After weeks of deliberating on spec / colour, I took the plunge today and ordered me a Fabia VRS, hope it arrives quicker than the 16 weeks.

Black - officially the fastest colour.

Standard wheels - like the silver against the black

Bluetooth with steering wheel buttons - massively overpriced but wanted factory kit

Elec rear windows - don't want my son winding the windows down

Armrest - somewhere for the left hand to go.

Just to benchmark, my previous cars include the following

Golf Mk6 GT DSG - Nice car, just getting lots of miles on it and a bit slow.

Clio 200 - epic on a track, not great in heavy traffic

120d Coupe - couldn't get on board with the gears/engine

Mk5 GTI - great car, but I started doing loads of miles for work and it was drinking petrol.

Thanks for everyones help and advice on here, best forum so far.

Congrats, I'm sure you'll love it!

welcome

Mk5 GTI - great car, but I started drinking petrol. VRS does +oil

It should have the new engine which is better on oil..........

Plus I'm doing a lot less miles now, so it should be ok.

Don't stress with oil stories, my engine code is supposed to be the worst, and doesn't use a drop of oil...

And I get 50 mpg on my way to work :p

That MPG on my way to work would be a big plus, although I'd aim to halve it on the way back.

Good choice!

What was the problem with the 120d, just out of interest? It'll probably be on my shortlist for my next one (I suspect the vRS will be out of production when my replacement is due).

It had a ridiculously short first gear and I found the powerband to be very small, so it required more effort than I wanted to keep it on power.

I had just come from a Golf GTI which had power everywhere so it might have just been the contrast between the two.

It had a secondary problem of faulty windows which the dealer couldn't seem to fix. I kept coming back to the car and finding the windows half down, so I hated leaving it anywhere. There is a function on the remote to wind the windows down with that, but I'd walk away holding the remote to make sure I wasn't doing that.

Enjoy your new car when it comes.

Pay attention when locking the vRS that you do not hold the button too long or double press the button or whatever does it, when locking,

there is also a function to open the windows and you can leave both front ones down.

& the vRS has a first gear in name only, it might drop into as you come to a halt (it will go to 1st at stop)

or maybe when you go very slow,

& it will e in 1st at start off, but will be in 2nd before your doors have locked themselves as you drive, around 6mph if it stays in 1st for even that long.

Being auto it really matters not one bit, the next 6 gears after 1st work just fine.

or 5 next gears if you are using 'S'.

george

My current golf has the same function and I've not been caught out once, there was just something weird with this one.

Can't wait for it to arrive, just hope it doesn't take the full 16 weeks for delivery, it's only been 2.5 weeks so far.

Welcome aboard & might i add a great colour choice :-)

Btw You might also want to consider asking your dealer about the eibach spring kit

Btw You might also want to consider asking your dealer about the eibach spring kit

I've done that on my order. My thoughts are for the 5 year warranty, might as well fit pre pdi. Not that I'd really be that concerned about fitting after. Just means it's read to rock from day 1.

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by MisterS3

Cheers sp1ke, easily the fastest colour too.

Ive not tested the handling, but I like the current ride comfort. What effect do the springs have on that?

congratulation!s! im jealous! black best! loved my VRS

Great little car. Definately go for the 5 year warranty, wish they had offered it when I got mine!

I've had no oil issues. Only used a litre of oil in the first 10,000 miles.

Only thing I would say is if you will be looking at a remap then cruise control gives you better options with the APR remap as you can switch between the maps.

What effect do the springs have on that?

If you have a search on here there are several threads discussing suspension, so you can gauge other opinions.

For me the stock Fabia setup was comfortable but lacked control, felt quite crashy over potholes. The eibachs are an improvement & the handling is now much better so the car feels fun to drive, like a hot hatch should. The ride is a little firmer but not unpleasantly so.

I suspect the damping would be a lot better with a set of bilsteins, but its acceptable for now so I'm not planning to replace the stock dampers till they need doing

The stock car also has a massive gap between wheel & arch, my wife even commented on how odd this looked.

The eibachs provide a modest drop so the car looks like it has a "normal" gap between wheel & arch so if you want a dropped to the floor look then these aren't for you.

I am tempted by the springs, I'll do a bit more research about.

Already bought a Bolero headunit to go in it, have the similar one in my Golf and I like the big touchscreen.

Congrats on the new order, hope it turns up promptly, keep us posted.