alanjonesbath

Nope, HPI is all clear. Everything else checks out, it's just this rather puzzling model name! It's at a large main dealer (although not a Skoda dealer), so doubt very much it's dodgy in anyway.

Oh, and the engine code is BTS. 105hp then? Even on the HPI check, the model name comes up as "Fabia 3 85"!

Thanks all - looks like the "85" is just a random number then! If anybody else can shed any light on the mystery "85" in the name I'd appreciate it just to satisfy my curiosity, but I'm a lot less worried about it now!

We're looking at buying a Fabia II '3' 1.6 16v for the wife. We've seen one, which is a 57 plate, advertised as a 1.6 16v with 105bhp, 0-60 in 10.1 secs, etc. However, on some of the 'car check' services, particularly the AA, the description for the car is coming up as "Fabia 3 85". Isn't 85bhp the output for the 1.4 16v? This one is definately a 1.6, as all the sites inc. DVLA confirm it as 1598cc. Does the '85' in the description have some sort of other meaning maybe and nothing to do with bhp? Was the 1.6 ever available as anything but a 105bhp version? Is there an 85bhp version out there? And if so should we be worried by it? Any help appreciated! We really like the car, but would rather get this mystery cleared up before we hand over the cash!

My DSG A3 never stalled, though for about the last 5k miles I had it for (it only had 30k on when I sold it for the Octavia), it did seem to want to keep 'pulling' when I was coming to a halt. You're right, they should be impossible for you to stall through your actions, but if the computer gets it wrong, then I guess a stall (or anything else!) is perfectly possible!

As above, can't say I've had any odd behaviour from the the cruise control on any of my last 3 VAG's, including the Octavia. Switch it on with the toggle switch, and press set when doing the speed you want. It's never deviated from that speed more than +/- 1mph when the gradient changes. To cancel, press down on the clutch, brake, or knock the toggle switch towards the off position. To go back to cruising at the last speed it was set to, press the resume button, and it will accelerate back to that speed. If you press resume when doing a speed higher than the last set speed, the car will slow until it reaches the last set speed and then cruise at that speed. This has worked the same way on the Octavia, my A3 and my Ibiza, and in fact any other vehicle I've driven with cruise!

If you want to do the 'Ring without risking your own car, do what I did, and hire a track toy. Doesn't need to be fancy - I hired a Suzuki Swift from rent4ring.de . Ralph and Freddy are great guys, speak great English, and their cars are properly sorted little things. I hired a "Stage 2" Swift, and while it (obviously) lacked power on the straights, in the corners it was stupidly quick. And they come with full insurance, covering the car, third parties, and damage to the ring itself, so damage to the wallet is limited to the (admitedly high) excess. And if you are in the area, the road from the 'Ring down to Adenau is great fun. Not overly long, but great fun. Infact, there are loads of great roads in that area, very scenic!

Depends where you come from, the English spelling is 'rumour', but the US spelling is 'rumor'. As the guy who started the thread isn't from the UK, I don't we've got any right to tell him which version he should be using

If you look at other threads, there is very, very little difference between the 2011 and 2012 model year cars, certainly in vRS spec.

Our forum (vagowners.co.uk) is organising a rolling road day for a couple of weeks time, so I asked the question to the organisers - apparently the ABS Modulator needs to be unplugged on the latest VAG models before they can be run on the rollers - easy to do and not a problem according to them.

Mine is Anthracite. Similar colour to my old A3. I loved it on the A3, and think it looks even better on the vRS. Personally, I think it looks more classy than red or blue, but then red ands blue look more sporty and stand out more. All depends what you are after I guess, and personally I prefer the classy understated look rather than a more stand-out, in your face look. A couple of pics of mine are here: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/196328-anthracite-vrs-tsi-picked-up-today/page__p__2333360#entry2333360

The gear indicator on the vRS TSI isn't too bad at suggesting which gear to use, but as above I tend to use 4th at 30mph on a level road, 5th at 40, 6th at 50+, but obviously that changes with gradient and whether or not I want to put my foot down. I've tried using the suggested gear in various scenarios, and it's never felt like it's stuggling, even in the suggested gear on a steep hill.

My renewal this year with Direct Line was £556. A quick search online, and Aviva were quoting me £375. Direct Line had been the cheapest for me for years, but suddently jumped this year, and refused to budge on price at all when presented with the Aviva quote (and other similar), so promptly lost my business and a loyal customer (I'd been with them for 8 years). When I bought the vRS, going from the Audi A3 S-Line PD140, Aviva wanted a trivial £17 extra for the remaining 7 months of the policy. I suspect they'll keep my business this year, but you definately need to be shopping around at the moment it seems!

I thought all VAG cars these days were either 10000 miles/1 year, or variable (in which case the car decides when it needs a service, which I believe can be anything up to 2 years or 18000 miles?).

I had an Audi A3 with a DSG, and I've switched back to a manual when I bought my vRS. The DSG is by far the best auto box I've driven, but personally I didn't like living with it day-to-day, just too many quirks for me. I think the newer ones are better from what I've heard, but I'm more than happy with my choice of going back to manual for this car. Didn't have any problems with mine (though I did only put 30k miles on it in 4 years from new!).

Seems that way - my two week old VRS TSI came with Dunlop SP Sport Maxx's! Seems it's a complete lottery!

My manual FL vRS doesn't have it. Not sure if it's available on the DSG version or not though? It was an option on the DSG Audi A3 I had before, I didn't spec it and wish I had :(

I test drove one before ordering, but to be honest I'd already decided I was ordering it before I'd driven it. Only test drove a DSG petrol rather than the manual which I was buying. After test driving a Leon Sport around 5 years ago and really not liking it (despite thinking I would!), I don't think I'd buy a car without a test drive now if I'm honest.

Interestingly, the latest manual states that the TSI should be run on 98, and says you will get lower performance running on 95. No idea whether that's actually true or not, but Skoda are now saying it should be 98!

I went for full leather, heated front seats, parking sensors, auto lights/wipers/dimming mirror, maxidot, and the spare wheel. Got the boot nets as well, 'cause the wife wouldn't be able to reach anything from the back of the boot :p She stuggles to reach the grab handle to shut the boot too, so I might need to 'extend' that with a bit of bungee cord or something! Probably be my first mod Only got the standard 'VAT off' deal on the new car price, but got a very good deal on the trade-in - £2k more than the local BMW dealer offered me, and that was for a used car I would have had there and then! The Skoda dealer value was £2k more almost 3 months later, and more than anywhere else was offering by a decent margin, so I was happy enough with the deal overall. No idea! It's what came as standard. Might be I guess. I won't worry too much, but will keep an eye out for any signs of uneven wear. Seem decent enough so far, certainly better than the Pirelli's that came fitted to the Audi when I bought that, which were rubbish in the dry and wet! Goodyear GSD3's transformed the handling of that car, so at least Skoda didn't fit Pirellis

Picked up my anthracite vRS TSI hatch today. Loving it so far. Had a nice drive up into the Cotswolds this afternoon, and even without pushing it too hard, I'm loving the power already! Unfortunately it's come with the "crappy Dunlops" that people seem to have issues with, so I'll be keeping an eye on those, but other than that it's great! I think I made the right choice in colour too. I know it doesn't stand out as much as blue, red, white, etc., but that's exactly what I wanted, so it suits me down to the ground! Only a couple of pictures so far, taken on my iPhone 3G so not the greatest, but anyway, here they are:

My vRS TSI is sat at the dealer, ready to be collected. I ordered it exactly 9 weeks ago, so definately a quicker lead time than the vRS CR's it seems!

I can't remember what they are ripped at to be honest, probably not 320 though. They are the same mp3 files that I've been using on MP3 CD's in the Audi Symphony III headunit in my A3, and I've been happy enough with the quality in that so I'm hoping the Bolero won't degrade the quality at all compared to that.

I certainly hope so! I've got my SD card already filled with songs, ready for when I pick up the vRS on Saturday!

The UK Octavia brochure is here: http://www.skoda.co.uk/GBR/Documents/brochures/cars/brochure_octavia.pdf Lists the full spec of every model.