nicknameless

Do not buy the S3. It will be a money pit (maintenance and modding). Had one for 5 years. Loved it at the time but spent a fortune on it (approx £4-£4.5k just on mods). Sold it on 153k and spent a fortune along the way with maintenance - they love to chew through suspension components. Out of the box it is quickish in a straight line, but handles like a dog. 4WD equals traction but not handling. Even modded these cars are never going to set the world alight. Keep the VRS, or depending on what you use it for, chop it in for something cheap and genuinely fun (clio 182? 172 Cup). I have the VRS for legwork and a Clio 200 for fun. I've finally realised that it's nigh on impossible to have cars that serve both purposes. The clio is 10x the fun of the S3 - genuine hot hatch.

p.s. OP I woudn't worry too much - suspension squeeks and creaks are commonplace as is the coolant sensor warning light. great cars with only a few niggles (leaky door seals being another one).

sorry to thread hijack but trying to get rid of this myself. do the expansion tank and sensor come seperately and therefore do you need to buy both? ordered new expansion tank you see!

Sorry to hijack thread but just wondering on fitting time / cost for these approx? Sure mine need doing (car doesn't always feel the most stable, creaky rear, polybushed console bushings already).

My rear is not creaky, tis the front. I did wonder about drop links, but it sounds distinctly polybushy so presume it's the superpros. Will not be swapping out expensive bushes for the sake of a creak.

I have a creaking too. Had console bushes replaced with superpro poly version a few months back. Creaking started about 2 months after fitting and has actually eased off a little with the colder weather. Explain that one!

Thankyou. Car has record of a cambelt change at approx 46k and < 3 years ago. To me the sound definitely seems to be coming from the passenger side, or I might have doubted the service history.

Thankyou. DMF? I will have a listen and see. Not sure I've noticed any audible difference with clutch in our out, but yesterday was the first time I'd heard this from inside the car, and it was intermittent anyhow - no chatter or equivalent.

05 Fabia VRS on 79k At idle I've started to hear an occasional engine noise (sounds like a ?? pulley or something) coming from behind the passenger side wheel arch. Only asking as I could hear it occasionally within the cabin yesterday for the first time when sat waiting to pick the missus up (no she's not trapped under the bonnet). What's down that side of the engine bay that might cause this? - as you can tell I know where the engine is but little else Thanks all.

Not wanting to stick a nose in but seeings as I've run out of popcorn ......... and chorlton never passed the fizzy drink over my way....... Isn't the crux of this whether the fitting mechanic / garage would have (1) been expected to and (2) been able to, reasonably test the engine that was supplied and fitted in order to identify any problems with the supplied engine and advise on further work (and cost) that might be required, including possible courses of action? So is that reasonably expected? And were they reasonably able to do so? Any fault and subsequent liability with the supplied engine can't be down to the person employed to fit it can it? But would you want fitting to include reasonable and achievable testing and / or advice about the soundness of the supplied engine for things that might be spotted whilst fitting?

popcorn please

any chance this could be the expansion tank? reading old threads this seems to be a culprit often.

Thanks a lot for that. I would guess the car has not had a coolant change. I haven't changed it in the 18 months I've owned it and no record in the history either. The weird thing this a.m. was the rapid rise on the temp dial, which I have not seen happen before, hence my concern.

05 Fabia VRS Last weekend early morning (3-4 degrees C) the coolant warning lamp came up on start up. Let it run for a while and warm up a bit and when restarted it didn't come back again. Coolant level above the min. Put it down to the cold snap. This morning exactly the same, drove to work and thought the lamp would go out. About 5 mins into the drive the temp gauge rose much quicker than it would normally do. Reached 90 and didn't overheat. Stopped car and restarted and again the warning lamp does not come back on. Coolant level above min. Any ideas? Will top coolant up slightly this eve but the relatively rapid rising needle, which I haven't seen before got me thinking there is something wrong here. Many thanks.

Exactly the same showing on mine at the moment. Car was serviced 6k miles and 4 months ago. I have had the INSP spanner flash up before. Car has been serviced at 10k intervals all its life and now on 78k. Got it at 52k. TBH I know when it needs servicing, what needs doing, and when it was last done. It's not a warning light so I just ignore, take it as a querk of the car, and service as per schedule. I count myself as (slightly) more intelligent than the onboard computer and as far as I'm aware there are no sensors to monitor oil condition etc. as required for variable servicing, which might make one take notice of the messages. Interesting that not everyone has the car telling them to service it when it isn't due though.

lol as the youngters say stick them back on e-bay?

£70 for the callipers and carriers without pads and discs?

have been looking for a set of these - missed out on some that went for £90 on e-bay last week.

Standard car - approx same sort of usage would get approx 390 miles per tank if I were 'tanking' it on the motorway (90ish - hypothetical scenario of course!!). Depends if your tank is to fuel light on, or beyond as well of course.

Green - then sell it to Shrek.

Thanks a lot. That would be simpler. Replace them as a starting point?

Not a comment on my advancing years. 05 Plate VRS on 75k has a nice creak from the rear - getting in and out, over speed humps etc. Rear beam bushes, or something else? Thanks in advance. N.

Any chance of a link to the 312s please? Seen a couple of refurbed sets for sale with discs and pads @ £240 & £275 from the same seller but not at £220. If you could recommend a seller that would be great. Cheers.

How common are clutch / dmf / turbo issues on mapped VRSs?

Did you manage to stay awake