Mk1 Fabia VRS buying advice

[Maieth]

Hello folks. I've had a search for this information on the forum and looked through the stickies, but can't find much in the way of buying advice specific to the mk1 Fabia VRS.

I'm hoping to view and test drive one or two over the coming week. If anyone can suggest things to check or look for, or can point me to a good thread, I'd be very grateful.

I'm looking at spending between £5k to £6.5k, hopefully to get something that's clocked around 40-50k miles.

In particular, are there any important services that I should be aware of - cambelt, clutch etc?

Any advice appreciated. Wish me luck.

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[Harry1212]

50k or below will most likely not have had a cambelt or clutch change so it will need to be done in the future, maybe not clutch as they can last a lot longer

 

Or you could just buy one with slightly higher mileage, 70k-90k, which will have most likely had it's major services done and you should be ok for the next 20k+ miles

[m4tt274]

imo go for one on around 65K ish as its more likely had the belts done etc, and truthfully, diesels don't like being driven round town and on short journeys. At 40K after 10 years i bet the clutch, duel mass and turbo will be tired. May be fine, but just my thoughts. 

 

apart from the usual stuff with every car, like crash damage, scruffy paint etc. 

 

Look for rust around the number plate lights on the boot lid and bottom the wheel arches if you fussed about bodywork. 

 

Tell the seller to not start the car before you come so its stone cold, you want to see if any blue smoke comes out when its totally cold on start up. 

 

listen for duel mass chattering. depress the clutch and let it out and listen for a change in sound. 

[mondy1975]

Buy on condition and service history, not on mileage.  If it's not been looked after then walk away.  I'd rather pay less for one with 80-100k that's spent its life sat on a motorway in 5th or 6th gear meaning minimal mechanical wear rather than pay more for one with low mileage that's gone over twenty speed bumps every day, had umpteen cold starts, had a gearchange every minute, been on and off boost from the traffic lights, never got up to temperature, seat foam been squashed from jumping in and out of the car, scratches and dents from supermarket car parks, suspension wear from bumping up the kerb outside the shops etc.

 

Personally I'd go for one of the run out limited edition metallic blue ones with leather trim, CD changer and cruise control, as these will be the ones that everyone wants in future.  Trouble is, they're still expensive now.

 

It's also worth looking around at one that's had optional extras fitted from the factory, as they don't cost much (if any) more than a standard car, yet can add greatly to the car's driveability and comfort (like Xenon lights with wash and heated seats, for example).  I'll put a list of the factory options and what they cost new here later on when I get home.

[mondy1975]

Worth having a look at the cars for sale section on here too, there's a few on at the moment.

[sepulchrave]

Buy on condition and service history, not on mileage.

 

This.

 

That is all.

[Maieth]

Some great advice already folks, thank you. Never looked at a diesel of this kind of age, so thoughts on high vs low mileage are particularly interesting and will definitely be taken into consideration.

A couple of blue specials locally. I much prefer the leather interior, but at up to £1500 extra I'm not sure I can justify it. Point taken about them holding better value though. Anyone know where I can get info on the extra kit that the specials got?

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[mondy1975]

From Wikipedia but sounds right:  "In 2007 1,000 Special Edition Fabia vRS models were produced, featuring individually numbered black leather seats with blue piping, sporty red brake callipers, "Race Blue" metallic paint, cruise control, darkened rear windows and a six CD autochanger. This model was known as the Fabia vRS SE."

 

You can find some standard vRS models with factory option leather trim (looks like the black SE seats but with red rather than blue piping on the seats).  You can also sometimes find ones that have had a leather retrim; quite a few owners on here had them retrimmed by a place in York for about £850 and it was a better job than the factory leather.

[mondy1975]

Bear in mind that you can have cruise control retro-fitted to any vRS using genuine Skoda parts for around £200-£220.  Useful to have and a good selling point.

 

Kits available from here: http://vwgolfr32.co.uk/  They can be fitted by them or by any VW group specialist with or competent mechanic with the VAG-COM software.  Very comprehensive instructions are supplied (I got a kit for my old Octavia).  Make sure you get the correct kit though - best to phone them.

[mondy1975]

Any that need or have no evidence of a timing belt and water pump change, budget around £320 for the timing belt, tensioner and water pump kit supplied and fitted including new coolant.

 

IIRC the belt and pump interval is 60k or 4 years, whichever is sooner.  Don't be tempted to go over this interval and make sure that the water pump is replaced when the belts are done as the water pump has a plastic impeller that can break up with age, knackering your engine in the process.  If you don't trust that it's been done properly then get it done yourself for piece of mind.

 

I'd only buy one with full main dealer or VW specialist service history, not one that's been serviced at a back street garage.  They might not have used the correct specification oil etc, at least a main dealer or a VW group specialist will have.

 

If the owner thrashes it from cold on the test drive, or drives like a ****, walk away.  It'll be shagged.

[Ad Lav]

Agree in the condition and service history - if it's low mileage with the above then that's a bonus.

I got my 07 vRS SE recently from a Skoda dealer and came with full service history and two cambelt changes done.

Leather beats the standard cloth but would have liked xenons!

[Gambo]

I got a 56 plate 64k mile car with heated (cloth) seats, cruise control and factory xenons for below what you're looking to spend, so I wouldn't write off non SE cars.

 

As others have said buy on condition and service history though rather than mileage. For example I'm just doing long motorway journeys in mine meaning I'm on for about 25k miles a year, but it's getting it's service every 10k miles and perishable items replaced as required. So it will have an easier life than something stopping and starting around town. 

[mondy1975]

Recommended retail price of 2004 vRS: £11990

 

vRS factory fitted options and prices (1st May 2004), all including VAT:

 

Black Magic paint: £260

Metallic paint: £260

CD autochanger: £275

Cruise control: £125

Electric sunroof: £400

ESP (Electronic Stability Programme): £400

Front passenger airbag de-activation switch: £60

Heated front seats: £125

Parking sensors £200*

Satellite navigation system (including disc): £1800

Side airbags: £275

Third rear headrest £45

Xenon headlights (including headlamp washers) £500

 

Leather trim was also available, but it's not listed in this price list.  May have been a factory special order option.

 

(* Parking sensors are listed as being available on the Comfort/Elegance trim only, but have been available on the vRS at various times).

[stuart vrs]

I bought mine on 114k with minimum service up to 76k, so I changed the timing belt, water pump and pullies £300 done by skoda, now on 143k I service myself oil and filters every 10k miles. stock car 06 plate, pulls in every gear average 50 mpg. one happy vrs owner. happy viewing there is one out there that will get your attention.  

[Maieth]

Fantastic advice folks, thank you all for such detailed and quick responses.

Is it worth adding this thread to 'the Extremely useful Fabia Topic' sticky or just as a pinned thread/sticky on its own in the Fabia boards?  Looks like there is a lot of interest in these 'pocket rockets' and I've looked hard, but couldn't find this kind of advice anywhere else.

 

I'm going to visit a dealership later today to test drive a low mileage, non SE VRS, just to get the feel of it, but I have already found some much better bargains following advice here - a couple of cars (No local SE's sadly) on 70-80k miles with dealership FSH and cam changes, etc done for around the £4k mark. - I'll probably take a look at these instead if the car today feels right.

Edited 17 March, 2014 by Maieth

[Maieth]

Update: had a good run in the low mileage VRS. Great little car. Buckets of power when needed and perfectly civil the rest of the time. A lot prettier in the flesh too, interior included.

Found one fairly local on 80k with a few extra goodies, so that will be my next stop I reckon.

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[Maieth]

Anyone recognise this car?  http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201401311457600/usedcars?logcode=visc

Picked up on this being a fairly close knit community, I figure someone might know who sold it to the dealership?

Any info would be cool.

On sale at S. S. Autos, Erdington (B'ham').

Checked with garage and cambelt/pump have been done by 3rd party garage.

[Bogwoppit]

That is a good spec, it's got some nice factory fitted extras; heated seats, ESP instead of ASR and cruise control.

[Maieth]

That is a good spec, it's got some nice factory fitted extras; heated seats, ESP instead of ASR and cruise control.

Yeah, it certainly reads well.  What's the difference between ESP and ASR? Most modern car I've owned is my mini - pretty high spec for a classic, but 'electronic stability' doesn't really feature when you're that far off the ground.  Also can't see this in the description, where did you find it?

 

Hoping to view the car pretty quickly, can't expect these to stick around long

[Bogwoppit]

Yeah, it certainly reads well.  What's the difference between ESP and ASR? Most modern car I've owned is my mini - pretty high spec for a classic, but 'electronic stability' doesn't really feature when you're that far off the ground.  Also can't see this in the description, where did you find it?

 

Hoping to view the car pretty quickly, can't expect these to stick around long

 

I looked at the photos and noticed one of the buttons on the dash says ESP instead of the standard ASR. ASR is just traction control.

 

For the benefits of ESP look here:

[Maieth]

I looked at the photos and noticed one of the buttons on the dash says ESP instead of the standard ASR. ASR is just traction control.

For the benefits of ESP look here:

Well spotted, that man! Even more interested now. And thanks for the 5th gear link. Very good demo.

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[Beard]

That is a good spec, it's got some nice factory fitted extras; heated seats, ESP instead of ASR and cruise control.

Never knew ESP was an extra 

[Bogwoppit]

Just noticed it has got rear parking sensors as well.

The airbag light and the missing button from the stereo need looking at.

[skinne]

If you decide to go for that particular example, I should beat them up on the price: that same seller had that same car advertised for £3695 just a few weeks ago, and if I remember correctly, they've had it for a while now. 

 

Make sure that all of the electrical extras work properly, the heated seats for example can be a faff to replace/repair the elements in case of failure.  Good luck! 

 

 

E

[m4tt274]

When it comes to extras you see on the cars, this is pretty much what you get.

Recommended retail price of 2004 vRS: £11990.

 

VRS factory fitted options and prices (1st May 2004), all including VAT:

Black Magic paint: £260

Metallic paint: £260

CD autochanger: £275

Cruise control: £125

Electric sunroof: £400

ESP (Electronic Stability Programme): £400

Front passenger airbag de-activation switch: £60

Heated front seats: £125

Parking sensors £200*

Satellite navigation system (including disc): £1800

Side airbags: £275

Third rear headrest £45

Xenon headlights (including headlamp washers) £500

 

Leather trim was also available, but it's not listed in this price list. May have been a factory special order option. 

Parking sensors are listed as being available on the Comfort/Elegance trim only, but have been available on the vRS at various times).