With the sun shining today I managed to get out and clear the garage and do the weekly checks on the cars. I took the Fabia out for a quick spin to get it warm before doing the oil checks and drove it round some local Lincolnshire lanes and it was fun, but I'm still not confident in the handling; it does seem to get upset by bumps mid-corner. Later, I took the Mondeo over the same route after taking it out to refuel. The Mondeo is in a different league when it comes to handling, feeling safe, secure and solid and making it easier to get on the throttle earlier. It's not too shabby in a straight line either, with 200bhp, but it can't get close to the Fabia on fuel consumption. It is significantly more refined, though, a proper grown up car.

 

Overall, though, very happy with the 2 cars.

Haha I saw the title and started reading your post waiting for the bit where you took on the Mondeo and slayed it - bit of an anticlimax lol!

Haha I saw the title and started reading your post waiting for the bit where you took on the Mondeo and slayed it - bit of an anticlimax lol!

 

LOL indeed. The Fabia is quicker from 0-60 (7.3 seconds v 7.5 seconds based on official data) but the Fabia won't get near the Mondeo in the corners or on the brakes. The Mondeo is a very good car, and mine is a simple Titanium X, not the Sport version.

I agree that the Fabia gets upset by bumps mid corner. I've fitted my VRS estate with H&R springs that have made it so much more planted in the corners. The standard setup is exciting as it twitches and hops along. I guess it boils down to how confident you are, drive it more and more and you will trust it :-)

I used to have a 3.0V6 Mondeo and looked at trading it in for a Mondeo 240bhp Ecoboost. A great drive even though Ford lost the V6 soundtrack.

 

Unfortunately a longer commute meant I had to look for more economy so I swapped to the Passat. 

 

Recently been looking at the Mondeo 200ps 330lbft 2.2TDCi.

 

Mondeo's have always had great handling and feel, the Mk4's are rather large though, wont fit n a standard 16' garage.

 

Cheers

Lee

I agree that the Fabia gets upset by bumps mid corner. I've fitted my VRS estate with H&R springs that have made it so much more planted in the corners. The standard setup is exciting as it twitches and hops along. I guess it boils down to how confident you are, drive it more and more and you will trust it :-)

 

I'm contemplating the H&R springs and RARB; sounds like they are an excellent mod for the money.

Mondeo's have always had great handling and feel, the Mk4's are rather large though, wont fit n a standard 16' garage.

 

 

Yes, it is a large old beast, which makes the fact that it handles so well even more impressive, especially as the ride is also very good.

 

I don't do a huge amount of mileage so the economy doesn't concern me.

A standard vrs is borderline dangerous if driven with spirit in my opinion. As an example the misses and I picked up our new Suzuki S-cross Friday afternoon and I immediately felt more confident in that after 5 miles than I do in my vrs after 1600 miles

Suzuki-1, Skoda-0

A standard vrs is borderline dangerous if driven with spirit in my opinion. As an example the misses and I picked up our new Suzuki S-cross Friday afternoon and I immediately felt more confident in that after 5 miles than I do in my vrs after 1600 miles

Suzuki-1, Skoda-0

Borderline dangerous? Not sure if serious.

I think it's fine but I agree it does get unsettled by exceptionally bumpy roads. Nothing a set of better spring and a RARB won't sort out. My parents own a Swift, my brother a Swift Sport which I've just come back from work in which has plenty of bumpy roads along the way. It still gets unsettled by them but just as fun as the vRS and in some ways more fun since it never understeers, feels twitchy on the limit and makes you work for it. The vRS is too easy to drive in comparison.

Anything with a short wheel base is bound to be twitchy as a fundamental characteristic of the design. I would never say it was dangerous in standard guise.

Anything with a short wheel base is bound to be twitchy as a fundamental characteristic of the design. I would never say it was dangerous in standard guise.

 

But the Mk 2 Fabia is not that small and the wheel base not that short, although it is quite a tall car. Our other (other) car is a Ford Ka that is much smaller and with a significantly shorter wheelbase and the handling is exceptionally good - it is lowered on Eibachs and has the 20mm spacers on the rear axle but you can really throw it into corners and know you will be coming out the other side with your foot welded to the bulkhead demanding every single one of its 69 bhps! I don't yet have the confidence in the Fabia to do that, and somehow doubt I ever will! At least until I uprate the springs and add the RARB!

I put some lowered Eibach pro kit springs on and straight away I had more confidence in the corners. Added bonus it also looks much nicer too. As for the brakes you may find changing to a aftermarket slotted rotor will improve the braking. My DBA slotted rotors changed my brake peddle feel for the better even with standard pads.

I can't do too much to it as it's Mrs T's commuter! She likes it because of the DSG, sat nav, audio system, heated seats etc. She's not known for pressing on.

The Fabia vRS and Fiesta ST have nearly identical wheelbases and the Fiesta ST is one of the best handling cars on sale. Wheelbase isn't the issue.

 

Unfortunately the Fabia runs on the PQ24 chassis which was not one of VAG's finest when it was introduced 15 years ago. 

 

You can only do so much to reign in the poor chassis, poor geometry, tall body and lifeless electric power steering. These faults on a spacious cheap supermini can be overlooked but things start falling apart when you add the "Hot Hatch" label.

 

All IMO of course.

 

Cheers

Lee

Borderline dangerous? Not sure if serious.

I think it's fine but I agree it does get unsettled by exceptionally bumpy roads. Nothing a set of better spring and a RARB won't sort out. My parents own a Swift, my brother a Swift Sport which I've just come back from work in which has plenty of bumpy roads along the way. It still gets unsettled by them but just as fun as the vRS and in some ways more fun since it never understeers, feels twitchy on the limit and makes you work for it. The vRS is too easy to drive in comparison.

Ok so "borderline dangerous" is a bit extreme but the standard vrs chassis isn't up to the job for the power on tap under your right foot, likewise the brakes are not up to the job in hand either.

Ok so "borderline dangerous" is a bit extreme but the standard vrs chassis isn't up to the job for the power on tap under your right foot, likewise the brakes are not up to the job in hand either.

I agree with the brakes. I cook them within 10 mins. Chassis isn't that bad but is compromised because of cost. I've said before that if a Swift Sport had Fabia vRS power I wouldn't see which way it went. Been tempted to buy a newer 6spd Swift Sport and supercharge it.

Biggest mistake Skoda made were taking all the fundamentals of a really great hot hatch (namely the 180hp twincharger and 7 speed DSG) and more or less saddling it with standard Fabia sports suspension and some rear disc brakes.

The motor has a decent amount of pep, the gearbox in truth (despite a slight lack of smoothness at low speeds) was about as good as DSG gets but the minute you really try to press on in one in anything other than a straight line it would just get ragged so quickly.

Im no Lewis Hamilton but think of myself as a fair driver and have driven a few fast hatches over the years but this one had my heart in my mouth a good few times when driving at nothing like 10/10ths....felt massively unstable when changing direction at speed, also the brakes would suffer monumental fade if you asked more than a couple of heavy bits of braking from them in quick succession. Put it this way, despite the fact its barely if any faster in a straight line it wouldnt know which way a standard Mk5/6 Golf GTi went on a good bit of road. It had terrible traction issues and just ridiculous in the wet.

Dont get me wrong they are all issues than can be corrected, one of these with a decent map (to give it a bit more punch), lowering springs, rear ARB and bigger front brakes but i didnt want to mod mine. Each time I drove it I just fell more out of love with it, ended up chopping it in for an Octavia vRS TDi that whilst a tad slower drove better in pretty much every way otherwise.

To be fair though I dont think VAG were prepared let the little Czech upstart upstage the new Polo GTi and why they didnt work so hard on its dynamics.

Every VRS thread goes this way - focused on how deficient it is in brakes, chassis, not manual, too many doors, not profitable, drivers too old, and more besides. It is what it is.

The Fabia vRS and Fiesta ST have nearly identical wheelbases and the Fiesta ST is one of the best handling cars on sale. Wheelbase isn't the issue.

 

Unfortunately the Fabia runs on the PQ24 chassis which was not one of VAG's finest when it was introduced 15 years ago. 

 

You can only do so much to reign in the poor chassis, poor geometry, tall body and lifeless electric power steering. These faults on a spacious cheap supermini can be overlooked but things start falling apart when you add the "Hot Hatch" label.

 

All IMO of course.

 

Cheers

Lee

Least surprising post of the day.

Every VRS thread goes this way - focused on how deficient it is in brakes, chassis, not manual, too many doors, not profitable, drivers too old, and more besides. It is what it is.

Best response to thread!

I think we also need to remember that it's relatively cheap when you consider the power and that it comes with DSG as standard.

Something has to give in what they can provide for the money and in this case it's the suspension setup. But £150 on a H&R RARB transforms it, plus it's easily removed when you sell it so can also be sold to recover some of the cost.

Despite it's foibles, vRSs are great value for money and pound for pound they're a bit of a bargain and really shouldn't be compared to a Mondeo which couldn't be bought new for the same money.

They're different beasts all together, but a few quid spent get's a vRS sorted, my problem is, you shouldn't have to spend that few quid.

As someone who has fitted the Eibach springs and a RARB can I just also say,as I have said several times before,but few seem to appreciate...

IT ALSO NEEDS BETTER DAMPING

It still won't be as good as the best but I think it will give a further improvement to match the springs and rarb.

Despite it's foibles, vRSs are great value for money and pound for pound they're a bit of a bargain and really shouldn't be compared to a Mondeo which couldn't be bought new for the same money.

They're different beasts all together, but a few quid spent get's a vRS sorted, my problem is, you shouldn't have to spend that few quid.

 

But I own both, so of course I'm going to compare them.

It is what it is.

 

And Mrs T absolutely loves it, just as it is.