Not a Diesel!!!

Had a look at & drive of a VRS Estate today. The dealer was telling me of the great performance and then asking what it was like compared to the Megane.... he was not pleased with slower. To be expected I suppose. This could be sorted with a Remap at a later stage. Appart from that great overall package with incredible space. The Rear passenger space was very good.

My comparison was if you were me and wanted a practicle, fast, and relatively hassle free car for £15k. Would you by a New...ish Octy VRS or Would you buy an Old...ish 3 Series I forgot to mention I bought my wife a Z3M Coupe. Thats the 321bhp Breadvan with NO Traction control. So this car has to compliment that on my Driveway. So when I want to go camping or drive 500 miles to visit my Family in Scotland. Or my Wife has to rive in the snow at 4am.

I went into a couple of dealers at the weekend. Was asking a bout a manual petrol estate. One said computer was down but believed that there were only 10 left. The other said that there were none left. Still lots of website advertising without VAT if thats the case?

I am all over the place. I see a 3 Series go past & think thats the car for me then a VRS & swap back. What the 3 Series edges it is some respects the VRS fights back on Value. I then get in my own car & think. Why am I changing?

Not been on here fora few years since selling the wifes Fabia VRS. Anyway have been doing the Renaultsport thing for a few years and been in a Megane R26 for the last 3.5 years and the wife has had a Clio 182, Trophy, 197 Cup & 200. So ticked that box. Now the R26 is the most complete car I have owned with Leather in Glacier White. Since I had a little girl 3 years ago I have been thinking I need an estate.... but I am actually carrying less baby junk by the day. I have been thinking of every BMW 3. Starts with 335i to 335d to 330d to 330i to Alpina. Looked at a 330i and then scared myself with Engine Worries on coils, injectors etc. Also they are all £15k ish and have 60k miles. I resent puting £6k to my car for something with double the miles and little more performance. And they are rougher than my car. Then a VRS Estate drove past. And I found I can get almost a new car for the same money. mmmmmmm.

Thanks Slider it sounds like you know what you are talking about.

I have just bought a new car & reg'd in wifes name. So we have 3 cars. My car & her old car are up for sale. Not fussed which sells....I think but ideally hers. But if mine sells she will have 2 cars in her name. I will have to insure one of them in my name. In practice we share the cars anyway. Is that any hastle that I am not the registered keeper on the V5. I live at the same address..... I paid for it.

New car bought and in the drive. Oh boy does it make you appreciate the Furby after a 4 hr motoway drive in my (wifes) new car! VRS is a top car especially since I am selling one! I dont doubt I will return to one. FOR SALE Mint Condition, 55 Plate VRS (First Reg 24/12/05), 35600 miles. £8500ono. PM me for more info but on Autotrader & Pistonheads. The Answer to my Question is..... Clio Trophy! I've had some good handling cars in my time E30 M3, 306 & 309 GTI but this really is on a different plane. I think I can live with the extra £600 a year in fuel, tax & insurance. An my name is Not a Diesel!!! after all.

To be fair all the reasons I bought the VRS are still vaild. When I bought it I could buy nothing else for the price that would match it. As its my wifes car I like he to have something new & reliable with warranty & recovery. As time goes on more parts need replaced. I used to buy 4 year old cars and used to always get caught for tyres,brakes, exhaust, cambelt during ownership. Buyin 6- 12 month old cars means you maybe have a little more depreciation but you skip alot of these other running costs. When I first bought it I has a car that did 22mpg. Now I have one that does 50 mpg too. I like to drive as many different cars as possible (maybe I should be a motoring journalist). So If I change my wife or my car every 2 years I get a new car to play with every year.

I had originally thought of replacing my wifes 55 Plate VRS with a fresher VRS in the next few months. The ideal would have been an SE. However the prices people seem to be asking are north of £12k. But they are still pretty rare in the classifieds. This puts them close to newer cars such as Corsa VXR & Clio 197 (even a F1 R27). For which lightly used examples are at £13K. I know these other cars cant compare in fuel economy but an extra £500 a year on fuel cant be that bad given the service intervals on these petrols are probably slightly longer an probably a bit cheaper. They are going to handle better than VRS and be quicker(given I'm not interested in spending £££ moding my car) ....and they have Recaros!. Thoughts?

Just drained some out of my Fabia VRS. Monkeys. Bought one of those Pela thingys. Would have taken back to garage but to far away. (gonna need it for my Smart which has no Sump-plug anyway) Remember same happened on my 306-GTi. Took it back a day later. Said think its overfilled. They checked it and said It was and I should get some drained out.... I said well you put it in... you get it out. They were most pleased at 11 am Sat. Reckon if its a special oil (not the one in the 200 l drum at the side) they just through the whole can in (4.5 - 5.0 litres) as its about right. Also I supose if they are using vacuum pump to remove old oil they may not get it all out? As I said Monkeys....

thats some deep dish.

Yep I remember my last oil servive on my BMW 328 was

What a car it must be for owners to forgive its many little quirks (leaks!)

They look good. But it was the newer RS4 Alloys I had seen with the very thin spoke.

Anybody fitted these to there Fabia VRS?

I like the look of those new Susuki Swifts too (Quite a big car, Tall). Thought about maybe wifes next car after furby but difficult to come away from diesel. She used to have a SportKa before. 1.6 8v. That was thirsty too. Find it hard to believe Brabus Roadster is more expensive than Furby to insure. When I swapped from BMW the insurance company gave me

Breakdown was for 20k service on 16/4/07: Motorflush -

Just had mine given 20k Service. Got quotes from 3 dealers first and ranged from

Got My Brabus Roadster Coupe (Xclusive) about a month ago (for the benefit of previous posts selling my BMW in the process). Wife still has Fabia VRS so imagine my interest when I found this post with this title. Never thought I'd by a soft top car the size of a Shoe (or a Skoda!!!) but here I am. Its probable been around 10 years since I have just grabbed my keys and gone for a drive for fun. In those years me or the wife have owned. Polo GTI, SportKA, 306 GTI-6, 309 GTI Goodwood, E30 M3, 328 Sport, Impreza P1. Thats how good this car is. You really have more fun with less power. Both cars complement one another and both are a good fun. Both are economical. Brabus first couple of fill ups at around 48 mpg and recent one with losts of town commuting is around 43 mpg.

As in title anyone have Skoda UK postal address. Thanks

Just turned 20k miles and have not seen a stutter for ages. Anyone else see it disapear as the miles clocked on?

Saw one today at dealers. Colour looks great although not keen on the tint on the rear windows.

In the 20k miles we have done in last 16 months average of 50.8 MPG. Range has been 47 to 56. Generally this has been improving over time with high 40's best over first few thousand. This is brimming tank each time and recording milage and entering in speadsheet. Computer adds about 10 MPG so dont use it. I cant believe how inaccurate it is. As a point of reference here are some other cars me & the wife have owned. Figures all from my trusty spreadsheet. (but BMW computer was always only 1 MPG out so far better accuracy) SportKA (1.6 8v) - 37.9 MPG Polo GTI (1.6 16v) - 40.4 MPG Fiesta Ghia X ( 1.4 16v) - 40.6 MPG 309 GTI - 30.4 MPG E30 M3 - 25.7 MPG Impreza P1 - 22.7 MPG ( on Super only) 306 GTI-6 - 29.7 MPG 328 BMW E36 - 25.2 MPG So given the performance of the Fabia VRS pretty happy with MPG/Cost per Mile.

Down in terms of refinement... although I still have leather(heater), Aircon, CD, Electric Roof. Up in terms of FUN with a capital F! The 0-60 is misleading as power/wt is 120bhp/ton. 0-60 relies on about 3 gearchanges which are painfully slow. Remapped takes to 130 bhp and about 160bhp/ton (thats the same as an R32?) When your a couple of inches from the ground & the engine and 2 foot from the popping exhaust it feels plenty fast!