Buying a car with your heart or mind

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daveyjp said:

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.

The Fabia is 1.0 110 bhp, the DW using it as mobile shopping kart. Myself about 2hrs drive on motorway once or twice a week.
Think you are correct about the better customer service at Skoda, wasn’t impressed with vw salesman a bit ignorant imo 

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Tucosalamanca said:

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.

Old shape?  It’s a 70 plate 110 bhp  think the new style only just come out ?
Took the DW to vw. Garage and she sat in a golf and said it was ok, then tried a polo didn’t like it 🙁
Then off to the Skoda garage, DW sat in the Fabia and liked it , go figure it’s same as polo. 

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Goudy said:

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.

I’ll only buy Japanese/ Korean and German 
As you say the Fabia is a bit bland, I like the golf due to it classic shape 
The one I looked at was the 1.5 L  evo match bluemotion in silver, don’t really like the Life model to much digital display, I suppose that’s why I looked at the Fabia plenty knobs/switches, keep it simple.
Plus I think the real reason the DW liked the golf as it had a DVD player, most 2 yr old cars don’t have them.

Flight3287462

baser999 said:

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.

It's a 2020 car, so odds on 1/10 that it hasn't got an MOT history!!

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Flight3287462 said:

baser999 said:

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.

It's a 2020 car, so odds on 1/10 that it hasn't got an MOT history!!

Ya I think both were registered 04/2020

Flight3287462

I have found the 1.0TSi 110 in the missus Kamiq pretty darn good to be honest.  I really wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do and it is nippy enough.

My daughter has 16 plate Fabia Monte Carlo Estate 1.2 (so not the same engine) and it is good too.  I think the estate looks better than the hatch back and the Monte Carlo makes it look (not drive) a bit sportier.

So why not have a look at the estate version?  By the way the £15k price looks toppy (without digging too far on autotrader).

I understand where you are coming from but to buy a VW that is three years old at pretty close to the on the on the road price when it was new would stick too much in my craw to stomach.

Tucosalamanca

plumb1_2 said:

Tucosalamanca said:

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.

Old shape?  It’s a 70 plate 110 bhp  think the new style only just come out ?
Took the DW to vw. Garage and she sat in a golf and said it was ok, then tried a polo didn’t like it 🙁
Then off to the Skoda garage, DW sat in the Fabia and liked it , go figure it’s same as polo. 

Ah yes, that's the new shape, far nicer interior and dash 

fatbelly

As a bit of a compromise see if you can get a Fabia estate - compact outside but with a huge boot.

MEM62

plumb1_2 said:

opinions please

I am a motorcyclist so buying with the heart is the norm.... :-) 

plumb1_2

Flight3287462 said:

I have found the 1.0TSi 110 in the missus Kamiq pretty darn good to be honest.  I really wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do and it is nippy enough.

My daughter has 16 plate Fabia Monte Carlo Estate 1.2 (so not the same engine) and it is good too.  I think the estate looks better than the hatch back and the Monte Carlo makes it look (not drive) a bit sportier.

So why not have a look at the estate version?  By the way the £15k price looks toppy (without digging too far on autotrader).

I understand where you are coming from but to buy a VW that is three years old at pretty close to the on the on the road price when it was new would stick too much in my craw to stomach.

Don’t think she’ll go for a estate version, think the golf is about the largest I can push her to. Iam used to driving vans so large is good for me.
Its £13k for the Fabia and 20k for the golf