shorty

good review, I like it and would consider one if/when I need to upsize.

I agree that the stock handling and brakes could be better and the fiesta ST is probably more of a drivers car - my wifes 1.4 fiesta is more fun round the bends! But I have to say I think the fab vrs seats are absolutely fantastic and the second best thing about the car after the engine. Though I agree the dash is on the dull side. My seats have done 37k and look and feel brand new so wear has not been a problem for me. But not eveyones feels the same and I'm sure the fiesta is also a good buy too.

think they still sell skoda cars though which they source themselves and we're still an approved skoda repairer last time I looked. Though I don't get mine repaired there from past experiences, even though its the closest!

I've had this on mine too, doesn't happen very often and I go over loads of speed bumps :(. Be interested to know if anyones had it fixed - could it be ARB bushes worn out?

mines an early 53 and not had any problems engaging gears, though I believe the gear boxes changed in 04. I'd be tempted to try another dealer as the one your going to sound a little unhelpful - can't believe they wanted to charge you labour if they couldn't find the cause when they agreed there was a fault.

yep could well have been steam. So just normal then. phew thanks for the replys!

Got back home after a 5 mile motorway trip to tesco's last night and when I got out the car I noticed a fair bit of smoke coming off both front tyres. (outside temp was around 4 deg c). I've never noticed anything like this before, thought it may be the discs overheating, or catching though I hadn't been braking heavily and the discs were only a little warm, or maybe the tyres over heating, though I hadn't been skidding the wheels or anything. I had noticed earlier the brakes had not been as responsive as usual. Has anyone else noticed this, is it normal or is there something wrong? I was wondering if the damp weather and cold air at night may have caused it?

I agree, a standard furby vrs upto 2nd gear (40ish) you're okay but in 3rd mine used to really tie up (esp 50-70). Often this is where petrol perfromance cars are at their best so can leave you well behind. Having said that a remapped furby is a totally different story. Probably get flamed for this but here I go anyway. An opertune moment came at the weekend to have a quick traffic light grand prix with my mate and to try out my new 1 click, just out of interest to see who was quicker. We were both side by side at the lights and floored it when it went green (no other traffic around and out of town dual carriageway). We both screeched the tyres a little on the off but my furby took the lead and had half a car upto about 40. I was fully expecting my mate to come flying past but when we reached 70 I was a full car ahead at which point we pulled out. To be honest we were both shocked with the result as his car is a clio 172 cup and I never imagined I'd have a chance, even remapped. I do realise drivers, and techniques make a huge difference and on another run may get beaten but when in gear and accelerating we were pretty much even below 70. So needless to say I am over the moon with the performance offered by the 1 click, and yes in the handling department I wouldn't have had a chance...and would probably have got passed at speeds above 70 but not bad for a diesel with a 300 quid mod.

In the last bit he says "it's still nothing more than a fairly quick family car" 7.3 seconds to 60 and a top speed of 147mph is just fairly quick? I think as johnwg says these guys are just used to driving porsches and ferrari's!

I went with Chris Knott in the end, thanks for the advice guys. Interestingly the policy is with 'Highways' also. £450 with remap (27 9yrs NCD) which I'm really pleased with as aside from Adrian Flux no-one else wanted to insure me.

yeah they missed a week last week :( . Can't wait for episode 13, should be available Thursday morning. www.episodeworld.com is pretty good for schedules.

I have 'The Lampost' standing start from a roundabout. Used to just to say get to 60, now make 70 with the 1 click and a lot of wheel spinning. They've put temporary traffic lights on now and spoiled the fun.

Final 12 month long term report on their fabia vrs in this weeks autoexpress. Good review though they've had some niggly trim issues - one where the front of the heater control fell off! Not heard of that one before. Its the one that was superchipped last year and they mentioned that other owners had been chipped upto 190bhp and 410nm by a company in Peterborough called 'Javasport'..... oops

Well Chris Knott have come up the best with 415 all mods declared which I think is pretty damned good considering tesco wanted 900 quid, plus all the mods themselves are covered. Chris Knott definately

I tried Admiral online and selected chip 11-25% and suspension 'Other' for the strut brace and it wouldn't give me a quote, had to ring a number. Rang the number and they said Admiral wouldn't qoute it but transferred me to a company call Call Connections which basically transfer you to other insurers - Adrian Flux was one and they are the only ones so far to give a decent quote. thanks for the advice - I'll keep trying.

Ringing around to get my fabia vrs insured and thought I'd give GreenLight a go as they specialise in modified cars and people on here have used them before. I got as far as mentioning that its a skoda fabia and the guy said quote "we don't insure skoda fabias anymore as we've had too many large claims" - I was quite suprised and a little amused. So come on who was it:rofl: Any tips on who else to try. I've done Adrian Flux, Chris Knott, Admiral, Tesco, Pretige, Alan&Alan, the AA (and Greenlight:rolleyes: )

not sure if I'm VAG or skoda; 86 Golf mk11 1.3 88 Jetta GTI 16v 99 Fabia 1.4 03 Fabia 1.4 silverline 03 Fabia VRS (+ 80 Golf mk1) I guess maybe VAG but honorary Skoda? (oh and I missed out the Fiat Brava )

mine did this last week. If you can hear the pump activating but no water comes out then best way to check is get someone to press it while you look around the car. Chances are the pipe has come detached somewhere along the way - I believe there a several joins. Mine had become detached under the airbox in the bonnet and just snapped back together, saved a trip to the dealers. You could also check if theres water in the boot as it comes off there too I believe.

mine was £132 with the brake fluid change as it was nearly 2 yrs old.

thanks guys for doing this and for posting the vids up. Was very interesting to watch. I'd be interested in a chipped fabia vrs against a standard octy vrs.

sounds similar symptoms to my problem which I thought was suspension. Turned out to be the rear bumper squeeking against the light cluster over bumps, I know of at least one other with the same problem - worth a check.

I got 30k out of the front and the back are still going strong. I mustn't be using it properly:)

yep 11583.61 drivethedeal.com

Mine used to turn itself off for no reason as well and just recently its completely stopped working. I'm going to wait until my next service to get it checked out as I don't use it much anyway.