Looking for a small car for the wife and test drove the Fabia vRS at the weekend (after 3 years of driving an Octy vRS I have almost got her beyond the "but it's a Skoda" phase).

I was quite impressed with the car and its performance but the one thing we did not like was the vast expanse of black plastic that passes for the dashboard - especially the passenger side. Despite the light colour seats etc the whole interior just seemed so dark (& plasticky!).

Does anyone know if this will change with the upcoming facelift? I note the model shown in the facelift piccies shows a two tone brown/beige dash so just wondered if there were any plans to lighten the vRS dash?

What are the chances of a dealer discount? I have read that this is unlikely but drivethedeal.com are quoting a discount of almost

dash stays the same colour im afraid, although i think the quality of some of the plastics has been improved.

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The black/beige combitnation is only availiable on the elegance spec models, but comes with a similar colour interior.

You certainly wouldn't want a lighter colour on the top surface of the dash. That would only make reflections in the windscreen worse than they are.

Now a nice black Alcantara covering would another matter entirely.....

Cheers for the responses

Having had another look at the dash I think it's the fact that it's a huge, featureless slab of plastic on the passenger side that makes it look so bad.

Dealer says we can have it for 48 hours next week so will see what it's like to live with.

Anyone know what the score is with dealer discounts on both the Fabia and the Octy Rs's at the moment?

I had exactly the same reservations about the dash, I think many people do, but after 2 months of ownership I can safely say I don`t notice at all, infact I can`t remember the last time i did notice it! To think I nearly spent 2k more on a seat just coz of the dash . . .

So there you go, buy it and you will never notice the dash problem.

my mate paid 11300 for his balck fab vrs and I paid 11k for a 2 week old pre reg balck fab vrs. I had to have a car within 3 days so could not barter too much!!!

Don`t take their crap, don`t be scared of quoting broker prices, do not mention broker names/other garage names, they are all in the game together . . .

I had exactly the same reservations about the dash' date=' I think many people do, but after 2 months of ownership I can safely say I don`t notice at all, infact I can`t remember the last time i did notice it! To think I nearly spent 2k more on a seat just coz of the dash . . .

[/quote']

Quite ironic that, since I think the dash on the Fabia vRS (and the rest of the interior for that matter) is vastly superior to that on the Ibiza.

That was the swinging point. it was only the passenger side of the dash I did not like. the rest of the vRS interior is miles better then the seat. And I prefer the exterior looks of the skoda too. The seat is a little to close to chav . . .

Not everybody likes it, but I fitted a wood trim kit to my vRS to break up the large areas of black on the dash (also available in other colours). The sunroof brightens up the interior a lot and improves the efficiency of the aircon by extracting stale air.

I had exactly the same reservations about the dash' date=' I think many people do, but after 2 months of ownership I can safely say I don`t notice at all, infact I can`t remember the last time i did notice it! To think I nearly spent 2k more on a seat just coz of the dash . . .

So there you go, buy it and you will never notice the dash problem.[/quote']

I noticed it when I first got into my fathers fabia 1.4 when it was new but after borrowing it for a week never thought about it again. When my vRS arrived I never even considered it so I too can confirm you soon forget to notice it.

Not everybody likes it, but I fitted a wood trim kit to my vRS to break up the large areas of black on the dash (also available in other colours). The sunroof brightens up the interior a lot and improves the efficiency of the aircon by extracting stale air.

Not sure I would have it but it does look nice. All down to personal taste as we all already know. :P

Not everybody likes it' date=' but I fitted a wood trim kit to my vRS to break up the large areas of black on the dash (also available in other colours). The sunroof brightens up the interior a lot and improves the efficiency of the aircon by extracting stale air.

[/quote']

I'd definitely consider that if it was available in silver, and didnt look too cheesy

I think Butt's do the kit in a sort of brushed aluminium look, but I've never seen the real thing, only pictures.

I think Butt's do the kit in a sort of brushed aluminium look, but I've never seen the real thing, only pictures.

woods not to my taste but alu would look good is it hard to fit?

know what, the dash is at the very bottom of my 'bothered' list. Didn't notice it or care when i picked it up last fri, still dont notice or care now. I think the fab vrs is a great looking car, inside and out.....

I'd definitely consider that if it was available in silver, and didnt look too cheesy

According to Butt's brochure:

http://www.jhmbuttco.com/fabia.pdf

they do aluminium, carbonfibre, titanium, and two types of wood effect dash inserts. All for a shade under 90 quid.

I'm quite taken with the thought of the carbon one, actually...!

I think the aluminium would look great and really set off the interior of a black furby Vrs. Im gonna take the plunge and get them in a couple of weeks, ill post some pics when fitted for all to see, i feel as if im also becoming a photo whore, not sure this is good as it encourages more modding

How many cars have you been in that don't have a large expanse of plastic in front of you these days? IMHO it's just the colour that varies and I'd rather have something quiet in charcoal grey (it's not really black) than a pale colour that reflects light onto the windscreen and shows the dirt.

JM2PW

How many cars have you been in that don't[/i'] have a large expanse of plastic in front of you these days?

The Smart has a fabric dash...quite ironic considering how much of the car *is* made from plastic...

Rob.

I think the aluminium would look great and really set off the interior of a black furby Vrs. Im gonna take the plunge and get them in a couple of weeks, ill post some pics when fitted for all to see, i feel as if im also becoming a photo whore, not sure this is good as it encourages more modding

Great I look forward to seeing it.

Just to add my 10 pence worth

i'm after a Fabia VRS as soon as i sell my Civic Type-R, i had a good look around one at Robert Bamford Skoda of Gloucester anyway i found the dash is'nt too bad.

MY CTR has a massive dash twice the size of the Fabia :eek: and i think its only because of the 2 big silver pieces of dash in the middle that breaks it all up.

So fitting some silver surrounds would definetley make the dash 10 times better, hey if it looks that nice i might even get some myself

Interesting post as my wife was wanting a Type R and I'm trying to push her for the Fabia. Test drove the Type R and quite liked it but dealer wanted 17.5k for a new one with aircon and wouldn't budge on the price. I felt that it was overpriced for what it was.

Just wondered why you were swapping the CTR for a vRS?

Interesting post as my wife was wanting a Type R and I'm trying to push her for the Fabia. Test drove the Type R and quite liked it but dealer wanted 17.5k for a new one with aircon and wouldn't budge on the price. I felt that it was overpriced for what it was.

Just wondered why you were swapping the CTR for a vRS?

Regarding test drives, I would have thought your impressions of the fabia vRS would be very different to the type R with the different engine behaviours.

Was your wife with you when you test drove the fabia? I've never been in a type R, but from hearing that you have to cane it high in the rev range for it to take off, it would be a very different driving experience to a tdi

Yeh a very different drive - as you say the CTR power is at the top end whereas the vRS power is much lower down. Very different to drive but both nice to drive