Fabia 1.0TSI 110PS DSG Monte Carlo Mini-Review

[FabiaGonzales]

Intro

Late last week, my Fabia was in for gearbox repairs, and will be again soon as it didn't get sorted (something pretty badly wrong with it aparently, that needs a full rebuild to fix),

I was given a courtessy car, which was a 19 plate Monte Carlo 1.0 TSI 110PS with DSG gearbox, so i thought i'd give my two cents about it.

 

First thoughts

The very first thing i noticed was how much firmer and more supportive the Monte Carlo seats are, my SEL has the "standard" seats which are much softer but any kind of spirited driving leaves me bracing myself against the steering column or door panel.

Second was how quiet and smooth the engine felt, and even though it idles at about 950 rpm (my 1.2 idles at about 650 once it's warmed up a little), and there is almost no engine noise in normal driving.

 

The Gearbox

Changes were very smooth and in general while pottering about in the city it would get up to 5th/6th as soon as it possibly could, though not being an issue as the car was still very reponsive and had decent pull with even low revs.

Trying Sports mode i noticed it would generally stay in lower gears until much higher revs, it would also not change up for a while even after reaching my desired speed.

Manual mode was still somewhat automatic, it would change when you hit redline, and would change back down when coming to a halt, the most annoying thing in my opinion with manual mode, was that at 40mph, i would drop it do 3rd and put my foot down, now the car for some reason decides it can get more power in 2nd, but 40mph at second is near enough at redline already, and ended up causing unnecessary shifting and a bit of hesitance.

Waiting at a junction was something of an art, with the delay between releasing the brake (you can't just use the handbrake as it's not got a torque converter) to pressing the accelerator, and its somewhat lungy takeoff, you had to time it perfect or you'd look a bit daft bunny-hop start-stopping as the car pulls itself forward even when having not pressed the accelerator. Then again, i'm not used to automatics, and the only one i have driven, was a torque converter one, which allowed (in my opinion at least) more efficient use of the handbrake and such for a better pull away.

 

The Engine

The main differences were the noise and the seemingly non existent turbo lag. My 1.2 TSI has quite a noticable amount of turbo lag when stomping on the pedal, with the 1.0 it just goes hard straight from the off. The noise is very satisfying, it sounds like its a much more powerful engine! Very nice feedback.

The low down power was there instantly, even in high gears, it never felt as though it was struggling, throttle response was also very nice, especially in sport mode. It almost was like it had a naturally aspirated engine, but with alot of low-down torque.

The power difference was very noticable from the 90PS 1.2TSI, the 110PS's in the 1.0 pulled hard all the way up climbing towards questionably high speeds. Where my 1.2's measly 90PS's would struggle much beyond the high 70's. I have a feeling that final drive ratios had much to do with it, the 5spd manual is very long geared compared to the 7spd DSG.

 

The Ride

Overall the ride felt much the same, though having brand new (sports) suspension and 17 inch alloys, it was noticably firmer and a tad more responsive steering wise, though it did under-steer much easier than mine (could also have just been the difference in power).

Brakes felt alot more responsive, but again that could be due to the fact my front brake discs are rather cooked (decided i would race a colleague to the store, down-hill, front brakes absolutely stank of burning ****, and haven't quite been the same since, plus one is now warped. lol)

 

Conclusion

Overall i enjoyed my few hours with the 1.0 DSG Monte, even if i didn't like the fact that putting my foot down in manual-mode it would still downshift (and often to a too low gear where it would red-line for a second then change back up).

The all electric front+rear windows (which had one-touch for all windows, and convenience opening/closing with the key-fob) were a nice addition, but i missed the keyless start-stop, and holy moly the start-stop feature of the DSG is NOT good, they need to re-think that!

If i could take three things back to my car, it would be the engine (for the sound and the nicer feel of the power), fully electric windows (mainly for the one-touch), and of course the much more supportive Monte Carlo seats.

[krigl]

Regarding the engine... I can not vouch for the 1.2TSI 95PS one but the 1.2TSI 110 in my fabia is way better in my opinion then the 1.0TSI 110 I have driven as lone car. This was even before it was tuned, now tuned is a beast (with regards of its limited capacity). 1.0TSI will never be as good in my eyes  , that missing cylinder makes all the difference.

This is however my personal opinion.

Stop start thingy I agree is a totally useless technology for average driver.

I only miss comfort windows in my fabia, luxury from my vw polo I can not forgive skoda to go cheap on the fabia.

[FabiaGonzales]

8 minutes ago, krigl said:

Regarding the engine... I can not vouch for the 1.2TSI 95PS one but the 1.2TSI 110 in my fabia is way better in my opinion then the 1.0TSI 110 I have driven as lone car. This was even before it was tuned, now tuned is a beast (with regards of its limited capacity). 1.0TSI will never be as good in my eyes  , that missing cylinder makes all the difference.

This is however my personal opinion.

Stop start thingy I agree is a totally useless technology for average driver.

I only miss comfort windows in my fabia, luxury from my vw polo I can not forgive skoda to go cheap on the fabia.

 

I am awaiting the 5 year mark before i get mine remapped, should be able to get over 130PS :3

 

The sound of the 1.0 was very nice, though i do question the reliability of both engine and turbo in the long run, as its still a very new engine.

[FabiaGonzales]

The way the stop-start works on the DSG, you don't have to put it in neutral or anything, just hold the brake when you've stopped.

 

I don't like sitting blinding the poor souls behind me with my brake lights, so the first time i stopped i automatically pulled the handbrake and released the brake, immediately the car sprung back to life and started trying to pull away, then to my suprise, stalled... My previous automatic experience was with a torque converter, which allowed using the handbrake when still in drive, and made the whole "automatic" feel much more fluid (pun not intended). Just release handbrake and pull away.

 

If it could recognise the state of the handbrake, and not try to set off while the handbrake is applied, would be much better. And the same with the stop-start function. Needs a re-work.

 

The whole premise of automatics combined stop-start (as it is currently) doesn't really seem to work.

Edited 6 May, 2019 by FabiaGonzales

[Gerrycan]

When I had a Fabia 1.0tsi manual courtesy car (definitely not a Monte Carlo) I also did a write up about it

I liked the manual even though it only had the 5 speed. Now that the consumption tests have switched from NEDC I expect all new future manual box releases to be 6 speed as the old test procedure actually favoured 5 speed over 6 speed. Unless the WLTP standards are equally distorting.

I certainly don't remember the idle being as high as 950rpm, I thought it was 750rpm and the idle consumption showing as 0.5L/hr (metric display). 

Stop/start worked ok with the manual box but I still turned it off as it was far too keen to stop at every single opportunity. Seriously, how much fuel is saved on each ten second or less stop at 0.5L/hr? Answer = stuff all!

Fuel economy is my thing and I thought it was epic in that respect. In the right conditions I reckon I could give over 80mpg returns a serious scare.

Great fun to drive and I think I would have to have serious medical issues before I would willingly turn to an auto/dsg box.

Edited 6 May, 2019 by Gerrycan

[sparckzero]

2 hours ago, FabiaGonzales said:

If it could recognise the state of the handbrake, and not try to set off while the handbrake is applied, would be much better. And the same with the stop-start function. Needs a re-work.

 

I've driven a number of VAG DSG cars as rentals, although they all had the electronic handbrake with "auto hold" function. This worked quite well with stop-start: once the car was stopped with the footbrake, the auto-hold took effect and the engine turned off. Gently placing the foot on the accelerator started the engine again and the car immediately moved off - took a bit of a deft touch to not race away from every set of traffic lights!

 

I've got the 6-speed manual 1.0 110 engine in my Fabia - it's a very good motor, although I do regret not getting the DSG. Next car will certainly be a bit bigger and an automatic...

[FabiaGonzales]

2 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

In the right conditions I reckon I could give over 80mpg returns a serious scare.

 

2 hours ago, Gerrycan said:

certainly don't remember the idle being as high as 950rpm, I thought it was 750rpm and the idle consumption showing as 0.5L/hr (metric display).

 

I was getting about 0.5L/h at idle, the needle on the tacho was just below the 1000 mark, it was about 1100 when cold. Even with AC off it didn't change the idle RPMs.

 

I found the economy wasn't too great, but the car did only have 450 miles on it at the time, a quite gentle trip back to the dealer left with about 35 mpg, i get about 37 on a bad day with spirited driving on my 1.2, usually in the mid 45's on a gentle day.

 

My economy has gone to crap recently with not really being able to use 5th gear. Sounds like a damn helicopter... sticking to 4th mostly eliminates the noise and vibration, but also ruins the economy.. sigh, can't wait for it to be fixed!

 

My 1.2 starts at about 1000-1100 when cold, then once warm it drops to 850, without AC running it drops to about 650.

[TerFar]

I have the 1.2 TSi MC DSG and I have finally got used to the anomalies! After disabling the start/stop function (and the idiotic Battery Control Module), I find it a really good drive. Drove it from home to Scarborough (313 miles, 5 hours, mostly Motorways) for a few days break last week and averaged a touch over 45 mpg.

I find the DSG system great and would never go back to manual. After driving 3 Skodas, all with DSG (Octavia Estate, Yeti and now the Fabia MC), I drive using right foot for accelerator and left foot for braking. It takes a bit of practise to stop to a halt smoothly, but it becomes natural quite quickly. This makes for easy driving allowing better concentration on the road (potholes), excessive road signs, pedestrians and other unpredictable road users!

Once start/stop has been disabled, pulling away is always smooth and without any delay, but I still select sports mode when navigating busy roundabouts when a fast getaway is desirable. I agree that having to use the foot brake to remain stationary is a problem for those behind being dazzled by the brake lights, but it is something that should be addressed by the car manufacturers. Perhaps the brake light could have a 'dim mode' when stationary in the dark.