Hi All,

Certainly not looking to cause an argument but thought it would make for a good debate.

Personally I've really had trouble trying to rationalise why so many people have been speccing their new Fabia's to the hilt, particularly the vRS's. When we ordered our vRS estate I was strongly of the mind that I wanted as much car for as little money as possible, in the end got a nearly £18k car for less than £15k. Given the standard spec (well....that its a 180ps car with a DSG gearbox is impressive enough at that money) I really didnt see the need to put much extra kit on it.

It's possibly a little different for me than some as our car is on a 3 year PCP and I very much doubt we'll keep it come the end of the term. It was therefore avantageous for us to keep the monthly payment as low as possible. All the same, buying the car via HP or outright and adding £3k worth of extras to one is like taking a match to that money and burning it as it will never come back to you in residuals. If you're looking to keep the car forever then fair enough but otherwise the money spent on options will just go up in smoke.

Most people looking to buy any sort of Fabia second hand on the whole are not interested in Sat Nav or heated seats and wouldnt pay the premium. The VAT deal has naturallty hurt second hand prices a bit too which in my mind makes it all the worse.

Dont get me wrong, having those "nice to have" bits of kit on a Fabia vRS is nice but I still think it makes poor financial sense to spec one to the hilt. This also has nothing to do with being able to afford a fully spec'd car I just didnt want to.

Thought it would be interesting to hear different owners insights on this, appreciate we all have different needs or wants but wanted to trigger a nice bit of debate.

Edited 19 April, 201115 yr by pipsyp

I'm still weighing up my options but as you say it's a cheap car so I'm not sticking options on it I don't really need. Here's what I have so far:

• Candy white since it's a no cost option
• Rear parking sensors - Yet to see a vRS without them so it's a must for when it comes to sell
• Armrest - Always liked it when my dad had it in his Octy but there it always got in the way of fishing rods. The estate swallows them fine
• Climate control - The only option that's a bit unnecessary but I like it
• Mats - Fair enough
• Glasses case - It's less than £30 so may as well
• Roof bars are £138 but I need those for my kayak. I take it the gloss black rails are standard? Seen a few estates without them.
• Black wheels - Easier to keep clean/hide dirt plus it's a must on a white car.
• Mudflaps? - Are these standard or not on an estate. Didn't see an option for it but seen one with front ones.

Think that's it. It's got the 3 spoke leather wheel with radio controls as standard and I see no point in me upgrading to bluetooth. It's too much money and I use my PS3 headset anyway. Not going to bother with rear electric windows or the satnav. Use Google maps on my phone which has been faultless. The Kenwood headunit looks nice but I can't justify £1000 for it.

All in all it comes to just under £15k with all the options.

Edit: Oops just under £14k

Edited 19 April, 201115 yr by MartynVRS

I suppose some extras may make a car more attractive to certain buyers, but that really only applies if you are selling privately. Otherwise I don't see the point of adding things just for the sake of it.

I would only spec options if I had a specific need for them. If I was doing regular long trips, I would consider adding Bluetooth. But I already have that in my TomTom, which eliminates the need for the Sat Nav option too. Heated seats are great if you have leather (found that on my previous car) but I wouldn't spec them with cloth seats. I did get the spare wheel though - a must have for me.

I do look through the options, but I have rarely added anything.

Actually I wish I could remove something. That damn armrest is absolutely useless and gets in the way of everything.

I bought a fabia BECAUSE it is one of the few small diesel hatches that you can get the options I wanted on. My absolute must haves were:

Heated seats

Cruise control

Bluetooth phone

Front arm rest

Sport seats

Diesel engine

iPod connectivity with full shuttle control

Now some of those are pretty easy, but the cruise control was the one that ruled out a lot of small hatches, with the heated seats a close second as a lot of manufacturers just don't offer them on the small models. Evenwith vw I would have had to order an SEL polo to have the option of adding the cruise.

I do 36,000 miles a year so I specced the car that I wanted. I don't see how you could spend 3k on options as you suggest - the skoda options are so cheap. In the end I bought a 105hp diesel monte with the list above plus rear electric windows ( ci's I felt I was being tight not ordering them) and the sat nav because I think it's a nice option and fairly cheap (£300 with the vat offer since I wanted the maxidot). I also went for climate as the standard dials look and feel cheap.

With all that though I still added less than £1000 to the standard car. How you'd add £3k the mind boggles

When I ordered the vRS ten days ago, the dealer said most Fabias (with five vRS's 'ahead' of mine) were being specced to within an inch of their life.

Whilst he (obviously) had no problem with this he was pretty sure the VAT-back deal is the thing that's causing people to tick the options boxes with abandon. He agreed with my own opinion of "spec the care for yourself and what you will really use" so I stuck with; Race Blue, standard alloys, parking sensors and cruise control.

The only things I would have added had they been available would be Xenons (apparently this will NOT happen on the MK2) and electric folding mirrors.

You pays-your-money...

As far as options go, I really had to rack my brain to decide what was a need and must have.

in the end, the option I deliberated over most was the curve headlights. I read alot about them and decided what the hell, I'll go for it. I still ended up getting the VRS with everything I wanted for a smidge under 13500. This is with trade in of 1800 taken into account also. As far as I'm concerned, I've got a real bargain, and I reckon Skodas are one of the best brands for value retention. If I 'd had left it any longer I think my old car wounldn't have been worth much at all.

As far as options adding to resale value? debatable. Maybe climate control and upgraded stereo would, possibly heated seats but not sure on others.

I bought a fabia BECAUSE it is one of the few small diesel hatches that you can get the options I wanted on. My absolute must haves were:

Heated seats

Cruise control

Bluetooth phone

Front arm rest

Sport seats

Diesel engine

iPod connectivity with full shuttle control

Now some of those are pretty easy, but the cruise control was the one that ruled out a lot of small hatches, with the heated seats a close second as a lot of manufacturers just don't offer them on the small models. Evenwith vw I would have had to order an SEL polo to have the option of adding the cruise.

I do 36,000 miles a year so I specced the car that I wanted. I don't see how you could spend 3k on options as you suggest - the skoda options are so cheap. In the end I bought a 105hp diesel monte with the list above plus rear electric windows ( ci's I felt I was being tight not ordering them) and the sat nav because I think it's a nice option and fairly cheap (£300 with the vat offer since I wanted the maxidot). I also went for climate as the standard dials look and feel cheap.

With all that though I still added less than £1000 to the standard car. How you'd add £3k the mind boggles

Fair shout, nice to see different peoples opinions.

With the vRS estate if you tick every box its possible to get the RRP to £21k, would give a VAT free price of approx £17k which is a good 3K above the basic VAT free cost. With a couple of options and GAP it took our total price nearer £15k.

Dont get me wrong I can somewhat see the logic in doing it as your saving 20% on each option you choose but even still I wouldnt want to pay basic retail price for a Fabia vRS even with all that extra kit.

These are just my views but I dont think Heated seats with cloth trim are a necessity, could understand it with leather.

Bluetooth...I dont really agree that using a phone even whilst hands free is safe whilst your driving. I used to have a bluetooth kit in one of my earlier company cars and the number of journeys I made where I didnt remember driving whilst on the phone were unbelievable....you're on autopilot and its not safe. My company did away with them on heath and safety grounds so unless I choose a company car with an OEM kit i'll never have one.

Arm rest....its the same as what they put in the MK4 Golf, is a useful cubby but otherwise irritating.

Climate...agreed its prettier than the standard Climatic unit but functionally offers very little benefit over the standard offering. If the vRS came with it happy days but it doesnt so didnt spec it.

Sat nav....again is a nice piece of kit and integrates nicely with the MDI, Bluetooth and Maxi-dot but it's a Sat Nav ultimately and I dont think it will do the job as well as a decent modern TomTom or Garmin, very few OEM units do.

I have to be entirely honest, I'm also not so sure i'd buy a Fabia if I was covering so much mileage every year. Confort and refinement wise an Octy of some description would probably be the better tool though appreciate the VAT deal doesnt currently cover diesels and it would be more expensive.

When I ordered the vRS ten days ago, the dealer said most Fabias (with five vRS's 'ahead' of mine) were being specced to within an inch of their life.

Whilst he (obviously) had no problem with this he was pretty sure the VAT-back deal is the thing that's causing people to tick the options boxes with abandon. He agreed with my own opinion of "spec the care for yourself and what you will really use" so I stuck with; Race Blue, standard alloys, parking sensors and cruise control.

The only things I would have added had they been available would be Xenons (apparently this will NOT happen on the MK2) and electric folding mirrors.

You pays-your-money...

On the same wavelength Lee!

The problem you have if you have spec'd hardly anything, is when you come to sell up its going to be woefully underspecced compared to the others on the market.

I paid £14125 (should have been £17010 with VAT and no discount) Just spec'd the Estate up to the same as mine taking into account the black roof i have and it would have cost me an extra £1400.

I added

parking sensors, cruise, climate control, black alloys and black roof and it came to just over a grand so not to much inthe grand scheme of things

Yes, the fabia is replacing my current diesel alfa Romeo 156. I want a small car for a number of reasons. Firstly I can get a fabia on the drive behind the wife's Mazda 5 and secondly the fuel economy saving over the 156 will be quite significant.

I know a lot gas been said about the 1.6 engine, but the dealer lent me their demo elegance for 24 hours and I averaged 71.3mpg (measured with fuel) on my commute against 55mpg average in the alfa.

The problem you have if you have spec'd hardly anything, is when you come to sell up its going to be woefully underspecced compared to the others on the market.

I paid £14125 (should have been £17010 with VAT and no discount) Just spec'd the Estate up to the same as mine taking into account the black roof i have and it would have cost me an extra £1400.

I added

parking sensors, cruise, climate control, black alloys and black roof and it came to just over a grand so not to much inthe grand scheme of things

Hi Si,

Agree an entirely basic car may be a bit more difficult to sell if lined up against a car with a bit of spec, particularly given there probably wont be alot in it in terms of sticker price.

I think the spec on your car is rather sensible like my own. For me (particularly with the vRS in mind) the main used selling points would be decent colour and wheel combo rather than interior luxuries. For instance take two estates....if there was mine in white with dark chomes but only parking sensors and elec rear wins as options but there was another perhaps in Rallye Green with standard wheels but had Nav and Bluetooth i'd still choose my car as for me it looks better. I think the colour/wheel combo will also be a big factor with resale.

Specced up my Elegance because I don't need speed, I like 'toys' on my car.

Ordered the Kenwood sat nav as I will use it for the next 5 years. Not thinking of resale values.

mine was stock, so I didn't get a choice!

options are rally green paint, white wheels, MDI interface. Thats all.

I'm quite happy with that, it looks the dogs, and I have 250gig of music available.

oh, and I have a satnav unit, and bought a solar powered (never needs touching) bluetooth hands free from e-bay for £30,and some mats from aldi for £6.

quite happy with mine...

oh, small rant about parking sensors, everyone seems to be speccing them... Really? you can't reverse? hhmmmm I find them annoying as hell on any car I've driven with them, and would want to turn them off! (I'll stop there, I could go on, but don't want to start another argument )

Have to say I agree with you there sharkrider...I don't think a car as small as the Fabia needs parking sensors, and speccing them because 'everyone else has them' is silly.

My Mk1 Fabia Elegance, which I purchased second-hand, had parking sensors, until a local bodyshop mullered them when doing a bumper repair. Two years have gone past, and I haven't repaired them...in fact, they are redundant as I now have a vRS rear bumper

im more than happy to park without sensors. My wife on the other hand is horrendous

On my vRS, I went for:

Sat Nav - I like my toys and I can leave my tomtom permanently in my locker at work now. It also makes the car feel more expensive inside. Oh, and its useful;

Heated Seats - I work shifts and regularly climb into a freezing cold car at 6:00am - so for £150 odd I can erradicate that unpleasant 5-10 minutes part of my journey whilst the blowers warm up.

Rear Parking Sensors - I've never reversed into anything, but in time my missus will be getting insured on the car (slaps wrist - sexist!), and then there's re-sale appeal and further added feeling of a quality motor.

Climatronic Air Con - the standard dials are woeful and completely undermine the interior IMO so this was a no-brainer.

Arm-Rest - In addition to occasional weekend trips away I go about 6 times a yer I drive to London and back (from Manchester) - and whenever i've driven a car/van with an armrest I found it more relaxing/comfortable.

Didn't go for any storage boxes etc as it'd just encourage me to clutter up the car and I think the armrest and twin glove box config is more than adequate.

If there were a lot more options, like bi-xenon lights and leather interior etc - i'd probably have sacrificed a lot of the above. Also, the vat deal meant I could get all the above for less than a grand and still have a decent new car for roughly £15k

There's my 10 pence worth anyway

Edited 19 April, 201115 yr by Silv1983

Personally I don't need parking sensors and am pretty good at reversing I just think come resale time if mine didn't have them then it would be a disavantage to all the ones that do. Would a dealer give me less trade in if it didn't have sensors? Tempted to get cruise control now. Not sure if I'll need it but handy for average speed cameras and it's a lot easier to spec it now rather than have it fitted later. Not going to bother with the underseat boxes either.

Also Sharkrider what hard drive system are you using and where do you store it?

Have to say I agree with you there sharkrider...I don't think a car as small as the Fabia needs parking sensors, and speccing them because 'everyone else has them' is silly.

My Mk1 Fabia Elegance, which I purchased second-hand, had parking sensors, until a local bodyshop mullered them when doing a bumper repair. Two years have gone past, and I haven't repaired them...in fact, they are redundant as I now have a vRS rear bumper

I think parking sensors make sense on the estate but agree they are not really needed on the hatch unless you are not that confident at reverse parking.

I've specced mine up with a fair few extras, but it's a company car so I approached the process of choosing differently.

When I bought my current car (Panda 100hp) my main desire was bang-for-buck. No other sub £10k car touched the 100hp for standard kit (air con, bluetooth, MFSW, etc) and driving enjoyment. My other options were similarly priced econoboxes with very few extras that offered extremely cheap running costs but completely boring drives. I needed to keep running costs in mind so the econoboxes were a consideration, but the 100hp was within my budget for maintenance it so it became the obvious choice.

Now my circumstances have changed and with a company car I don't need to worry about costs like servicing, tyres and tax. My choice was limited by certain company policy restrictions such as no 4x4s, no convertibles, less than 150g/km CO2 emissions. The standard vRS was pretty much bang on my leasing limit and I've chosen to make a reasonable monthly contribution along with my company car tax to get the option I wanted.

Because I didn't have to worry about resale value and other costs outside of tax and my contribution, I was free to spec it up with things that just make it a nicer place to be.

-Kerr

I've specced mine up with a fair few extras, but it's a company car so I approached the process of choosing differently.

When I bought my current car (Panda 100hp) my main desire was bang-for-buck. No other sub £10k car touched the 100hp for standard kit (air con, bluetooth, MFSW, etc) and driving enjoyment. My other options were similarly priced econoboxes with very few extras that offered extremely cheap running costs but completely boring drives. I needed to keep running costs in mind so the econoboxes were a consideration, but the 100hp was within my budget for maintenance it so it became the obvious choice.

Now my circumstances have changed and with a company car I don't need to worry about costs like servicing, tyres and tax. My choice was limited by certain company policy restrictions such as no 4x4s, no convertibles, less than 150g/km CO2 emissions. The standard vRS was pretty much bang on my leasing limit and I've chosen to make a reasonable monthly contribution along with my company car tax to get the option I wanted.

Because I didn't have to worry about resale value and other costs outside of tax and my contribution, I was free to spec it up with things that just make it a nicer place to be.

-Kerr

Hi Kerr,

Fair shout, nice to have a bit of choice in the matter too. I personally wouldnt bother spending an extra sum a month on a company car for the sake of optional extras but each to their own.

I'd have it standard and just relish the fact that other than tax you're not paying for it. However you can offset your personal contribution against tax and so reduce your taxable pay by the amount your contributing every year, swings and roundabouts I guess.

i was going to have the elegance dsg

but it only came with climate control

so i had an se/dsg and manual a.c

then added a few bits

probably keeping it till scrap

I was pushing the limits of my budget anyway so I went easy on the car but still took the main things I wanted.

Got colour combo (green with black roof + wheels) which to me doesn't come as extra cost because at the end of the day, it's a colour choice and not really an "extra" as such.

I got Cruise (the amount of times i've been driving home at night and thought a click of a button and no need to push a pedal would be fantastic. I've got a buggered ankle as well which doesn't help).

Bluetooth to me was also a no brainer. The amount of time i'm on the phone and have to say "I'll call you back, i'm driving", it just made sense to get it + the MSFW for comfort using it and the stereo.

And I specc'd heated seats, wasn't really a need but when it gets colder, I hate waiting for the car to heat up! + Up in Sunny Aberdeen, It's pretty cold a lot of the time! ha!

The MDI would have definitely been spec'd but it's standard anyway! YAY!

I think parking sensors make sense on the estate but agree they are not really needed on the hatch unless you are not that confident at reverse parking.

When I first got parking sensors on my second Mk1, they were not really necessary. Now I am older, my neck is stiffer and it is more uncomfortable to turn round, so the parking sensors have become useful.

I think parking sensors make sense on the estate but agree they are not really needed on the hatch unless you are not that confident at reverse parking.

i thought the estate was only about 200mm longer than the hatch isnt it?

Yeah, its 4276mm whereas the hatch is 4029mm.

Gone for the Estate for practical reasons and beacuse the misses is scared of using 5th/6th gear in current vRS

She will find semi-auto alot easier, infact, I have told her the paddles are for the radio