So from June I won't have a commute anymore so was looking at the options. Do I go back to petrol and get something like a scooby or evo or shall I keep the VRS and do a couple of mods? Its a 56 reg I have in red and I do like the car a lot, so was thinking of goind down the re-map route and lowering. I was hoping to get a rough idea of some costs so if anyone has some info I would like an idea on the following,

Rough cost for lowering the car

Rough cost for brake upgrade

If I had it re-mapped I was wondering about the standard clutch? will it hold and if not how much roughly for an uprated clutch?

Thanks

Daz

Brakes are £200 fitted approx

Suspension ranges from £400 - £1000 plus £150 fitting

Remap is £200 approx

Clutch will last if care is taken...

As much as I love my Fabia, it cant even compare to a quick petrol car (unless you spend big bucks). If you make it too performance focused, it will start to loose some of its charm of being a great allrounder. I would reccomend getting somthing like an Elise if you want some fun (with the summer on its way). I used to have a Vx220 it was great fun. Modification is an addictive business and you will narrow the market when it comes to selling (been there). Essentially its you choice, you will have fun either way.

I'd defiantly get it remapped at least.

The amount of performance and down right fun factor that is gained off a remap is great bang for buck.

As a relatively cheap handling mod the (Jabba) rear anti roll bar is second to none. It truly does transform the handling of the car.

Also to get the most out of your remap I would suggest you fit a PD160 intake and performance panel filter.

Edited 27 March, 201016 yr by Thirdtimeluck

I can see this thread tempting me to modify my Fabia (First car I have owned that I have not modified).

I defiantly get it remapped at least.

The amount of performance and down right fun factor that is gained off a remap is great bang for buck.

As a relatively cheap handling mod the (Jabba) rear anti roll bar is second to none. It truly does transform the handling of the car.

Also to get the most out of your remap I would suggest you fit a PD160 intake and performance panel filter.

Is the PD160 intake something I can fit myself? love cars but don't do any work on them.

Is the PD160 intake something I can fit myself? love cars but don't do any work on them.

Yeh its easy 10 min job

I'd chop it for something more interesting, if you don't do the miles... go back to petrol power!

id keep it and remap and lower u will be surprised when u have had the car remapped

Wher are you based? maybe you need a trip in a members modded vRS to confirm what you want to do with yours? :yes:

Wher are you based? maybe you need a trip in a members modded vRS to confirm what you want to do with yours? :yes:

I'm in Bridlington East Yorkshire at the moment but moving to Lincoln in June. There is a company just down the road called ChipBoost who do the re-map for £200, anyone heard any reports on them?

Ditch the vRS, get a petrol - if you don't need the miles, why buy a diesel? ;-)

I've just switched from an EU import Feb 07 WRX wagon to a Dec 56 vRS due to costs.

There is no comparison between the two cars.

I had to get rid of my scooby due to mileage - two services per year, approx one set of 4 tyres, £405 road tax, almost twice as much insurance cost (scooby is group 21) plus 22K miles at 30mpg tops with today's rip-off prices. It's a fantastic car, especially in the wet, but the running costs are crippling. And that's just a regular WRX, not an STI or Evo which costs even more. But it's just such a great car to drive.

Having said that, I love the vRS. Average of 46mpg even when ragging it. Insurance & tax seem like nothing in comparison. And the vRS grips the road very well indeed. I prefer the vRS steering to the scooby - scooby it a bit over responsive and light. Acceleration in the 2000-3000 rpm range is pretty identical. The Scooby just keeps the power for much longer, so there's not as big a difference in overtaking as you;'d expect, unless you're passing more than 3 cars on a country road. Or if you're accelerating uphill in the wet (or even damp) where the scooby's grip is in a different league due to the AWD.

I've not modified the vRS yet. I wouldn't mind the power lasting for a bit longer, but other than that I'm very pleased with it. Sure it's no scooby, but the fact it doesn't have the scooby's bad points and it has enough good points is what makes it a great car. As well as being great fun to drive.

So... basically if you have money to burn then the scooby may be worthwhile, but it will cost A LOT in terms of running costs. Even before you take fuel costs into consideration (and remember that if you do half as many miles as the vRS they'll be half as economical - so basically the same cost).

Hope that helps.

Edited 28 March, 201016 yr by The Flying Pie

I've just switched from an EU import Feb 07 WRX wagon to a Dec 56 vRS due to costs.

There is no comparison between the two cars.

I had to get rid of my scooby due to mileage - two services per year, approx one set of 4 tyres, £405 road tax, almost twice as much insurance cost (scooby is group 21) plus 22K miles at 30mpg tops with today's rip-off prices. It's a fantastic car, especially in the wet, but the running costs are crippling. And that's just a regular WRX, not an STI or Evo which costs even more. But it's just such a great car to drive.

Having said that, I love the vRS. Average of 46mpg even when ragging it. Insurance & tax seem like nothing in comparison. And the vRS grips the road very well indeed. I prefer the vRS steering to the scooby - scooby it a bit over responsive and light. Acceleration in the 2000-3000 rpm range is pretty identical. The Scooby just keeps the power for much longer, so there's not as big a difference in overtaking as you;'d expect, unless you're passing more than 3 cars on a country road. Or if you're accelerating uphill in the wet (or even damp) where the scooby's grip is in a different league due to the AWD.

I've not modified the vRS yet. I wouldn't mind the power lasting for a bit longer, but other than that I'm very pleased with it. Sure it's no scooby, but the fact it doesn't have the scooby's bad points and it has enough good points is what makes it a great car. As well as being great fun to drive.

So... basically if you have money to burn then the scooby may be worthwhile, but it will cost A LOT in terms of running costs. Even before you take fuel costs into consideration (and remember that if you do half as many miles as the vRS they'll be half as economical - so basically the same cost).

Hope that helps.

Well I think that sums it up for me. Whilst my mileage will drop from 320 mile per week to about 80 mile per week I still don't have money to burn so I'm off to speak to ChipBoost on Tuesday regarding the remap then will look to get it lowered in the next month or 2. Also going to do the PD160 intake mod just after the remap. Thanks for the advice from all of you, will post my opinion on the remap soon.

Daz

I've just switched from an EU import Feb 07 WRX wagon to a Dec 56 vRS due to costs.

Interesting post, I test drove a WRX and WRXS a little while ago (when I decided I wanted AWD) and they're great on country roads especially in the wet, but for everyday driving and overtaking I didn't really think there was much difference in-gear (mine's been remapped) between the Scooby and Fabia. Of course the Scooby would leave it standing in many other areas. As you said, the costs are much higher, when I looked into tax, insurance, MPG, I was much less enthusiastic. Shame, I thought they were nice cars, particularly the new shape WRXS in blue, but I was not really blown away by the performance and I felt I should have been.

Scooby 0-60 from standing start at 3000 rpm feels fantastic. Get the one required gear change smooth and you absolutely fly along. vRS doesn't come close if you try to compare. But how often do you do that? Exactly.

The 40-70 overtaking is pretty similar. It's just the vRS drops off a little bit before the scooby. Of course, when you get used to using the gears slightly differently it's not an issue.

FWIW I gave one of my mates who also owns a WRX (04 model - the one before mine with 2.0 l engine instead of 2.5 but v. similar performance) a lift when we were going skiing a few weeks ago and he was surprised by the vRS. Not just the overtaking but also the road grip. He actually admitted feeling a bit scared going into a couple of corners until he realised how grippy it was. I'd also used the filling the overflow tank technique and he was stunned that we got from Edinburgh to Fort William without the fuel gauge moving, and had 2/3 left when we got home. That journey, with enthusiastic but not illegal driving would have used pretty much all of the 60l tank in the scooby. He's certain that his next car will be a fast diesel.

I'm tempted to get mine remapped, but I'm not exactly disappointed by the standard performance. Will reconsider in a wee while.

Depends what you want out of a car.... do you need 2 seats or 4, what will you use the car for, how many miles do you think, do you drive twisties or a motorway warrior??

The Fabia vRS *feels* rapid 95% of the time.. especially when chipped... i do still miss the furb for its point-n-squirt ability... but it doesnt have anywhere near the feel or satisfaction of a well-driven petrol motor (which isnt possible most the time)

Any petrol car needs to be "wound-up" to get the same effect.. even tho itll be faster.. when i swapped my Fabia vRS for a Octy vRS.. at first i thought it was a bit slow and rubbish.. then the current owner told me to hold onto the gears up to 7k.. then it started to make sense and it was much quicker than the fabia.