I looked at a 18 month old Fabia vRS today. The dealer is selling for £12k, standard spec with no extras fitted.

Two questions for current owners. Is it worth trading a 2010 Octavia vRS for one of these and does £12k seem expensive for a basic spec Fabia vRS? I'd save roughly £70 per month by making the swap.

What miles is on the clock? I just bought a 30 month old one with 14k on the clock for £10500 from a dealer. Its got reversing sensors on it. Dunno if standard? Everything else is stock. There's another vrs in a showroom down the road for a 2011 for £11500 with 20k. So maybe its on the money if from a dealer. But for £15k its a brand new one. As got 20% vat off arm. Hope that helps

Gareth

Edited 23 March, 201313 yr by Gerthmeister

It has 18k on the clock and is white with black roof, black alloys and smoke headlights. No cruise control, climate, armrest, auto dimming mirror or parking sensors.

You can get a brand spanker for £13.6k, albeit without the roof and wheels.

Might have to wait 12 weeks or so, but you'll get the new badges, steering wheel etc plus probs better finance rates and trade in?

I came from a Mk2 Octy vRS(petrol) to the Fabia vRS. I wouldn't recommend it.

The Fabia is better on fuel(when compared to the petrol) and cheaper to tax and insure, but in hindsight I wouldn't do it again, the Octavia is just a much better car. The Fabia vRS has far too many issues, too fragile. Theres no way i would own one standard even taking into account the bargain tax free price, but I've enjoyed it as a project which is ultimately why i bought it, but i've always got it in my head that its going to break, and it has on a few occasions. There will be the die hard vRS supporters here who say its the modifying thats caused it, but i dont think it is as muchos standard cars have suffered the same fate. Its a flawed platform and IMO.

Dont get me wrong, my car with al I have done to it is fantastic. Very quick and handles/brakes with the best of them, but its not an enjoyable experience always thinking about misfires, or oil consumption, pistons etc, and now steering racks.

I came from a Mk2 Octy vRS(petrol) to the Fabia vRS. I wouldn't recommend it.

The Fabia is better on fuel(when compared to the petrol) and cheaper to tax and insure, but in hindsight I wouldn't do it again, the Octavia is just a much better car. The Fabia vRS has far too many issues, too fragile. Theres no way i would own one standard even taking into account the bargain tax free price, but I've enjoyed it as a project which is ultimately why i bought it, but i've always got it in my head that its going to break, and it has on a few occasions. There will be the die hard vRS supporters here who say its the modifying thats caused it, but i dont think it is as muchos standard cars have suffered the same fate. Its a flawed platform and IMO.

Dont get me wrong, my car with al I have done to it is fantastic. Very quick and handles/brakes with the best of them, but its not an enjoyable experience always thinking about misfires, or oil consumption, pistons etc, and now steering racks.

This is been discussed many times.Imo it comes down to the fact that I would not want to run one outside the Skoda warranty.

I'm not going to do that so any faults should not cost me anything.I bought the 5 year warranty and will sell with plenty of it left,so the residual value should not be too bad.

Octavia better?As you see I had one too so I'm qualified to judge but all I will say is that I made the swap with my eyes open and I'm not disappointed.

As the man said "They are different cars,they have different names which are spelt differently"....that's the way I view it ,pluses and minuses and if you are aware what they are by doing your research beforehand you will be OK.

I have owned Octavia's since 2006, each of them have proved to be very reliable and have never caused me any major issues. I'm guessing from the replies here that the Fabia may not be as reliable or dependable.

You can get a brand spanker for £13.6k, albeit without the roof and wheels.

It might be that I'm being a slight bit picky here, but I'd definitely request they add the roof and wheels otherwise you'd end up getting very cold and not moving very far!

Ha, realised I should have been more specific.

It might be that I'm being a slight bit picky here, but I'd definitely request they add the roof and wheels otherwise you'd end up getting very cold and not moving very far!

Brilliant haha

Sent from my Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2

I think the replies and opinions here have convinced me to keep the Octavia or look elsewhere for a replacement. Thanks everyone for the input.

Nothing wrong with the fabia imo - does what it says on the tin.

Quick and cheap to buy/run hot hatch with good handling and good fuel economy.

If you are looking to save money per moth and stay with the brand whilst having something quick and reliable you've found it.

A few have had issues and are slightly harsh in their views but I must admit I love mine to bits.

The fabia vRS is a very good car back in 2011 i had a new one but i sold it in late 2012 for a yeti but as of today i am back as a fabia vRS estate owner

Is the main problem engine failure due to excessive oil usage and if so easily avoided by regularly checking the oil level? Are there other issues unrelated to this?

Yes there were up to the replacement of the Twincharger CAVE engine in late 2012.

The first UK mk2 vRS go out of the Manufacturers Warranty in August.

Hopefully these 2010 cars are all sorted out by now.

george

eg

Is the main problem engine failure due to excessive oil usage and if so easily avoided by regularly checking the oil level? Are there other issues unrelated to this?

err yes, a pretty drastic one.

Just replacing th oil will just exasperate the issue in the long term. Excessive oil usage leads to piston ring failure which can lead to either new pistons or new engine, so just replacing oil doesn't rid the engine of the issue.

If I was to buy the used car it has 1.5 years warranty remaining so if I have any issues Skoda would have to fix them. I'm unlikely to keep the car over 2 years so I wouldn't have it for long without warranty coverage.

Mine is obviously out of warranty due to modifications but i have had to buy pistons £1000 +labour(Luckily it was caught before the block was damaged!!) and a steering rack at £750+VAT+Labour.

Its something to bear in mind when owning outside of warranty

Another option I have considered is a 2010 Ibiza Cupra with 1 year approved Seat used car warranty.

I would say DONT. Look on Seatcupranet. The Ibiza Cupra has been out alot longer than the vRS and if you go on there, the 2010 cars suffered with masses of problems. I presumed mine with all the 2011 updates would be fine, but obviously in 2012 VAg just dropped the engine full stop.

If you didn't mod it sy these would be under warranty and possibly done with Skoda good will out of warranty?

I agree if it wasnt modded it would have been done under warranty, id still be really p!$$sed off tough, and I would also still sell it on as a result. The fact that i have paid out of my own money isnt what winds me up, its the fact that it broke in the first place and from now on if i kept the car i would always be expecting something else to fail.

Yeah it shouldn't break when it's only 2 years old!

Wonder if turning up the diff setting had a bad effect on steering rack?

Thats actually something ive thought could have caused the issue. But Still why have those settings if its not safe to use them all?

True - unless it's only supposed to be turned on for tracks not every day?