1.2 TSI 90ps SE 5dr

A brilliant first car let down by the dealership

Is there anything more exciting than getting the keys to your first car? I certainly didn't think so when, a few months after having passed my test, my mum came up to Scotland to buy a car with me.

Our family has, for the longest time, been a SKODA family, with my parents now on their 3rd one and considering a 4th. Their motivation to stay with the brand is very much based on the level of service they receive at their local dealer, in particular the mechanic/service manager whom they get along with well and who is undeniably excellent.

After some umming and ahing about budget, insurance, and the usual considerations when buying a car, we settled on a red 2016 Fabia, which, at the time, had around 24,000 miles on the clock. We bought it from the local (Aberdeen) dealer who were nice enough at the time, but whose attitude shifted over time and ultimately led to a bad breakup.

But we'll talk about that later.

The car itself was great and had it not been for little gremlins and the dealership experience, there's no doubt I would have kept it forever. The little 1.2 is surprisingly sprightly and is as capable around town as it is on longer fast journeys. It'll hold 70mph all day and does so with decent fuel economy. Hypermiling around town one August evening delivered 66mpg but general use only saw that figure only dip to around 56mpg on a bad day. Even spirited drives through the Cairngorms delivered very respectable efficiency and reasonable amounts of fun too. The car, shod in Bridgestone Turanza T005, corners very well and inspires almost too much confidence. Like any FWD hatch, it will run wide if you push it too much, but let's be honest, that's not what it's designed for.

Having driven my parents later 2017 1.0TSI with one fewer cylinders, I have to say that the 1.2 is far more refined and pleasant to drive. The smoothness of the engine is delightful and the 5 speed gearbox, although similar to the 1.0, is far smoother and nicer to use.

In terms of practicality, the Fabia performs really well too. There's plenty of boot space, ample room in the back seats even for adults and with the seats down, we were able to fit 3 suitcases, some boxes and 3 large paintings for our relocation to Norwich last summer.

But sadly, that's also where things took a turn for the worst and where I ultimately fell out of love with the car.

The car's reliability over the 3 and a bit years of ownership were actually decent. In the first month, the gearbox had to be rebuilt as a linkage broke which the warranty covered thankfully as labour alone was £700. By that winter, the car had developed a very light thud from the front suspension when going over bumps. The dealership found nothing wrong with it until April the next year (once the warranty had run out) and tried to charge me £220 for a new set of lower control arm bushes, blaming Aberdeen's poor road surfacing on the premature wear. My parent's mechanic who has been fixing Skoda's for the best part of 15 years took a look as he had never replaced bushes on a Fabia before: his recommendation was to leave it.
A year later, I took the car back for a service and again, the dealership told me I not only urgently needed bushes, but needed my handbrake tightening. I took it to a local independent VW specialist who took a look and laughed. The bushes were, according to them, fine and the handbrake is set to auto-tighten. Their advice was to not worry, especially as I was now being quoted well over £300 for the same job.

Over the summer, I headed back to France for 8 weeks, leaving the car with my in-laws who used it as their daily. When I picked it up after it had been sitting for a week, the engine warning light came on so I took it to the dealership who diagnosed a faulty turbo actuator. Allegedly, these are common failures when the cars aren't driven enough. Apparently a week of sitting is enough to do that. £260 later, the car was fixed but my confidence in the brand was waning - a few too many things were adding up for my liking and becoming a regular at the dealership certainly wasn't helping.

So I turned to the VW specialist I had seen previously and they look after a few niggles at a fraction of the price of the dealership and delivered just as good a service, if not better. Then, in May 2022, I took the car for it's MOT and service at the dealer because they were advertising a year's roadside assistance with every service. Prior to that, I had the independent specialist look at the bushings as I knew this was likely to come up. In the words of the mechanic: "they're 6 years old, but I've seen a lot worse and if it were my car, I wouldn't even think about changing them".

Naturally, the dealership failed the MOT on the bushes and was asking £370 to change them. So I appealed and even with the DVSA's designated technician hanging off the lower control arm with a crowbar, they couldn't fault it. So the dealership got a telling off and I carried on driving.

Sadly in August, whilst visiting properties in Norwich, the bushing on the left side fell out. I phoned up Skoda assistance to see what the protocol was only to be told I didn't have a contract with them and I should check with my dealership if they had forgotten to activate my roadside assistance. It turns out, the dealership had been falsely advertising the roadside assistance package and took it down from the website within a hour of me calling them about it.

After a lot of back and forth with the dealership, I ended up getting the car fixed and back up to Scotland where I sold it back to the dealership the next day. Since then, according to the car's MOT history, it has gone on to do 30,000 miles in the last year so maybe I was just unlucky, or should have listened to the dealership.

Regardless, the car was a great first car and if ever I needed a small city car with the potential to do longer trips, I certainly would consider it. Sadly, the dealership experience would likely drive me away. Now owning a Toyota, I have to say that the experience with both the sales and service department are chalk and cheese which is a real shame as Skoda can make some really nice cars.

If you are considering getting a Skoda, check out https://www.briskoda.net/, the Skoda owner's forum which is full of information, as well as dealership horror stories.

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