my cars experiences have been very different....

though i found old German cars, my 1986 porsche 944 S1, my 1991 porsche S2, my 1991yr Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth and a 1992yr Mercedes 300E-24(my dads not mine)

have all been incredible drivers cars, filled with character but also fantastic over-engineering and reliability, the more recent german/VAG derv

have been constant let downs.

My dads 335d touring had two turbo's fail in less than 6000 miles, my Vauxhall corsa B cost me in excess of £300 every MOT for 4yrs running

and the VW Golf hire car i had in France for 3weeks(car only 9 months old) broke down twice, both times needing recovery!!!

i even find my Fabia is more delicate than the Felicia.

i have only ever had 1 Alfa and it was for only 1 month but it was faultless.

My 106 was reliable, My Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v wasn't reliable. My toyota MR2 roadster has bulletproof reliability. My Mums Ford Mondeo and Focus Diesel have both been relatively trouble free. My Dads Lexus was troublesome(niggly electrics mostly) and his Nissan QX 3.0ltr was reliable but expensive when going wrong.

German cars do have great build quality and some are still engineered properly, but reliability isn't something i would associate them with.

I've not had anyway near as much time as Pipsy on this planet so i have less experience. one thing i can agree on is that the Punto(old ones) is a rubbish car.

Yes Alfa's share alot of bits with Fiat cars, but the Main similarality between the Grande Punto and the Mito is they share the same chassis platform, which was solen from the New Vauxhall corsa which as much as i hate it, one of the best handling small cars available.

From ur experiences Pipsy i can understand why u don't want any more italian cars(btw all Alfas now come with a 7yr anti-corrosion warranty)

I wouldn't ever buy a VW because of my bad experiences but still like Skoda's; IMO Skoda is what VW should aim to be..... there's not a car in VW's range i prefer over a equivelent Skoda.

my cars experiences have been very different....

though i found old German cars, my 1986 porsche 944 S1, my 1991 porsche S2, my 1991yr Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 Cosworth and a 1992yr Mercedes 300E-24(my dads not mine)

have all been incredible drivers cars, filled with character but also fantastic over-engineering and reliability, the more recent german/VAG derv

have been constant let downs.

My dads 335d touring had two turbo's fail in less than 6000 miles, my Vauxhall corsa B cost me in excess of £300 every MOT for 4yrs running

and the VW Golf hire car i had in France for 3weeks(car only 9 months old) broke down twice, both times needing recovery!!!

i even find my Fabia is more delicate than the Felicia.

i have only ever had 1 Alfa and it was for only 1 month but it was faultless.

My 106 was reliable, My Vauxhall Calibra 2.0 16v wasn't reliable. My toyota MR2 roadster has bulletproof reliability. My Mums Ford Mondeo and Focus Diesel have both been relatively trouble free. My Dads Lexus was troublesome(niggly electrics mostly) and his Nissan QX 3.0ltr was reliable but expensive when going wrong.

German cars do have great build quality and some are still engineered properly, but reliability isn't something i would associate them with.

I've not had anyway near as much time as Pipsy on this planet so i have less experience. one thing i can agree on is that the Punto(old ones) is a rubbish car.

Yes Alfa's share alot of bits with Fiat cars, but the Main similarality between the Grande Punto and the Mito is they share the same chassis platform, which was solen from the New Vauxhall corsa which as much as i hate it, one of the best handling small cars available.

From ur experiences Pipsy i can understand why u don't want any more italian cars(btw all Alfas now come with a 7yr anti-corrosion warranty)

I wouldn't ever buy a VW because of my bad experiences but still like Skoda's; IMO Skoda is what VW should aim to be..... there's not a car in VW's range i prefer over a equivelent Skoda.

Haha indeed my time with italian cars is somewhat tainted by the fact the worst ones to own were the 80's/90's era cars, I do like Alfa's but I just couldnt bring myself to own one, if it were a company car would probably give one a go. Sorry and no disrespect but I feel whilst the Mito is a very good looking car, its "pretty" and not particularly masculine. Its the sort of thing I'd like to see my wife in, not a bloke :-). I wouldnt mind a bit of time with a Giuletta or a 159 though.

Interesting about the 335d, my Dad has had a 335d M Sport Coupe and a 135i M Sport and neither car gave any mechanical issues whatsoever, goes to show its entirely luck of the draw.

I personally would never say that Skoda's are better than VW's and that VW should aspire to be like Skoda. Sure they could teach them a thing or two about customer service but reliability wise they are all based on the same componentry so similar faults occur across the board. You hear of alot more VW faults simply because they sell many more cars a year than Skoda. I will agree that all VAG group cars arent the bombproof devices they were in the 80's but they are generally better built and more polished than any other mainstream offering, Ford and Vauxhall included.

I do LOVE the current BMW diesels, they are all very good units indeed, i think my dad just had a bad one. i would love a 320d or a 330d coupe myself(i can't afford a used 335D yet)

I see your point about VW producing more cars than Skoda hence more stories of breakdowns and poor reliability.

i do prefer Octavias' over Golfs though, as i do the Superb over the Passat. the New Polo is Very good though and i suppose Skoda don't have any Phaeton or Scricco equivelents

Anyway Thread highjack over now, unless u have anything more to add Pipsy :p

Hi Sonner, no I'm done

I was sniffing around the Mito for a while, but it seems a bit of a boutique car, and i only ever see women driving them. Mind you, i only ever see pensioners driving Fabias albeit not vrs's. What pipped it for me was basically price and the bad reviews i read a lot of, which were mostly good but no cigar. The only thing that lets vrs reviews down in the main is the interior, but i can live without fancy stitching...

I bought a VRS because:

I've had no mechanical faults in mine for over 7 years now.

I think it looks lovely

One of the only hot hatches with an automatic option (I can't drive manual)

VAT offer. A lot of car for the money!

and, finally, I was sick to the teeth of the lack of oomph in my current Fabia.

Bought one because the folks have been Skoda for the last 6-7 years? They had a MK1 VRS and it was epic. I'd just started to learn to drive when they were getting rid of it so I got a shot and loved it to bits. Then they got a Octy VRS and I loved that also. Having passed my test now, dad took me for a spin and gave me a shot a few times. Again, was epic. I guess it's stemmed from there. If it had been a fast beemer I'd have probably loved them more. Although saying that, I love how ridiculously understated these cars are and how rare the new VRS is. Anyone with a hot hatch in my area and of my age is driving about in a VXR and quite honestly I wanted something different. Looked at 2nd hand Fiesta ST's and Clio Sports but they're all 2.0L and massive on insurance. Also overly boy racer and you can't drive one without some idiot trying to do 100mph in there 1.0l corsa just because they want to pass you. Checked out the new Vrs. Realised the VAT offer. Test drive = WOW!!!! and within a month my name was down as was a deposit

So to summarise:

Very Rare

Very Fast

Very Cheap

Very understated

I was sniffing around the Mito for a while, but it seems a bit of a boutique car, and i only ever see women driving them. Mind you, i only ever see pensioners driving Fabias albeit not vrs's. What pipped it for me was basically price and the bad reviews i read a lot of, which were mostly good but no cigar. The only thing that lets vrs reviews down in the main is the interior, but i can live without fancy stitching...

Yes SWMBO loved the Mitos prettiness, an equivalent to the Mini, DS3, Beetle etc.

Agree on the Fabia doing a lot of senior service without cigars.

Stitching!

Imagine my dismay when I found I could have bought an A1 with the same mechanicals as my VRS to the same spec but with much better stitching for only £12k extra. Sigh.

Why a Fabia VRS?

Have become a Skoda fan because:

Have driven a diesel octavia for the past 3 and a half years that my dad was getting rid of because he thought it was worn out. It was only supposed to last a few months to tide me over between cars but nothing's gone wrong apart from age related stuff so I kept it and it kept on going. Just traded it in at 134,000 miles. (and nothing went wrong with it over the previous 5 years and 97,000 miles)

Dad bought another octavia and hasn't had a problem with it for 3 and a half years. He's now considering a 3rd skoda.

Always regretted not buying Mark 1 VRS and instead going for a SportKa. It only lasted 2 and a bit years before I got so annoyed with it I swapped it for Dad's Octavia with 70,000 more miles on it!

Loved it when I went for a test drive last October when the Octavia was in for its MOT. Impressed with the way it dealt with stop-start traffic and loved the smoothness of the DSG in this situation.

Then went for another test drive on my old stomping grounds and was impressed at how it handled the roads I'd driven as a kid flat out in a 1.0 litre metro!

Price (obviously)

Drove an Audi A1 at Christmas and was very impressed by the quality but knowing how messy my car is normally and the fact that I don't see the interior trim as I look out the windscreen decided not to spend the extra cash on the Audi.

Couldn't afford a brand new Octavia VRS and having got rid of higher perfomance models before for their fragility didn't want to take on an old car with problems.

Oh and it impresses the kids I teach! (Sad I know!)

H

Edited 29 April, 201115 yr by hfurbyvrs

Why did you buy a vRS?

People on here said they looked the complete package. Good enough for me. Went out and bought one. Job done.