It does seem like on some threads we get into a circle of talking down Skoda cars (the VRS in particular), which is a bit odd considering it's supposed to be an enthusiasts forum?

Well the OP has over the last months started Oil /engine threads, Suspension threads and studied the vRS more than any prospective owner i think,

& he studied more and then drove it, and now he knows.

 

Personally i think he has done the right thing, some just go buy and regret.

Noisy and crashy,  just as some like them.

 

Enjoy buying and driving or not as you wish.

In fairness, much of what I have posted has been a response to your relentless and presumably informed criticism of the VAG 1.4 twincharged engine and Skoda UK.

 

My impression of your undoubtedly incisive assessment of the Fabia vRS is that it has a dreadful engine and is sold (and not supported) by a bunch of devious Shysters.  It seems that you also believe that in addition to having a fundamentally flawed power unit the Fabia vRS is "noisy and crashy" and that this should be perceived as a positive.

 

It seems to me that the car is great fun to drive; I am concerned that it may not be so much fun around town or on a long drive.  Added to this, it may be a fairly short-term experience.

 

Despite all of this, I do read and appreciate many of your posts; I also greatly appreciate the possibly less strident views of many other posters who have given of their time and experience.  As to your suggestion that I have studied the car more than any prospective owner, I don't consider a car to be an impulse buy; you appear to see things differently, so be it

 

 

ps - the Chelsea game was incredibly boring.

Edited 18 March, 201412 yr by vxh26

No it is a wonderful advanced engine with some failing and the 'Volkswagen Audi Group' as they have done for decades not admitting to problems and causing paying customers lots of problems.

 

DSG wonderful and some flawed and China and Asia has made them accept there are problems with some.

 

VAG have moved on, now it is ACT/COD that is their big thing,

leave the Twincharger owners and used buyers to stew.

 

Only the Internet is not letting them sweep under the carpet like their previous failures due to penny pinching with some parts.

 

So i like Twinchargers very much, 

just not prepared to let Skoda/VAG rip people off.

 

Crashy, Noisy,

i am just inclined to agree with those that like to put them down,

not worth arguing on that point if thats how they see them, or feel them.

The Fabia vRS is what it is. It's definitely a compromise type of car - brilliant in some areas and flawed in others. You pays yer money etc....

If you are after a practical, value for money car with a decent amount of power and a great auto box then you'll love it.

If your priority is buying the best hot hatch then you may be disappointed as let's be honest it's hardly the last word in dynamic finesse.

I love The Fabia vRS and I'm now on my third (mk1 and 2x mk2) but I've no need for any rose-tinted spectacles. SWMBO however is the opposite - she won't hear a bad word against them, even thinks there is nothing wrong with the ride quality....... Lol.

Yawn, read it before a million times from you Lee.

Don't you get bored coming on here to tell us all how bad a car choice we made?

Or do you just like butting heads with George?

I'm not quite sure what's more irritating - his stuck-needle repetitiveness or signing off every post 'Cheers - Lee'.

Cheers

Brian

It does seem like on some threads we get into a circle of talking down Skoda cars (the VRS in particular), which is a bit odd considering it's supposed to be an enthusiasts forum?

It's bizarre! Fair enough if you don't like something, but why spend so much time and effort telling other people they made a poor choice - it shows a lack of manners. There are plenty of other forums out there.

If I didn't like my vRS I'd get shot and never darken the doors of this forum again.

It seems to me that the car is great fun to drive; I am concerned that it may not be so much fun around town or on a long drive.  Added to this, it may be a fairly short-term experience.

 

Actually it is great around town and on long drives. The suspension may be firm but the comfort of the seats absorbs a lot of the bumps. I'm sure if our roads were in better condition it wouldn't even be spoken of. It isn't any different to any other small/medium sized car with low profile tyres IMO. I had a 59 reg Fiat Bravo previously in Sport trim which included 18" wheels, I wouldn't say the ride was much different at all to the Fabia vRS and the Fiat was a superb car and was especially comfortable.

General observation - there is too much negativity regarding the vRS on this forum, mostly it seems from people who haven't had one so who's opinions aren't particularly relevant. It is a forum so it will always attract people with problems but that doesn't necessarily mean that the same issues affect every car on the road.

Agreed.  Our roads don't help cars with a firmer set up, but personally I prefer it.  I would say that Skoda's VAG cousin Seat suffers much worse in that area.

 

I also found that this engine/DSG was perfect around town and in traffic in my Ibiza.  Certainly saves a lot of left leg work on the clutch anyway!  I would have thought that maybe 7th gear would have been more of a low revving motorway cruising gear than it is though, but then it's only a 1.4 and not a diesel, plus first gear seemed very short, so all in all its a good all rounder in my humble opinion.

vxh26,

 

Hope that having heard the opinions and facts about the Fabia vRS , you'll get on and get one so we can appreciate your purchase and have some photos to view.

 

Perhaps you could give George some so kind words, knowing the effort and assistance he has given to many owners .

Members have raised their problems and issues ,having had very little cooperation from their dealerships and  VAG.

 

They needed help and got it from him!

 

Hopefully you have learnt a lot in the process of you own evaluation and decision making.. 

It's bizarre! Fair enough if you don't like something, but why spend so much time and effort telling other people they made a poor choice - it shows a lack of manners. There are plenty of other forums out there.

If I didn't like my vRS I'd get shot and never darken the doors of this forum again.

 

But what if you were a Skoda Enthusiast, what if you had bought eight Skoda's already, what if you really wanted to buy their latest sports version but found it sadly lacking.

Now I've never told anyone they've bought the wrong car, but anyone on here asking for advice before buying will receive my opinions whether current owners like that or not is up to them. Anyone not understanding why they don't sell as well as Skoda would like will hear the reason we didn't buy one even though we really wanted too. 

The vRS has a flawed handling/ride balance from the factory, it didn't sell as good as Skoda expected, it's been dropped from the Mk3 for now. Yes I think we all know that.

 

But if Briskoda becomes a forum where only positive views are allowed it will be a sad day and the day I don't bother coming on anymore.

 

And as for other forums, there are far more negative posts on the BMW and VW forums I also use. It's just some owners on here are very insecure about their purchase.

Edited 19 March, 201412 yr by logiclee

Nothing wrong with expressing a negative opinion - it's the seemingly endless repitition on here - and the tactless way opinions are often expressed.

Sales figures are neither here nor there to me - VW managed to shift a massive 995 over six years of my favourite car that I've owned.

I've had my vRS two and a half years and it hasn't managed to fall off the road yet...cue landing in a ditch this evening..

Nothing wrong with expressing a negative opinion - it's the seemingly endless repitition on here - and the tactless way opinions are often expressed.

Sales figures are neither here nor there to me - VW managed to shift a massive 995 over six years of my favourite car that I've owned.

I've had my vRS two and a half years and it hasn't managed to fall off the road yet...cue landing in a ditch this evening..

 

The handling is not unsafe, it's the ride handling balance that was the deal breaker for me, I hate crashy cars. Old, S-Line A3's, E model 1 Series, Fabia vRS and a few more we tried and discounted over the last couple of years. The only thing with the old A3 and old 1 Series the harsh ride gave almost no roll. The Fabia still has quite a bit of roll. IMO the Mk1 Fabia vRS had a better ride/handling balance but was pretty nose heavy.

The best FWD hatch I've driven is the Fiesta ST, it's firm but supple, not crashy, plenty of grip, makes you smile. So why didn't I get one? A three door doesn't work for us. 

There are plenty of firm cars that are not crashy, Ford do it well, Mazda MX5 new MQB A3 S-Line and Golf GTi, BMW f20 1 Series etc. Yes all significantly more expensive than the vRS (Apart from the Fiesta) but proof that you don't have to have a crashy harsh ride to have excellent handing and limited roll.

Lets hope the Mk3 Fabia will be better on the MQB chassis. 

vxh26,

 

Hope that having heard the opinions and facts about the Fabia vRS , you'll get on and get one so we can appreciate your purchase and have some photos to view.

 

Perhaps you could give George some so kind words, knowing the effort and assistance he has given to many owners .

Members have raised their problems and issues ,having had very little cooperation from their dealerships and  VAG.

 

They needed help and got it from him!

 

Hopefully you have learnt a lot in the process of you own evaluation and decision making.. 

I am not entirely sure how to respond to this . . . I absolutely agree that George is incredibly generous with his time and in expressing his views and I am immensely grateful for that.  However, he does seem, undoubtedly as a result of experience, to be highly critical of the Twincharged 1.4 engine, of Skoda and VAG whilst praising the "noisy and crashy" vRS - I am confused.

 

Perhaps unwisely, I have come to the conclusion that there were significant problems with the earlier CAVE engine but that VAG have probably resolved many of those issues with the later CTHE engine.  As a result of this, I am less concerned about owning a vRS (from a reliability perspective) than I was when first I started monitoring this forum.

 

I believe my very first post related to whether or not the ride was harsh - it undoubtedly is.  I now know that the car also suffers from road noise and I am more convinced than ever that long journeys in a vRS would not be especially relaxing.  Sadly, city driving and modern congested traffic conditions mean that one will seldom be able to enjoy the performance although they will highlight the undoubted strengths of the DSG box.

 

I have as you suggest learnt a lot over the past few months, much of it via George but also from many others and will now make a judgement as to how much of an issue the downsides of what is certainly a fun car to drive are in my real world.

 

 

To return to your main point, as a perhaps overly cautious prospective purchaser I am very grateful to George for his (occasionally somewhat bewildering) input.  I am also grateful to tweenster, bobnaldo, sharkrider, adam1985, XK140, philhoward, logiclee, BossFox, Sparkly, Furbytom, austenw90 and of course yourself - I am sure that I have forgotten many helpful posters and I am grateful to them all

I told you, i do not think noisy and crashy, it is a lightweight car for the power/engine/box without much noise deadening & on low profile tyres.

i just agree with those that say that, to have one less argument.

 

If you think it is on 205 or 215 40 R 17,  you just put it on 16" Rims.

Not complicated.

 

There are 1,800 CAVE Engine cars in the UK from 2010-12.,

& 800-1000 CTHE from 2012-2014

How can you conclude about the CTHE until they at least are 2 years old.

 

They are better, but not all are fault free.

The chap who I spoke to at my local dealer last weekend was adament that the brand new was rolling out of the factory now are and will be without fault when it comes to oil consumption. Maybe an opinion or maybe he knew something we don't.

Edit: he was a technician.

Edited 19 March, 201412 yr by austenw90

He maybe does not know of the 4 members just on here with 2013 vRS CTHE engine cars with replacement engines because of high oil usage.

 

Has there maybe been an improvement on the revised engine

or just better Quality Control in the last 6 months.?

Or just another Technician that when he has not seen faulty ones think there are no faulty ones.

3 Monkeys.

OTOH it's hardly surprising some of them go wrong, it being such a complex engine - I've been reading SSP359 with interest

 

FWIW, "seemingly endless repetition on here - and the tactless way opinions are often expressed" are my bugbears as well.

 

Re engine replacements; I wouldn't mind betting anyone having a complete engine replacement in a brand-new car will actively seek out an Internet forum, since it's pretty unexpected. JMO.

Edited 19 March, 201412 yr by pearce_jj

'SSP 359' is about the Engine pre CAVE to 125 kW, not as is 132-136 kW

 

Very few new members arrive on the forum saying, 'we have had a new engine fitted'.

They come first and ask about the oil usage, and then Oil Consumption tests, and Breather Mods, 

& Skoda saying via Dealerships, & Skoda UK Customer Services,

'they all do that'. Within acceptable tolerances,

 '0.5 litres in 1000 km is acceptable.' and your test shows only 0.3 in 1000 km.

(we tested over 300 km & multiplied the result, never mind that some do not know the weight of a litre of oil.

or can follow a simple Technical Document setting out clearly the procedure to follow')

Then after the run around, some get to the replacement engine being fitted.

 

 

But only about 10-20 % of the CAVE cars have been faulty.

 

So if Skoda UK and VW, SEAT & Audi were open and honest, it would have saved them money, 

and saved customers from the grief.

 

EDIT,

Strangely regardless of what car Reviewers & Journalist say or write,

There are twice as many Fabia MK2 vRS Registered as being on the UK roads as VW Polo GTI, 2010-2014

& a similar twice as many as Seat Ibiza Twinchargers 2009 - 2014.

& lets forget the Audi A1 185 ps as Journalists & the VWG like to, less than 500 of them, 2011 - 2014

 

Considering the sheer cost of a full engine replacement, it's hardly surprising the underwriter wants a full and proper diagnoses, to be fair.

I'm interested where the 20% figure comes from.

Well maybe just ask Skoda/VAG directly just how many of the 1,800 of the vRS Twinchargers, with CAVE engines, 

and then the Ibiza, Polo & A1 with the same engines have had Oil Consumption tests, Breather Pipes and Valves, 

& how many Replacement Engines or Rebuilds they have paid for.

 

Because i can not furnish with you with the Numbers, but we can be pretty sure on it being more than 

180 of the 1,800 & is actually greater than that.

 

If Skoda want to dispute that, they are in the position to do it,

they pay the Bills.

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/294051-cave-cthe-14-tsi-just-reply-please-if-you-had-an-engine-replaced

You can pick up decent boleros on the bay for £150 if patient.

Stolen ?

The question is how "we can be pretty sure"? Obviously VAG would never disclose replacement (/failure) rates unless there was a material provision required in their accounts.

Because just from the Members on here we have the actual numbers of various Twinchargers that have been in for work just from Members here.

(yes we know about people only coming to forums when they have problems etc, not representative etc)

The member with the records might post the figures.

 

Do you think the Problem is some Internet Myth.?

What it is, is Skoda.VAG not accepting publically there can be problems.

 

& now Second and 3rd even 4th hand owners are now buying these cars and some are out of the original Warranty,

and some are being rejected on Warranty Claims from those Warranty Providers.

Stolen ?

I wondered that; one from a Skoda Yeti went for £150 yesterday (LINK).  Typical selling price on eBay seems to be about £250 to £300. Just seen that there is another one on offer at £100 with no trim, no cable and no security code available - sounds VERy fishy!

 

Does anyone have any idea how easy it would be to fit one of these in a vRS in place of the standard Swing, would it interface properly with the MFSW and also . . . how reliable is the CD changer?

Edited 20 March, 201412 yr by vxh26

I'd be nervous stating failure rates as fact without empirical evidence to support the same, particularly as such statements could conceivably create downward pressure on residuals.

Whether the rates are higher or lower, the point is that only VAG really knows and clearly they are within acceptable ranges, since manufacturing has continued for a number of years.