vRS test drive - goodbye BMW

[ukdiceman]

I dont think any of us are under the illusion that the BM is not a better car, however ukdiceman is trying to save alot of money on his car lease whilst maintaining a high performance car, can think of many worse ways to go than the Fabia vRS!

Bang on, see my reply above on my reasons.

Thanks pipsyp

[starskybell]

I will miss it.

Its a company car and as a result, limits the "fun" I can have with it, I've wanted to remap the 120D but I can't, I take it to the ring and have to be very very careful! I am choosing the vRS as its fun, quick, auto and very very cheap on our car scheme, leaving me cash left over (with cheaper tax) to buy a weekend toy to do what i want with.

The vRS will only cost me £70 a month, taxed, insured, maintained including tyres. Its almost free motoring lol. The 120D costs me over £250, its fully loaded and has a P11D value of £26k ouch!

I'm luckily in a similar position ! I have the little Fabia as a company car and it's costing next to nothing compared to a Golf GTD or even a diesel Octavia vRS.I have an extra £100+ in my back pocket in terms of tax savings and hours of grin inducing fun into the bargain

I was always a bit wary of having any of my previous cars remapped (Astra Gsi&VXR) I must be far too sensible never did it ..lol.. Someone at work had their Vectra Sri 2.0T remapped .. the turbo blew..probably nothing to do with the remap(?) but he spent weeks worrying that the lease company would find out !!

[lfc958]

£70 a month WOW !!!!! I wish my car cost that to run ( not including fuel), Suppose its a no brainer then.

You have a car you like and can enjoy ( despite any skip remarks ), & am sure it will change minds of those who doubt it once they have been in it.

Good Luck with your choice of colours & options, BTW, you do know there is a bit of a wait on ALL Skoda orders( unless you pick up a cancelled order), so be prepared to have to wait for it.

[Allams Skoda]

Glad you enjoyed your test drive, it is a suprisingly fast car! Which is always amusing!

[pipsyp]

Bang on, see my reply above on my reasons.

Thanks pipsyp

No worries ukdiceman.

Couple of things I would say, be lean with the optional extras if you can. Car is well equipped as it is but there are little bits and bobs that improve it. Less you spend on options the more you'll save on your lease, the more you can save the better I guess.

All just my opinion of course but I dont think the car warrants the installation of OEM Sat Nav, a decent TomTom or Garmin would probably do a better job anyway.

The Climate control looks nice but functionally is a bit old school, the car already comes with Semi automatic climate control anyway. Doesnt look so pretty but functionally will do the job perfectly.

Parking sensors arent really necessary on the hatch but make sense on the estate. Electric rear windows were important to me as a little one will be on board so dont want them fiddling around but many people dont chose them. Heated seats...waste of time on cloth seats in my opinion.

Being a company vehicle if you need to be contactable on the move the OEM Bluetooth and steering wheel upgrade is probably a worthwhile investment as its pretty slick, otherwise for me it was all about the look of the car. Things like paint colour, roof colour option and wheel choice were most important to me, though I couldnt choose a roof colour as its not an option on the estate.

Also waiting times on them are somewhat ridiculous and the ordering process is pretty poo, my dealer currently does not know when we should expect to see the car which six weeks down the line is rather disappointing. Is very annoying as we have a PCP vehicle with a bit of negative equity on it that we need to get shot of. Depending when the new car turns up we will either have to VT it or give it back, is due back at the end of July. Is a pain not being able to plan for getting shot of our existing car. I'm suire everyone on here will be able to have a moan about the ordering process, very weak link in the Skoda chain!

Let us know how you get on mate.

[ukdiceman]

No worries ukdiceman.

Couple of things I would say, be lean with the optional extras if you can. Car is well equipped as it is but there are little bits and bobs that improve it. Less you spend on options the more you'll save on your lease, the more you can save the better I guess.

All just my opinion of course but I dont think the car warrants the installation of OEM Sat Nav, a decent TomTom or Garmin would probably do a better job anyway.

The Climate control looks nice but functionally is a bit old school, the car already comes with Semi automatic climate control anyway. Doesnt look so pretty but functionally will do the job perfectly.

Parking sensors arent really necessary on the hatch but make sense on the estate. Electric rear windows were important to me as a little one will be on board so dont want them fiddling around but many people dont chose them. Heated seats...waste of time on cloth seats in my opinion.

Being a company vehicle if you need to be contactable on the move the OEM Bluetooth and steering wheel upgrade is probably a worthwhile investment as its pretty slick, otherwise for me it was all about the look of the car. Things like paint colour, roof colour option and wheel choice were most important to me, though I couldnt choose a roof colour as its not an option on the estate.

Also waiting times on them are somewhat ridiculous and the ordering process is pretty poo, my dealer currently does not know when we should expect to see the car which six weeks down the line is rather disappointing. Is very annoying as we have a PCP vehicle with a bit of negative equity on it that we need to get shot of. Depending when the new car turns up we will either have to VT it or give it back, is due back at the end of July. Is a pain not being able to plan for getting shot of our existing car. I'm suire everyone on here will be able to have a moan about the ordering process, very weak link in the Skoda chain!

Let us know how you get on mate.

Some good points, I've been messing with the options and colours. My 120D is fully loaded and I've got use to it.

So far I'm looking at Sat Nav, Bluetooth, cruise, parking sensors, rear elec windows, sunroof, armrest, but I keep changing my mind aaargh!

I agree with the so called "climate control", the demo had it fitted and I found it very disapointing, as long as the manual AC kicks out nice cold air I'll be happy!

Colour wise i'm thinking of white, with either black or dark chrome wheels.

My 120D goes back in the middle of July, so I intend to order before the end of the month, so fingers crossed there's over 3 months for Skoda to deliver it to LEX Autolease.

Yes I'll keep you posted, thanks for the help and advice.

[ukdiceman]

Glad you enjoyed your test drive, it is a suprisingly fast car! Which is always amusing!

It also suprised a few other motorists during my time with the car

the DGS was very impressive too

[ukdiceman]

£70 a month WOW !!!!! I wish my car cost that to run ( not including fuel), Suppose its a no brainer then.

You have a car you like and can enjoy ( despite any skip remarks ), & am sure it will change minds of those who doubt it once they have been in it.

Good Luck with your choice of colours & options, BTW, you do know there is a bit of a wait on ALL Skoda orders( unless you pick up a cancelled order), so be prepared to have to wait for it.

It costs more than that to lease, but after my personal company car allowance it only costs me £70 a month out of my salary (inc tax), but yes a no brainer, and its impressed all who have been in it with me so far, shame I had to give it back.

[fabia55]

hello diceman, will you be doing any more programmes?

[pipsyp]

Some good points, I've been messing with the options and colours. My 120D is fully loaded and I've got use to it.

So far I'm looking at Sat Nav, Bluetooth, cruise, parking sensors, rear elec windows, sunroof, armrest, but I keep changing my mind aaargh!

I agree with the so called "climate control", the demo had it fitted and I found it very disapointing, as long as the manual AC kicks out nice cold air I'll be happy!

Colour wise i'm thinking of white, with either black or dark chrome wheels.

My 120D goes back in the middle of July, so I intend to order before the end of the month, so fingers crossed there's over 3 months for Skoda to deliver it to LEX Autolease.

Yes I'll keep you posted, thanks for the help and advice.

Yeah it will be sad to see the 120 go I bet.

Good choice on the colour. I was originally set on getting a black one with black wheels but the wife said she didnt want to look like a drug dealer....fair point I guess. Toyed with white and black wheels but ended up going white and dark chrome. A guy on here recently took delivery of a white/dark chrome hatch and it looked great so pleased with the choice. Is a bonus not to pay for metallic paint also!

I would definitely say reign in the options as much as poss, appreciate the BM was loaded but being such a premium car it really benefits from having the options, they are very plain inside otherwise. I wouldnt say its an issue in a car like the Fabia being a fairly cheap non premium hot hatch. Get the things you really need and will use otherwise i'd can the others and limit the amount you have to put into the lease from your own pocket. I think the real buzz from having the vRS will be driving round in a tiny supermini with 180ps and stacks of torque, not loading it to the hilt with toys.

I personally would get your order in ASAP. Some people have had to wait 6 months for their cars, we're 6 weeks down the line and dont even have a build date. Could leave yourself in a bit of a predicament if you dont order it now.

All the best mate.

Paul

Edited 11 March, 2011 by pipsyp

[vulgatrendkill]

When I had my test drive in the VRS, when the guy put his foot down it was like a warp drive!

My brother had an Audi S3 and it certainly matches that for acceleration if not top speed etc.

Not only that but the VRS doesn't have horrible slidey leather seats .

[pipsyp]

When I had my test drive in the VRS, when the guy put his foot down it was like a warp drive!

My brother had an Audi S3 and it certainly matches that for acceleration if not top speed etc.

Not only that but the VRS doesn't have horrible slidey leather seats .

Hi vulgartrendkill, sorry but I disagree, the vRS definitely isnt quite as quick as an old S3 210/225ps, definitely not as quick as a new 265ps one.

30 - 45 ps more and quattro would see off the vRS in a drag no sweat I reckon.

[vRSy]

not a chance with the new S3 by a long shot.

However the old S3 with 210/225ps weighed in at over 1530kg. That makes it have a power to weight ratio of 137ps/ton for the 210ps and 147ps/ton for the 225. The torque is also neigh on identical to that in the 1.4TSI.

Now with 180ps and @ 1243kg has a power to weight ratio of 144ps/ton. It also has the DSg advantage.

Power to weight is everything in a car.

The quattro would see the S3 win off the line purely due to grip. Once rolling quattro just slows you down as its extra transmission loss and extra weight

[ukdiceman]

I personally would get your order in ASAP. Some people have had to wait 6 months for their cars, we're 6 weeks down the line and dont even have a build date. Could leave yourself in a bit of a predicament if you dont order it now.

All the best mate.

Paul

Intend to order next week, white and dark chrome

It will be intersting to see if LEX get a better deal with delivery times, but I doubt it! I may be in a "pool" Mondeo for a few weeks :S

Vaughan

[Morg]

Have you considered blue with black wheels and black roof? The one I test drove had black wheels, just needed the roof to set if off in my opinion. Looking at your specs it sounds like you are picking a nice car, I would definitely stick with the arm rest (although I am turning in to an old man).

Edited 15 March, 2011 by Morg

[Junoman]

Hi ukdiceman, I wouldn't expect any preferential treatment from LEX, ordered my white VRS estate with cruise via Leasedrive Velo in January, expected at the dealers 30th May.

[ukdiceman]

Hi ukdiceman, I wouldn't expect any preferential treatment from LEX, ordered my white VRS estate with cruise via Leasedrive Velo in January, expected at the dealers 30th May.

I've ordered today, but they have the delivery down as 24/07, thats when my current cars lease ends, doubt I'll get it any earlier.

Cheers

[ukdiceman]

Have you considered blue with black wheels and black roof? The one I test drove had black wheels, just needed the roof to set if off in my opinion. Looking at your specs it sounds like you are picking a nice car, I would definitely stick with the arm rest (although I am turning in to an old man).

Nice. The one I test drove was blue with a white roof, standard wheels. Very nice, I almost changed from white!

I am an old man lol, and the arm rest is on my order.

[ukdiceman]

Ordered today:-

White/White

Dark chrome wheels

Sat nav

Bluetooth

Multi function wheel with phone control

Cruise

Electric rear windows

Rear parking sensors

Arm rest

Roll on 24th July!

Thanks everyone for you help/advise

Vaughan

[pipsyp]

Ordered today:-

White/White

Dark chrome wheels

Sat nav

Bluetooth

Multi function wheel with phone control

Cruise

Electric rear windows

Rear parking sensors

Arm rest

Roll on 24th July!

Thanks everyone for you help/advise

Vaughan

Nice one Vaughan, hope it turns up on time for you mate! BTW well done on colour combo, they really do look cracking in white with dark chromes. Glad you left Climatronic out of the spec as we talked about, probably the most unnecessary option on one of these apart from heated seats :-)

RE delivery date thought you'd be interested to know mines been brought forward from build week 20 to 18, so it does look like Skoda's estimated lead times are perhaps a little cautious. All being well I'd like to think you'll have your car by July no probs.

Paul

Edited 16 March, 2011 by pipsyp

[pipsyp]

not a chance with the new S3 by a long shot.

However the old S3 with 210/225ps weighed in at over 1530kg. That makes it have a power to weight ratio of 137ps/ton for the 210ps and 147ps/ton for the 225. The torque is also neigh on identical to that in the 1.4TSI.

Now with 180ps and @ 1243kg has a power to weight ratio of 144ps/ton. It also has the DSg advantage.

Power to weight is everything in a car.

The quattro would see the S3 win off the line purely due to grip. Once rolling quattro just slows you down as its extra transmission loss and extra weight

Fair shout Sy, didnt realise the old S3 was that heavy! Impressive the Fabia's power to weight ratio is better than the 210 and not disimilar to the 225. Guess a vRS would probably keep an old 225 Quattro TT honest as well then!