2002 Skoda Fabia price

[jimbouk]

Hello. I'm currently eyeing up a Skoda Fabia and just want to see what people think.

There's a 1.4 at my local Skoda garage here or a 1.9 diesel at what was the Skoda garage here.

The price for both of these is above what Parkers recommends, but the price for all the Skoda Fabias of this age seem to be high. They come with a 12 month and 3 month guarantee respectively, which is obviously more than you would get from a private seller.

Insurance is £650 for the 1.4 and £750 for the 1.9D (I'm 21 with no no-claims, just graduating), but the tax is £50 cheaper on the 1.9D and it does almost 60mpg compared to 40mpg of the petrol.

Is it daft to be investing in this sort of car? I could gamble and spend less than £1000 on a small car but I'm worried things would go wrong and the bills soon add up. It is mostly going to be for long journeys as I'll be walking/cycling to my new job (starts Spetember), so either car would be better than a 1 litre Corsa or the like for that.

It's more money that I've ever spend in one go (biggest before was £850 on my last car's insurance, ignoring the £1000s on tuition fees...), so I'm rather cautious about the whole thing. I've gone the maths and I can afford to buy, keep and run the car with my job, but it is a large chunk of my wages.

So any advice? I'm not going to buy anything tomorrow but if I go for the 1.4 I'd probably put the deposit down on Tuesday. Haven't taken the 1.9D out for a test drive yet so the decision on that would be later in the week. I'm worried I'm not making a rational decision as I'd really like a car and the old Fabias look really smart. Darn this is difficult, it took me 3 years to find a pair of smart shoes to replace my old ones...

[arbitor]

Wouldnt bother with it.

Just get something sub 1k untill you have some ncb.

lets face it you will get bored of a 1.4 rather quickly and will want something better/bigger and will sell.. thus loosing money.

Although that would cost much to maintain, i think its somewhat naive to think all old cars break all the time and run up huge debts because they dont at all.

In my first three cars all sub 1k, fezza,clio,golf i probably spent 350 quid on bits that went wrong.. thats not alot of money for the pounding i gave them, didnt look after them at all.

I mean the ford for instance i think its actually hard to find anything on it that cost more than 50 quid. So if something does go wrong things arent that bad.

And also the fact is... if you buy a 500 pound car ( hypothetically) and it gets dented scratched ect ect it doesnt matter and you dont need to spend money fixing them, because there will always be a good market for cheap small cars for people like yourself its not hard to sell on.

I just dont see why anyone on this earth woud spend that money on possibly the most boring uneventfull car i have ever seen.

just my 2 cents, theres a LOT of cars you can get for under 1k these days aswell so its not like you only have a few choices.

[GrahamGarside]

I think it's a bit of a jump to blow a large chunk of your wages on your first car, especially one not even being used for a work commute.

I would consider two options were I in your shoes (not your smart ones obviously )

1. Cheap run around like a fiesta/micra for doing the shopping, continue cycling to work and use the train for those long journeys. With a young persons rail car it will always be cheaper than even a deisel.

2. Cheap older deisel like a Ford mondeo. Insurance is higher but you can pick a decent one up for under a grand and they're about the cheapest in class for repairs.

Both those Skodas are sluggish cars, not exactly comfortable motorway cruisers, a 1.2 fiesta would be faster.

[Akwaaba]

over 12 months ago I bought a 10 year old Audi A6, sold it a couple of weeks back for £60 less than I bought it. Spent less than £100 on maintenance.

I regularly change cars rather than spend money maintaining them - I buy carefully, it is not uncommon to find a 10 year old car with full service history having just had a service.

For £1000 - £1500 you should be able to find a very reliable, well maintained car, something like a Vauchall Vectra (a 1.6 is group 7 insurance), just make sure it hasn't been a mini-cab!

the newer the car, the more they cost to run or the more you lose in depreciation. I had an old Chrysler Sunbeam, the exhaust went, instead of replacing it, got an exhaust fitter to just fix it by cutting out the damaged section and replacing it with some offcut. That is okay for a car worth a couple of hundred - not really on a car worth a few thousand!

Another example, You can get away with using part worn tyres on an old car - unbranded tyres or remoulds even, try selling a more expensive car with tyres that don't match and with worn wiper blades!

[kalniel]

I agree that it's a bad idea to spend much on your first car. Bills don't always add up for cheaper cars, and you'll deal with scratches and minor prangs much better

On the other hand, I don't think you'll get bored of sub 1.4 at all. Most people don't *need* fast cars and getting something more sensible is always cheaper and often less dangerous, especially for younger drivers.

Also if you start off with less exciting cars each step up as you get older/can afford better is nice, rather than getting used to something powerful and then needing something even more powerful next time!

[joshwa]

I had a 1.4 8v W reg Fabia and had very few problems with it. (wheel bearing £130, electric window around £130). But it cost £2300 and we had it about a year, and sold it for around £1800. The 1.4 8v engine is one of the worst available in the Fabia, with even the 1.2 seeming more "peppy" and responsive.

Personally I'd prefer to save 1k+ and buy private, the money you save will easily cover any repair costs. (which with these cars should be small).

If you do like the Fabia, then why not get an older one, private for around £2k. Save loads of money, but still get a very reliable car. Bits are fairly cheap for them. We had the brake pads, and discs done along with a full service for £180 from an independant garage.

I think the Fabia is very good on motorways - it feels like a "bigger" car than it is - and more solid than a Fiesta. The 1.4 16v is probably the best petrol engine you can get in the Fabia, but you can also get the 1.9 TDI in various power ratings.

[jimbouk]

Hmmm, interesting points.

I've had a '96 1.3 Fiesta before (my Dad's old car, guilt after running off with a women at the office). It ran well and didn't need much maintaining, but someone ran into the back of me - write off. But my flat mate bought a similar age Corsa for £800, and she's litterally spent the same on it again (if not more) keeping it running, and it's still not right. So the idea of a full service history, a newer car and a warrenty really appealed to me.

I'm also on my mum's insurance for a mondeo, the car I started to learn to drive in. Again it's been running for 10 years and whilst it has it faults it isn't that expensive to keep going. I'd love to be able to get a larger car - I've driven all sorts at my Uni (Vito, Discovery, etc), it is litterally just the insurance.

As for the Skodas' performance, I can't comment on the diesel yet except what reviewers have said (a little but sluggish as it's not the turbo but good for long journeys), but the 1.4 was plenty nippy around town and would be fine for the 4 hour drive home.

My plan for this summer was to get the train around, but even with a young person's card it's about the same cost as fuel. I've also got the issue of only having the weekend to get home and back, which given trains on Sunday has meant that I haven't managed to make it home on my own for the last year. Also my brother is in Cambridge, which from Bath is via London - a big no.

I don't drive fast so a small car would be fine in that respect, and the Skodas looked a whole lot more presentable than a fiesta/corsa. When I'm 25 I hope to get an old Porsce (924/944 or something) so I plan to keep the car for at least 3 years. After that I'll drive fast, but only on track days

Well I'll take a look at insurance for mid sized cars, and see what's available in mid and small for around £1000. There was nothing at the garages for that price which is a downer, none of them held anything under £3000. Autotrader here we come!

[arbitor]

Corsa and fiesta are same size car but ultimatly the ford is alot cheaper to run, and i found very reliable.

If you dont need anything special why spend 3k on a skoda of that nature seems silly.

I mean a cheaper skoda would be fine, but still 2k i wouldnt EVER spend on a fabia when i know i can have something else that looks better and is just as cheap at the end of the day.

Ok so speed isnt an issue, but i mean a comfotable motorway car should be able to cruise at 70-80 comfortably..

If i were spending sub 1k id look athe the facelift 1.25 fezza, if not then probably same model but the zetec one which would be more.
Im not pro fiesta, i just think they are good cars, look better than the skoda,parts literally cost chips,VERY easy to work on, and i would prefer a ford badge to a skpda any day of the week.

[arbitor]

I agree that it's a bad idea to spend much on your first car. Bills don't always add up for cheaper cars, and you'll deal with scratches and minor prangs much better

On the other hand, I don't think you'll get bored of sub 1.4 at all. Most people don't *need* fast cars and getting something more sensible is always cheaper and often less dangerous, especially for younger drivers.

Also if you start off with less exciting cars each step up as you get older/can afford better is nice, rather than getting used to something powerful and then needing something even more powerful next time!

I class the 1.25 fiesta eqaully as exciting as the skoda, so i mean its not like hopping into a 911

[joshwa]

I've had both a 99 Mk4 Fiesta 1.25 Zetec, and a 2000 Fabia 1.4 8v - and the Fiesta 1.25 Zetec engine is "nippier" and more responsive than the Skoda, but you get a more spacious, more modern feeling car with the Fabia (with a 4 star euro ncap safety rating).

We had the Fiesta for about 2 years and literally spent no money on it, apart from tyres (I think we might have had a new exhaust put on), and it was very very reliable.

You can get good cars privately with full service history, etc and end up with a good reliable car.

If you want to see the size difference here's a pic:

[arbitor]

Good post josh, what was the difference in cost price?

Its a very good engine for its size that zetec one

[joshwa]

It looks like you can get a Mk4 Fiesta 2000 for around £1300 on Autotrader in my area, while the same age Fabia starts at around £1800. You tend to get dual airbags on all Fabia (driver and passenger), whereas the Fiesta of that age tends to only have drivers airbag.

[jimbouk]

The old fiestas (mk V 2002 and earlier) were top of my list till I saw the Fabia. Didn't like the new ones one bit though. I had a hire car and it was bulky but with very little boot space, and very underpowered for the weight - not nice on the motorways or a hill. Was the basic model though.

Fiesta trivia from wikipedia:
"In the UK the Fiesta holds the accolade of being the most often stolen car, followed closely by the Vauxhall Nova (since renamed Vauxhall Corsa)."

[arbitor]

Not bad at all, i would probably say for a little bit more space and saftey its not worth the extra 500...

Ford parts are going to be cheaper too dont you think?

fiestas are pretty hard wearing, i roled mine into a field everything smashed but the roof didnt cave

most stolen car.. the only way i can see that being true is because theres so many of them lol, but this doesnt have any bearing on the insurance as they are not that costly

[jimbouk]

No, insurance isn't bad at all. Parts should be a bargain aye, lots of generic parts that fit Fords rather than having to go for the real ones. The most stolen will be because there's so many, and the very old ones which you can probably break into and start with a coat hanger...

Insurance on a '99 1.8 mondeo was a grand, £800 for a '98 1.6 Escort. Think it's going to have to be 1.4 petrol or lower, or diesel.

I'd have to say my decision is that I've made no decision! Oh well. I'll speak to the parents and see what they think about it. If I don't do anything this week then I'll probably just wait until the start of July to ponder this again...

[arbitor]

Just get your self a fezza

yeh parts are easy to get third pary and its the way i did it, mst expensive bit was alternator, like 34 quid lol