[TrueUnitedFan]

So did you get the car now?

I'm sorry to say, but you really have no sense. Sorry but spending 6k on a car like this is just pure madness. 6 ******* K?

You could by a cheaper car, a better car, for what your getting.

[bethany a smith]

My aunt has a skoda...it's broken down more time than I can remember, practically everything on it has broken at least once.

[Arron17]

(Original post by JC.)
When I was 16 I bought my first car: a bright yellow '77 Triumph Spitfire 1500 convertible. I spent a year slowly making it safe and road worthy and by the time I'd past my test I'd put it back on the road.
The car was £1750 and the insurance was £750 fully comp and I probably spent about £300 on parts. That was back in 2004.

People were telling me then that insurance would be "far too expensive for anything other than a hatchback" and they tell me the exact same now. These days I have two MGB GT 3.5 litre V8's, a Triumph Stag and up until last weekend a Landrover Series 3 and the insurance for the 4 was a gnats whisker over £400 fully comp with agreed valuations.

If anything, hatchbacks are one of the more expensive things to insure!

I've looked at all sorts of cars, from modernish coupes to old porsches and the insurance quotes for anything with more that around 120hp or an engine bigger than a 1.8 are around the £3500 mark at the least for fully comp.

[JC.]

(Original post by Arron17)
I've looked at all sorts of cars, from modernish coupes to old porsches and the insurance quotes for anything with more that around 120hp or an engine bigger than a 1.8 are around the £3500 mark at the least for fully comp.

It probably will be if you only use comparison sites.
I've tried them but not once have they been competitive?

I use small independant insurance companys.

[Arron17]

(Original post by JC.)
It probably will be if you only use comparison sites.
I've tried them but not once have they been competitive?

I use small independant insurance companys.

Yeh I have used a few but they are massively out. I asked my insurance company about a 2L Hyundai coupe and they quoted me £3000 though. And I could buy a faster hatchback and insure it for less.

[Herr]

(Original post by Megaross)

VAG = Volkwagen Audi Group

Contrary to popular believe, it actually means Volkswagen AktionGesellschaft. The German equivalent for PLC.

[Air_wolf]

relax people, its a nice little girl skoda for a new girl driver. personally i think they are pretty funky little runabouts, congratulations . on a curious note, how much insurance are you paying?

[truelovestory]

(Original post by Air_wolf)
relax people, its a nice little girl skoda for a new girl driver. personally i think they are pretty funky little runabouts, congratulations . on a curious note, how much insurance are you paying?

I'm not a girl haha. Insurance is £1600, not bad I thought.

[truelovestory]

(Original post by TrueUnitedFan)
So did you get the car now?

I'm sorry to say, but you really have no sense. Sorry but spending 6k on a car like this is just pure madness. 6 ******* K?

You could by a cheaper car, a better car, for what your getting.

I don't have it yet, I'm now getting it on Saturday.

[1992LP]

(Original post by truelovestory)
I've seen you give advice before, and I think you've given me advice so it'd be nice to know what you think

Thanks

First off, VAG = Volkswagen Audi Group. Seat, VW, Skoda, and Audi are all the same company, and all the cars have the same basic platform and engines / running gear.

The Fabia that you are looking at shares the same platform and engine as the Polo and Ibiza. A good start, if all you are looking for is a reliable comfortable car to get you from A to B - there is nothing wrong with them at all.

IIRC the 1.2 is a 3 cylinder engine, so don't expect much performance. If you can, I would seriously consider a 1.4 or a 1.6 as the fuel consumption will be pretty much the same (small engine, heavy car = working hard all the time = uses a lot of fuel) but I appreciate that the insurance may not be so friendly.

There are some quality control issues with the new Fabia (Skoda use cheaper materials than VW, but the cars cost less) so make sure everything works as it should. It is basically a new car so it should not be showing any signs of wear.

You say you are spending £6.5k on it, that is a huge sum of money for your first car IMO. I would also consider spending less (around £2k) on something like a 1.6 Focus and saving the rest until you can afford to insure a really nice car. Remember it will depreciate a lot since it is fairly new so come resale time in a year or two it will be worth considerably less.

Either way, it is your money, so you can do whatever you like with it! It is not what I would do, but everyone is different. Good luck with whatever you decide on, and quote me if you need anything else

ETA - I have done some research on the 1.2 3cyl engine, and it appears that it is an old design carried over from the early 2000s Polos, and has some issues. The major one of snapping timing chains due to poor lubrication has been cured thankfully, but there are several reports of axillary drive belt failures, issues with EGR valves and burnt out exhaust valves (it is thought that they need higher octane petrol to operate at a lower temperature?).

No major issues, but tread carefully. If it doesn't check out, and it MUST have a full service history, then walk away. Good luck!

[truelovestory]

(Original post by 1992LP)
Thanks

First off, VAG = Volkswagen Audi Group. Seat, VW, Skoda, and Audi are all the same company, and all the cars have the same basic platform and engines / running gear.

The Fabia that you are looking at shares the same platform and engine as the Polo and Ibiza. A good start, if all you are looking for is a reliable comfortable car to get you from A to B - there is nothing wrong with them at all.

IIRC the 1.2 is a 3 cylinder engine, so don't expect much performance. If you can, I would seriously consider a 1.4 or a 1.6 as the fuel consumption will be pretty much the same (small engine, heavy car = working hard all the time = uses a lot of fuel) but I appreciate that the insurance may not be so friendly.

There are some quality control issues with the new Fabia (Skoda use cheaper materials than VW, but the cars cost less) so make sure everything works as it should. It is basically a new car so it should not be showing any signs of wear.

You say you are spending £6.5k on it, that is a huge sum of money for your first car IMO. I would also consider spending less (around £2k) on something like a 1.6 Focus and saving the rest until you can afford to insure a really nice car. Remember it will depreciate a lot since it is fairly new so come resale time in a year or two it will be worth considerably less.

Either way, it is your money, so you can do whatever you like with it! It is not what I would do, but everyone is different. Good luck with whatever you decide on, and quote me if you need anything else

ETA - I have done some research on the 1.2 3cyl engine, and it appears that it is an old design carried over from the early 2000s Polos, and has some issues. The major one of snapping timing chains due to poor lubrication has been cured thankfully, but there are several reports of axillary drive belt failures, issues with EGR valves and burnt out exhaust valves (it is thought that they need higher octane petrol to operate at a lower temperature?).

No major issues, but tread carefully. If it doesn't check out, and it MUST have a full service history, then walk away. Good luck!

Sorry for the late reply. The 1.2 is a 6 cylinder engine, I think they do a 60bhp 3 cyl and a 70bhp 6cyl version. I have the 70bhp cyl one.

[JC.]

(Original post by truelovestory)
Sorry for the late reply. The 1.2 is a 6 cylinder engine, I think they do a 60bhp 3 cyl and a 70bhp 6cyl version. I have the 70bhp cyl one.

A 1.2 6 pot?
You sure?

[truelovestory]

(Original post by JC.)
A 1.2 6 pot?
You sure?

It says 12V on the engine description, I thought that meant it was a 6 cylinder?

[JC.]

(Original post by truelovestory)
It says 12V on the engine description, I thought that meant it was a 6 cylinder?

Twelve valves, mate.

So you've either got a 3 pot or the baby 4 pot.
Nothing wrong with the 3 cylinder actually... they rev and rev and rev.

[truelovestory]

(Original post by JC.)
Twelve valves, mate.

So you've either got a 3 pot or the baby 4 pot.
Nothing wrong with the 3 cylinder actually... they rev and rev and rev.

Ah ok, I don;t know much about cars

I don't know how many cylinders it is, if you want you can find out for me if you've got time, it's a 2008 Skoda Fabia Level 2 1.2 70bhp.

[Dan1909]

Spending that much on a car like that is definitely a mistake I'd say! You could get a very similar car (spec and engine wise), that's a bit older with a few more miles for half, or a third of the price.