Ford Fiesta vs Skoda Fabia: which is the better used buy?

On the MOT measure, the Skoda Fabia: measured against cars of the same age, it comes out 2.4 percentage points ahead of the Ford Fiesta on first-time MOT passes, across 167,552 DVSA-recorded tests covering every generation on the road. A pass with rectification at the station counts as a pass here, and as a failure in DVSA's own initial-test measure. The MOT checks safety and emissions items, not the engine, clutch or gearbox, so this is one measure of how each car holds up rather than a full reliability verdict.

72.3% of Ford Fiestas pass their MOT first time (143,495 tests in DVSA's records) and 75.6% of Skoda Fabias pass their MOT first time (24,057 tests). The national first-time rate is 77.3%, but cars of the Ford Fiesta's age average 74.9% and cars of the Skoda Fabia's age 75.8% — so the Ford Fiesta runs 2.6 points worse than its age group and the Skoda Fabia runs 0.2 points worse than its own. A pass with rectification at the station counts as a pass here, and as a failure in DVSA's own initial-test measure.

Ford Fiesta: Launch-era 2017–2018 cars are now the oldest Fiesta Mk8s on the used market and the most likely to still carry the original wet cam timing belt rather than Ford's later revised chain-driven design, so they're most likely to be nearing or past the belt's safe replacement point without full documented history. This window is also most associated with the early cracking-noise driveshaft complaint, and these cars are furthest removed from the 2022 facelift's refinements. The DVSA MOT table on this page rates 2018 registrations above all cars registered that year, so it is not named as a year to avoid. Skoda Fabia: The earliest Mk3 cars (2014–2015) carry the highest concentration of DSG7 mechatronic and EGR/wastegate complaints reported on owner forums, reflecting a car early in its production run before running fixes were applied. 2021 is the highest-risk single year because it spans both the final months of Mk3 production and the very first months of Mk4 production, the latter directly affected by the seat-backrest-frame recall R/2022/017 (cars built 1–4 March 2021) and the start of the airbag-rupture recall window R/2023/251 (from 16 September 2021). The DVSA MOT table on this page rates 2015 registrations above all cars registered that year, so it is not named as a year to avoid.

On fuel the Ford Fiesta has the edge: its most economical version returns up to 54 mpg, against up to 51 mpg for the Skoda Fabia, on the figures in our model guides. For cars registered from April 2017, vehicle tax works the same way for both: the £200/year standard rate from the second year, hybrids included, plus the £440/year Expensive Car Supplement in years 2–6 on a car that listed at over £40,000 new — the price when new, not what you pay for it used. Any Ford Fiesta or Skoda Fabia registered between 1 March 2001 and 31 March 2017 pays a CO2 band instead, roughly £20–£790/year (2026/27 rates). Insurance differs mainly by driver and postcode rather than by model, so treat any model-level insurance figure with caution.