2001 Skoda Fabia Comfort from UK and Ireland - Comments

W Reg Skoda Fabia Comfort. 1.4 8v.

Ah what a refreshing web page.

I bought mine nearly 10 months ago and there hasn't been a month where it's not been back with one issue or another.

I have yet to have a dash rattle, but the front sus is knocking! ARB bushes will be next on the list.

Power steering problem is down to the steering angle sensor and is a known fault. The replacement will also cure the dimming of the headlights when you turn the steering wheel.

Other known fault is the tracking. I spotted both front tyres with prem. wear on the innerside of the tyres, exs neg camber.

My other problem, and I wonder if any one else has this minor or major, is that it's hard to start and its realy rough ticking over! When sitting at the lights it's like someone is kicking the engine block and it shudders when you switch it off. Now I've been spun a yarn that it's a "Lean Burn Engine" and "they all do it" If that were case then Skoda wouldn't have sold a single one!

W Reg Skoda Fabia 1.4 power steering fault.

We purchased this good looking and solidly built car 10 months ago as a run around for my wife. It has a full dealer service history and only 24K on the clock. The car is only used for short local journeys. My wife noticed that the steering became erratic turning corners. I test drove the car and noticed the same. The dealers have looked at the problem and to our surprise told us the car needs a new steering rack (£860)! This appears to be a little excessive and somewhat odd for a part which I would have reasonable considered to last the life time of the vehicle. The car has not been involved in an accident and nor has it been ‘Kerbed’. There appears to be quite a few comments regarding steering problems with this year and model especially steering angle sensors etc. Can anybody shed any further light on this and can I get this independently checked?

Skoda Fabia 1.4 8 valve, first registered late 2001 (51). Low mileage, 2.5 K at initial, one previous owner, purchase.

Ambient temperature-affected NS suspension rattle/knock

Corrected at third attempt under warranty. Light flicker annoys oncoming motorists. It coincides synchronously with audible "ch -ch-ch" sound from under OS bonnet. Said to be a sensor which also gives false positive power steering dashboard warning light. Faults not rectified by relatively expensive resetting procedures.

Misdiagnosis avails very expensive failure. Too many sensors and the lineal inheritance of the early VW reputation for complex and curiously costly rectification of electrical faults. Son's Skoda Felicia sensor and other fault resulted in windscreen wiper outright failure in a rainstorm, a very dangerous and massively inconvenient fault!

Dealers seem not to be updated by the manufacturer, who surely cannot ignore the strange faults arising in attractive cars. Well worth more detailed attention and adequate dealer updating and support.

I am fed up with my Skoda Fabia 16V 1.4 comfort (on a 51 plate). Since we bought it from the in laws (still in warranty we have been ripped off, and fobbed off about all the cars faults. The boot doesn't shut properly - the engine rattles -the air con was stinking like decomposing god knows what - the most annoying of all is this...

ENGINE WARNING LIGHTS. We have had Engine management system fault lights on and off for a yr now. They plugged it in and reset it etc, and it came back in a day. They tell me it "could be" the exhaust gas recirculation valve. Having lost all faith in the skoda dealer, I went to another garage who told me he has had several skodas that he has replaced this part on (to get rid of the light), and hey presto the light doesn't go out! And it costs £300 to have it done. I have been on various website, and forums and some people have spent £1000 trying to get the damn warning lights to just GO AWAY with no success. I would love to sell this car, I just don't know what to do anymore. The engine is running great (which apparently wouldn't happen if it really was an EGR fault)!

By the way the inlaws bought another BRAND NEW skoda, and their air con doesn't work, AND they have the same warning light on as me!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGG.

1.9 TDI 01 reg Fabia. Same problems. Creeking dash, power steering light comes on resulting in heavy steering and boot doesn;t lock the same as the rest of the doors. Still a fast car whilst also econmonical. Gonna get the sensor changed. Power steering is annoying. Can live with the rest

Hi I had a Fabia 2005 Comfort 1.4 diesel and found a lot of the faults already listed, especially when I had weight in the car ie goods or 4 passengers it would snake like it was on ice, and it had gone back into main dealers for all the noise from underneath, but they found no fault.

My son had to brake suddenly, and the ABS did not come on, and he had to go around the car he had needed to brake behind, and if another car had been coming against him there could have been an accident. A cousin who also drove quite often found the steering and brakes not something to be happy about.

I have just got a second-hand 51 plate Fabia and am experiencing just about all the faults listed here.

I'm very fed up as I no sooner seem to cure one problem than another raises its head.

Creaky dashboard, not a rattle, but an annoying creak be it on accel or brake, or turning the wheel.

Air con was gone, Evap sensor failure. Anti Roll bar bushes were shot, creating a constant knocking, needed a new roll bar. Drives nice and quiet now (apart from creaky dashboard).

Found a leak on the radiator fan switch, it's been losing coolant since I got it I think. First warning was the low level coolant lamp. Waiting for a seal to arrive to fix that. Meantime, keeping a close eye on the coolant level.

Then the headlights started their light show within the last 48 hours, flickering / dimming for no apparent reason whilst driving down the motorway. Apparently, this could be due to a myriad of reasons, from a faulty PAS angle sensor to a failing alternator, or battery, or just plain "standard odd behaviour"

The PAS warning light came on about a week or two ago, but once I'd turned the car off and back on, it never came back.

Both rear doors leaked like mad, I spent an afternoon sorting them out myself, so far they seem dry, but I'll wait until the next major downpour before I celebrate that little victory.

As others have said, lots of niggling "known" faults that Skoda/VW should address, the fixes are, it seems, by and large, well known, so why they are still not sorted at root is very frustrating.

My only hope is, once these faults are sorted, they will remain so and I can finally get some pleasure out of driving the car, which is, to be fair, a very nice little car. As it stands, I tend to start each journey with a certain amount of trepidation.

Skoda Fabia 1.4 W reg, owned since new, now on 67K.

Problems have included:

* air con not working on delivery

* power steering failure

* tracking - which took many attempts to correct

* lambda sensor failure

* EGR (apparent) failure and replacement (£170 from my independent garage)

* Several sundry suspension failures, including a failed front replacement shock absorber

* cam belt / timing belt failure

* brake light failure - signalled only by amber engine warning light (which I had had to learn to ignore)

* high oil consumption from 60,000 miles

* seat heater failure

* mirror heater failure

* slow coolant loss

* erratic alarm activation

* ignition system failure.

Why do I keep it? The car has always been a delight to drive for a pretty standard supermini, and with a 3 year warranty was economical.

Now 6 years old, the local independent garage struggles to keep it on the road. It's worth next to nought, but its possibly worth spending a couple of hundred quid a year to keep going, rather than the hassle and cost of exchanging it for another heap of trouble. A little while longer anyway before I throw in the towel.

Apart from buying the thing at all, or maybe buying it too early in the production run, my biggest regret was getting light coloured upholstery that looked dreadful after 6 months, and is now very much worse...

Took it back to the garage yesterday for one more attempt to put that engine warning light out, after changing the EGR failed to do so. The only reasons for bothering to correct this fault is that the garage said it would result in MOT failure, and that it also effectively disables the engine warning system.

The garage's latest idea is to add "Comma" injector cleaner to the petrol, and see if that stops the EGR picking up spurious faults. After running this, the garage reset the warning light yesterday. The light stayed out for a whole 5 miles. Fingers crossed.

Oh, I feel much better now.

I have just bought 2001 Skoda Fabia done less than 20,000 miles and it has same steering problems (Inconsistent weighting of steering) as others on this forum so I went to a local garage and the proprietor said he had just serviced a similar low mileage Fabia the owner of which had the same problem. She had taken the car to the skoda dealer who tested the car and told her it was nothing unusual and she should learn to live with it. I went myself, the receptionist denied any problems with fabia steering and suggested I pay £68 for them to look at it. I declined their generous offer and are going to dispose of this seemingly unreliable car.

Earlier this year we bought a 2002 reg Fabia Elegance with 40,000 miles on the clock.

Having read the comments posted so far it seems that our Fabia has a fault (or is it a feature) which is uncommon. The central locking system activates itself without a single button being pressed, either on the key-fob or on the door. On several occasions while driving along the doors have suddenly locked, which is rather unnerving.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

PS. Have also had a lambda sensor changed, anti roll-bar bushes replaced, re-attached a window to its mechanism and fixed a leaking radiator. We try to park on the flat to avoid rain getting in! The heated seats are nice!

I have a fabia which the steering light comes on and all the electrics go off nothing works at all the engine runs and that's it. turn it off and leave it for an hour and its fine anyone else had this problem? whats wrong with it apart from it's a skoda.

To the second-hand Fabia owner with the mysterious locking doors. This is a standard feature of the Skoda Fabia and is quite normal and in some ways protects the driver and passenger. Nothing to worry about!

Well, I have a seat ibiza 1.4 2003 (same as fabia) Power steering light has come on and it feels like I'm steering a tank! I have also noticed the lights flicker, but that's not too much of a problem, A/C has never worked either! Why the hell have skoda/seat not recalled all of the seats/skodas if a new unit cures the problem!!!

We purchased an X reg FABIA 1.4 back in April 01. (Current mileage 55k) The first couple of years were fine (although we did have the creaky dash board which we learnt to live with) and the anti roll bars replaced. In the last 3 years we have had numerous problems with the coolant system. New radiator fitted in Sept 05 (now leaking again), new power steering sensor and new clutch recently fitted. Not a month goes by without having one of the warning lights come on and a visit to the Skoda garage. Having read the above comments how glad I am that I did not have the air con and central locking features! All in all very disappointing and I certainly shall never buy another Skoda.

I have an X-reg Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.4litre 16v with 89,000 on the clock. While the car was still in manufacturer's warranty there were very few problems, but after year 3 things started to go wrong on a fairly regular basis, culminating now in scored cylinders which the dealership tells me are terminal for the engine. I will therefore need a replacement (+ one for the power steering pump which has now apparently also gone west, only a month after the engine problems started).

I have been quoted (main dealership) a total of £3800 for these two repairs, which leaves me in a very depressing position. I understand that piston ring issues are a known problem with this VW 16v engine, but Skoda UK say they are able to offer me any goodwill towards the cost of the repair (based on the age of the car). What to do next? Get the repair done, only for something else to go wrong straight away, or start looking for a different 2nd hand car.