1.9 SDi thoughts...

[HellFire]

My car was in for it's 10k service today (a hefty £98 including a £6 curtosy car charge), and I got the privelege of driving a Fabia at the other end of the stick (engine wise) a 1.9 SDi.

Having driven the car all day I can honestly say it's the slowest car I have ever driven in, let alone the noiseist - it sounded like a skeleton dancing to michael jackson in a cupboard, however something about it was quite soothing and I found myself driving much slower and strangely enjoying it as much as my vRS.

Sure it doesn't have the performance, but it did appear to have nearly every feature that mine has, bar some extras that i would NEVER use, e.g. electric mirrors, set them once and that's it for the life of the car...

The seats were comfy, and the ride much smoother than that of the vRS, and the handling didnt seem to wollowy either, dont get me wrong it won't win any awards but for motorway cruising/town driving it's perfect - and not everyone is a michael schumacher.

The interior also seemed more spacious that mine and the hand brake felt much better than my vRS one (small detail I know), it also recorded a much higher MPG. On the downside the gearchange was a bit awkward at lower speeds and the clutch was much heavier making for some nervous crawls through traffic.

After one day of driving I am completely converted, and will make sure the missus gets one next, i'll just make sure it's the 1.4 16v 100 bhp so it atleast has a little bit of poke, but other than that it's another for skoda.

P.S. Does it even have a turbo?

[FabiaTDi]

shame you didnt get a 1.2htp - they're great!

electric mirrors - i use mine all the time for reverse parking. allows me to get really close to the kerb without damaging the alloys.

[Vague One]

Originally Posted by FabiaTDi

electric mirrors - i use mine all the time for reverse parking. allows me to get really close to the kerb without damaging the alloys.

Ditto

[shorty]

just had one of these as a courtesy car too, a nice saloon version in gold. It was perhaps the slowest car I have ever driven but you can't argue with 70mpg. I found the controls like clutch and steering much lighter than in my vrs and the brakes loads better too - maybe theres something wrong with mine.

All in all I liked it but it was little too sedate for me but then again I did get it for free.

[helpmedisappear]

Originally Posted by FabiaTDi

shame you didnt get a 1.2htp - they're great!

I seriously hope you are joking! I have driven far to many of these now as courtesy cars

No the SDI doesnt have a turbo so the engine should go on forever!

[HellFire]

Good cos i gave it some beans and it only had 45 miles on the clock

I found the brakes very responsive aswell

[FabiaTDi]

Originally Posted by helpmedisappear

I seriously hope you are joking! I have driven far to many of these now as courtesy cars

No the SDI doesnt have a turbo so the engine should go on forever!

no i'm not joking. thought it was a great little car with nice revvy, interesting sounding engine. glad to get back into mine afterwards of course, but not a bad little motor i thought..

[anton]

ive had a sdi for 3yrs now and leaving aside its many problems its great in its main role ie getting us down to cornwall from yorkshire many times a year.
feels alot faster than its figures suggest but i would get a turbo next time for the hilly yorkshire runs.
weird but i was given a tdi courtesy car the other week and the performance differance didnt blow me away like i expected ,plus the engine felt rough.
so when is the vrs estate due then??

[JUT]

I had a 1.4 MPI one the last time my car was in for work, and I really didn't like it. It only had 4k on the clock but it felt tired and lifeless, had no guts at all and recorded abysmal fuel economy - crawling through traffic admittedly, but the same traffic I had crawled through in my vRS to get to the dealer - recording about 35 MPG in the vRS - and not much over 20 in the petrol car. On the motorway at 70 mph it also recorded not much over 30 MPG. So much for "economical" smaller engines.....

Don't know about the rest of you, but I tend to drive briskly (not unnecessarily fast, but usually if I can move quickly & safely, I will) and as a result, cars with no power to speak of tend to be very thirsty because they get a big dose of right foot - so it's a false economy to drive "economy" cars as I'll just flog them to death