barrie502

I agree, he quotes 200bhp which is 20 more than me. My mods amounted to around 40-50bhp worth. This gives me mega amounts more pick up and mid range but only around 10mph more speed. His extra 20 bhp will not even give him an extra 5mph beacuse of the point I made earlier, the extra power is resulting in increasingly deminishing returns the faster we go. The 20bhp will probably give Ross an extra 2-4 mph on top of mine. Ross's car will be much faster than mine on the road - without doubt - however at the end of a three mile runway the terminal speed of both will be way closer than you might first guess.

I have a jabbad vrs which puts out around 180bhp. This is loads more than standard but will probably add only around 10mph to top end. Mainly because wind resistance increases with the square of forward speed, masses of extra power needed for small increases in speed esp when you get above 120mph. Small cars (like fabia) have comparatively poor aerodynamics and that just makes things worse. Despite what others would love to believe I doubt that a modded fabia would get much beyond high 130's in test conditions - no wind, flat etc. Still mega quick for what it is though.

"Why dont they punish Schui for being boring - That'd be justice " I have read and re read this quote several times. Is it a mistake? Are you sure you meant to say this? I am no fan of MS as a person but as a driver..almost always great and sometimes just awe inspiring. Button.. well the jury is out. Has much still to prove. If you remember DC was great in a GREAT car, as was Hill. Neither could do what MS has done over the years winning the championship in (early) Ferraris and Benettons that were not class of the field. Now think of this... those cars he won championships in were (compared to the rest of the field)) not as good as this years BAR is compared to the latest Ferrari. IMHO if Button and MS had swapped seats at the start of this year MS would have won the championship comfortably. He only needed passable reliability and the BAR had that. His genious would have done the rest. The Ferraris have been so good now for so long that a newcomer to the sport could be forgiven for assuming that MS wins only because he has the best car. If you have watched him since his entry to F1 then you will know that nothing could be further from the truth. Punish Shui for being boring? No the rest need a wake up call including Button. Jenson is looking for a car to give him the championship...MS does it eith his driving.

And that sums it up. Oilman is not a monster, simply a very plausable and shrewd salesman. Most of the time on forums you have individuals offering advice as they see it together with firms advertising their products. It is normally very clear which is which. Here the distinction is being blurred with an opportunity for punters to be... well misled I suppose. I am no oil expert but i can spot a well disguised selling strategy at 100 paces. My observations have been blunt, however my objective was only to demonstrate that things are not always quite what they seem. Happy Motoring

"There is no failing of tests, all the oils we have tested pass the specs required for public use, however just like tescos home brand coca cola, they come in various qualities, haveing them tested tells us which is of higher quality and which is not" The implication here is clear, any of the oils not in the current (small) list approved by oilman is not up to standard otherwise it would be sold by him. Reality check here - some of the best impartialy rated oils - extensively used by race/rally teams - are not there! I see that oilman likes polarising the arguments by suggesting that our options are either 1/ Buy tested good value high performance oils from him. OR 2/ Buy overpriced oil from a dealer or rubbish oil from a supermarket. But try this version 1/ Buy tested (by the seller) good value (in sellers opinion) high performance oils (from a small range representing a tiny fraction of the quality oils out there) from oilman. OR 2/ Select your oil from the whole range of oils available to you in the marketplace seeking advice from people who are less partial than distributors/sellers are ever likely to be. "I do a lot or work on forums, mainly in an advisory capacity, I do nut openley push our products, if some one is interested than yes I will forward them prices etc and they are hard to beat for the quality, but there has never been any obligation to buy from me, and there never will be." Yes but you puport to be an expert and have made a very convincing psudo objective analysis of the oil options for the readers, coming to the unsurprising conclusion that your firm have the answer to our prayers. There is no need to force people. they go along with you voluntarily. You have comitted no offence or breached any rules. That does not mean to say that what is going on here is right. I mean would you consider it to be good form to have Ronald Macdonald on the beefburger of the year judging advisory panel ! Exactly.

When you have loads of power it is not easy to see the real enemy of mpg which is wind resistance. You see it on bikes clearly when a 50cc 6hp machine can do 55 whereas a 100cc 12hp will do around 65-70. Wind resistance increases with the square of forward speed which means that the bike doing 65 is coping with over twice the resistance for a small increase in speed. In oridinary terms wind resistance is light till about 55mph and builds rapidly thereafter. In a fab vrs or similar it seems so effortless that we can convince ourselves that ,say, 80mph and 2300rpm would give best economy - very wrong. Now the gearing won't help us here but the best economy will be at modest revs and throttle openings at LOW speed. This in practice would be hard work as the vrs has high ratios, paradixically best mpg would be at 40 or so mph and having to use 4/5 and (it won't like it) 6th where and when you can.

We have a great team with real talent. Out of all the countries in the world we are consistently in the top twenty. Problem is our press and pundits keep telling us we are top five material and we believe it. Then we are devastated when the big tornouments bring a succesion of mediocre performances followed by a defeat on penalties. I am 44 and have seen it so mant times now it has become boring. You could TELL that Pele was the best in the world because his performances contributed to winning world cups. If Rooney is that good (and Beckham before him and Owen etc etc) then England ought to be winning but they never do. Either the team aroud Rooney and co are useless compared to Pele's team or Rooney et al are not that good. It really is one or the other. BTW calling a team Hero's and standing by a 6million pound a year manager after what we saw will REALLY motivate them next time - I do not think.

What you save in fuel you are surely going to lose in changeover and depreciation costs. I have a jabba'd furby and love it but given a chance would far rather be uprading to a type r than doing what u are going to. Tiff Needel has been round a racing circuit in both flat out and only one was a serious drivers car - not mine. Think of it as a fairly fast cruiser and things will be fine. If you see you'r old car on the road (esp twisty one) think twice before giving chase! Good luck

Witter bar now on, looks very neat, very small cut required in bumper but then it is a uk style towbar not a swan neck. Cost

Update - Witter technical dept have "cleared" their Fabia towbar for VRS use. They say it will fit and I have one on order. It will involve a cut but not a big one (oops) I will keep u posted.

My deler states that front cupholders do not exist in this country but may be made available in due course. Is he wrong, can I get some? I have quoted a part number found in this forum and he says it is not orderable. Help Barrie

Companies like Witter who supply towbars to most UK vehicles (and do one for Fabia) usually check out revised models to a range and advise their approved fitters of new issues. I want one fitted to my Fab VRS and was told that it would be OK, I now want clearer confirmation from the company and will keep you informed. As to the notion that the car has too much grunt - I doubt that very much, they are not that fast, 9.6 to sixty? hardly axle bending stuff. The issue with the exaust is of more concern, as is the point that Skoda may not approve. I will check out with my dealer. Car being 15mm lower is of little consequence and harder springs and dampers may actually help in reducing rear end squat (ohh err) under load.

I am still glad I asked the question in the first place. Despite the fact that the answer is either 'yes you can' or 'no you cannot' depending on invididual viewpoint. I collect my car from dealer on next Thurs 11th march. I hope ade gets a clear answer on monday so I know my options. Good work anyhow guys - thanks. Barrie

I have read the posts but am not sure, can my brand new fabia be serviced on a variable regime?

My wife has a puma, looks good and handles but the brakes are toytown and the engine lacks either torque or real top end oomph. I can't help but think that a 1.7 zetec with advanced variable cam timing (developed for the sporty puma only ) is a failure when it gives out 123bhp. Give Honda such a clean sheet with its variable valve timing engines and it produces peaches like the 250bhp (2litre) s2000 lump! My fabia vrs arrives next month, wife was impressed by my punto jtd's torque (145lb) so look forward to her reaction to skodapower.

Big london dealer offered me 1k off any fabia and I got a vrs for 10990. No haggling required, their ad in "what car" said 'best price' on skodas. I phoned - simple as that! The ad is there every month.

PKC Height adjustable passenger seat

I did not realise esp was now available on the vrs. How do I find out the full range of options? My dealer had an official skoda leaflet which did not even mention cruise control.

I can live with that ross

I did not realise esp was now available on the vrs. How do I find out the full range of options? My dealer had an official skoda leaflet which did not even mention cruise control. By the way are we in danger of becoming a laughing stock by describing our cars as "Yellow vrs with 'zenons' or 'stack cd' - are we going to go as far as 'with mudflaps and a full tank of diesel?' - visitors to the site might have a good laugh at our expense..