Right, so I was reading a test on 9 GTIs the other day, (sorry for not providing a link, the article is not in English!) cars included were:

Corsa OPC Nurburgring, Cooper S, Audi A1 185, Polo GTi, Fabia vRS, Ibiza FR, Abarth 500, Punto Evo, 207 RC

Performance:

On a first read, I saw that the Fabia vRS scored excellent times on absolute speed, acceleration, etc. It totally matched the Polo GTi in the vbox's measurements on 0-60 (both did 7.1" - another proof that the 6.9 vs 7.3 official times want to make sure the "mother" brand appears quicker). It was even quicker from the 5ps stronger A1 (did 7.3) and the Cooper S, (did 7.4). The vRS continued to lead in 30-50, 50-70, and only after that was it reached by the Cooper S. It also achieved the best time in 0-400 meters acceleration also exiting the 400m with the highest speed ,same as Coopers S: 15,2"@ 150,1 KM/H / 15,3" @ 150,2 KMH for the Cooper.So, performance-wise, a standard vRS can not only keep up with allegedly "quicker" and much more expensive models, but it also beats some of them. One more proof of the excellent performance it offers for the money.

Handling:

Now that was an area that the vRS failed to impress which was somewhat expected as it was the only 5 door car between all 9, and also had the highest center of gravity. This is of course well-known and depicted as well in its "geometrical" specs. That resulted in it being left a few seconds behind the Polo GTi, Audi A1, Cooper S and Corsa OPC Nurburgring, winning a close fight from weaker opponets as 207 RC, 500 Abarth and even Ibiza FR. My questions/thoughts on this is If this disadvantage can be corrected with: a) Rear ARB b ) Lowering c) Upgraded suspension. I would think that it would win back these 3.5 seconds (in a 2 minute track as the one in the test) with the above upgrades, especially considering it's top marks in all performance measurements mentioned in the previous paragraph. I would think even an ARB alone, would make it a second quicker in that test. What do people think?

DSG software notes: The driver of the vRS mentioned the following behaviour: the car did not keep the currently selected gear when near the rev limiter and shifted up, leaving him with lower torque on occasions, when he could have kept the gear as the next part of the road demanded more torque. That was also another factor for the slower lap time. Strangely (for me), he mentioned not having this problem with the Polo GTi or the A1, which led him think the software behind the 3 boxes, was setup/tuned differently. Now what do we have on this? I suspect there could be a different tuning after all but are we able to change this in our cars too? Not that It would prove usefull anywhere outside a track, but it's nice to know.

All in all, my conclusions after reading the entire article and studying the numbers on the side, is that the vRS offers excellent performance, making a lot of other allegedly quicker cars (not just GTis) look ashamed. However, one area that could make use of upgrading is the handling, although that would probably be profitable only when pushing the car in a track, as such upgrades won't offer much in a highway "race" with another car. Of course, when you can gain some extra seconds/horses with a simple remapping, it is hard to invest in say coilovers instead, which are more expensive, offer less gains in absolute lap times, but give a much better feeling and behaviour of the car which cannot be measured with mathematical data. A combination of the two would be ideal and really transform the car I think, now we're just going to have to find this money, lol...

Edited 7 January, 201214 yr by newbie69

It also seems that because it's on the older platform ( the Fabia) it's slightly lighter and therefore making it more nimble to get a decent 0-60 etc? the figures look impressive considering the other cars are only milliseconds quicker ie A1, and Polo...

with that few ££££ difference it wouldn't seem too bad to shed out for a rear ARB, suspension etc...and you'd still get a practical hot hatch

The fabia has thinner tyres than the ibiza and polo gti as well which doesn't help with the grip.

Also it doesn't mention what tyres werecon each car whichcan cause a huge variation in lap times.

I do agree the fabia doesn't do handling as its to soft. Some choice modifications will solve that though.

Poly bushes, springs/dampers or coilovers, anti roll bar, decent tyres and a fast road geometry setup will go along way on this car.

and a fast road geometry setup will go along way on this car.

Where does this? Will the tyres still wear the same or not?

I would reccomend centergarvity or wheels in motion from personnal experience but book ahead early as these places are always booked up in advance

Not many companies have the equipment or knowledge to do this,and most will just adjust to within a tolerance of the manufacturers settings. The two companies I mentioned there specialise in chassis dynamics and can set up any car to behave exactly how you want it.

A simple change such as changing the rear toeand reducing the rear camber will reduce understeer alot. Some changes might destroy tyres.others won't, that's the beauty of it. Tell them what you do or dont want and they will.do it.

That's something a kwikfit or sts will not be able todo. Its not cheap though, and will cost anything from £100-15.

Is it worth the money, I thought so. Then once you have your chassis settings printed out any company with a

Hunter or equivalent system can do those settings for less money

What mostly triggered my curiosity was the different DSG software to be honest. Do we know If we could get our hands on our own?

I also read, that Fabia RS, Polo GTI, Audi A1, Ibiza FR have a front sway bar from factory. Is that true? I thought they come without bars neither on front nor on the back, because some had asked If installing a front arb would be equally beneficious as the rear one, and the answer was no.

Front arb as std. Rear doesn't have one and will benefit from one.

DSG remap isn't available yet. But I've had issues with mine changing gear mid corner when I wanted to hold that gear and speed for longer.

After the thousands (literally) I spent on my S2000 playing with the handling I feel I can jump in on this.

A few quick points though....

- 3 seconds is a lot, even on a 2-3 minute lap time.

- There is no such thing as a 'fast road' geometry setup

- I've used Wheels in Motion and Centre Gravity, so feel I can comment on both

Right.

First things first, don't just go throwing parts on a car expecting improvement. just chucking on any old coilover kit/lowering springs/arb/polybushes without understanding what you want to improve will get you absolutely no where.

As I understand it, the Fabia Mk2 VRS is almost a 'fire and forget' chassis, in that it is not adjustable. You need to be able to adjust camber, caster, toe at the front, and camber and toe at the back, as well as ideally damper stiffness and if you want to be extreme arb stiffness to get a real ability to adjust things.

Personally, my money on a Fabia VRS would start with a high quality Coilover kit, something like the BIlstein PSS-9's, along with a Whiteline rear ARB. Get this properly set up at a place like Wheels in Motion, and see where that gets you. After that, you can start thinking you want more adjustability, and look to see what other VAG parts can be swapped in to help (Can't you use Audi TT front suspension arms?)

With regards to providers, WIM and Centre Gravity are both very, very good. IMO, your wasting a lot of cash at Centre Gravity on a Fabia VRS. Chris is very good, but his market is Porsches and other high performance cars. The Fabia VRS is not that market. Tony at Wheels In Motion is a much better, and indeed cheaper option. He did a load of work for me on my S2000 and is easily well qualified to take a look at a car and see what the options could be.

- 3 seconds is a lot, even on a 2-3 minute lap time.

Slightly off topic, but that statement reminded me of what the Renault F1 car did on the Top Gear test track.

In damp conditions, it took 20 seconds off an Enzo Ferrari !!

That's a typical 1' 20 sec lap for a supercar. F1 did it in 59 seconds. Incredible !!

Your right about centergraviy being more porsche orientated but they also know their onions on normal cars. Having used both and having a half decent understanding of chassis geometry tuning I'm happy for either company's to do my work.

A few of us have been looking into whether mk1 TT arms will fit, but as yet we've had no answers. Might just have to take the plunge and buy one to see.

I've approached another company about having custom wishbones, top mounts and engine mounts made that way I canincrease the castor and neg camber. They wont be cheap, but it'll put the car closer to where i want it. These paired with some bilstein B16s, poly bushes and anti roll bars should make for a pretty well sorted car. Adjusting the rear toe is something that ill leave until I have everything else sorted then ill get it set up to make it alot more lively over the rear axle. Ill get it done ttge same time I have it corner weighted which won't be for a while yet.

Had the option of letting quaife use mmy gearbox to develop the ATB LSD but I have bailed out to let someone else run that route. I'm going for an SQS plate differential instead.

Lots of stuff planned, but I don't intend for this car to turn into a bottomless money pit just yet. I away with work for nearly half this coming year so nice and steady with the modding is how its going to be for me