I know all about the 2.0T 4x4 Fabia, and would gladly give up my principle of economy when it comes to Holland. However, I don't hold out too much hope for that.

A nifty FWD 1.8T Fabia would do fine instead, as it won't have the heavy TDI lump making it nose-heavy and understeery and will have the same light and quick feeling as the Ibiza, but less tinny. Tinny was exactly the impression I got from the Cupra yesterday.

Tinny... I like that. (Note to self: must add tinny to English vocabulary. )

There is a rumoured WRC 2.0T Fabia coming out with 200 bhp and 4WD' date=' so watch this space

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That would be the only 4x4 based on the Fabia/Ibiza/Polo platform, do you think Skoda would spend the money developing an old shell for relatively few sales? If the Fabia was a new platform I would say you might have something but a shell which is almost 5 years old?

I don't think Skoda have the money to gamble like that.

Aren't VW bringing out a 1.8T 180BHP Polo GTI in the near future? I saw it testing in a magazine somewhere.

Wouldnt mind a remapped Cupra TDi 220 bhp is achievable and the weight 1177.

You will not get 220bhp from remapped Cupra, 200-205bhp seems to be an average figure.

The Ibiza FR felt extremely tinny when I drove it and the road noise was hideous' date=' that said it did feel lighter and much quicker than a vRS purely because it had a better power to weight ratio, it also cornered with much less understeer and better feel.

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Which one though? The consensus seems to be that if anything, the Fabia is just as good at handling than the FR TDI, and there is hardly any difference in performance, but the FR 1.8T is indeed lighter and has more power which would explain why you found it more agile.

The best car would be a remapped Cupra 1.8T... with as much power as a remapped Octy thats bound to be fast. I'm not sure I'd choose a Cupra TDI over the 1.8T in the case of the Cupra, especially if remapping it. The TDI model simply doesnt offer enough extra over the TDI 130 IMHO.

Edited to add... I dont believe Seat's weight figures either... they seem to underquote their weight very significantly - they claimed 1190 kg for the TDI Sport, but when someone weighed one on SCN they found it was nearer 1300 kg.

When Auto Express reviewed the Cupra TDI, they had the kerb weight as 1215kg.

The Cupra TDI offers more of a performance increase over the FR TDI than the 1.8T Cupra does over the 1.8T FR. The petrol Cupra and FR put out the same power when both are remapped.

A remapped Cupra TDI still offers a considerable performance increase over a remapped FR TDI. I owned a remapped Ibiza TDI Sport before the Cupra and I have messed about with a stopwatch in both cars and the Cupra is a fair bit faster, whether its worth the extra money or not is open to debate.

Dutch4x4

Do they have the 2.0 litre Fabia in Holland, it is available in the UK, but I believe it doesnt sell . a bit like the vRS in Holland.

Steve

Yes, we have 2-litre car, in both Elegance and L&K spec, but you hardly ever see it. It's only 0.8k euro up on the 1.4 100hp, but people simply don't seem to bother.

Haven't driven the 100hp engine but it being a 1.4 I suspect it's one of those modern high-revving engines with all its 100 horses waiting to do their work until the torque is finally released at >4000rpm. The 2.0 might be an old engine and "only" 8v, but people underestimate the joy of torque at low revs.

well my mate picked up his Fabia yesterday - went to see it last night, and he was vell impressed. Kept getting text all night off him saying

"This Fiesta Zetec tried to beat off the lights and he felt the wrath of the Skoda power"

and

"Those Yaris T-Sports are slow aren't they ;)"

I think he did 500 miles in antisipation of getting it jabba'd at the weekend - lol

The Seat range is going through somewhat a strange transistion at the moment.. The Leon and related Toledo had dashboards that used good quality materials.. Then came the current Ibiza.. which looks wise I quite like

plus the dash design is quite nice... But the materials used ... hard cheap easily marked plastics... I've also looked at the Altea The interior was very

low rent in terms of quality... This is strange as the exterior styling is quite

bold...

Also the Cupra versions of the Ibiza and Leon and good cars but the high price for the Ibiza makes it look overpriced against rivals.. Also there is the

below par build quality....

Skoda on the other hand have produced in the Fabia and new Octavia cars

that can compete and win against there rivals.. The materials and build quality evident in a mk II Octy is arguably above the new Golf...

Skoda also really have missed producing a Leon Cupra R/ Golf R32 rival..

The current Octy vRS .. add 4x4 + the 225bhp TT engine + Xenons and

WRC styling would have proved to be a big hit.. I would have bought one...

Same goes with the Fab vRS.. Skoda should release a 160bhp version

that has 17inch alloys WRC spec trims and a similar spec to the Ibiza..

I hope that the new vRS Octy II follows the original with a more powerfull Petrol engine than the new GTI or comes in with a high powered version of the 2.0TDI say around 170-180BHP. or even the option of both!..

heres hoping...

cheers

Dazz