The Fabia vRS Review and Photo thread

[sharkrider]

Its a pity you cant choose the colour of the wing mirrors as white one's would look mint on it!

I would have had the white roof if i had ordered it, but it was a 'pre registered' model the colour did sell it to me though, loved it when I saw it in the flesh!

[adam1985]

I would have had the white roof if i had ordered it, but it was a 'pre registered' model the colour did sell it to me though, loved it when I saw it in the flesh!

Get the roof and mirror caps sprayed white will look great. Mine was ex demo and managed to get the dealer to spray the roof black in with the price

[R i c h a r d]

Get the roof and mirror caps sprayed white

or vinyl wrapped

[adam1985]

or vinyl wrapped

[RichResonate]

I would have had the white roof if i had ordered it, but it was a 'pre registered' model the colour did sell it to me though, loved it when I saw it in the flesh!

Ahhh right i see

[fastshark]

this my candy white VRS. I had it from begin of january. I've only made 2000 kms but I'm amazed.

next to my other car...my Touran 2.0 TDI DSG Highline

[Didescharlie]

The chrome alloys look really good on a white car. Most ppl seem to go for the black ones.

[R i c h a r d]

The chrome alloys look really good on a white car. Most ppl seem to go for the black ones.

Agreed, I amended my order yesterday, dropping the black roof and adding the black alloys. Having seen fastshark's pic I'm now not so sure. Think I might switch back to standard alloys? :think:

I've been put off the dark chrome from reading posts on this forum about the longevity of that style of finish.

Edited 26 March, 2011 by InsQuoOrgUk

[vRSy]

id think twice about white. Its bloody impossible to keep clean

[32KOFDATA]

id think twice about white. Its bloody impossible to keep clean

White is great for countries with too much dust, bad for countries with too much rain and mud.

[ChrisRs]

Black is worse!!

[vRSy]

Black is worse!!

id argue that, ive had black before, and it was no where near as bad as this. My roof is clean as well,although it is up top

[ChrisRs]

id argue that, ive had black before, and it was no where near as bad as this. My roof is clean as well,although it is up top

Ive had white too (Excuse the stickers..Wifes idea

Black was far more difficult to keep clean

I'll never have black again

[Guest Tim31]

Ive had white too (Excuse the stickers..Wifes idea

Black was far more difficult to keep clean

I'll never have black again

OH DEAR!!

Those stickers look pathetic! :no: :no:

[vRSy]

Well ive covered 500 miles now so ill give my views on the car.

Spec:

Candy white vRS

Black roof

Black wheels

Cruise Control

Reverse Parking Sensors

Heated seats

EXTERIOR

It looks really good in this colour scheme IMO, from every angle but the front, then it looks really high. Not a hug fan of the chrome grill but am going to order the black monte carlo grill as a replacement. I think it looks lie a golf cart lol.

INTERIOR

I think the interior is more than acceptable. the seats are very comfy, plenty of side support, nice soft plastics on the dash. My main let down on the interior is the lack of rear interior lights and sunvisor lamps. Its also ridculous to make things such as storage boxes and car mats an optional extra. The stereo sounds very good, and i like the way the reversing sensors flash up an image of the rear of the car reversing so you can see where the obstruction is.

The boot is also very very impressive for a car of this size. I had a Mini Cooper S clubman a few years back and this not far off twice the size. Deceptively spacey car. have found the seats in the rear, more importantly the seat belt fasteners are a pain to do with a kids booster seat as its not quite wide enough. Even more ninja in the dark with no rear interior light.

PERFORMANCE

There is nothing on the new car market that can touch this car for performance for this price, even more so with the VAT free deal.

It does pick up really well in all the gears with no lag whatsoever. great throttle response and lovely linear power delivery.

I think the performance lacks in the top end and mid-range personally, but thats more of a result of the power i had in previous cars so i wouldnt look into it that much.

DSG GEAR BOX

I think the DSG is outstanding. Ill definitely stay with this sort of gear box in the future. Its supersmooth both changing up and changing down. The hill hold function is perfect for the transition from brakes to accelerator. My only gripes are it doesnt change down quick enough to keep the engine revs up high when braking hard. so theres a lack of engine braking. Also id like to disable the kick down function. I have found that when driving fast im much better with the gearbox in manual using it in tiptronic mode, tapping the gear stick forwards and backwards. Youstill have the same seamless rapid gear change, but have more control of what the car is doing. Im not a hug fan of the paddles, i think they are a little to small. If they were bigger or maybe mounted on the steering column i think id use them more.

HANDLING

Its pretty responsive, doesn't suffer wheel spin unless your overly abusive with the loud pedal. i think Skoda have gone for a much softer handling setup than the Ibiza Cupra i drove. I quite like the ride comfort, its not overly stiff, but I think theres quite abit of body roll as standard (much better than the mk1 vRS though). the Ibiza cupra seems a little more resistant to body roll but is harsher on the road. I have found that if you bury the throttle and release the steering wheel it torque steers to the left. Originally it was pretty bad but i found the dealer had set all the tyres to random pressures none of which were the correct pressure anyway. I sorted this and its improved but not disappeared. I will add its not the worst torque steer i've felt by a large margin, but having driven my octavia vRS with 280hp and many Cupras with 330-360hp that suffered zero torque steer i was surprised.

BRAKES

The brakes are initially very strong, and really stop the car well. I went for a pretty abusive lane bash and was particularly hard on the brakes to see how they coped, and they started to fade quite badly after a short period. I have also found that hit the brakes really hard the car squirms quite alot. Could well be to do with the emergency brake assist i guess. Plus the car has a narrow/short chassis whihch no doubt exaggerates it.

SUMMARY

Great car as an overall package, which is what its meant to be. Its a pretty nippy and agile litte car if im honest. Ive only bought this as an interim car to fill a void for the next two years as im away with work alot. Then it'll be replaced with something much more substantial. that said the missus might keep it for herself.

In the mean time i plan on modifying it in dribs and drabs to get it more focussed for track days etc, whilst retaining the day to day drivability.

Mods im looking at:

Stage 1 map initially, probably by shark performance.

Rear Anti roll bar to kerb understeer and reduce body roll a bit more

Mk4 R32 323mm twin pot front brakes.

Lowering springs/dampers

An uprated downpipe. Ive done a deal on an OEM downpipe for sale that i will De-cat.

Stage 2 remap

Intercooler

And then ill be done. But i think the car will be much much better then.

photos of my car in post #81 in here

[Didescharlie]

Nice review there Janner - good reading.

[ChrisRs]

Taken from my thread:

The wife's car:

[Reavenger]

Pic of my Fabia vRS at Castle Combe taken by Big Gray. Part of the Briskoda Action Day

[Ad Lav]

Nice, I think I prefer it with colour coded roof

[Allams Skoda]

OK - some pics of my black vRS.

John

Have you got any more photos of your car? A customer of mine is after a black one and I'm convinced it looks best with the wheels you have rather than the standard onces.

[Furbytom]

Few more pics of mine :

[Ad Lav]

Wheels look nice

Glad I chose them!

[vrsadz]

looks nice in white

[tosh_]

Picked my vRS up today and got a good long drive back home from Birmingham (to Glasgow). Love it. Took these with my phone so they're not of the best quality.

[rchhiba]

Very nice tosh. I have gone for the same colour combination except I have ordered the black wheels. Well done and enjoy.