as it is underpowered. skoda are trying to improve the driveability, probably low end torque.
Yup thats what i heard. I think Skoda should promote the 1.2 P more cos that would sell in more nos. Its good that Skoda is listening to customers feedback. How i hope they listen to main feedback- REDUCE THE PRICE!

Advaith do keep us updated on the Fabia. Could you throw some light on the

features of 1.2 Classic?
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Old 3rd July 2008, 18:00   #6
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[quote=karanraheja;889754]Yup thats what i heard. I think Skoda should promote the 1.2 P more cos that would sell in more nos. Its good that Skoda is listening to customers feedback. How i hope they listen to main feedback- REDUCE THE PRICE!

The classic has Powerwindows,CD player but No Parktronic display, Airbags but no ABS ,No keyless entry,No Alloy wheels,No Split rear seat

Skoda has provided one more variant(Active) which is pathetic that any skoda buyer will think of going for it in 6Lakh onroad.(Even No power windows,No music player)

Attached the variant file
Attached Thumbnails
Skoda Fabia 1.2 MPI-fabia-variants.jpg  

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Old 4th July 2008, 00:58   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by karanraheja View Post
Yup thats what i heard. I think Skoda should promote the 1.2 P more cos that would sell in more nos. Its good that Skoda is listening to customers feedback. How i hope they listen to main feedback- REDUCE THE PRICE!

Advaith do keep us updated on the Fabia. Could you throw some light on the

features of 1.2 Classic?
surely price reduction is a must, customers should wait a while before going in for a new car as initial flaws & shortcomings get exposed in 3-4 months time.
alternate view- skoda was never known for good petrol cars in india. they do not have a laura petrol, octy. petrol fused bigtime in sales. now the fabia petrol, i dont think this too is worthwhile spending so much cash on.
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Old 4th July 2008, 09:20   #8
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Adding to the confusion

To add to the rumor list-
I called Vinayaka and they say that the change is for noise reduction and not power. Called Tafe and they say that there is no change, skoda was not expecting to sell these many petrol and so a shortage of kits in the plant. New kits have arrived from Europe now and deliveries will start .
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Old 4th July 2008, 10:44   #9
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Fabia 1.2 MPI Presales experiences

There seems to be some confusion going on with the 1.2 MPI Fabia delivery times. Different people are reporting different stories. Here are some I have come across:

1. [I got this from Hyd dealer] The engine immobilizer firmware is being upgraded. Cars already sold are being recalled and being upgraded at the Aurangabad plant. Because of this the deliveries will be made only after 6 weeks.

2. Engine is being re-tuned because of poor performance

3. Engine noise in petrol is being rectified.

When I asked a sales man at Mahavir Skoda Hyderabad, the said the noise problem is only with the 1400cc petrol and not the 1200 cc, whereas another sales guy with same dealer says there is no such issue with petrol and its only the firmware that is being upgraded. I wanted his response in email, but he cleverly talked over phone only.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrosanct View Post
To add to the rumor list-
I called Vinayaka and they say that the change is for noise reduction and not power. Called Tafe and they say that there is no change, skoda was not expecting to sell these many petrol and so a shortage of kits in the plant. New kits have arrived from Europe now and deliveries will start .
Isn't the Fabia imported as a completely built unit?
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Old 4th July 2008, 13:23   #10
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@ sacro : Based on the customer feedback, there is some tweaking going on with the fabia.(source : magazine) So the waiting period .
@ Advaith : May be because of the cost differences in tax, that has made fabia get in as CKD

Last edited by mnhegde : 4th July 2008 at 13:32.
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Old 4th July 2008, 13:45   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AdvaithC View Post
Isn't the Fabia imported as a completely built unit?
No man its not CBU, wish it was, then the quality would have been WOW (not that it is bad now). CBU gets 121% tax so an Euro 8500 car would cost it will cost 11-13 lacs, so it is assembled here in India.
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Old 4th July 2008, 14:34   #12
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News from my dealer: book today or prices can go up by 14000 due to transport strike.

News from finance guy: auto loan interest rates being hiked by 1.5%.



Quote:
Originally Posted by mnhegde View Post
@ sacro : Based on the customer feedback, there is some tweaking going on with the fabia.(source : magazine) So the waiting period .
Dude, which Magazine? it will help a lot to mention the source of any info clearly.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Staff : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 15 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

Last edited by Technocrat : 8th July 2008 at 15:13. Reason: Consecutive posts\Removed extra smiley
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Old 4th July 2008, 16:20   #13
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News from my dealer: book today or prices can go up by 14000 due to transport strike.

News from finance guy: auto loan interest rates being hiked by 1.5%.





Dude, which Magazine? it will help a lot to mention the source of any info clearly.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Staff : Please use the "edit" button if posting within 15 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.
Your dealer is just giving you a push to ensure quick sale. Tell him that the transport strike is over.

Interest rate has gone up by 50 to 75 bps but not 150. SBI, ICICI and HDFC have all upped the interest rate by 75 bps only and this is something you cannot avoid even if you book today.
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Old 4th July 2008, 16:57   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrosanct View Post
No man its not CBU, wish it was, then the quality would have been WOW (not that it is bad now). CBU gets 121% tax so an Euro 8500 car would cost it will cost 11-13 lacs, so it is assembled here in India.
I think there are no complaints on Built quality of Fabia ! after all its a Skoda !! Skoda is planning to localise most of the parts of Fabia to make it cheaper.
I think they going GM way of pricing the car high and suddenly reducing its price .
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Old 4th July 2008, 20:07   #15
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Fabia 1.2 MPI Presales experiences

Quote:
Originally Posted by karanraheja View Post
I think there are no complaints on Built quality of Fabia ! after all its a Skoda !!
Well that is the part that is not clear. I personally got it from the salesman that they are upgrading the firmware for engine immobilizer and even that some cars have been recalled for up-gradation at Aurangabad. There sure is some mystery here. Perhaps the team-bhp gurus can comment on this?

Quote:
Originally Posted by karanraheja View Post
I think they going GM way of pricing the car high and suddenly reducing its price .
If the car is priced something like 15 lacs+ then it might be a cause for worry....but for a 6 lac car how much can they save? the immediate contender for Fabia is the Maruti Swift. And the price between these two is around 1.2 lacs (Swift: 5 lacs, Fabia 1.2: 6.2lacs). If Skoda wants to maintain their "premium hatch" image, I think they will want to maintain some price difference to have that "priveleged only" feeling. So I am not expecting a major price difference. If at all there is, it will be a max 10K.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrosanct View Post
Your dealer is just giving you a push to ensure quick sale. Tell him that the transport strike is over.
He sure is. Till today morning the sales guy was hell bent that prices would go up. But when I made it clear I am not buying the 'price-hike-due-to-transport-strike' it suddenly became that he is going to give me the same price but cannot guarentee.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Sacrosanct View Post
Interest rate has gone up by 50 to 75 bps but not 150. SBI, ICICI and HDFC have all upped the interest rate by 75 bps only and this is something you cannot avoid even if you book today.
Oh, actually this will be a corporate lease and the rate I had before was 11.57%. I believe that is one of the least...but now they increased it to 13%.

Actually I was about to place an order today. But with the increased rates it looks like I might have to go for a 4 yr loan instead of a 3 yr one. On the other hand, auto sales are bound to take a hit. So it might be worth to wait a small while to see if the prices go down. Especially when it does look like the Skoda guys have something cooking with the Fabia 1200cc.

Someone asked for a review of the test drive. That will be the next.
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