Buying a car with your heart or mind

plumb1_2

Been looking at buy a second hand vehicle what might suit myself and the DW 
Choices vw golf 1.5 evo match. Or.  Skoda Fabian 1.0;tsi, both 2020 vw £20k Fabia £13k
my heart the golf. DW fabia

opinions please

MikeJXE

I chose what I always wanted and could never afford 

Now I am retired and on my own I chose Jaguar XE auto £16,000 3 years old 50 odd to the gallon and a dream to drive. 

Best car I ever had. 

plumb1_2

MikeJXE said:

I chose what I always wanted and could never afford 

Now I am retired and on my own I chose Jaguar XE auto £16,000 3 years old 50 odd to the gallon and a dream to drive. 

Best car I ever had. 

Nice car the jaguar, really like the Golf but my heads telling me save the £7k and buy the Fabia 

tacpot12

I don't think the Golf will be £7,000 better than the Fabia, but it's your money.

natlol

Isn’t the Golf a bigger car then the Fabia? The equivalent VW would be the Polo. I think it comes down if you need the bigger boot? I have a Skoda and have been very pleased with it. Have you considered the Scala? 

daveyjp

All down to what you use the car for.  The 1.0tsi is probably OK for local trips, but if you expect to do fully loaded trips of hundreds of miles regularly it may not be pleasant.

Skoda dealers are generally far better at customer service than VW and Audi.  In my experience VW/Audi will happily sell you a lemon and then simply forget you ever existed when a problem arises, which is why I now avoid VAG products.

chrisw

If I wanted the Golf but bought the Skoda, I would be regretting it every time I saw it parked up, approached it, sat in it or washed it.

Herzlos

That £7k difference can get you a lot of fun stuff. That's a few weeks worth of nice holidays or a new bathroom.

Personally I like the Fabia. What's making you favour the Golf?

Tucosalamanca

Is the Fabia 'old shape'? If so, that's quite an aged model now and would explain at least some of the price difference.

I took a 1.0tsi, 110hp model for a test drive. Very nippy and a solid vehicle but it isn't a Golf (I've owned several).
The three cylinder engine has character and might not appeal to you (I loved it).

But not really a fair comparison, as the comparable VW is a Polo rather than a Golf.

In your budget, I'd almost certainly buy a Seat Ibiza FR, sporty, well spec'd and a fun drive.

Goudy

Yes, different class of cars.
The Golf is in the same class as the Focus and Astra.
The Fabia is in the same class as the Fiesta and Corsa.

I agree with the comment regarding the 1.0tsi engine, it's a bit under powered when the car is loaded with anything more than a couple of adults and a bit of shopping unless you sniff out the 110ps version.

I did toy with the idea of a Fabia, Polo or Ibiza back in 2020, though an automatic. I thought they all appeared a bit bland but each in different places.
The Fabia was quite nondescript inside and out.
The Polo felt a bit more up market inside but like the Fabia outside.
The Ibiza looked responable inside, but the outer sporty styling had a bit too much cheap chrome looking plastic.

I ended up with a 2020 Clio.
Boot is bigger than a Golf though in the same class as the Fabia, Polo, Ibiza.
Lovely inside with lots of soft touch surfaces, colourful trim and smart screen.
Outside is typical Clio, swoops, hunches and flutes with grey trim rather than dull matt black or chromy plastic.
5 year warranty rather than 3 with the others.
I went for the 1.3 RS Line that only came with the DCT gearbox and it's a lot better to drive than the others DSG.

baser999

Both cars should prove reliable, what do they have by way of service history, have you checked MOT history for old issues? Try Googling VW Golf v Skoda Fabia, there’ll likely be a motoring magazine that’s done a YouTube type comparison. They’re usually pretty useful

Bottom line £7000 is a huge difference for two similar cars, but as others have said depends what it’ll be used for.