Motoring Discussion > Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Hard Cheese Replies: 22
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New Sat 20 Nov 10 16:32 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Hard Cheese

We have had a '60' plate 1.9 PD Fabia as a courtesy car, it was little used as the wife preferred to drive our old Clio.

Other than being particularly noisy from cold the most noticable feature is the fact that it struggles in 3rd gear at 30mph so 2nd is needed in town and on country roads 4th and 5th hardly get any use, the gear ratios are:

2nd - 12mph/1000rpm
3rd - 18/1000
4th - 25/1000
5th - 35/1000

Ludicroulsy high ratios, geared for 105 at 3000 in top!

I guess it is in the name of economy and low CO2 though it verges on the difficult to drive.



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New Sat 20 Nov 10 16:45 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Iffy
Surprised, I'd expect a Skoda to be properly engineered.

Unlike my brother's Kia Cee'd.

It had a large gap between, I think third and fourth, or it might have been second and third.

Either way, brother told me it was really irritating in day-to-day use and he never did quite learn to 'drive around' it.

Another reason why some of this funny stuff is not quite the bargain it appears.

The gear ratios on my Focuses have never struck me one way or the other, which means they must be about right.

Last edited by: Iffy on Sat 20 Nov 10 at 16:46
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New Sat 20 Nov 10 16:57 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - R.P.
I guess it's down the emissions as you suggest. My old Roomie had the same engine - noisy as anything but huge amounts of torque. The gearbox was fine on mine = wonder if they had the same ratios...
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New Sat 20 Nov 10 18:19 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
Thats quite a drastic change on the old 1.9 Fabia and my current '58 reg 1.9 Roomster, both of which are geared for 29mph/1000rpm in 5th, I thought that the Fabia shared the same gearbox... I understand that the 1.4TDi Greenline has a "long" 5th gear, but even that isn't as long as that, from what i understand its much the same ratios as the 1.9 (the standard 1.4TDi had a 26mph/1000rpm 5th gear). Where did you get the figures from, is it a "guestimate" from the speedo/rev counter?
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New Sat 20 Nov 10 18:36 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
Done a bit of digging and came up with the following top gear rations for various Skoda models:

1.4 TDi Mk1 Fabia - 0.77
1.9 TDi Mk1 Fabia - 0.70
1.6 TDi Mk2 Fabia - 0.66
1.6 TDi Greenline Fabia - 0.63!!

It doesn't quote the Roomie's, though I suspect it'll be 0.70. That 60 reg one will be one of the last 1.9s as they changed over to the 1.6 engine around spring of this year, I can't see why they would have changed gear ratios but it could be possible - certainly that .66 or .63 5th gear ratio would bring it close to the figures you quoted! Bear in mind that the speedo is about 10% over!
Last edited by: hobby on Sat 20 Nov 10 at 18:38
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New Sun 21 Nov 10 07:53 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - L'escargot
>> Done a bit of digging and came up with the following top gear rations for
>> various Skoda models:
>>
>> 1.4 TDi Mk1 Fabia - 0.77
>> 1.9 TDi Mk1 Fabia - 0.70
>> 1.6 TDi Mk2 Fabia - 0.66
>> 1.6 TDi Greenline Fabia - 0.63!!

Ratios of what to what?
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New Sun 21 Nov 10 08:58 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - -
I can't see much wrong with those ratio's, in 3rd at 30 (maybe 32 would be a true 30) the engine would be turning over at approx 1600rpm, i'd have thought the PD well capable of poodling round at those revs.

Maybe this one's down a little bit on fuelling so is struggling because of that, at what point does the turbo spool up enough to feel the surge kick in.

I wish the C2 had similar top gear revs, like the Fabia it does have stacks of torque and could easily drop a thousand rpm at motorway speeds, having said that i wouldn't really want a 6 speed box unless 6th was purely an overdrive option leaving other gears unchanged.
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New Sun 21 Nov 10 10:33 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Skoda
>> Ratios of what to what?

Input shaft to output shaft of the gearbox, but not including the final drive.
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New Sun 21 Nov 10 12:59 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Hard Cheese
>> 1.6 TDi Greenline Fabia - 0.63!!
>>
>> It doesn't quote the Roomie's, though I suspect it'll be 0.70. That 60 reg one
>> will be one of the last 1.9s as they changed over to the 1.6 engine
>> around spring of this year, >>

It had a Greenline* badge so must be a 1.6, I can't beleive how noisy it was though for a contemporay diesel.

*No not the old 462 from W-O-T to Weybridge and Addlestone.
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New Sun 21 Nov 10 21:55 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
If its the 1.6 its not the PD engine, its VAG's new CR engine... I have no experience of it at all so can't really comment... though my next car will probably powered by a version of it... tbh diesel engine noise doesn't bother me at all, if I wanted a silent car I'd buy an electric one, the rest are just degrees of noise! ;-)
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New Mon 22 Nov 10 09:18 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Hard Cheese

Is there a 1.9 Greenline then? I assumed it was a 1.9 because of the noise.

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New Mon 22 Nov 10 09:45 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
I don't think so, all the Fabia diesel greenlines used the 1.4 PD engine as far as I'm aware when they used the 1.9/1.4 diesel lineup... better economy if you drive it right, much "gruffer" than the 1.9 though due to the 3 cylinders...
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 14:16 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - L'escargot
>> Surprised, I'd expect a Skoda to be properly engineered.

I've no doubt Skoda deliberately chose the gear ratios they considered would suit the section of the market they wanted to attract to that particular model/version. Presumably their philosophy worked and they're selling enough to warrant their choice of those gear ratios.
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New Mon 22 Nov 10 19:34 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Roger.
I had a Mk.2 Skoda Fabia 1.4tdi for a day while my old motor was in for its service.
It was SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW (and growly) compared with my 2001 Fabia 1.9tdi.
I wouldn't buy that particular engine specification based on that day's experience.
Edited for spelling!
Last edited by: landsker on Mon 22 Nov 10 at 19:34
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New Tue 23 Nov 10 10:49 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
I agree that it wasn't as fast as the 1.9, but you had to drive it differently... the 1.9 was pretty effortless to drive, plenty of torque all the time, but the 1.4 was very "peaky", once you got used to this it isn't too bad... rather like driving a petrol in fact! If you only had it for a day, and had driven the 1.9 before, then I can understand your feelings towards it!!
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New Wed 24 Nov 10 08:26 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - IJWS14
Was it very new?

Probably needs running in - a good 10,000 miles needed to loosen it up.
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New Wed 24 Nov 10 22:47 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Hard Cheese

Still not quite sure what engine our courtesy car had though it was badged "Greenline" on a 60 plate and felt reasonably punchy around 2000rpm.

We now have a Fiesta with the 1.6 TDCi engine and it is so much more refined than the Fabia.
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 07:01 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Roger.
Yes: around 3000 to 4000 km.,
Nice to have a new car smell though after 10 years owning our Fabia Mk1
I have never kept a car so long in all my (considerable) years!
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 09:20 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
Sounds like the 1.4, C, it would have been one of the run-out models before the 1.6 came in... though I see Skoda list a Fabia II Greenline Estate with a 1.2TDi engine (also 3 cyl), but not an "ordinary" hatch style Fabia with that engine!

Landsker, I kept my 2001 Fabia for nearly 6 years, also the longest I'd ever kept a car... must be the car that does it!
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 11:32 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Fenlander
Odd you found the Fabia so bad Cheddar. It has 105bhp compared to my 1.6HDi C5 at 110bhp... with far more bulk and another 370kg.

My C5 2nd/3rd/4th overall gear ratios are near identical and I don't have any driveability issues. It will happily waft arount town in 4th. My top is far lower though at around 29mph/1000rpm but that helps make the best of the limited power while still giving excellent economy.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Thu 25 Nov 10 at 11:33
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 12:04 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
If it was the Greenline and 1.4/1.2 3 cyl engine then it would be 80/75bhp, I think, F. The 1.4 3 cyl is not very good at cruising at low revs and thats being generous to it... compared to the 1.9 and most other 4 cyl engines its carp! I can't speak for the 1.2, though I'd love to see if I could get close to the combined mpg figure of 83.1mpg!!
Last edited by: hobby on Thu 25 Nov 10 at 12:08
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 18:24 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - Hard Cheese

>> Odd you found the Fabia so bad Cheddar>>

>> If it was the Greenline and 1.4/1.2 3 cyl engine then it would be 80/75bhp,>>

I notice that all current Fabia diesels are the CR 1.6 with different outputs, I cant belive that the one we had was the new CR 1.6 therefore perhaps it was a PD 1.4. I thought it was a 1.9 because it was very PD like though maybe it was a 1.4.
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New Thu 25 Nov 10 20:01 
 Skoda Fabia 2 - Strange gear ratios - hobby
Must admit it looks that way... and the gear ratios would suit the greenline, and your description of the engine matches my old 1.4 80bhp TDi! Had to drive it in a most un-diesel manner to get any performance out of it... though it was geared 26/1000 in top, which wasn't good for fuel consumption on the autobahns... though I feel 35/1000 is going a little too far the other way!
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