New wheels - Fantasy Green Skoda Fabia 1.4 OHV

[stilo_active]

I meant to post this before Christmas but totally forgot. My 216 decided to take a sabbatical from working at the end of November, so a mate of mine said "I've got just the car for you". Only problem was, he was in Chatteris, I'm in Cornwall. At that point, you were allowed to travel, and he lived in a Tier 2 area which meant green light go. So, me, the wife and the 9 year old phone screen goblin piled into herself's Rover 75 diseasel and headed for Chatteris. 

Arrived at the destination after an uneventful drive in the Rover. Remained socially distanced, had a chat and drove off, wife and son in the Rover, me in the Skoda. Now, before we go any further, let's talk a bit about the car. 

It's a bottom of the range, mingebag basic Fabia Classic. It's an estate, fitted with the old Skoda OHV engine that was around when God was a slip of a lad. What's amazing is someone walked into a Skoda dealership, specified this trim level, ticked Fantasy Green on the order form but obviously thought "Classic" trim level may have been a bit mean. True, it still has exercise windows and independent locking but the original owner must have said "Oooh we're a bit flush this week Gladys, let's live a little" and selected a CD player and air conditioning from the options list. 

A pretty uneventful drive home, except the temperature gauge didn't work properly which, like my old Felicia, turned out to be the sensor in the thermostat housing. So a new thermostat and temperature sensor fitted and all is well. The only other issue is some vibration from the front end. Otherwise drives fine. Rover also made it home with no issues. 

Some git had nicked the F from the badge, so I fixed* it accordingly. 

Look at that powerhouse

The day after we got back, everywhere got moved up a tier so wouldn't have been able to get it any other time. Then of course, ERMAHGERD LERKDERN happened. I've named the car Listerine. 

[Fumbler]

That's so billy basic, I love it. Bonus points for being an OHV engine in a 2001 car. Absolutely marvellous.

[Ghosty]

I know who you got that off - a gent if ever there was one. 

[chancer]

That colour is fantastic. I'd buy that just to park on the driveway and smile at every morning! Proper coloured motor. Well bought

[spartacus]

I rounded up a copper coloured one of these for my eldest lad two Christmases ago. It's not been entirely without issues but seems a reliable plodder. The cam chain rattles a fair bit at idle but other than that it's not a bad thing.

Plus one on the colour, very '90's, which IMO is a good thing!

[wuvvum]

I do love that mint green.  I was following one not so long ago (hatchback rather than estate) and thinking what a handsome car it was.

Bonus points for the proper Škoda engine too, even if it is slower and less efficient than the VW 1.4.

[High Jetter]

That's minty! Well bought. 75 looks good too.

[stilo_active]

1 hour ago, Ghosty said:

I know who you got that off - a gent if ever there was one. 

Absolutely. He's an absolute legend and, in the words of Tim Nice But Dim, a thoroughly bloody nice bloke. 

[fatharris]

You know I bloody hate Skoda's, but you're happy and unlife the Alfa, this has an actual floorpan under the carpet I imagine so that's always a bonus

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[Crackers]

Scrolling through twitter a few minutes ago, someone had retweeted some pics of this which immediately put my head into Autoshite mode. Then the third thread I looked at... Was the same car! 😂

[bunglebus]

There's one exactly the same colour around here, excellent colour. Well bought

[Dirk Diggler]

You could never buy a Fabia with the old engine here; at launch they had a choice of 1.4 8V, 1.4 16V and SDi.

Every day's a school day

[bunglebus]

 

[busmansholiday]

I've had three of that style Fabia, two red and a silver, and loved them all. They were all diesel though but I had that engine in a Felicia and it went well. 

Trust it came with one of these.

 

[bezzabsa]

wonder how many old dears will notice the Badge...

[stilo_active]

13 hours ago, fatharris said:

You know I bloody hate Skoda's, but you're happy and unlife the Alfa, this has an actual floorpan under the carpet I imagine so that's always a bonus

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Skodas aren't necessarily my first choice, but I do like Favorits, Felicia and the miserably specced Fabias. 

I do miss the old Flintstones 156.

[r.welfare]

I spent a fair bit of back-to-back wheel time in both flavours of 1.4 petrol about 15 years ago (my wife had the 16v, my mother in law the OHV) and the old plodder was nicer in day to day driving.  The 16v went well but only if you wound it right up; there was bugger-all low down torque.

Do they have any obvious faults at this advanced age?  I hardly see them day to day, but I assume that’s natural attrition at work.

[greengartside]

These Fabias are alright actually, I’ve had the pleasure of piloting a 2000 1.4 16v and a 2004 1.2 HTP. Both very comfy and well built. They do export quite well I’ve heard, too.

[stilo_active]

5 hours ago, busmansholiday said:

I've had three of that style Fabia, two red and a silver, and loved them all. They were all diesel though but I had that engine in a Felicia and it went well. 

Trust it came with one of these.

 

It didn't come with one of those. It still has this:

[Low Horatio gearbox]

An excellent colour . Almost perfect spec too, utterly  base bar  essential stereo and AC.

[stilo_active]

I still have this old bus as it happens. It's been a dependable old hack. Back in January it had the timing chain replaced. Partly because @twosmoke300 kept putting amusing advisories on my invoices but also because it was unbearable to drive the bastard thing. 

It's a useful and quite endearing old hack. Unless it majorly shits itself on the MoT later on this year, it'll be here for the foreseeable.

Some up to date photos of the Labia, but first off, a couple of photos of all three motors of the Renowden household. 

 

[AnnoyingPentium]

This fine motor is the reason I joined here in the first place.

[stilo_active]

Bloody handy car, this.

 

 

 

[busmansholiday]

5 minutes ago, stilo_active said:

Bloody handy car, this.

 

 

 

Is that some of @yes oui si's stash ?

[High Jetter]

I think you mean, it's wheely good? I like that one has it's seat belt on, but would worry about the others if I were the driver in a head-on incident.

[stilo_active]

9 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

I think you mean, it's wheely good? I like that one has it's seat belt on, but would worry about the others if I were the driver in a head-on incident.

Despite the looks, everything was secured in place with little room for movement. Plus plenty of padding behind the front seats, too. 

[yes oui si]

1 hour ago, busmansholiday said:

Is that some of @yes oui si's stash ?

Thanks for the tag, I hadn't seen this one before. Never seen an estate in this colour, it's amazing