JSJ

No offence taken at all And you are right, our dealer told me nothing about running in, I had to find it in the owners manual.

Organist

He's right - that's the best running in advice you can get!

Mike Austin

There was somewhere on the net (I cannot find the link) where it was recommended that one should thrash a car from new to bed the engine in properly. I don't know if that approach was rubbished at all, or if there are people who still hold to it.

skisbp

Thought I remember some members here mentioning that not to long ago...

Organist

By all means drive in a spirited manner (!) but it's not only the engine that needs running in............

HZ123

Another gripe today checked the spare advertised as a full size but stamped on the tyre wall do not exceed 80kmp. In other words a full size but with limitations.

Mike Austin

Can anyone else confirm this? It would be a major drawback for me. My previous two Mk1 2.0i's had full-size spares. The first even had an alloy spare, exactly the same as the other four.

I may be in the market for a new car and I just ruled out the Fiesta because it had what appeared to be a full-size spare but had a 50mph limiting sticker. Not only that - the salesman said it was only good for 50 miles as well! I do regular 170+ mile trips in the evenings. How on earth could such a spare be usable?

mbames

The last Fabia3 had a full sized spare, steel rim spare, but had s sticker on it. However as it was only a loan car for a few days I did not really worry about it too much.

I can't believe that a spare tyre would only be good for 50 miles. :-(

Mike Austin

I just spoke to my dealer. He said that it is a full-size spare but that they are obliged to put a 50mph limit sticker on by law. In fact, it is the same tyre as the rest. I don't follow the reasoning here - but they do say, "The law is an a55".

Neither can I - but it would be bizarre for a salesman to be dishonest to his own detriment.

JSJ

From his original post I think he meant 7000.

woodenspatulas

the full size spare wheel in the fabia is a normal tyre. you can do normal speeds on it and expect it to last normal sorts of mileage

BUT

they have to put the limit on there for legal reasons. the warning is there so when the tyre is say 3 of 4 years old, never been properly checked by a owner and more than likely not now at the correct pressure, you dont put the tyre on and expect it to perform as your normal tyres would do.

also dont forget that allot of cars are fitted with directional tyres. now your spare cant be a direction tyre, or else it not be usable on all 4 corners. so it must be a different tread to the normal tyres, and therefore react differently under stress. so by putting the warning on there it reminds people to take it easy on a tyre that they might not have checked over for some time.

BTW the first fabia i had suffered a blow out after hitting a pot hole. it destroyed the alloy wheel too! i drove the car back over 100 miles on the spare tyre and felt quite hapy doing the motorway speeds. as the car was practically new and the tyre would have be checked during PDI i was confident that i wouldnt have a issue at going over the 50 mph.

__________________
Where has my sig pic gone????

bobbyforeman

I recall being told that new tyres take around 100 miles to bed down and give full grip. If the spare has never been used, it may not offer full grip particularly in the wet. Rubber deteriorates with age and I think it is recommended that tyres should be replaced when they are five years old. A spare on a middle aged car may have deteriorating rubber.

My Fabia was delivered with an alloy spare which was an option that I didn't order. Dealer didn't charge me for it either. No speed limitations marked on it that I can see.

As for mpg, 1.9TDi averaging 48mpg communting to work on mix of A-roads and motorway. I managed 55mpg once on a gentle cross country run.

chajun

I recently bought a new New Fabia 1 1.2 (60) petrol. So far I am not to enamoured with the MPG. 2000k on the clock . Filled up to the brim "Shell " before a trip to Glasgow today. did 83 miles filled up again put 11ltrs in to the same point. motorway driving not at 70mph I can't get any accurate info either from the dealer or Skoda Hq. I wonder if anyone has one of these and an y comments/info.
Thanks

nickcoll

By conversion 11litres = 2.4 imp gallons, giving a fuel consumption of about 34.6mpg. Doesn't sound very good, but it is a small petrol engine so maybe that's as good as it gets? The brochure says you should be getting 47.9mpg combined or 58.9 extra-urban, so certainly the figures don't sound very good...

Of course there are greater inaccuracies with small quantities, so I would suggest that you carefully monitor what you get on full tank measurements. Fill up every time, note down how much you put in and the mileage, and then calculate what you're getting over the whole tanks.