Hi guys,

 

Picked up my silver Fabia VRS on Monday, absolutely loving the ride and the ability to overtake people (my last car was a 1998 Astra 1.7TD!)

 

Pics below.

 

A quick question whilst im here. I was messing around with the buttons on the indicator stalks this afternoon and all of a sudden it clunked into cruise control. When I bought the car I had no idea it had cruise control fitted and neither did the garage. After a bit of sifting on the forum it appears you can buy retrofit cruise control kits for the mk1, so my guess is the previous owner had this done.

 

Trouble is I have no idea how I activated it in the first place! I know this sounds ridiculous, but could anyone give me pointers as to where the cruise control on/off button is on the indicator stalk!?

 

Also another thing, am I right in thinking that the mk1's came with rubbing strips and black door handles? Is this another after market alteration the previous owner has made?

 

Any advise much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

Colour coded door handles were standard from the '06 Model Year, so yes, those would be retrofitted.

As for the cruise control, the button on the end activates the speed you want to hold. If you press it in and hold it with the cruise control active it will decelerate/drop the speed limit you set previously. The bigger slider switch turns it on and off (there are two hard click positions) and also resumes the previous setting if you slide it away from you (it's spring loaded) and let it go immediately. If you hold it against the spring it will accelerate the car and hold the speed when you let it go.

It's quite complicated and we'll worth studying in the manual, if you have one.

You can also disengage the cruise by pressing the brake or pressing the clutch.

My lever suffers from dust on the contacts so it's always a bit hit and miss if it works or not these days. One day I'll get a new lever fitted, but it's quite handy if it works in roadworks with cameras etc.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but the interior has also been completely swapped out for one from a Fabia Sport. Many people prefer the dark interior, but the car would originally have had a two-tone light grey interior. The painted wheels are also not 100% standard.

I don't know if it's significant or not, but the car seller has fitted new number plates. Why?

It's obviously been heavily messed with. I presume you've had it checked out to make sure it's not a crash-repair job?

Oh, and it looks like it's been lowered as well.

Welcome.

Oh yes, definitely welcome!

Thanks guys. Yeah I knew about the interior, the garage explained to me saying that the previous owner had it replaced because the original interior was quite stained. Not complaining as I prefer the cupra interior.

The new plates must have been put on by the garage. I noticed all their cars have new plates.

As for it being lowered I'm really not sure, again no info was provided by the garage!

Did all the checks beforehand and the car came out clean, no previous accidents, etc.

Thanks for the advise on the cruise control, I'll have a play about tomorrow. No docs on the cruise unfortunately.

yes, welcome, good choice in car, performance and economy in one. had mine 21 months and very happy and its not re-mapped, cheap to do a basic service, visit TPS if you can. have fun.

Dont think its lowered 

Hi and welcome aboard.

Dont think its lowered

It is, it's just on Eibachs rather than coilovers. I just spotted the LCR splitter too. I'd be VERY surprised if that car isn't mapped.

Thanks guys. Yeah I knew about the interior, the garage explained to me saying that the previous owner had it replaced because the original interior was quite stained. Not complaining as I prefer the cupra interior.

OK. If it's a Cupra the front seats will have tilt and slide facility. It's much more likely to be the Fabia Sport. Lots of people do the swap.

The new plates must have been put on by the garage. I noticed all their cars have new plates.

I only mentioned it because they only replaced the rear number plate from what I can see. Number plates cost money and most dealers are VERY reticent to spend any money they don't have to.

Did all the checks beforehand and the car came out clean, no previous accidents, etc.

That's really all you can do, short if trying to contact the previous owner. I'm not trying to say it's a cut-n-shut, but it seems to me it's been heavily modified in it's life and it's probably worth just getting the car looked over by someone that knows Furbies so you know what mods it's got.

If you don't mind, any chance of a close-up of the front wheel? 312mm brakes would be high on my list of mods. And look under the back of the car for a 1/2" thick bar between the rear suspension members - RARB, which is very good for handling.