Hi all,

So I've had my vRS for 2 1/2 years now. It's on 130k, and I cover about 20k a year. It's just had a new turbo and alternator, and a boost pipe. This has cost a small fortune, of course.

I reckon it's worth ~£3000 in a private sale. It will need a new clutch, flywheel and cambelt in the next year, which will cost ~£1200. So, lets say I have £4200 to 'play with'.

One option, as I see it, is to buy an ex-fleet car at about £10,000. The cost to change would be £5800. For this, I could perhaps get a five year old 120D/320D/C200 with <50k on the clock.

Does the Fabia have potential for big extra bills? I know a few people are on big miles, towards the 200k mark. I've had enough of the big repairs (e.g. turbo), but do we think it would be any better on the cars I've listed above? Bear in mind I'd be running it for five years, so heading up towards the 150k mark towards the end. Also, I reckon something like a BMW or MB would still be worth nearly £3k at ten years old, so perhaps the cost to change is actually more like £2800.

Rambling post I know, but I'm a bit lost. Thoughts? Opinions?

I changed my previous vRS Fabia for a couple of some things (car and motorbike) I had always wanted and then realised that I had been stupid. If I could have had both vRS and bike that would have solved all my problems but I couldn't afford them both.

Nothing else does what the Fabia does as well as it does.

It has power, economy, enough space and due to the help available through this club I am not afraid to work on it except for big jobs needing special tools. The good thing is that even then help is available through the club.

The car can be modded to the the ridiculous stage if that's your choice, or subtly for a reasonable budget. If it's paid for already then, you don't really need to worry about anything 'cos you can put the monthly payment equivalent in the bank as a safety net for just in case problems or upgrades.

The choice is yours, of course, that never helps if you have itchy feet and feel the "need" to change.

MB and BMW will be A LOT more expensive to buy parts and pay labour for, they too, have their known problems.

I hope this helps you make up your mind, a tough one for sure!

I suppose it's all down to taste and aspiration.

Edit: double post, stupid iphone

My old fabia had 151k on the clock. I never had any engine based issues. my bills were bushes, 1 clutch and tires lol i plan to keep my current one for even longer mileage-wise

Personally I'd keep the vRS, but it depends on how you clock up your 20k per year.

I've had a 320d as a hire car and it is quicker than my vRS and much more refined, but I it was nowhere near as much fun to drive on my daily commute (25 miles on fast rural A-roads). If I had to spend a lot of time on motorways, I'd probably get the BMW. While the vRS is very capable on the motorway, the BMW is quieter and more refined. If I could justify getting a 330d for commuting, I'd definitely go for one.

As reliability goes, from my experience you can reasonably expect big stuff to go wrong after about 60k with any car, so probably better the devil you know, especially if you've got a new turbo and plan to do the clutch/DMF. I've read about a few of 320ds where the turbo broke up and bits got sucked in through the inlet manifold which sounds nasty/expensive. I've had 5 variants of the VAG 1.9 TDI and have taken 2 of them well over 200k without any major mechanical trouble.

My '05 vRS is on 170k and always surprises me how sweetly it runs and how crisp everything still is (gearchange, clutch, steering etc) and the interior doesn't look like it has done so many miles. There are other issues with it, though - the paintwork polishes up OK but is terrible when you look closely (presumably early water based paint - loads of stone chips and car wash marks from the previous owner) and the clutch/DMF will need doing at some point, although they are still the originals. There are some tiny spots of corrosion on the wheels, too.

As others have said, there's the question of image/aspiration. One of the things that attracted me to the vRS was the lack of 'status' compared to a BMW. I've had A4s before and now quite like telling people I drive a Skoda when they ask! I've found that people are generally much more courteous to me in a Fabia than an A4.