Basically going to view a car tomorrow, fabia vrs, and they have said that the car has special edition antracite coloured wheels, i havent seen the pictures yet but looking forward to viewing it. Is there any other views on whether they are just standard wheels painted or was there "special edition". Also anyone got any pics of red vrs's please? thanks

Nope, as far as I'm aware there were only silver wheels. Anything coloured anything esle has been painted. It's possible some dealer did a few specials for themselves, but there is no factory finish wheel in anything other than silver.

Ok thanks for the quick reply, i did think that would be the case

Yeppers, no special edition anthracite wheels, they will have been sprayed. Good luck viewing the car mate, I'm sure it will look nice with those wheels.

Yeppers, no special edition anthracite wheels, they will have been sprayed. Good luck viewing the car mate, I'm sure it will look nice with those wheels.

Hope so! Apparently been lowered already aswell and it was a p/x against a bmw so sounds really interesting. Hoping after viewing a few it will be the one!

if its lowered already then that explains it,itl av been played with, check for other things such as pd160 intake pipe etc while your looking at it

I'm not getting a good feeling about this to be honest.

1. The dealer is bull****ing you about the wheels. So either he knows nothing or he thinks you know nothing. Neither is good.

2. The car has patently been modified - have you got a quote from your insurer for a modified car?

3. Do you know what mods have been done? Does the dealer have a list? You'll need that for the insurance.

4. Do you know who did the mods? I've seen cars with good bits fitted badly that were worse than standard.

5. Why didn't the original owner do the smart thing and put the standard parts back on? You can usually cover the cost of the labour to swap the parts back on one component and EVERYONE knows that a modified car is worth less than an unmolested one. Dealers don't want modified cars. They want standard cars.

6. I'm not sure what the fact that it was part-ex'd against a BMW says except the previous owner wanted a BMW. Is that a good thing?

Unless it's spectacularly good value and exactly what you want, I'd use this as a learning exercise and see what it's like to drive a modifed car. If I was you, I'd try and drive a good standard car first so you know the difference.

Basically going to view a car tomorrow, fabia vrs, and they have said that the car has special edition antracite coloured wheels, i havent seen the pictures yet but looking forward to viewing it. Is there any other views on whether they are just standard wheels painted or was there "special edition". Also anyone got any pics of red vrs's please? thanks

I got a Red 2005 Fabia VRS, have a close inspection of rear door spoiler for colour fading, mines more like matt finish.!!!

I'd use this as a learning exercise and see what it's like to drive a modifed car.

you say that like a modified car is a bad thing.

changing the wheel colour is hardly much of a modification and can look really good.

if it has better suspension then this is also a good thing as the standard setup is in need of improvement.

What he's saying is that he'd rather buy a standard car and then if he decided to modify it he would either do it himself or would ensure the work was done properly and to a high standard. Personally, I wouldn't buy a modded either car unless I knew it's history or could speak to it's owner. Cosmetic, suspension and handling mods alone maybe theres not so much scope for abuse, but any power mods would be a definite no for me unless I knew the owner as I'd be concerned that it had been driven hard in the past.

What he's saying is that he'd rather buy a standard car and then if he decided to modify it he would either do it himself or would ensure the work was done properly and to a high standard. Personally, I wouldn't buy a modded either car unless I knew it's history or could speak to it's owner. Cosmetic, suspension and handling mods alone maybe theres not so much scope for abuse, but any power mods would be a definite no for me unless I knew the owner as I'd be concerned that it had been driven hard in the past.

if there was any power mods id walk away, where as the lowering and change of wheel colour is personal choice and doesnt bother me so much. I wouldnt want one thats re-mapped i dont think because in my opinion that sounds like it has been driven hard.

I think Big Mikey pretty much has captured the intent of my post. The problem for me is that you don't know what modifications have been done. Are they Eibach lowering springs and if so, are they with the original shocks or some other aftermarket ones. Is it running coilovers in which case have they been greased so they can still be adjusted? Is it running stiffened ARB's? Strut braces? Has it had the bushes done? Is it running an FMIC? Different turbo? Remap or tuning box? If it's had a tuning box fitted in the past it will still have an added electrical connector on the MAF wire as they're almost impossible to remove although the box itself comes off easily enough. Is it running 312mm brakes at the front and 250's at the back?

I don't know where the car is, but if you're over Newmarket way then for £50 I'd say someone from ALS at Downham market would give the car the once-over for you. Or if the car is at ALS/Locks then go for it as they're as decent a crew as I've come across. If it's at Vindis or Chequered Flag then maybe not. Personally, I'd buy a good base car from a known Skoda dealer and mod it myself as that way I'd know it was done to my standards and it will have some warranty.

you say that like a modified car is a bad thing.[/Quote]

A badly modified car is a very bad thing. My own cars are modified, but almost always OEM upgrades and I always keep the original parts to put it back to standard afterwards.

changing the wheel colour is hardly much of a modification and can look really good.[/Quote]

It's something I have done myself, but I always kept the original wheels original.

if it has better suspension then this is also a good thing as the standard setup is in need of improvement.

Hmmmm - There are lowering kits and lowering kits. There are cheap coilovers and expensive coilovers. There are coilovers that are made of stainless steel and cost the earth and I'd have those. The problem is - HOW DO YOU KNOW?

If this was was Lummox's vRS estate or something from Ninja_Alex then I'd buy it like a shot, but a dealer who says the car has 'Limited Edition' Anthracite alloys? Possibly not. I'm simply urging caution. If for no other reason than the OP has to insure this thing if he buys it.

To be fair to the dealer [being a non skoda franchise] they were probaly didnt know or were told by the owner it was a special edition,