Fabia Greenline V Octavia

breakemall

I am looking at two estates at the moment, but while the heart says Octavia, the head is inclined towards the Fabia. We already have an Octavia and a Navara so this will primarily be a second car run around (want an estate as I have 3 dogs plus something for lugging fishing gear occasionally).

Has anyone any experiences, good or bad, with the Fabia Greenline please as I know the Octavia first hand?

colm_mcm

I rented a Fabia combi a few weeks ago, it's quite accomplished as a supermini, but it just isn't a likeable car in my opinion. Aside from the questionable exterior styling, the seats are the worst I've experienced in about 10 years, I've driven it's polo and Ibiza cousins and they are in a different league.
Space wise it's quite good, even rear legroom is decent enough for two, and the boot is obviously big. The infotainment system on the one I rented was really good, and even the speakers were good.
A couple of glaring blunders like the placement of switches obscured by the steering wheel and engineered-in austerity suggest the car was dumbed down so as not to compete. Gear change was pretty unpleasant too.
The Octavia is light years ahead if it in desirability.
A Rapid spaceback might be the middle ground between the two, but that's still a way off being as good a package as the Octavia. An Ibiza estate would be the same size as the Fabia only done nicer.

breakemall

Hi Colm,

Thank you for going to such effort, nothing like hearing it from the horses mouth. What was the performance like? I am no boy racer so not a major issue but still good to know.

colm_mcm

Sadly the one I had was the 1.0 3 cylinder 75PS engine from the Citigo so there wasn't any performance. That said my wife has a 1.0 Yaris and the skoda was nippier
It actually drove well enough besides, sound deadening was impressive enough and it didn't understeer anywhere as much as I thought it would.
If you're not doing big mileage, then the 1.2 TSI would be a good move. I rented one last year and it was a hoot. The same mid range shove as a diesel, but much nicer in the low revs, plus you have a higher redline, so more usable revs than the diesel.

breakemall

It is the diesel I am looking at, what did you find uncomfortable with the seats?

colm_mcm

They're almost flat on the back and on the bit you sit on. The cushion bit is also quite small too so no leg support. Her indoors agreed too.
The worst bit about the seats was the backrest bit which was flat and hard, so your back rolls around against it if you know what I mean. The headrests were back about 3-4 inches farther than they should have been, as in you couldn't actually touch your head off the headrest unless you strained your back.
The polo or Ibiza has better seats.

breakemall

Thanks again, I will keep that in mind when taking the test drive.

corks finest

breakemall wrote: »

I am looking at two estates at the moment, but while the heart says Octavia, the head is inclined towards the Fabia. We already have an Octavia and a Navara so this will primarily be a second car run around (want an estate as I have 3 dogs plus something for lugging fishing gear occasionally).

Has anyone any experiences, good or bad, with the Fabia Greenline please as I know the Octavia first hand?

Briskodagreat Skoda forum, all the answers there

Macy0161

As has been mentioned, there's the Rapid Spaceback in between the two.

We went to buy and Octavia, and ended up going with the Rapid as space wise it met our needs (and the old school parking we both have in work). I can't get into the technical aspects about the engine, but I've been impressed with the 1.2 petrol engine in it performance wise too - it hasn't felt under powered (to me anyway).

breakemall

Thanks guys for all the help and the direction to Briskodagreat which appears to have more answers than questions... great site.

Having taken test drives the Fabia diesel did not feel as underpowered as I had expected and the 1.2 petrol was sweet. The Octavia has the space for sure and the Rapid might also be a runner. Decisions decisions!

colm_mcm

did you drive the 1.2 diesel at all?