I'm toying with the idea of selling my Octavia VRs mk1 and purchasing a Fabia VRs.The only reasons are financial really. Tax at £120 a year, cheaper car insurance and 50+ mpg are very appealing and it sounds like its a fun car to drive. If I were to buy one it would ideally be re-mapped, and if not I'd get it remapped myself.Can any Fabia owners shed some light on what are like to live with and if anyone has changed from an Remapped Octavia Vrs to one have you ever looked back? How much is a fully tank of diesel and how many miles will that give you?I dont really want to pay much more to exchange so may have to settle for a 53 reg Fabia with around 80k miles.

I did it the other way cause I was bored of the diesel. And that was with doing 25-30k a year.

I love my Fabia vRS mate - not quite the same as your predicament, but I went from a Fabia vRS to an Octy MK2 L&K and then quickly changed back to a Fabia vRS again. A tank of fuel with a bit of venting is around £50 with todays stupid fuel prices and that's good for around 400 miles until the beep. They're fairly quick even without a remap and lots of fun to drive. I don't think you'll have much of a problem swapping your octy for the one you mentioned, you might even get a newer one.

I would have thought it would squeeze more than 400 miles out with a tank full. Is yours a standard engine?

It depends on how you drive, where you drive and whether you vent the tank. I don't usually bother venting the tank and consequently it only costs me about £40 to fill the tank (at most). With that I would typically get 350-380 miles from the tank (usually about 46-49 mpg). Bear in mind that mine doesn't get many long runs, so you would probably see a better return if you spend a lot of time on motorways.

My commute to work is about 20 miles each way, part motorway and part town so not that bad.Putting £30 optimax in will get me just above 200 miles in my current car. 32mpg on the computer.If the fabias are good to drive and as I've heard are fairly rapid with the remap getting 400 miles for £40 will be very nice as well as the £120 tax a year.

I started with a Mk I Octy vRS estate (standard), then a Mk II Octy 2.0 TDi Elegance (Dragon Box), and now a Fabia vRS (remapped and other mods - see members car section).

I have enjoyed all of them - but for different reasons.

The Mk 1 estate was quick enough, and had massive load-lugging capabilities.

The Mk II Elagance wasn't as quick but was a lot more refined.

The Fabia is just great fun - it makes me feel like a kid again. I have an 80 mile commute each way to the office that I do once or twice a week. I still take the A road / B road route on a regular basis even though takes longer than the motorway option - just because its a much more enjoyable drive.

Of course you also need to consider whether you need the space of the Octy - although its surprising how much you can fit in the Fabia if you try. When the site gets pics up again, you will find one of mine in the members car section complete with roof box on, and all ready to go with a week's worth of camping gear.

350 - 400 miles to a tank is typical for me but I drive it as its meant to be driven. Mine is the newer BLT (Euro IV) engine, which I don't think are as good as the older ones for fuel efficiency.

I love my Fabia, but atm it's not running right. From a tank at £45 i got 390 miles and that was mixed driving but constant motorway i got 485 miles before putting more diesel in

Atm though my fabia averages 44mpg on the motorway and it was averaging 22mpg coming to work yesterday :(

Really need to identify my problem

Haven't bought my old one, have you?

Who me?

Unless you sold it to Arnold Clark in Stirling 3 months ago then no lol

My car history has been a bit varied!

I got my 2002 Octavia vRS in Jan 2005 and it was the first Skoda I had owned and I loved it. I had in remapped by Swift's and fitted a Brembo GT kit. Laterly, I also fitted a sports cat and a Powerflow custom exhaust.

In 2005 we also bought a new Fabia vRS which I also didn't leave alone and I had a Dragon fitted. I bought it for your reasons really, as I was traveling to Kidderminster or Leamington Spa daily from Brum and I wanted a fun, economical car. I enjoyed my time with the Fabia and it was a great little car.

I put a fair few miles on the Fabia (the missus was using the Octavia for her 6 miles a day journey) and I changed jobs, so decided to get rid and bought a Mk2 Leon FR TDi. And whilst I didn't regret it..weirdly I missed the little Fabia.

My dad's old k****ered Frontera terminally died recently and they couldn't really afford anything remotely decent, so I gave them the Octavia and looked for a little run around for myself again, as I now work from home and I ended up buying another Fabia vRS.

I dearly miss the Octavia as I still think it is the best and most reliable car I have ever owned. I also really enjoyed driving it and the fact that people really didn't know what they were or how quick the old girl was. Whilst I have missed the boot size during the tip runs and shopping trips, I just now have to break things up before showing them in the boot of the Fabia or the Leon lol. However, the biggest loss for me is the fantastic 1.8T!

In summary, if you want a fun little run around, that's cheap to run and maintain then the Fabia is for you. But if you still want a 'grown up', load lugger that's still capable of raising eyebrows, then it would be the Octavia every time!

PS. Can you tell I miss my Octavia lol!

Hello, My 2005 Fabia VRS returns 45mpg and road tax now at £125 when recently renewed. Fabia is generally a lot smaller, in comparison to the Octavia model.Leg-room for rear passengers very tight even for 6 year old kids, with front seats set to normal legged front seat riders. Would not have thought there would be a great deal of difference in running costs, to both Fabia VRS/ Octavia VRS diesels if compared? As there is a diesel and petrol Octavia VRS, I suppose the petrol could attract extra running costs? Good luck whatever you decide.

Thanks for the replies.I think at the moment I'm going to sit down and work out the running costs and see if there is alot of difference. Theres a Fabia vrs at a garage down the road so I'll have a wonder down and have a look a it, hopefully blag a test drive. The 1.8t is a great engine, just wondering why skoda didnt give it 6 gears for more economical motorway driving.