Hey all, my first meaningful thread.

I've got about a £9K budget for a car, and after much looking, searching, and testing, i've decided to go for a Fabia vRS. I do 20K a year anyway, and i'm a student (so not exactly minted) and I want something sporty but frugal.

Anyway, that brings me to this.

I've been looking on the Skoda Used site, on places like Pistonheads and on these classifieds, and I have some questions.

a) Leather seats - worth the extra?

vRS SE - worth the extra?

c) Any other optional extras that are worth holding on for?

There's one at my local dealer that you can see on the Skoda website (local dealer is EXETER) that tempts me, but I feel the seats would get dirty easily as they're a combination of black and white.

Thanks for any advice.

I've just bought a vRS Limited (SE).

I personally don't like the look of the standard, non leather seats.

The vRS Limited has all the kit I wanted as standard -

Leather, cruise control, trip computer & privacy glass at the rear. Plus other bits -

6 CD autochanger, "race Blue" metallic paint, red brake calipers, "sunset glass" and blue piping on the seats.

The extra equipment equates to over £2000 yet the new price was only £13,010 compared to £12,395

The used price will reflect the extra equipment but shouldn't be too much over a stock vRS.

The leather & cruise control swung it for me, but you could always look out for a non SE model with the extras you want.

Link to vRS SE spec

Edited 11 August, 200916 yr by vRS G60
added link

Leather seats - definitely worth the extra in my view, I paid £800 to get a retrofit leather retrim - says it all

vRS SE - not worth the extra in my view, you can get better specced "normal vrs" examples for less money.

Xenons are a popular option to hold on for, and that's about it REALLY. They are/were rare though. Parking sensors are not needed really as it's a small car. CD changer is obsolete in my opinion and you'd be better with either an aftermarket stereo with an aux-in or a retrofit aux-in kit for the standard stereo. Cruise control would be handy but you can get it retrofitted for under £200 if you wanted it later.

Your a student and have £9k to spend on a car! Wish I had that kinda money when I was studying!

Anyway - for £9k you should be able to buy an SE with the leather. The white part does get grubby quite easily but it's not as bad as you'd have though to be honest.

If your doing 20k a year then cruise would be nice i'd guess but then it's fairly straight forward as a retro-fit so don't turn down the right car because it hasn't got it.

That's fine, really.

I guess with the seats i'm going to have to go have a sit in it and a leather one and decide for myself which I prefer.

I'd like Cruise but if it's that easy to fit then it doesn't matter if I get one with it or not.

Thing about the SE is that they hold their price much better than a regular vRS, often to the tune of a grand or two more for the same car (even against a well specced non-SE). I absolutely adore the dark blue but then it's only a colour. :p

Oh, and I may be a student, but i'm 24, started late at Uni. So i'm a bit better off than your average keg-sucking teenager.

I've had both. Loved the standard vRS and love my SE just a bit more. Worth the extra if you can get a good deal imho.

That one in Exeter is my old car mate, has been well looked after, very tidy, but very overpriced!

But then dealers can always sell cars for more than they are worth. If I were you I would spend £5-6K on one and save the rest ! It will have done a few thousand more miles and may be a year older, but will still be a great car.

Heh, awesome, i've managed to find the old owner!

It's not like i'd give them what they're asking for it anyway, they'd have to come down a chunk.

Just that i'd like the warranty that you get with a dealer, and also we have a Fabia Estate (family car, vRS is MINE) that they've always been great with.

Good customer service brings people back, you know the drill.

I dont think id spend 9k on a fabia vrs tbh

I dont think id spend 9k on a fabia vrs tbh

Well i'm hoping not to spend it all - I do have to insure it you know! :eek:

I've just been down and looked at it, very clean inside and out, with two previous owners - one from Taunton!

They're willing to put a tank of fuel in it and tax it for me, but won't budge at all on the price. So i'm taking time to have a think about it.

It's certainly a great example, I can't help but feel it's a bit overpriced though... :rotz:

Thats the problem we had when looking. Cheap to run diesel so they can hold out. We looked at a silver one and they wouldn't budge at all. He said that he had spent £600 on 4 new tyres so wouldn't shift. Was a funny guy

We then went for one that they would shift on price but turns out to have a couple of issues. Once he has sorted them it will be fine and for the price I paid I dont mind

Can anyone guess what tyres he fitted for £600????

Nankangs

What's the actual detail on the car you're considering? Have you got a link to it?

What sort of insurance quotes have you got, if you're looking at 9k all-in? I'd be of the opinion of others; spend a bit less, 7k perhaps, and still get something perfectly suitable.

At 20k a year how long are you looking to run the car for? If you're looking longer-term, holding out for something with fairly low mileage might be a good idea (but not stupidly low, as little or no regular use can pose problems of its own!)

Steve

It's this one.

Skoda Fabia 1.9 TD vRS 5-Dr Hatchback

I'm thinking of making a serious offer on it that I feel it's worth. At worst he can just say no.

From looking on Parkers/Whatcar, £8,400 is about fair for a car of that age and mileage.

As i'm going to be keeping it for a few years and adding 20K per annum to it, i'd like something that isn't too high to start with. Plus I might just pass it on to the girlfriend when I do upgrade down the line.

As a bit of a guide for you Tute, I bought my fabia VRS in July from Pistonheads (off a member here).

Its an 06/06 in silver with 34k on the clock, parrot handsfree kit, cruise control and Full skoda service history, and it was £6400.

To me, even though its 6 months younger and 10,000 miles less, (although it is from a dealer) £2000 more is a bit steep!

Here is one on ebay and it looks in pretty good condition

Its got leather interior, heated front seats and xenons !

Its a bit high milage for its age but if its been serviced properly then it shouldnt have any problems

2006 Skoda Fabia 1.9 TD vRS 5-Dr Hatchback Black on eBay (end time 14-Aug-09 10:17:47 BST)

god the ride height is fugly as standard.. you forget.

It's this one.

Skoda Fabia 1.9 TD vRS 5-Dr Hatchback

I'm thinking of making a serious offer on it that I feel it's worth. At worst he can just say no.

From looking on Parkers/Whatcar, £8,400 is about fair for a car of that age and mileage.

As i'm going to be keeping it for a few years and adding 20K per annum to it, i'd like something that isn't too high to start with. Plus I might just pass it on to the girlfriend when I do upgrade down the line.

Glass's says £6710 for PX on one of that age & mileage, so I'd say the dealer's trying to make top book on it. I'd say it was worth 8k, maybe a few hundred less on a rainy weekday at the end of the month

Steve

Glass's says £6710 for PX on one of that age & mileage, so I'd say the dealer's trying to make top book on it. I'd say it was worth 8k, maybe a few hundred less on a rainy weekday at the end of the month

Steve

If Glass's says it's worth £6710 as PX then what does it give the dealer price as out of interest?

At the end of the day you're not going to get a dealer car for private money, but no harm in trying :P

Yeah but you can't really compare it to a private sale or EBay as there's considerably less risk when buying from a dealership. No offence intended, but I doubt a lot of cars sell privately with one year's warranty.

I guess i'm just trying to establish if it's worth having a stab at making an offer on this.

If Parkers & What Car say it's a fair price and it ticks most of the boxes then make them an offer.

I will put another vote on the SE. Not only does it have the cool Racing blue paint work and the red calipers (all other vRS' are green) but as already mentioned it comes with 2k's worth of extra bolted on.

Ok the CD changer is out dated but sod it. Even if you buy a Std vRS and get the leather you might as well buy a part of history. Ltd to 1000 models (of which about 10 have already been written off) it's well worth your money.

Lets do some maths - you get a std vRS. u fancy leather so pay £1500+ for a retrim, then you fancy the cruise control (I love this even at 30mph on the way to work) that'll set you back around £150-£200, then you fancy tinting your windows another £150 - the SE has all that included!

Everyone loves my car - the leather trim with the blue high lights is great and easy to manage. you really can't go wrong. I only see one reason why not to go for an SE - you a die hard liverpool or Utd fan and hate the blue colour! lol

Its your call at the end of the day mate, but for the £2000 less I would take the risk with it being a fairly reliable type of car rather than people main stealer prices.

good luck tho!

Rule of thumb between PX price from Glass's and dealer price - £1500. So the dealer currently isn't that far away - in fact, probably just the margin for negotiation!

ALL valuations need to be taken with some salt, because it will all depend on market conditions at the time, the area you're looking in etc etc.

As for the 'standard' vRS vs. SE debate: I think it all comes down to the importance of the colour as that's the only thing you can't easily add if you liked it. £800 for a leather re-trim is more realistic, the other costs as listed above. Resale potential - hmmm, debatable - only time will tell on that one

Steve

I only see one reason why not to go for an SE - you a die hard liverpool or Utd fan and hate the blue colour! lol

I'm a die hard United fan (been all over Europe) and it didn't put me off