The brother's looking at getting one of these, wonder if anyone here has any experience with them, what are they like?

All looking good from where I'm sitting really; lots of car for the money, a lot cheaper than the Fabia vRS with similar power and probably much better handling (tell me if I'm wrong) and largely much better looking... I'll be quite jealous if he gets one really!

Give sharkrider a pm

The brother's looking at getting one of these, wonder if anyone here has any experience with them, what are they like?

All looking good from where I'm sitting really; lots of car for the money, a lot cheaper than the Fabia vRS with similar power and probably much better handling (tell me if I'm wrong) and largely much better looking... I'll be quite jealous if he gets one really!

I bought one new, and have now covered 103,000 miles in it, still original cluthch/turbo/fly/gearbox ect, alot of people will say the reliability is crap, but mine has been better than my vRS was, but hey, maybe I got a good one,its never broken down, and never failed for any reason,and I've had it mapped since 4k also dealers are generally crap by all accounts, but again, my local family owned dealer is fantastic.

advice: don't get a lowered one, it'll hit the floor all the time, handiling is good standard,engine is alloy, not iron like the vRS, less weight on the front. I can keep up with Daves 200bhp fabia, because mine puts its power down and goes round corners! lol.. (Athough I certainly cannot keep up with Jasons! )

also I would advise NOT to get one that has been remapped by reddot, they often map them upto 190bhp, and then they blow up! mine is mapped to a conservative 165bhp.

there are some dogs out there, as they seem to be a fave of the boy racer, but get a good one and you should be happy

I bought one new, and have now covered 103,000 miles in it, still original cluthch/turbo/fly/gearbox ect, alot of people will say the reliability is crap, but mine has been better than my vRS was, but hey, maybe I got a good one,its never broken down, and never failed for any reason,and I've had it mapped since 4k also dealers are generally crap by all accounts, but again, my local family owned dealer is fantastic.

advice: don't get a lowered one, it'll hit the floor all the time, handiling is good standard,engine is alloy, not iron like the vRS, less weight on the front. I can keep up with Daves 200bhp fabia, because mine puts its power down and goes round corners! lol.. (Athough I certainly cannot keep up with Jasons! )

also I would advise NOT to get one that has been remapped by reddot, they often map them upto 190bhp, and then they blow up! mine is mapped to a conservative 165bhp.

there are some dogs out there, as they seem to be a fave of the boy racer, but get a good one and you should be happy

Thanks a lot buddy!

I was looking into these a while ago, but they were out of my range sadly.

One thing I saw, which I'm not sure if it's true or not, was that some of the earlier 1.9 TDi's (56 plate's I think) had a batch of dodgy turbos, same as the ones fitted to some Golfs, only VW recalled theirs. . .

As I said, maybe nothing - but worth looking into IMO.

I was looking into these a while ago, but they were out of my range sadly.

One thing I saw, which I'm not sure if it's true or not, was that some of the earlier 1.9 TDi's (56 plate's I think) had a batch of dodgy turbos, same as the ones fitted to some Golfs, only VW recalled theirs. . .

As I said, maybe nothing - but worth looking into IMO.

this is true, I think most of them have gone bang and been replaced now though...

also, the 1.9 was delted in favour of the 1.6 multijet (120bhp, but £35 tax!) on some later models.

He ended up buying a 2006 '56 plate with 75k on the clock that looks absolutely immaculate and has obviously been quite well looked after by an enthusiast. Paid £4k, and seems a hell of a lot of car for the money compared to an equivalent Fabia vRS to me. Very, very similar performance too. I guess time will tell if it was a good buy or not

Edited 15 December, 201015 yr by yegnold

He ended up buying a 2006 '56 plate with 75k on the clock that looks absolutely immaculate and has obviously been quite well looked after by an enthusiast. Paid £4k, and seems a hell of a lot of car for the money compared to an equivalent Fabia vRS to me. Very, very similar performance too. I guess time will tell if it was a good buy or not

good price, I woud have accepted that for my 07 (higher miles) model. its what the market demands. think about timing belt, it 90k or 4 years, I'd check its been done. Has it been mapped?

when he services it, it needs a specific oil just like the PD engines,hope he's got a good one!

Cambelt was done 500 miles before sale! No remap