BeezerDiesel

Collection wise, where in the South West are you?

Buzzark, the Polo Sport seats are really comfortable. I think they are very similar to mk4 Golf GTI seats. Therefore they're quite supportive but also very cushioned and comfortable. The Polo GTI seats are quite hard and I think very similar to Ibiza FR seats. The Fabia seats are a bit squashy and, despite the large bolsters, don't hold you in that well.

Handling is very subjective on a road car & I'm not a racing driver, thus my opinons might not be too useful! The GTI is probably better in the corners per se but still has a tall body and narrow track/short wheelbase with similar dimensions to the vRS. Neither has a rear ARB as standard. The vRS can be a bit nose heavy in corners so you have to go in slow and use the torque to pull you out, where the Polo is a bit neater but still has lots of body roll if you're enterig a bend a bit quick. As the power delivery and gearing are different on both cars I find it hard to compare them directly, and as I owned them a couple of years apart I never drove them back to back.

Hope the chicken sandwich was better than my grammar!

I've owned both. Had an 05 Fabia vRS in black, with xenons which was bought at six months old-ish and after a bit of faffing around with other cars a couple of years later I bought an ex-VW launch car Polo GTI 1.8t at about six months old also. This GTI had almost all the extras including nav which is rare. The Fabia was black and the Polo red, both 5 doors (no other choice with the vRS!). In order of how I bought them: The Fabia was a pretty decent car. These quickly became cult cars because of their VW underpinnings coupled with stunning value for money. The jutty out chin front bumper was pretty avant garde back in 2003 when the vRS was launched and the rear exhaust looked pretty funky too. Obviously many cars have taken a lead from the sporty design features since and the Fabia doesn't look quite so unique now. Handling okay but not brilliant and the ride makes up for this by being excellent for a sporty hatch. But the tour de force of the vRS is the gutsy 130 PD engine. Very punchy and much more fun than the newer 2.0 Diesels. I recently drove the spiritual successor to the Polo/Ibiza/Fabia 130 which comes in the form of the Ibiza SC FR 2.0 TDI. The new Ibiza is a good car but the engine doesn't have the grunt and urge of the old 1.9 PD unit despite the 'on paper' more power. The downside of the PD units is that they sound like tractors. I averaged low 40s MPG wise. Mixed use and too old to be a boy racer (though I don't hang about). The Polo GTI is an awkward car to rate. The 1.8t engine drives like no other 1.8t I've driven (I've owned 3 1.8t's and driven loads). It has a very snappy throttle pedal in the Polo, which makes the car very responsive to drive (if you look on YouTube for the Polo GTI adverts you will see VW made light of that feature). The only way I've been able to emulate the response in other cars I've owned would be to add a Sprint Booster module. The one eight turbo obviously lacks the PD grunt at low to mid revs but it has a good useable power band and is very flexible. I acutally prefer the 5 speed box on the Polo too, it just has a nice feel to it. The trim emulates the mk5 Golf GTI in colour but the plastics are of lower quality and the seats have different cloth and don't support you as well. The steering is very sharp but the ride is hard and the handling so so. I never managed to get that comfortable in the Polo GTI. The exhaust was quite boomy too, in a sporty sort of way but annoying to rear seat passengers on a long run. Economy wise the Polo did mid 30s. Better than my other two 1.8t cars by a margin on fuel. For the record, and as it's a direct relative, I also owned a 2003 Ibiza PD130 Sport, again in 5 door and also bought about six months old. Crap car, didn't keep it long. Good engine, plain inside, dowdy to look at and a rock hard ride. The run out model 'big bumper' FRs were much nicer and would be an interesting alternative to a vRS or Polo GTI (the Beezer being available with both the PD and 1.8t engines). The Polo PD130 sold very badly because it was about 2 grand dearer than the Fabia vRS, didn't have traction control or ESP and had virtually no special styling touches. And had tractor like ride height. Too nippy for old ladies and too dowdy for the young at heart. That's my tuppence worth anyway....... Quick edit for the OP, I also owned a couple of Golf VR6s back in the day. Great cars once the dampers have been changed for something less jelly like. Always wanted a Schrick manifold for mine but never had the chance to get one

I think the one in the Golf ad is a mk3 Golf. I've only seen it the once so can't be sure. VW have a history of mocking bodykitted Golfs so it's no irony, just like the Sierra in the Ford ad. Also including models from the parent company in adverts reduces the risk of being sued!

In some countries the importers do. You will find that a manufacturer will have a few similar-ish versions of the same engine with varying power outputs. Re-mapping will put some engines under more strain than others. The 1.4 super-turbo-charged engine is a good example here; the lower output version re-maps to exactly the same figure as the higher output version. The very best mappers will run a demo car with their map on it for a fairly large mileage to check any tolerances haven't been exceeded, which is one of the reasons that some re-maps produce better power outputs than others. Using REVO as an example, they will often have slightly higher outputs than others when tested but they are a smallish company specialising in only certain cars and their agents will test run a re-mapped car for any issues before and after re-flashing the ECU and make adjustments as necessary. There will be other compainies for example Superchips (Bluefin) or ChippedUK (ST1) that send out a dongle for you to upload a map to you car yourself. Obviously these companies won't have looked at your car so the maps may well be slightly tamer to ensure the maps don't damage an engine that may not be 100% healthy. Also I have to agree with the Bladerunner quote there too. The re-map will be pushing the parameters of some components even if the basic engine is well up to the uprated power. Diverter valves will be an obvious one, along with clutches, gearboxes, engine mounts, hoses etc etc. As I said though, some engines will be more robust than others and I think the 2.0 TFSI/TSI is pretty well up to adding over 100bhp without major impending failures (assuming engine is healthy to begin with).

Nice car, nice colour and nice engine!

I think I'm on my seventh! Plus another two with tuning boxes back in the early days just to try 'em out.

If you drive 'normally' the fuel economy will often improve a little (particularly on a TDI) but if you use the extra performance the economy will suffer as remapping involves upping the fuelling. As for whether you need to do it, well not really I guess; but it's one of those things that once you've done it once every other turbo car you own will get it done too as it just makes the car so much better to drive.

EXETER MEET: SUNDAY 19th APRIL - SEAT Cupra.net - SEAT Forum See above link for SEAT meet at the weekend, plus TSR rolling road day I've added in there if any Briskodians wish to attend they'd be more than welcome. The more the merrier as they say.

I've shoved my Orange PAYG SIM in a few phones and it works okay. My Nokia N73 (which has today decided it won't charge anymore) was bought off a workmate who upgraded for £40 and was supposedly locked to O2 yet my Orange SIM sent straight in and worked from the offset. The only minor issue is that I get an O2 logo come up on the skin or whatever it's called, plus there are a few O2 settings still on the phone that don't bother me or affect anything so I've never done owt about it. I think the 6300i may be on general release soon as a month or so ago there were a load of deals on 6300s around which usually means they're clearing the decks of old stock.

Thanks for the replies. Nokia 6300 seems a well rated phone, seen a few deals on these recently will keep my eyes open for another. Can't find much info on the Z400 and the 3110 is quite basic but that's what I want so again will keep my eyes open for a deal on one of those.

Thanks, looking for recommendations on specific phones as there are just soooo many about these days and I'm not up to the minute on what is the latest greatest model etc. PS. would prefer to buy a new phone with warranty but what would you be looking for with the Nokia? In the meantime I've got to go to work now so will check this again later.

Sorry forgot to mention the price range, don't want a cheapo basic £8 jobbie but nothing the wrong side of £80 either really as I don't need loads of gadgets.