I have owned my black Fabia vRS from new in August 2006 and it's got a LOT of miles on it (120,000). Most of those miles were done by me on motorways (say 90,000) when I first started up my business. It's now due it's second cambelt change and SWMBO drives it most of the time now and she probably only does 15,000 miles per year. She loves the vRS and she's probably about ready for a proper remap.

My dilemma is this - do I chop it in for an '07 car (probably an SE) with 30-50,000 on the clock and work on that or do I spend the money on my own car, which has always been fundamentally reliable. My concern about buying someone else's 3 year old vRS is it could be a bag of trouble and I'll need to spend £1000+ on it anyway.

I reckon I would get £3000 for mine either privately or as a trade-in simply due to the mileage. I reckon I'm looking at £7500-£8500 for the best end of the line vRS I can find. So in effect I have £4500 to spend on mine before I'm out of pocket on the upgrade.

I reckon to give my car another reliable 60,000 miles I will need;

Cambelt & Waterpump service - £500 at Robinsons in Norwich (who I trust to do the work). This would probably need to be done within a year on any car I bought anyway.

New clutch (probably uprated) - £350-750 fitted

New turbo (possibly a hybrid with remap) - £1000-ish based on Unit 18's current pricing

New Eibach springs £200 fitted. The car is also booked in to have the existing FSDs swapped out after one failed under warranty) - £400 fitted.

Forge FMIC to go with remap and hybrid - £600 fitted

So that's £3650 and I think I would also want a Seat Surgeons leather interior as well which is the full £4500 near as darn-it.

Comments? Am I mad or just practising what I preach and proactively maintaining my car?

Edited 3 November, 201015 yr by wja96

Get rid.

Buy a lower milage and newer one

Your maths make no sense, as the uprated parts would be needed on the newer vRS as well.

Why not just get the cambelt and leather fitted to yours and save yourself £3000+ ?

Get rid.

Buy a lower milage and newer one

It's possibly worth pointing out that my car is very, very, nearly perfect in that I've had all the paint chips touched in properly with clearcoat and wet sanded and there is hardly a scratch or a swirl in the paint. The salesman at the Skoda dealer in Norwich said he wouldn't have to do anything to it to sell it. The only thing is that Glass's Guide says it's got too many miles on it.

Your maths make no sense, as the uprated parts would be needed on the newer vRS as well.

Why not just get the cambelt and leather fitted to yours and save yourself £3000+ ?

That's easy. If I bought a low mileage one I wouldn't be worried about the turbo failing so I'd just get one of Shark's generic remaps hence I wouldn't need the turbo, clutch or FMIC.

The idea is, if I keep the car I'll get a better one than if I bought a newer one.

I reckon I'm looking at £7500-£8500 for the best end of the line vRS I can find.

That's a bit light for a decent dealer car...

Ignoring the higher mileage cars (76k for £6950) you're looking at £8,300 for a private sale and £8,950 for a dealer sale as the cheapest options at Autotrader - though admittedly the top end price seems to have dropped significantly since I bought mine three months ago...(£10k>£9k)

If the car is reliable and in good nick no point swapping for another standard car when you seem to be hankering after some mods. Swapping for a well looked after vRS that has all or most of the mods that you want ready done is another matter, you can usually save £££ buying somebody elses project car.

I'd stick with yours you know it inside out and hows its been cared for. If you fancied dif paint you could get it wrapped.

That's a bit light for a decent dealer car...

Ignoring the higher mileage cars (76k for £6950) you're looking at £8,300 for a private sale and £8,950 for a dealer sale as the cheapest options at Autotrader - though admittedly the top end price seems to have dropped significantly since I bought mine three months ago...(£10k>£9k)

As far as I'm aware there is an SE with just shy of 60K on the clock in the For Sale section on here at £7500 at the moment. It's been there a while though and has even had a price reduction and a bump. The market has definitely softened since the new vRS came out.

I also had my eye on a 30,000 mile '57 reg black car with almost every option (incl. dealer fit leather, ESP and xenons) that's up for £7500. Apparently the chap that bought it died between ordering it (it should have been an 07 reg) and having it delivered and it sat at the dealership while the executors of the will argued that it wasn't their problem and they wanted the deposit back!

These engines are fine with mileage mate. If I were you I'd keep your car and get the cambelt and stuff done yourself. At the end of the day it sounds as if you know the car inside out. Don't take bottom dollar for a car you know will run for a lot longer because you have looked after it.

I wouldn't worry about your turbo though, doubt you'd see much problem.. also don't think you'd need an uprated one. i'd suggest with the map get a clutch and cambelt/waterpump but thats hardly £4500's worth..

That's easy. If I bought a low mileage one I wouldn't be worried about the turbo failing so I'd just get one of Shark's generic remaps hence I wouldn't need the turbo, clutch or FMIC.

The idea is, if I keep the car I'll get a better one than if I bought a newer one.

Fair point.

Just get a generic map for yours and replace turbo / clutch if and when required. Having said that it depends how much £4k is to you, but it rarely makes financial sense to changes cars, especially one that you've owned (and looked after) from new.

Fair point.

Just get a generic map for yours and replace turbo / clutch if and when required. Having said that it depends how much £4k is to you, but it rarely makes financial sense to changes cars, especially one that you've owned (and looked after) from new.

I may be getting obsessed with the turbo failing, but I reckon it'll be cheaper to swap it before it dies rather than after it dies and potentially fills the engine with tiny bits of red-hot metal. Plus I reckon the car failing and leaving you at the side of the road is a real pain.

I know that it is fashionable to drive cars until they break then repair or replace the broken bit(s) but I do genuinely believe that cars should be maintained, not repaired. And that means replacing worn out parts before they fail catastrophically.

The money is an issue - especially in this financial climate, but it's never stopped me in the past!

I'd keep your own mate. If you want the same car but newer then it's senseless. Like you said, yours has never skipped a beat and has been looked after really well, so you may as well run it till it dies. If you wanted a different car then I'd say go for it, because you'd want something different. If you've looked after it like you say you have, then I'm sure it'll be fine for a long time yet!

Just to let you know, cambelt should have been done at 60,000 miles, but not to worry oops!

I bought my car when it was 5 years old, had the cambelt done straight away (as it hadn't been done), and I plan to keep it until just before the next cambelt needs doing at least, but if I pay for another cambelt then I'll keep it a lot longer than that as well.

Edited 3 November, 201015 yr by Bezzy

Id' say that the cash you'd save by not swapping in for an SE will more than cover the cost of any additional works due to your current car being a higher mileage.

Even if you were to buy a lower mileage car, you don't know how its been treated in the past with regard to warming up/cooling down. I treat my car well, and the turbo still went at 50k - I really wasn't expecting it :'(

better the devil you know.....

*** steps/kylie ?? ***

Edited 3 November, 201015 yr by MarkMac

Keep it.

I have owned my black Fabia vRS from new in August 2006 and it's got a LOT of miles on it (120,000). Most of those miles were done by me on motorways (say 90,000) when I first started up my business. It's now due it's second cambelt change

Just to let you know, cambelt should have been done at 60,000 miles, but not to worry

keep it...

I made the mistake of buying a newer Mercedes E-class a few years back. The worst financial decision of my life...never again...

Edited 3 November, 201015 yr by Beancounter1980

It's now due it's second cambelt change

Just to let you know, cambelt should have been done at 60,000 miles, but not to worry

Oops, sorry, my mistake! Reading in a hurry!

Keep it. A friend of mine has an Audi A4 1.9TDI that's done well over 200k miles with no turbo or clutch problems. If you're worried about the turbo maybe you could have it overhauled - got to be cheaper than buying a new one. As for the clutch, I can't see any point in changing it until it begins to slip. The mileage that you've done isn't hard on the clutch so there's no reason why it won't last another 120k.

Another point I would make is that even if you decide to put a new clutch and turbo on the car, it will make no difference to the value of it.

I have owned my black Fabia vRS from new in August 2006 and it's got a LOT of miles on it (120,000). Most of those miles were done by me on motorways (say 90,000) when I first started up my business. It's now due it's second cambelt change and SWMBO drives it most of the time now and she probably only does 15,000 miles per year. She loves the vRS and she's probably about ready for a proper remap.

My dilemma is this - do I chop it in for an '07 car (probably an SE) with 30-50,000 on the clock and work on that or do I spend the money on my own car, which has always been fundamentally reliable. My concern about buying someone else's 3 year old vRS is it could be a bag of trouble and I'll need to spend £1000+ on it anyway.

I reckon I would get £3000 for mine either privately or as a trade-in simply due to the mileage. I reckon I'm looking at £7500-£8500 for the best end of the line vRS I can find. So in effect I have £4500 to spend on mine before I'm out of pocket on the upgrade.

I reckon to give my car another reliable 60,000 miles I will need;

Cambelt & Waterpump service - £500 at Robinsons in Norwich (who I trust to do the work). This would probably need to be done within a year on any car I bought anyway.

New clutch (probably uprated) - £350-750 fitted

New turbo (possibly a hybrid with remap) - £1000-ish based on Unit 18's current pricing

New Eibach springs £200 fitted. The car is also booked in to have the existing FSDs swapped out after one failed under warranty) - £400 fitted.

Forge FMIC to go with remap and hybrid - £600 fitted

So that's £3650 and I think I would also want a Seat Surgeons leather interior as well which is the full £4500 near as darn-it.

Comments? Am I mad or just practising what I preach and proactively maintaining my car?

First off, what does your Missus reckon of the car. If she's putting 15K a year on it she certainly has an opinion. making so many changes will certainly change the character of the car. Does she want leather for example?

Closest to stock would be decat, PD150 turbo, remap. Add an FMIC to that could be £200-£600 depending on source of the FMIC and pipework.

A decent tube/fin IC can be had for £100 (that will fit under the crash bar). As always, it's the fitment and the pipework that's going to be the issue.

£500 for a cambelt service seems a lot. Even with the waterpump replacement.

£200 for springs plus £400 for dampers doesn't seem to make sense to me. May as well price the changes as a unit (spring/damper or coilover) plus labour. No point in paying two lots of labour to dismantle and remantle the same bits.

J.

£500 for a cambelt service seems a lot. Even with the waterpump replacement.

It's the right sort of figure - £200-£250 for the service - £250-£300 for the cambelt and water pump. Would actually be quite a bit more at the garage I used to use...

Edited 3 November, 201015 yr by DRJ

First off, what does your Missus reckon of the car. If she's putting 15K a year on it she certainly has an opinion. making so many changes will certainly change the character of the car. Does she want leather for example? [/Quote]

That's actually a very pertinent point. She actually has her own car (a rather tidy Mercedes), but she prefers the handiness of the vRS. She tends to make a face whenever I change anything, then grudgingly admits it's better. She didn't want the suspension upgraded, but now she thinks it's not stiff enough. She didn't want the brakes upgraded, but now she couldn't live without all that extra stopping power. She didn't want the wheels changed for 17" rims but now she says they're MUCH better than the ones that were on before.

What she definitely doesn't want is for it break down on the way to a meeting, so reliability is a high priority. She will love the leather, and another 50bhp and 100lb/ft of torque will keep her smiling as she accelerates out of roundabouts with abandon.

Closest to stock would be decat, PD150 turbo, remap. Add an FMIC to that could be £200-£600 depending on source of the FMIC and pipework.

A decent tube/fin IC can be had for £100 (that will fit under the crash bar). As always, it's the fitment and the pipework that's going to be the issue.[/Quote]

If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right. I've always found that paying what seems like too much to begin with tends to save money later. So I'll get the right turbo, the right FMIC and the right clutch so it works properly.

£500 for a cambelt service seems a lot. Even with the waterpump replacement.

That's main dealer pricing for you. Add on another £150 for the rest of the service. I don't mind paying it though as they have looked after my wife and I very well in the past.

£200 for springs plus £400 for dampers doesn't seem to make sense to me. May as well price the changes as a unit (spring/damper or coilover) plus labour. No point in paying two lots of labour to dismantle and remantle the same bits.[/Quote]

Sorry, I didn't make that bit clear. That would be £600 fitted for the lot. I'll get one FSD damper FOC under warranty from Koni and I'll have to pay for the other three, plus a new set of Eibachs as the ones I have on now have done 60K miles and I've been advised that they have a nasty tendency to break over that sort of mileage. I'd never go for Coilovers again after the nightmare I had with the AP units on my Passat Estate. £400 a set? - waaaay too much. £1200 for the Bilsteins that replaced them is more like what it costs to put coilovers on a car.

It's the right sort of figure - £200-£250 for the service - £250-£300 for the cambelt and water pump. Would actually be quite a bit more at the garage I used to use...

Jesus! I`m paying £125 for a service!

Matt