Fabia or Fusion

[aptsat 0]

I have been, from the past few months, doing an extensive study on the various diesel models available on sale. The parameters of selection have been the following

1. Fuel Consumption

2. Luxury features in the Interiors

3. Brand Value

4. Performance

5. Price in the range of 7 L.

Could not find a single diesel sedan which would satisfy all of the above parameters  and hence after extensive wait have zeroed down to Fabia Classic TDI and Fusion 1.4 Duratorq. I find both the models equally appealing and am not sure which one to buy. Other diesel hatchbacks like swift, getz, indica, palio are not on my wish list as they do not qualify for me to be premium hatch backs. Need help and suggestions in taking informed decision. Want the vehicle by Diwali this year. Please advise FuelRunGod2008-09-10 09:13:36

[sgiitk 0]

If you want luxury then the Fabia, if you want better value for money then the Fusion. I will put my money on the Fabia.

[aptsat 0]

Thank you for your prompt response. I now have two votes, including mine, on the Fabia as against 1 on the Fusion

[viveksonkhla 0]

Fabia being 1400 cc engines, clearly will have better fuel economy than Fusion, but Fusion is more of a drivers car.

 

Fabia comes loaded with much more goodies than Fusion in its interiors - like Fusion does not have ABS or airbags, so that makes the Fusion cheaper too.

Fabia has a low ground clearance that makes it good for driving only in good city roads, whereas Fusion is very tall and more rugged there.

If your driving is more highway and less city, go for Fusion

 

If it is less highway use and more city - then go for Fabia.

[archit 2]

fabia for city

Fusion for highway

[speed 0]

Better opt for Fabia, Fusion never did well in the market & if resale value also figures on your mind, Fusion does'nt stand anywhere.

[vibhor 0]

Fabia is a very nice car with great features but its a bit overpriced ...if u dont have any problem from its price the go for it.....

fusion is also a good car but it didnt got a very good response for indian market..to me personally i like fusion especially its mini muv looks!....remeber both the brands are known for their pricey cars and spares!...

ill suggest fabia!

vibhor2008-09-11 11:41:49

[aptsat 0]

Thank you all guys. Practically all answers have led to the Fabia.

On the resale value will Fabia score over the Fusion ? Coz at some point in time may be 3 or 4 years from now when i think of replacing the vehicle i should get a good price.

 

Another aspect which i wanted to share with all was the fact that if one chooses to buy a Skoda Classic with black interiors, he can at a cost of INR 15K upgrade to two tone Black and beige interiors.

 

[vibhor 0]

ya ....i think fabia will hav a good resale value compared to fusion!

[archit 2]

ford doesn't have good resale value

Skoda is the better of the two

[krace 0]

aptsat,

             Fabia is the ultimate choice while considering your requirements. Real VFM deal when compared to Fusion. Dont worry about the resale value while going for Fabia. She ll not disappoint u.

[uneet 0]

Hello All,

 

Iam using Fabia deisel classic model for the last 3 months. It has done around 1400 Kms.

Its an ultimate car in all respects and only lacks in engine noise. The build quality beats all the sedans in the 7-8L bracket.

My money would always be on Fabia rather than Fusion.

 

Uneet

[vibhor 0]

but Fabia i think is quite expensive in maintinance costs ettc etc!

[speed 0]

Ya, Uneet if you could elaborate on Fabia, we want to know more!

[rssh 59]

@vivek Fusion + gives ABS .Go for the Fabia.

[uneet 0]

Hi Speed,

 

As rightly pointed out by aptsat in the starting of this thread, i also faced the same problem.

 

I had a budget for 7L and i was looking for a deisel sedan and to my surprise there was none available in my budget except Dzire.

 

Either i had to for a petrol sedan like SX4, City, Fiesta and Verna or a deisel hatchback like swift, fusion or fabia.

 

The last choice was between Swift Dzire and Fabia.

 

The reason for opting Fabia was quite personal.

Firstly Iam already driving Civic, Innova and Honda City (Ist Generation) and Santro and was looking to change my City. So i was looking for very good refinement levels in the car with good interiors.

To have a boot was not a priority as i already had other options for that.

Fabia scores over all the deisel sedans in the build quality, Interior feel, Stability at high speeds due to safety features as Airbags etc.

Dzire lacks in the overall feel of the car. It gives a feeling of a compromise vehical to be honest as the interiors are quite plasticky (though the engine is very good) while on the other hand fabia makes you feel a bit snobbish also as you know that you are driving a premium car in its segment!

 

Now the milaege - In starting i was getting around 11.5 km/l which was terribly bad as i heard fm people they are getting around 16-17 km/l.

Now my mileage has increased to 13.5 km/l

My first service is due in another 3 months as the service intervals is of 6 months or 7500 kms which is quite decent.

 

Engine noise is the only problem in this car as due to only 3 cylindar engine, it is quite noisy.

 

Another point raised in different forums is "underpowered car" I don't really agree with people who are commenting on it. Now if you see the stats of 0-100 speed, this car comes second only to swift and beets even Innova, Scorpio, Fiesta etc. So it not at all a underpowered car.

 

Finally this car is meant for those niche customers who are ready to accept a high price for a high quality hatchback and remove the bottleneck of buying a sedan at this price!

[speed 0]

Thanks Uneet for detailed report.  I too might go in for the Fabia diesel soon.

What about servicing costs & spare parts price?

I tried the car myself & found engine noise to be obtrusive.

Ride was good, what do you say, how does it handle on rough roads, what about bumps & potholes?

The earlier posts you mentioned in which Fabia was told to be underpowered, was about petrol Fabia I guess!

speed2008-10-09 07:34:25

[uneet 0]

Hi speed,

Thks for a quick response.

 

Service costs is relatively high as it costs around Rs. 5000 - 7000 per service with an interval of 10000 kms. The high cost of service is beacuse they use synthetic oil which is very costly. First three services are free so basically you can enjoy till 22500 kms freely as the service interval for free service is 7500 kms.

Spares are also quite expensive but i think they are expensive of all the brands except Maruti and Hyundai. But then luxuary always comes at a price!

 

Ride quality is very good and small patholes are taken care without a fuss. I, myself is a very cautious driver and tries to slow down at every possible big patholes.

 

Ref. Underpoweres issue, it has been raised in few forums for the deisel version, i feel the only hitch in this is that if you are in very slow speed say 5 - 10 km and in 2nd gear, it feels sluggish for a couple of seconds but soon after 2000 RPM it spurts very fast as the turbo takes over.

 

Overall its a very impresive package with no competition as on today, but I feel that Fiat Grande Punto and Honda Jazz would also be very intresting once they come in and than one can expect some serious changes in the pricing as well!

[speed 0]

Thanks Uneet,  5-7k/ service is very high. Yes, I know the synthetic oil thing, but Skoda should do something about it.

How is the car percieved by general public & what's the color of your car?

It would be great if you could post some pics. of your car.

[Ashish 0]

Hi!     Speed ,

Iam Ashish, planning to buy Fabia Classic Diesel this

Diwali, is this the right time to buy because new car are

being launched in the next few months.

I stay in Mumbai , please inform which of these following

dealers are good for Skoda service.

* 1) JMD MOTORS 2) AUTOGRAPH MOTORS    OR

3) AUTOBHANS

FURTHER I doubt would Skoda FABIA Diesel can manage

long drives with ease. I have also heard that the Skoda

Fabias Tyres are not upto the mark. Please suggest

waiting for your prompt reply.

Thanks,

ASHISH

[uneet 0]

Hi speed,

 

Yes the service cost is high but i guess its just the way you look at things.

 

Normally the service cost of other deisel vehicals is around 2000- 3000 with a 5000 kms interval and fabia 5 - 7k with 10k kms intervals.

 

So, its just fine if you are spending  Rs.1500 per year extra.

 

Generally people perceive it as a very good car but a bit overprices bcoz generally everybody compares it with Swift but that's not the case as after driving  this car i took a test drive of swift which looked kiddish in front of fabia.

I will soon try to load some pics of my car. It is of Red Colour classic model. Costed me 672000 after discount of Rs. 12000, + Tefloan coating as complimentory.

 

Ashish,

 

This car is very comfortable for long drive. I have not taken it on a very long drive except around 150 kms in a day once and it was very comfortable.

[bluesapphire 1]

I think the member who was interested has not visited since long time so this thread should be closed and members who wants to do discussions on fabia can visit other threads...there are lot many threads for Fabia..

[speed 0]

Hello  Ashish, sorry I got a little late in replying to your post, was busy somewhere.

Fabia diesel is a good car, but little overpriced, engine is noisy & maintenance is expensive. But, +ves are- its a solidly built car, interiors are comfortable, ride & handling is good & class leading features are there.

This actually is a good time to buy cars, but strangely I have'nt seen many advertisements by companies regarding offers & schemes. If you could wait for some more days, I think discounts bazaar would hot up. Also, you can check out, to be launched i20, which should be good competition to Fabia.

Well I live in Punjab, so can't say about dealers in Mumbai, but surely members from Mumbai who would read this thread, would reply.

Fabia is robust & comfortable car & would manage long drives pretty well.

Yes, I was also wary of Fabias tyres, its a Czech. company "Matador", never heard of it earlier, this would be a gamble. Though when I test drove the car, Tyres were losing grip very early.

@Uneet, thanks. Oh nice color you chose! Details of your deal can help Ashish zero in on discounts.

Btw, how much have you driven? & waiting for the pics.

[speed 0]

@Archit, buddy you also start giving sound advise to people & they would start waiting for your responses too.

 @BS, yes topic starter has vanished, but thread has progressed to higher level & is evolving, otherwise also it would have been dead. So, I think discussions can continue here.

Also credit goes to new members who picked up a old thread & posted in it rather than starting a new topic. Keep it up guys!

speed2008-10-09 12:16:21

[bluesapphire 1]

Ok no problem mods can take care of it if they think they can close it ...anyways sometime back i post in some other fabia thread that in my city dealer gave ad in Toi that 1.2 MPI Active now at 5.25l on road which is currently of around 5.4l or something OTR...

But today the same dealer gave same ad but with different price i.e 4.99l OTR...now thats the cheap tactics by company/dealer that they are trying to sell the old stocks of 1.2petrol which has faults ....This is not done yaar...If you cant solve the problem you should not stick it over to customers..

'Yeh to product CHIPKANE jesi baat hui..'