GREZA

When you pull away the torque generated by the engine is at pretty much its highest, the likelihood is that the engine is twisting on its mountings at this time. Though you say the sound comes from the driver's side, sounds can be highly deceiving and I would nevertheless strongly suspect the nearside engine/gearbox top mount.

Driver's seat mounts perhaps? It is not unknown

I have finally fixed the clonk/clunk/bonk sound that has plagued my low mileage 07 vRS for many, many months. Some history, the Stealer's service department greased the nearside gearbox/engine top mount a couple of times as per the TBS and yes the sound disappeared for a a few weeks but then gradually returned. That was all they could offer whilst the car was under warranty - SHAME ON THEM! After wrapping a towel around my head and meditating on the matter and also reading about so many others seemingly being unable to find a solution to this not uncommon problem, I bit the bullet and had the mount changed (revised part number 6Q0199555BA for the BLT engine) at an all in cost of £130 fitted and finally I have tranquillity. So there is ho need to spend fortunes changing consol bushes, dog bones, strut mount, ARB bushes, drop links etc. just try renewing that humble engine mount. I hope this helps others who are plagued by this design fault - really Skoda you should know how to build an engine mount by now.

I have finally fixed the clonk/clunk/bonk sound that has plagued my low mileage 07 vRS for many, many months. Some history, the Stealer's service department greased the nearside gearbox/engine top mount a couple of times as per the TBS and yes the sound disappeared for a a few weeks but then gradually returned. That was all they could offer whilst the car was under warranty - SHAME ON THEM! After wrapping a towel around my head and meditating on the matter and also reading about so many others seemingly being unable to find a solution to this not uncommon problem, I bit the bullet and had the mount changed (revised part number 6Q0199555BA for the BLT engine) at an all in cost of £130 fitted and finally I have tranquillity. So there is ho need to spend fortunes changing consol bushes, dog bones, strut mount, ARB bushes, drop links etc. just try renewing that humble engine mount. I hope this helps others who are plagued by this design fault - really Skoda you should know how to build an engine mount by now.

A normal characteristic of a car? WHAT A CONVENIENT EXCUSE and frankly so much eye wash! But read on as I have finally fixed the clonk/clunk/bonk sound that has plagued my low mileage 07 vRS for many, many months. Some history, the Stealer's service department greased the nearside gearbox/engine top mount a couple of times as per the TBS and yes the sound disappeared for a a few weeks but then gradually returned. That was all they could offer whilst the car was under warranty - SHAME ON THEM! After wrapping a towel around my head and meditating on the matter and also reading about so many others seemingly being unable to find a solution to this not uncommon problem, I bit the bullet and had the mount changed (revised part number 6Q0199555BA for the BLT engine) at an all in cost of £130 fitted and finally I have tranquillity. So there is no need to spend fortunes changing consol bushes, dog bones, strut mount, ARB bushes, drop links etc. just try renewing that humble engine mount. I hope this helps others who are plagued by this obvious design fault - really Skoda you should know how to build an engine mount by now.

I have finally fixed the clonk/clunk/bonk sound that has plagued my low mileage 07 vRS for many, many months. Some history, the Stealer's service department greased the nearside gearbox/engine top mount a couple of times as per the TBS and yes the sound disappeared for a a few weeks but then gradually returned. That was all they could offer whilst the car was under warranty - SHAME ON THEM! After wrapping a towel around my head and meditating on the matter and also reading about so many others seemingly being unable to find a solution to this not uncommon problem, I bit the bullet and had the mount changed (revised part number 6Q0199555BA for the BLT engine) at an all in cost of £130 fitted and finally I have tranquillity. So there is ho need to spend fortunes changing consol bushes, dog bones, strut mount, ARB bushes, drop links etc. just try renewing that humble engine mount. I hope this helps others who are plagued by this design fault - really Skoda you should know how to build an engine mount by now.

Car warranty premiums are a very good indicator of the likely future running costs, as your Dad has discovered Juego These insurance companies gather large amounts of data on breakdowns to arrive at an acturarial calculation of what premium to charge based on age, mileage etc. Perhaps their premiums should be published regularly in magazines so that it then becomes obvious to all which cars will burn a hole in your wallet in respect of repairs and which won't.

We need the 'independent' commentators i.e. magazines to highlight the true cost of ownership of vehicles by perhaps publishing 5 year or even better first 5 and second 5 year running costs for each model. In this way it would become very apparent which manufacturers' cars are timebombs of expense waiting to blow up on those who own them later on in their lives.

The complexity of the DSG will inevitably mean that the car will be an early retiree to the scap yard when the cost of fixing the box is not justified by the residual value of the car IMHO. This is a trend happening widely in the automotive industry and it needs highlighting. it seems the game is to make cars complex and mostly not repairable. The replacement parts are the major income stream for manufacturers over the car's lifetime, NOT the original sale. But when the big parts give out in an aging car then it goes to the scrap yard, probably in many cases prematurely. Look at the cost of changing the clutch on a MkI Mercedes A Class and this is not isolated, faults in ECUs, broken complex sunroofs, ABS pumps, turbos, aircon compressors I could go on. Time was when cars rusted away and were scrapped accordingly. Now the manufacturers have to be more devious in the ways they make cars defunct.

Oh

And how much has the DSG gearbox added to the final price of the Fabia vRS? Surely a manual box would have been cheaper and DSG could have been offered as an option.

It is not only space but airflow that is the issue with the 2.0 CR unit in the Fabia MkII. The other big obstacle is emissions and simply pumping more fuel into the 1.6 TDI to up the power output would likely fall down on this aspect. Skoda will not IMHO produce a diesel sport Fabia in the near term and willcertainly have to wait for Fabia MkIII and the use of the platform in the Seat Ibiza/VW Polo before they can even comtemplate doing so. There were a lot of dealers in the UK that tried hard to get them to make the latest vRS Fabia a diesel but they could not and would not. The original MkI vRS was only diesel because the big cheese at VW told them it had to be. Skodas management didn't want to make a sport diesel and would not if they had been given the option. Sadly, given its success, instead of realising how fortunate they were to have been 'guided' to make the MkI car, they have reverted to their 'preferred' solution in the MkII and I doubt they will want to introduce another diesel sport Fabia if they are not forced to.

The new Fabia should by rights be at least 25% more expensive than the last of the Fabia vRSs were in 2007 as Sterling has depreciated by 25% in that time i.e. it should be close on £14,500 just to stay where the old car was in Euro terms. This does not even allow for the car being perhaps intrinsically more expensive than its predecessor given its more sophisticated mechanicals.

Supply and demand as always. The guides find it increasingly hard to put a price on cars that are appearing less and less frequently. It comes down to what the buyer will accept and if they want something enough then.... Just look at Audi A2 diesels and you will see what happens to a relatively limited production run as it falls into tighter hands. Good ones are still selling for very close to what they were new. This could happen to Fabia vRS SE MkI cars as are there are only 1000, some will be written off and many will rack up the miles so the few that are left will be sought after over time. A future classic? Maybe.

Everything has a price and in this case I would suggest it has been at least £2k to you for a no hastle deal.