don't think it was a bad review just that they thought the other cars were sportier.

so flexability means needing to change gear every 20mph then? well giVe me an inflexable petrol engine anyday

Reminds me of a comment made by our very own ColG on the Three Sisters Handling day a while back - "2nd gear is too low, 3rd gear is too high". Which is one disadvantage of having short power bands and lots of gears...you will have to work the gearbox, which isn't always very good when you're cornering and that. Whereas a petrol with a nice wide power band will give more flexibility to leave it in gear and keep both hands on the wheel.

Rob.

Reminds me of a comment made by our very own ColG on the Three Sisters Handling day a while back - "2nd gear is too low' date=' 3rd gear is too high". Which is one disadvantage of having short power bands and lots of gears...you will have to work the gearbox, which isn't always very good when you're cornering and that. Whereas a petrol with a nice wide power band will give more flexibility to leave it in gear and keep both hands on the wheel.

Rob.[/quote']

!!!SHOCK HORROR!!! someone agrees with me!

am i dreaming? is this real? :P

!!!SHOCK HORROR!!! someone agrees with me!

am i dreaming? is this real? :P

I've been saying it since I test drove the Fabia!

Rob.

Come on now lads - hand-bags down now eh!

I think the crux of the matter has already been touched upon. i.e. if you want to go hooning around, making lots of noise and drawing attention to yourself, then there are probably better cars in this test than the Vrs, however, if you want to progress in a rapid fashion, with minimal fuss and still return a decent tally at the fuel pumps, then it really is very hard to beat.

Also, to address the 'in-gear/power band/ torque curve issue; I think we can all agree that petrol will (in the short term at least) be better for outright performance (otherwise F1/WRC cars would be diesel right?) but asking the 'average driver' to always be in the right gear and always have the vehicle 'on the cam' as it were, may be asking a bit much and this is were the Vrs (in the real world) may be able to hold it's own. Come out of a bend in the wrong gear in a petrol, and you'll be stirring the stick like a mad woman making a trifle, do the same thing in a torquey diesel, and you will be able to plant your foot in the gear you've got (whilst gnashing your teeth and swearing like a bustard) and still pull away respectably.

Just my 2p worth at the end of the day. Your mileage may vary. Horses for courses. Investments may go up as well as down, blah blah blah.....................

E-mail the editor at Auto Express mag I did, still waiting on his responce though, won,t hold me breath waiting for a reply he's probebly round at Ford HQ waiting to be handed a years advertising for Ford cars for his mag. Editors will print any old rubbish just to get advertising.

Auto Express They just lurve Ford........... Have owned a Ford and never again....

rooboy (you sure thats not rudeboy mis-spelt ??) and Dunkx, the table at the end of the article is grossly inaccurate for the following reasons with regard to the Skoda Fabia vRS...

The 0-60 acceleration time for the Fabia vRS seems hugely optimistic 0-62mph is generally quoted at 9.6sec (i.e. 0-60sec would be around 9.3sec)

Where can you get the first service for

my dealer has nothing (except the bolt-on exhaust trim) that would remotely appeal to a "young" driver.

I had that on my 1.4 16v

Reminds me of a comment made by our very own ColG on the Three Sisters Handling day a while back - "2nd gear is too low' date=' 3rd gear is too high". Which is one disadvantage of having short power bands and lots of gears...you will have to work the gearbox, which isn't always very good when you're cornering and that. Whereas a petrol with a nice wide power band will give more flexibility to leave it in gear and keep both hands on the wheel.

[/quote']

I dont know if his is different geared to mine but I'm asking myself this: What does the Octavia vRS do in 2nd... about 70mph? What does my Furby do in 3rd... about 70 mph... so explain to me what the problem is with going around corners, because I dont have any... :P

In fact I think the gear ratios are very suitable for the road IMHO... its just a case of getting used to the extra gear, and if you cant get used to it then for me that puts a question mark over ability

The 0-60 acceleration time for the Fabia vRS seems hugely optimistic 0-62mph is generally quoted at 9.6sec (i.e. 0-60sec would be around 9.3sec)

Roadtest figures ... pretty much all roadtests of ANY PD130 engined car get better than the quoted 9.6 of the Furby... still I can see you've changed your tune.

Where can you get the first service for

Fair enough guys if you want to believe that you've bought a car thats outclassed by the opposition, just dont expect everyone to agree (especially me). :P

I don't think many people (if any) have put their hands up and said their furby vRS is naff In the context of the review it appears they've almost looked at the cars with a boy racer's eyes. If so, then the vRS probably wouldn't win. Not exactly a disaster...

[]rooboy (you sure thats not rudeboy mis-spelt ??)

No, it's definatly not rudeboy (too chavy for a start) it's what my firends call me after they managed to evolve Jeff, to jeffro, jefferoo, and roo.

The 0-60 acceleration time for the Fabia vRS seems hugely optimistic 0-62mph is generally quoted at 9.6sec (i.e. 0-60sec would be around 9.3sec)

You did not read my post then (or tried it out for that matter) These are their fiqures thay they got on test' date=' and a run in Fabia will easily do it (as mine has done) and in fact Autocar managed it in the low 7's.

Where can you get the first service for

still I can see you've changed your tune.

Fair enough guys if you want to believe that you've bought a car thats outclassed by the opposition' date=' just dont expect everyone to agree (especially me). :P[/quote']

He only reposting something I already mentioned re:0-60

They did not say the car was outclassed, just the Fiesta and Renault handled better, looked less brash, were more composed, and looked nicer overall thanks to their 3 door package. Which having driven a Fiesta for the last week and a clio once or twice I'm inclined to agree.

It does not mean it is not the better car, just that other cars are better in one or two ways, and that is what they were looking for on the test, not the entire overall picture, and again if it keeps the barry boy toss pots away from the car, my only dissapointment is that the Ibiza was so bad that it did not beat the Fabia.

I don't think many people (if any) have put their hands up and said their furby vRS is naff In the context of the review it appears they've almost looked at the cars with a boy racer's eyes. If so, then the vRS probably wouldn't win. Not exactly a disaster...

Granted, but sometimes I find the negativity about this car amazing on this forum I really do.

I agree with the review (even though I didnt read it) in that as far as your average boy racer chav is concerned they are most likely to go for the Clio/ST/Ibiza in that order over the Skoda, which just isnt "cool" enough for most.

Its fine by me though, I'd prefer to have something a little more exclusive, and if that means suffering a runners-up spot in a review then so be it - although from what I've read on this thread, it didnt actually get a bad review - some folks definitely need to chill out

He only reposting something I already mentioned re:0-60

Yes, I was responding to the way he appeared to be sticking up for it, and then changing his tune saying that the 0-60 times given were exagerrated to make up for its deficit and that other statistics were not correct - which almost seemed to me like he was finding an excuse as to why it should finish last...

Granted, but sometimes I find the negativity about this car amazing on this forum I really do.

The 'balance' of the board used to be very much towards the octy vRS in terms of ownership... this seems to have now swung to the fabia vRS... so it's old vs. new, as well as petrol vs diesel...

Also worth remembering the golden rule:

if the car gets a good review: post about it and agree.

if the car gets a bad review: start a campaign to get things set right! :eek:

Does anyone remember issue 833? Living legends?

They had a Fiesta ST in that and raved about it no end. But I would like to now how they drove it. The one they had' date=' erm, had no engine!

It was a basic 3dr fiesta with the bumpers and stripes. If my friend still has the pics I'll put the links up if anyone is interested. He had the XR2, blue one.

Just a little fact of how they extend the truth sometimes.[/quote']

Its quite clear to me in a lot of cases that a lot of magazines dont actually drive their cars - instead choosing to give the best review to the manufacturers with the deepest pockets.

It does seem Ford win an awful lot of roundups - what car for example must suck Mr Ford's plonker for some of the reviews they used to give out - i mean, Ford Ka city car of the year for 7 years running - give me a break...

Not negativity, just that it's not the best thing since sliced bread that some people are getting so worked up about. If I wanted to hear rants about an independant magazine not giving a car first place in a test and ignorant uneducated comments, I'd go to the max power forums, or crooze sites.

i want to hear balanced views and the I don't care what otheras think attitude that most of the members give because they own Skodas, and thats why they brought them.

Yes, I was responding to the way he appeared to be sticking up for it, and then changing his tune saying that the 0-60 times given were exagerrated to make up for its deficit and that other statistics were not correct - which almost seemed to me like he was finding an excuse as to why it should finish last...

Fair enough

I think you mean to have a 'not' after the should as well.

I too am more in favour of a less biased view, I just think that some things that get said about it are just not true sometimes thats all... poor handling? Not IMO, it could be better yes, but some people cannot accept that a Furby vRS is a fast car on a twisty road. Just like some people cannot accept that it is quick even though its a diesel... I mean is sub 24 seconds from 0-100 really that slow on a car that is accepted to be poor at this type of benchmark in the first place?

Fair enough

I think you mean to have a 'not' after the should as well.

Nope, it came out as intended - maybe I misunderstood, it just looked as if he was putting the car down to me... which would be strange given that he's just bought one I guess

I just enjoy looking at the pictures it's great to see skodas plastered over everything and everywhere. winning group tests and not winning group tests!

It's great fun!. if anyone can remember back to the last article about a skoda that said" it's awful, the doors fell off it looks like one of the ugly sister's and it's still trying to finish the lap from yesterday's test" then i'm impressed.

Did you ever think the day would come when a skoda would be thrown into group tests in categories across the board...small hatches,medium hatches estates and big car tests against 3 or 4 other cars and competing??

Well it's happening now. it's an accepted great make and all car magazines,whoever they are,keep ramming that down a formerly relutant publics throat.So don't have a go at the mags...just enjoy a private gloat!(almost BMW like to say not fair didn't win!)

rooboy originally wrote:

No, it's definatly not rudeboy (too chavy for a start) it's what my firends call me after they managed to evolve Jeff, to jeffro, jefferoo, and roo.

Well your general attitude makes me think the rudeboy is just about your message to this forum.

rooboy originally wrote:

You did not read my post then (or tried it out for that matter) These are their fiqures thay they got on test, and a run in Fabia will easily do it (as mine has done) and in fact Autocar managed it in the low 7's.

I did read your comment but I'm beginning to take everything you say with a large pinch of salt. Manufacturers strive long and hard to get the best 0-60 figure because they know it translates into hard sales. I'm frankly amazed that Skoda themselves would be so far off the mark.

rooboy originally wrote:

I paid about that, it differs around the country (I am in London)

If you paid

My observations have already been accepted by AutoExpress

Did they accept them as just observations, or as corrections?

- IOW, are they going to do anything about it?