My thoughts on the Fabia RS standard suspension

[S29FEB]

Mines is not "bad tempered" just carnapcious

S'opse he is to young to be grumpy yet, and irony is that why I take vit B12

[Schtum]

Mines is not "bad tempered" just carnapcious

At best, that could be described as a neologism. Just WTF do you intend it to mean?

S'opse (sic) he is to (sic) young to be grumpy yet, and irony is that why I take vit B12

No ye daft Weegie. This is irony.......

[S29FEB]

LMAO

Away to top up my "irony" with a guinness

[Chavyboy]

I just did. Restrictions exist only in your mind, Grasshopper...... Besides which, it was really about the costs and benefits of upgraded suspension. Do keep up.

Now a lesson on "How to make friends and influence enemies" is in order me thinks :silly:

[flatfourburble]

I've been driving fast on road and track and on two wheels and four since before you were born sonny. Repeat after me....."I must not patronise and disrespect my elders and betters..." Got it...?

ok two word for that Chill Pill!! Before you get your Y-fronts in a twist I was mearly pointing out that how you drive the car is just as important as what you do to it, I was not "patronising" or "disrespecting" my elders and who are you to really say your better than me!

At least one person got the joke!

Before it ends up as a slaggin match between the rude youth and the crazy old man, my comment was not meant to be insulting if you took it as that thenI am truely sorry for my actions must be my silly youth :P

[Dan_P]

Fight - Fight - Fight

:fence3d: :chairs: :jedi: :blowinup: :smashfrea :buttkick:

[Chavyboy]

Young man !

My moneys on Flatfour

[flatfourburble]

Cheers Ivan :P

No fighting for me, an Englishman never fights yeah right pull the other one Mike!

[Schtum]

Before it ends up as a slaggin match between the rude youth and the crazy old man, my comment was not meant to be insulting if you took it as that thenI am truely sorry for my actions must be my silly youth :P

Your grovelling apology is duly accepted. Don't let it happen again.

Wuss......

[flatfourburble]

Your grovelling apology is duly accepted. Don't let it happen again.

Wuss......

Wahoo I'm a wuss!!

[Chavyboy]

Wahoo I'm a wuss!!

Go flatfour it's your birthday, have a party

[flatfourburble]

Go flatfour it's your birthday, have a party

Having a birthday party is like making love to a beautiful woman it only happens once a year.......................I'll shut up now

[Spike15]

Here's may 2 peneth worth on the subject I have owned an 8 valve 1.4l comfort, 2.0 l elegance and a vRS Fabia and have found that the vRS is by far the best handling Fabia. I can understand that some may feel the suspension is a bit soft however the alround capababilities of the vRS are very good. On the motorway the 2.0l elegance was the best ride however the vRS is far supperior on windy country lanes, also the steering is far more positive.Having driven a range of VAG products I would say Skoda have got the balance right for British roads with both Seat and Audi being to "choppy" on our roads whilst VW's being too "bouncy" I wasn't a fan of the Michellin tyres that came on the car from new although these lasted 30k miles they felt rather unsure in wet conditions. I'm now running Goodyear Eagle F1's which feel far more sure footed. Moving onto a slightly different subject I had the ARB bushes replaced under warranty which did seem to improve the steering response slightly. Nowthe car is out of warranty I have a creak which appears to be coming from the front LH which whilst isn't always present is annoying when it is!! It sounds like rubber moving against metal and is audible when driving over speed bumps under acceleration/deceleration and braking but not when turning from side to side which caused a creak when the ARB bushes required replacing. The car doesn't feel lie there is anything loose althouugh I've not investigated this yet but would be grateful for any pointers.

[Neo_VR]

My 3penneth after going to eibach springs and dampers and back to OE...

The OE stuff sucks in comparison... and its only marginally more comfortable than the Eibach setup!!!

I think its underdamped.. i have more problems with scraping the undertray now then i did when it was 25mm lower... trying to hustle it down some fun roads round cat n fiddle wasnt pleasant at all.. infact it was akin to trying to wrestle a bull.

Just for the record.. its a 53 reg car... there are roumors that the suspension is revised on newer ones.

Ive also heard a roumor. (maybe WW_VRS can ellaborate) that Koni FSD dampers are actually more comfortable than the OE stuff??

[WW_VRS]

I love the Konis I must admit - I'm on Eibach springs and Koni FSDs and you get a compliant ride, well worth the expense.

The Eibachs dampers are harder for some reason (be it not a great deal more than OEM) but it kinda trashes over stuff on the motorway.

On the M4 there is what I've always felt is almost a speed bump in the fast lane.

The kinda difference is roughly like this: on OEM it was bouncy and felt unstable (and yes, this was at 70mph). Eibachs (springs & dampers) it was more bouncy but felt more planted. With Eibach springs and Koni FSDs it absorbs more of the bump but keeps the car far more stable feeling.

If you were to go faster then I believe the difference would be even more pronounced

[Chrispy]

Understeer is the biggest issue on the vRS. After driving a 1.2 for a day and a Roomster for 2 days and then getting back in my vRS it felt like a bloomin' Lotus Elise in comparison. The vRS OE setup is FAR superior to the lesser cars which people seem to forget. Skoda uprated the suspension to make it 'sporty' but didn't go all out to make a handling monster. With a huge oil burner under the bonnet that was never going to happen. A heavy engine hanging over the front wheels always ruins the suspension.

I DO feel however that they should have fitted a rear anti roll bar as standard to control the body roll and counteract some of the understeer. Being chased persistently round a twisty road by a Pug 406 Estate and not being able to smoke him on the straights cos your engine is still cold is annoying.

Mind you, the understeer is nothing compared to my old 1.8 Cav. That was truly dire.....turn the wheel and you'd just keep ploughing straight ahead. Rubbish.

The Fabia copes very well on sweeping bends with minimal fuss, but show it a hairpin and it turns into a nosediving, understeering mess.

The price you pay for 200+ ft/lb and 40+ mpg I guess.

The day they start mass releasing all alloy diesel engines the better.....get the weight reduced.

[WW_VRS]

Also it has the usual VAG design where the engine is too far up front, to get more space inside. This is great from a 'room inside' angle, but handling wise you've just made the car more understeery :(

The rear ARB helps a fair amount in all honesty, but it does take some safety out which is why they wouldnt have gone for something like this off-factory I reckon.

[Spike15]

I'm glad to see that this topic has sparked some lively debate! I agree entirely that using good quality aftermarket dampers and, thicker ARB's will make a big difference to the handling of the vehicle and when adjusted properly will not have any significant affect on the comfort. My post was purely commenting on the comparison of the OE setups with in VAG group which I still standby. If the OE's did the job properly in the first place then there wouldn't be such a large aftermarket business, however ,unfortunately, everything is built down to a cost, and for the money, I'm sure that most would agree that the fabia vRS is excellent value. Now this opens up a further discussion on how much more would Skoda charge for an improved setup and would it be as good as an aftermarket one and if they did offer it how many people would pay the extra? Personally I'd like to see Skoda make an improvement to how the backend performs when cornering on bumpy roads, this along with the understeer seems to be a trait of all small VAG group cars certainly prior to the MK V golf based vehicles. Let's see what the new Fabia vRS brings, how about 4 wheel drive!!

[Chrispy]

Also it has the usual VAG design where the engine is too far up front, to get more space inside. This is great from a 'room inside' angle, but handling wise you've just made the car more understeery :(

The rear ARB helps a fair amount in all honesty, but it does take some safety out which is why they wouldnt have gone for something like this off-factory I reckon.

Yeah, it's funny cos a mate of mine has a Passat TDi PD130 Sport and the engine is mounted longitudinally and hangs miles over the front axle. Why on a FWD car would they do that? So you can change the aux belt easier? Daft.