Hey all. Johnny was good enough to let me test drive his car today, we went for a long drive down one of my fave "special rally" stages, and it was pleanty of time and oppertuninty for me to compair his car , lowered on H&R springs, and with a revo map , against my car, standard except for winter tyres, as I have driven the roads I did many times inmy car

we met, up, his is the nice clean red one many of you will kjnow it from the posts he's made on here..

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you can see the difference in ride hight..

right, first off, a "normal" drive for about 10 miles down A roads, overtaking a few things, a few roundabouts ect...

on these nice smooth roads, a harder ride cannot be detected, and not much "handling" to be done, although the steering does seem a good deal sharper than mine, maybe thats because of my soft 45 profile winter tyres, or it may be that the initial steering input in his turns the car, whereas mine just moves the suspension! a few roundabouts show better body control and less roll. all good so-far, but I was worried about it being bouncy (which I dont like) so headed for some bumpy cumbrian backroads up a fell...

The remap on the roads? well, not as pronounced a difference as I thought it may be, definatley less noticable in the lower gears, up to say 4-50 as they are lightning quick there anyway, and you would need more traction to make much more of a difference to my car (the winter tyres have it on the traction in these damp v.cold conditions!) ..

however, did a few overtakes on the A-roads, and dual carrigeway, there is a noticable increase in mid-range performance, from 4th gear up, it really shows the extra power, and is more usable at higher speed overtaking manouvers, more 'relentless' in its power delivery as the speed increases, more "mid-range"... it has only done 2000 miles though, so will have to be run in a bit before it shows its true potential, I know mine loosened up massively after 10k...

onto the back roads, where I wanted to throw the suspension around in the bumps and rutts to see if it would be bouncy...

I was pleasently suprised! the only time you notice a harder ride is in the bigger bumps and holes, on normal rough backroads, there is no appreciable loss of comfort... traction (sadly) was no better, although the XDS was doing a good job of helping the slippery contis on greasy 4 celcius roads... have to say the winters DO make a difference to traction..

handling... well this is the impressive part. WAY better. its all in the body control. thats where you notice it. less roll, better reaction to steering inputs... its just feels more "planted"... again, no more grip, i think the tyres have a big disadvantage to winters in these conditions... but the the overall effect is to give you more confidance... its seems so much more stable than mine does, a bit more alive to your inputs, less floaty and less unsettled by the uneven roads..

a big for the increase in body control, more like the car should have been from the factory as a hot hatch

the extra mid-range from the remap is more noticable too, as using the paddles to keep a gear held along the back roads, you get more mid-range poke on part-throttle too

anyway. there are my thoughts a BIG thanks to Jon for letting me hoon around in his car for an hour

incedently, his gearbox works exactly the same as mine.. no differences.

I may go for the springs when I get my summer tyres back on in march, skoda approved,as they make it a more enjoyable drive with little loss of comfort. and no remap (as I want to keep my warrenty) still undecided on the tuning box

hope my little review (and Jon's car donation) helps anyone thinking about the mods!

Good write up, sounds like you had a blast driving someone else's at briskly :p The ride height on the lowered red one looks spot on!

Cheers Dave, it was a nice trip out in the Cumbrian hills

To hear you giggle on those twisty hill roads like a 10 year old was priceless

Anyways, you drive it like it should be driven and I was pretty impressed with your car control and discipline.

Like I said to you Dave, if I would have recorded your 'review' in the car, it would have made it into Top Gear. Nice write up

Look forward to the meetings in the near future and I'll do my best around work etc.

Great to meet up after 5 years by the way when we both had Mk1s

Cheers Dave, it was a nice trip out in the Cumbrian hills

To hear you giggle on those twisty hill roads like a 10 year old was priceless

Anyways, you drive it like it should be driven and I was pretty impressed with your car control and discipline.

Like I said to you Dave, if I would have recorded your 'review' in the car, it would have made it into Top Gear. Nice write up

Look forward to the meetings in the near future and I'll do my best around work etc.

Great to meet up after 5 years by the way when we both had Mk1s

cheers Jon, yes I do go a bit like a kid with a new toy at times

and yes, come along to the meets, we have some good ones planned this year

That's good to know. I may do this in the summer too

I appreciate the review on the lowered ride, especially coming from a factory vRS driver as you are! I had the same worries regarding comfort but I suspected that the handling improvement would be more obvious than the power improvement. And since it's more probable for me to enjoy the improved handling rather than the increased performance around here, I think the first thing which will be fitted to the car together with the Dunlops in a few months, will be new springs. I have no complaints at all with stock power and in fact I am frustrated at times, that I cannot fully exploit it with all those cameras and ridiculous speed limits. However, I am similarly frustrated at times, that even the easiest corner will produce noticeable bodyroll, If you want to take it at just a slightly higher speed than usual. I have already had an ARB fitted and the first few days I thought "what a difference!" but now that I got used to it, I steel find bodyroll annoying when moving fast. I guess that the a lowered ride would make the ARB's presence even more obvious.

The only question remaining I think, is were do the Eibachs stand between stock springs and H&R 40mm. They claim 20mm but I would think they are more like 60-40 towards the H&Rs behaviour, and not just in the middle. Another reason I believe this is just from pictures of both, that show the cars sitting in almost identical heights (Eibach vs. H&R) both noticeably lower than stock.

Hmmm... maybe you could repeat the test-drive in robkirby's Eibach-lowered vRS and let us know???

Edited 29 January, 201214 yr by newbie69

Hmmm... maybe you could repeat the test-drive in robkirby's Eibach-lowered vRS and let us know???

Maybe I will .....

Photo looks good!

Maybe I will .....

Yes please!!! :yes: :p

I'll probably get the dampers uprated in the near future (let the car do a few more miles) and possibly go for Koni or similar.

As Dave mentioned about the overall ride, I think he was as impressed with the way the H&Rs seem to suit the VRS and gives it that feel of 'how it should have been from the factory'.

shame the ITG Maxogen wasn't fitted in time for the run. Don't expect miracles, but the sound at least would make for some more fun. It'll be on by Wednesday.

In all honesty, I don't feel the car needs an ARB. The body control seems fine the way it is. I'm very happy overall.

Here's my couple of pictures, nothing exciting

The only question remaining I think, is were do the Eibachs stand between stock springs and H&R 40mm. They claim 20mm but I would think they are more like 60-40 towards the H&Rs behaviour, and not just in the middle. Another reason I believe this is just from pictures of both, that show the cars sitting in almost identical heights (Eibach vs. H&R) both noticeably lower than stock.

Hmmm... maybe you could repeat the test-drive in robkirby's Eibach-lowered vRS and let us know???

just to confirm (I cant tell by what you've said if you are talking about other cars you seen on eibachs or my pic on this thread) that mine is on standard springs, not eibachs (but they would be what I'd fit, if I'm gonna do it) I do however have my winter tyres on which are in 205/45/17 flavor not 205/40/17 flavour, so they fill the arches a bit more than a "standard" car.....

Cumbrian hills? Wish I'd of known if of brought my red brisky out too, exactly the same as the one in the picture (minus the mods) spent all weekend detailing it too :-)

In all honesty, I don't feel the car needs an ARB. The body control seems fine the way it is. I'm very happy overall.

I bet you could do the same thing respectively! I mean drive a vRS with an ARB fitted (+lowered as well) in order to see If that works for you too. Definitely improved the feeling I get from mine. After installing it, bodyroll seemed to have a top limit which If exceeded started giving away the back end way more easily than on stock form and that is something I would have expected from a 180bhp hot hatch from the beginning. Reduced bodyroll as well but not as much as springs would have done.

just to confirm (I cant tell by what you've said if you are talking about other cars you seen on eibachs or my pic on this thread) that mine is on standard springs, not eibachs (but they would be what I'd fit, if I'm gonna do it) I do however have my winter tyres on which are in 205/45/17 flavor not 205/40/17 flavour, so they fill the arches a bit more than a "standard" car.....

Yes I know yours is on standard springs, I've just seen others on Eibachs and If I did not pay much attention I couldn't see the difference between that and H&Rs, they bothed looked a lot different to the stock though.

Cumbrian hills? Wish I'd of known if of brought my red brisky out too, exactly the same as the one in the picture (minus the mods) spent all weekend detailing it too :-)

keep your eye on the NW meets section, we will be doing a big cumbrian meet this summer

Excellent :-) look forward to it

good write up, these are the sort of improvements id like to make too, come the summer. i like the idea of try before you buy too lol

good write up, these are the sort of improvements id like to make too, come the summer. i like the idea of try before you buy too lol

I guess you're next then

I guess you're next then

me forms an orderly queue