The Fabia vRS Review and Photo thread

[harryweld]

Posted these in the phot forum but thought I'd put them up here as well

IMG_3582 by mrhmclean, on Flickr

IMG_3580 by mrhmclean, on Flickr

[jonny boy]

That's the best I've seen Whitehaven look in ages

[Naths vRS]

Im not photograpgher, and I've onyl got a point & shoot Fuji finepix camera but since it was in my car and I wa sbored on the way home from work thought I'd take these. Not been photoshopped as I can't use that.

Supporting the club:

[George Dim]

Cleaning day after having the H&R springs fitted...

---

I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?d5evfb

[Rob Kirby]

[Ootohere]

Sorry if this Review i am linking is already posted,

but it was one of the first i read, enjoyed and paid any real attention to.

(well it and the EVO track article between the vRS and a Lacia Delta Integra Evo, (EVO 154, March 2011)

and

maybe the EVO article with a Blue/white roof vRS in the Dales which i tottally disagreed as i read it, with having already tried a TSi

and even more now having owned one,

i am pleased to have ignored the Drivers views from EVO back then on the DSG & the 'XDS' and making up my own mind and buying one.)

http://www.drivingsp...abia-vrs-review

george

EDIT, Correction, sorry my bad.

The Blue/White vRS is in 'Top Gear' magazine 214, Feb 2011,

'Risky Business' , Hardknott and Wrynose passes.

'Eskdale.'

http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/hardknott-pass.htm

Edited 27 June, 2012 by sk4gw

[rcgliderpilot]

Well, as a newbie on this site a couple of weeks ago, I promised to post my thoughts on the Fabia II vRS compared with the Fabia I vRS for those who might be agonising over whether to go for the Mk II (or just for general interest), and here we are...

First a bit of background (sorry for the waffle...). I bought an 04 Mk I vRS with 48k in June 09 because a new job gave me a 120-mile return daily commute, and ran it for 35,000 miles with few problems (just the usual ones, such as pipe to rear wash/wipe coming adrift, leaking doors giving wet rear carpets, one-off sudden unexplained drop in coolant level, door sender failing through moisture ingress so electric windows wound themselves down one day in the station car park, etc etc). Through a change of job, I no longer needed the 50-55mpg as a priority, and decided to go for something different - even considering going back to petrol-driven cars after 250,000 miles in diesel cars over 18 years... Needing more boot space (and worried about the recurrent DPF issues I'd had on my 2001 Citroen C5 over 110k miles), I test-drove an Octavia 1.4 TSi; it was a perfectly worthy vehicle and impressive for a 1.4, but even though I'm in my early-50s I reckon there's a lot of 'youngster' still left in me and I struggled with the stock Octavia's rather staid image and feel (apologies to all of you who have one of these - just my opinion) - I couldn't fault it for what it was, but the car just felt (and looked) so terminally dull...

Returning to the showroom after the test-drive, I spotted the sales manager's Fabia II vRS hatch in bright yellow, and asked him what he thought of it (I'm a car nut, so knew about the super/turbocharger, standard 7spd DSG box etc, but had never driven a DSG-equipped car.). Long and short of it was that the sales manager let me take the vehicle out for a blast on roads I knew well around Winchester... Once I'd mastered the DSG in both auto and manual modes, I came back from the test drive with a huge grin on my face (as did my wife when we swapped over and she drove it , so I didn't even need to 'sell' the idea to her). A few days later, I had a new vRS estate on order in racing blue with no options. I experienced the common several months' delivery delay, but the sales manager rang me after four months to offer me the director's wife's 6-month-old car - in the same colour as I wanted, but with heated seats, sat nav and black wheels, and only 3.3k - and I bit his hand off after we 'spoke' about price. 15,000 miles on, here are my thoughts in no particular order...

1. I still can't decide whether the estate vRS is pig-ugly or a stunner... Not only does it depend on which angle you look at it from, but also the mood you're in!! Sometimes it looks gawky and poorly proportioned, and other times it looks really classy. I reckon the best angle is the front three-quarters, and the worst is the rear three-quarters, but I guess it's all subjective. One thing's for sure, much as I loved the Mk I vRS, that vehicle now looks pretty old-fashioned to me.
   
2. The car is actually quite narrow compared with other smaller estates - it's definitely a four-seater not a five. I think this might be what makes it look ungainly.
   
3. With the black wheels, the tyres look even thinner than they are, and I feared for the ride quality... - the ride is definitely on the firm side, and crashes over even medium-sized potholes, but if you think the the vRS is hard, try a Fiat Panda 1.4 100hp (which we also own) - that completely redefines 'hard'!!!
   
4. I didn't like the black wheels to start with, but several random people have commented on them favourably at various times in car parks etc, and I quite like them now.
   
5. The driving position is notably better than the Mk I's, and for me the seats are a hell of a lot more comfortable. I'm fairly broad of backside, and the Mk I vRS has hard metal bars in the seat bolsters that were horrendous after an hour or so at the wheel (on the Mk I, I even resorted to the dreaded beaded seat cover just to make longer journeys do-able...). You can still feel them in the Mk II's, but they're much less pronounced.
   
6. I've seen complaints about the "dull" interior on the Mk II vRS, but personally I think it's much better and harder-wearing than the light-grey inserts of the Mk I.
   
7. The estate vRS is a real Tardis in terms of carrying ability. The boot is huge (bigger than my old C5's) and well-shaped, and for a relatively small car the interior space is incredible - four adults can definitely travel long distances in this car - we've been to Switzerland twice now with 3/4 people + luggage aboard
   
8. After almost 20k miles, the front tyres have still got around 3mm on them, but in the recent wet spell I've noticed notably more wheelspin so I'll be swapping them soon. The rears look only about a quarter worn. I don't drive like a lunatic, but I certainly use the available performance fairly frequently, so I'm not arguing with 20k on a powerful front-wheel drive car; I happen to be fairly light on tyres, so maybe I've got more out of them than some other drivers might.
   
9. The car is not the quietest I've owned, but it's by no means unbearable. Even at a steady 100-110mph on the autobahn (when it feels rock steady, by the way), it's OK - keep an eye on the fuel gauge though
   
10. I thought there was meant to be a 'washer water low' warning on this vRS as there was on the Mk I, but there doesn't appear to be.
    
11. I've got two 'random buttons' on my car that the manual doesn't seem to cover, and which it took a while to figure out - there's one on the driver's door and one by the handbrake (the tyre pressure sensor one). It would have been useful to have known how to reset the sensor without having to look at a forum...
    
12. My car has the Amundsen/sat nav audio system, which seems to work well (pairs easily via Bluetooth with Blackberry/Sony Ericsson/HTC). I particularly like the digital compass, as bizarrely I do navigate by compass points from time to time if I'm in an unfamiliar area. The sat nav/compass/AM radio stopped working a few weeks ago bit by bit, which turned out to be a faulty aerial (replaced under warranty)
    
13. Oil consumption: IF YOU'R BUYING A MK II vRS, WATCH THE OIL LIKE A HAWK! I know it's been said elsewhere in this forum, but it really does seem to drink a lot of oil in the first few thousand miles - after about 8000-10,000 it suddenly stopped using it, and I think I've only added about a litre in the last 10,000
    
14. Fuel consumption varies widely depending on how you drive - it's a real Jekyll and Hyde car, and much more so than any of the other 20+ cars I've owned over 750,000+ miles. If you're really going for it, low-30s and even high-20s is the best you'll get out of it, and if you're in town from a cold start you'll be in the teens until you get on the open road. However, cruise at a sready speed on A-roads and motorways for long periods, and the low-40s (and even high-40s on clear A-roads) is possible (according to the computer - I haven't done a really accurate calibration, but I reckon my speedo is around 5% fast, the milo reasonably accurate, and the mpg about 5% optimistic). I use super-unleaded almost exclusively, and v-Power where possible, but to be honest I haven't noticed much difference in economy/performance between it and ordinary unleaded.
    
15. One bizarre situation with the fuel is that on the continent, on several occasions I have managed to get 45+ litres into the tank without the low-fuel warning light even being on. In the UK, the most I've ever got in the tank was 41 litres (with only about 20 miles range left, according to the computer)... Now I'm no scientist, but surely volume is volume??? It can't matter that much whether the ambient temperature is hot or cold, or what octane the fuel is, or even if the fuel is frothing, surely? That's nearly a gallon more I've managed to get in when on the continent... I even drove from the Bernese Oberland to an hour short of Calais at motorway speeds on one tank a fortnight ago: 451 miles!!! - and the light was nowhere near on...
    
16. The 7-spd DSG box took some getting used to after 750k miles exclusively on manual boxes, but you really can have your cake and eat it with this box. It takes a while to get consistently smooth starts when moving away from rest as it's very sensitive, and for some reason I find this easier in manual mode rather than D. There is certainly the dreaded 'hesitation' when braking into a roundabout or whatever, but this seems worse in D rather than manual - I've found the best way to drive round this is to select the gear you want to be in in manual mode a second before you need it and anticipate the traffic flow; it rarely causes a problem for me. It took me a while to realise that you can still select a gear manually when in D (e.g. to overtake) and it will then revert to D after a few seconds, and that when in manual mode the gearbox will still change down automatically whatever you do when the revs drop too low. When I fancy pottering around rather than having a blast, D is perfectly adequate - and actually very relaxing. I never thought I'd say it, but the DSG box really does give you almost the best of both worlds, and I like it.
    
17. I've left the best till last: Performance. Quite simply, I rate it as sensational. Of course there are faster cars, but personally I reckon that when in 3rd/4th in manual mode and booting it, this car is fantastic - and I even like the engine noise too. For a 1.4, it's amazing.
    

Apologies for the protracted post, but I thought my experience of both breeds of vRS might be of use to forum-readers. To sum up, the Mk II is a totally different beast from the Mk I other than its size and market segment it occupies. If you're wanting a car that's simply an updated version of the Mk I, then go and buy a diesel Ibiza FR otherwise you'll be disappointed. But if you want a real dual-personality car that's a hoot when you want it and relaxing when you don't, go for it!

Cheers

[sharkrider]

Don't worry about the waffle, good review

[Confide]

[marTTyn]

Is that a troll face on the back window?!

[Confide]

Is that a troll face on the back window?!

Yes x).

HTC One X via Tapatalk

[sharkrider]

I keep seeing it out the window... like the rain on the green....

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

not a great pic on examination (crappy iphone3 pic) you cant see the rain beading on the roof, and the light shining the rallye green like you can out my window! lol... anyway.... goona post regardless

[MilgeS]

I keep seeing it out the window... like the rain on the green....

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

not a great pic on examination (crappy iphone3 pic) you cant see the rain beading on the roof, and the light shining the rallye green like you can out my window! lol... anyway.... goona post regardless

How do you find this for instructing, I'd love one but my wife keeps saying no, help me convince her!!! I have a red Monte Carlo for my manual car, love it to bits :-)

[sharkrider]

its fantastic. the learners love it (tried a pupils own car, toyota auris auto, and its the worst auto box I've ever tried!!)sooo smooth, works brilliantly for manouvers, and the hill holder ect, never had any problems (33k happy miles) , although my wheels are a little scuffed, price you pay when they are out on the test on their own! had a nice pass yesterday with 2 minors the examiners like it

I only do it part time, but the fuel economy isnt too bad, did a lesson with LOTS of town and manouvering , and got 35 mpg.. 40 + out of town.. for a full timer this may not be good enough.. depends how much you charge, I get £25 an hour, some of the manual people may have cars doing 50 + mpg, but they are only charging circa £18-20 per hour! so I still do ok by comparison (maybe even better even at 30 mpg!!)

insurance is a bit of a problem (group 28 ish?!) I'm with instructorcoverplus (underwritten by allianz) who I have been with for many many years, when trying to ring around last time though, I found all the other compaies I tried wouldnt insure it! too high a gruop for learners... but then some wont insure me because I only do it part time! (how odd is that?) on my cert. it says main job : Medical technitian (I'm an EMT for the ambulance service) and part-time: drivivng instructor... (same cover, professional indemnety, replacement car, under 17's off road ect ect)

best car for learners I have ever had... but then they cant hurt an automatic like they can a manual lol!

[Confide]

Enjoy the pics, My Hankook RS-2 didn't xD!

Edited 20 July, 2012 by Confide

[Rsrob]

Now that cool look like someone was have fun

very nice pics too

Edited 20 July, 2012 by chloe bear

[MilgeS]

its fantastic. the learners love it (tried a pupils own car, toyota auris auto, and its the worst auto box I've ever tried!!)sooo smooth, works brilliantly for manouvers, and the hill holder ect, never had any problems (33k happy miles) , although my wheels are a little scuffed, price you pay when they are out on the test on their own! had a nice pass yesterday with 2 minors the examiners like it

I only do it part time, but the fuel economy isnt too bad, did a lesson with LOTS of town and manouvering , and got 35 mpg.. 40 + out of town.. for a full timer this may not be good enough.. depends how much you charge, I get £25 an hour, some of the manual people may have cars doing 50 + mpg, but they are only charging circa £18-20 per hour! so I still do ok by comparison (maybe even better even at 30 mpg!!)

insurance is a bit of a problem (group 28 ish?!) I'm with instructorcoverplus (underwritten by allianz) who I have been with for many many years, when trying to ring around last time though, I found all the other compaies I tried wouldnt insure it! too high a gruop for learners... but then some wont insure me because I only do it part time! (how odd is that?) on my cert. it says main job : Medical technitian (I'm an EMT for the ambulance service) and part-time: drivivng instructor... (same cover, professional indemnety, replacement car, under 17's off road ect ect)

best car for learners I have ever had... but then they cant hurt an automatic like they can a manual lol!

Thank you for that info, I'm a full timer, I have a red Monte (75) for my manual, superb car (looks and drive) and get around 48-55 depending on lesson type, have tried my bosses Kia Rio and don't seem to get any better economy from it although they are meant to be much better on fuel.

Today I test drove a VRS with just under 10k on the clock, so smooth compared to my Peugeot 207 auto (120bhp), fell in love with it apart from road noise, really loud compared to my Monte. Roads where I live are the worst in the UK (Isle of Wight), do you know how high a wall tyre I can fit on the standard rims and if that will help much?

I am thinking of buying new now too with the 'no VAT' offer putting a new one just over 14,000 and the one I drove today at 12,495 surely the new one is the way to go?

My fears about VRS problems have been eased by reading many threads on here, fingers crossed I'll get a good one if I do get one :-)

I rang IC+ about insurance and they said it's not a problem, amazingly I would only have to add £44 to my policy for the remainder from now to Feb, I'm sure I only pay around £400 a year anyway so I am gobsmacked at that price, I'll double check before purchasing the car though!!!

thanks for your reply, very useful.

[sharkrider]

the gearbox really is amzing in comparison for other auto's, especially for lessons. I have another pupil does lessons in her own car, and thats a pug 207 auto, so I can understand your comparisons />

I bought mine new too, took advantage of the no VAT offer, thought I'd be stupid not to!

I did a poll on here, there are more good ones than bad ones! lol... watch the oil consumption when new, and it will take 10k or so to be givivng good fuel economy... I can get 50 + mpg on my way to work now (33k) not that much on a lesson! lol... I think if you get a bad one you know straight away, you eithr get a perfect gearbox or a dog.... I spoke to someone who knows a skoda master tech, and he says the 7-speed dry clutch DGS is the most reliable they do, no inherent problems, and they generally last 150-200k without issues, mine is up to 33k , has never missed a beat, and is still working "as new". some unlucky people on here have had them replaced...but have had problems from new!

as for the oil consumption, I would advise you DON'T run it in gently. Drive it "normally" if it needs full revs, and the red line, do it! (mine was bouncing off the rev limiter on a slip road away from the garage with 14 miles on it ) and here is my oil record... (I like to drive "briskly" when enjoying the car it will be at the "ring" in Germany in sept!)

1st 10k: 1 litre.

10-20k: 250 mill (but I was being anal.. it didnt really need topping up! was 18k and about 3/4 up!)

20-33k: no oil used at all

so I guess its all good now read the manual too. oil is to be checked when the engine is WARM. and you should NOT top up if its in the top part of the dipstick... (there are pics in the manual)

insurance sounds about right, I pay £360 a year (but I may have a less risk postcode to you!)

and enjoy your new car! like I said, most of them are good,remember, people who have problems come to forums to look for answers. My pupils love it, the one with the (new!) auris, says she's gonna get rid for a VAG DSG car lol.. and if you are really worried about the gearbox ect , check out the octavia/superb sections where taxi drivers are running over 200k without issues. I think the twincharged engine is the star of the show!

as for tyres, they are super low profile, so noisy, and they tramline a bit.... my winter size is 205/45/17, this has a higher sidewall, and is more comfortable, and less noisy, but you loose the "sharpness" of the turn in on the steering.. some on her all shouted up "but thats above the reccomended 3% change in profile!" I know. but they were fitted by my local skoda garage, who officially approved that the size could be used. my insurance company said, as long as its skoda approved fitment, we dont need to know! it is enough of a change to affect the speedo though.. normall (compaired to GPS) it reads about 2-5 mph fast... with 205/45/17's on, it reads bang on ACCURATE! so you need to be very sure of your speed it may cure your ride issues though ! I keep it on 205/40/17's in summer, as I like the go-kart like handling

most common mod is to go for 215/40/17 tyres, which will increase your sidewall a little, but still within reccomended tollerances.. this is the size on the polo GTI, cupra, ect ect. this may be enough to help I haven't done this , as they are more expensive (I just had some 205/40/17 kumho KU39's on the frot at £66 each fitted!) cheap as chips, and still perform well.

let me know how it goes! feel free to PM me with any issues, or a review, how your pupils get on ect ect

enjoy your new car!

and Confide: Nice pics!!!

[Confide]

Thanks for the compliments...

Guess I have to add some more now, huh?

I personally feel that there is alot too little tire-burning here and alot too much polish .

Just joking, you'll get the pics here anyways!

Lilys of peace!

[Sprzy]

Found some old paints in the garage today so thought i would get artistic in the sun with the boring looking engine cover from my vrs. (exactly same colour scheme as the post above) So in keeping with the theme i got cracking now be honest of what you think! just not too honest i have feelings ha.

gotta replace the badge to, as i took the old all black skoda one off.

Edited 22 July, 2012 by Sprzy

[Confide]

Looks rugged in a good way!

[sharkrider]

nice , a bit "mad max"

[Sprzy]

ha yeah thanks. Any ideas on what i could put in the middle where the badge goes? im thinking a carbon fibre vrs badge type thing maybe that would be nice!

just put it on looks pretty good ill upload a pic in abit.

[Confide]

Got anything that's special too you? I for instance have a smallish love for Android-cellphones and I would have an android on mine for instance...

Just an idea !

[Sprzy]

lol thats a pukka idea but dont you think the robots abit too cute looking for a mean ass looking vrs haha. Erm no not really well not anything of any relevance. what about something like http://tattooideasdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/wpid-030173.jpg