What are vrs's like on long journeys? Every 6-8 weeks I do a 300 mile round trip to wales and back. Are the seats comfy? What's fuel economy like? Any info would be a great help.

50mpg if careful, perfectly comfy seats if you like German seats anyway (firmer than French), bit of wind noise, and suspension is fine on the motorway. It's no grand tourer though.

Take one for a long test drive. I did 120 miles a day in mine and was perfectly happy.

Just done 1500 miles in six days driving round Scotland, seats extremely comfortable for my wife and I, including 3 1/2 hours without stopping. As for fuel, averaged at 42mpg, that includes motorways and some"spirited" driving along some of Scotland's finest. Had the car for four weeks, so far, very impressed.

They are not the best as regards ride comfort and refinement but for a small sporty car are perfectly acceptable.

Also I find the seats very comfortable and for cruising seventh gear is high so engine noise is quite low.

Brilliant. Thanks everyone. All good things to hear.

I think they are pretty good on long journeys

The seats are excellent, equally supportive and comfy and oddly, given previous cars I have owned, some of the best I have sat in for keeping me without aches on a long journey.

The car itself though suffers from tyre roar and general lack of noise damping which can make it a tiring place to be for someone doing regular long runs.

Definitely where the cars compromises show worst for me.

Not a vRS but we have taken our Monte TSI 86 down to visit family in Switzerland, driving through the night via rural eastern France to avoid the toll roads. Coped very well with the trip and the seats were very comfy, better then any other model in the Skoda range.

 

 

TP

Again. That's all very positive to hear.

Thanks.

On average what do we think a full tank of decent shell fuel will get? 400-450 miles before refill?

Only if you are venting the tank and getting 40 to 45 mpg and then filling up. Expect 360 to 400.

I agree with Sparkly, road and wind noise really lets it down in my opinion as a motorway cruiser. It may have the easy pace on the motorway, but all the bits that matter for refinement are still the same cheap and cheerful lowest tier standards. The large wheels and low profile tyres obviously contribute.

 

On the plus side I find the seats are very good on longer journeys, and obviously the DSG, cruise, bluetooth, half decent stereo are all plus points. Fuel economy is good too, like others have said, it's quite unusual for me not to achieve 380-400 miles out of a tank of super. If driven like Miss Daisy you could see high 40s, very low 50s in MPG.

 

If doing regular long motorway miles I'd definitely think Octavia.

 

Having said that 300 miles every 6-8 weeks isn't regular so if it works for you in every other way, don't let it put you off at all.

Edited 6 April, 201412 yr by TeebsVRS

Well between 350-400 or maybe a bit more is good for me. And I'm willing to accept the air noise and slightly cheapiah plastics over the entire package of the car itself.

last week i did 375 on bp ultimate, 30 ish miles each way with plenty of overtaking on crappy Cumbrian roads and also a few school runs in between

best ive ever done on a tank, i didnt vent tank or anything on filling, just a normal fill-up, its the short trips that kill the mpg

on a decent run you can get 50 mpg easily

Again that's all good to hear. And as for the cheaper plastics and road noise I'm sure it can't be any worse than my current car so I'll deal with those cons and enjoy all the pros.

Edited 6 April, 201412 yr by BigTallG87

Again that's all good to hear. And as for the cheaper plastics and road noise I'm sure it can't be any worse than my current car so I'll deal with those cons and enjoy all the pros.

Depending on where you set the standard, I actually really think the cabin on the vRS is a decent place to be, it is understated and not attention grabbing, but I like that it is understated and the plastics are decent soft touch in the places that count. Black headliner and all black interior makes the cabin feel quite focused for me and white dash lighting is strong and clear for dials etc.

The cheap bit is the lack of sound deadening throughout the car, I have said before that the stock ride can crash a bit, but your perception of the ride quality is reduced a lot by how much suspension noise infiltrates the cabin. Same for tyre roar, sadly I ran 16's on my car over winter with195/50/16 size and big sidewalls and there was no gain in comfort or refinement, it is the lack of soundproofing that hurts the car.

But if done infrequently, DSG, good mpg, good seats and strong engine means its bearable, and when you aren't slogging up and down the motorway and show it some back roads, it can be a rewarding little machine.

I can't speak about the VRS as I have a Monte Carlo 1.2 TSI Petrol, however it has Sports Seats as standard and I find it very comfortable did a 180-mile drive back from Hereford and only required 1 stop and that was for a call of nature and some fuel (fuel was for me and not the car),

 

I had 400 miles showing on the trip and was still being told that I had 130 more miles left in the tank and that included a lot of twisty A & B roads as well as the usual Motorway work for the trip.

 

I've got a 370 mile trip to Germany later in the year so looking forward to seeing how that pans out

Edited 7 April, 201412 yr by Prykey

It's all positive things to hear. Sparkly did you run the 16s on a vrs? As I was wondering if this was possible?

Thanks both sparkly and prykey for you replies.

I've done a fair few long journeys in my old vRS (Manchester to Isle of Wight, Manchester to Edinburgh)...

 

I personally believe the style of it is more suited to the shorter 2 hour drives rather than 4 - 5 hours, as good as the car is on a run, decent fuel usage, very good gearbox, I often found myself particularly "tired" upon arrival..

 

to put this in context, its well known now that I've moved onto an Audi A5, I drove to Brands Hatch and back this weekend (500 mile round trip) and spent the day there watching BTCC.  I got home and showed very few signs of the drive I'd just done...

 

All in all, the vRS is more than capable on a long run, but don't expect to arrive in perfect comfort, it isn't that sort of car...  Give it some twisty A-roads however, and you are onto a winner

Thanks miyagi I appreciate what your saying.

Off to Cornwall in May, will let you know how the drive from West Yorkshire goes

Coming from a Citroen C1, to a Ford Focus ST, then to a Fabia VRS im really impressed with the car overall,

 

seats are comfortable enough, they have very basic adjustment, no adjustable back support, but theyre nice!

 

car gets great MPG for the power it produces, im around 38~ around town of all places (focus was 17-18 at very best!) and around 42-45ish on a long run! (focus managed 27)

 

my only gripe is its a little bit loud when travelling at 70MPH! im going to be tackling sound deadening the car out in the next few weeks. starting with the boot, rear wheel wells and under the rear seats as thats where the bulk of the noise seems to be coming from. the stuff i have so far has cost me £33 and im sure will knock the noise levels down to a lower level. if not, off comes the door cards and the interior out haha :(

 

tbh you can easily zone the noise out by turning the radio up a bit..

 

great car, exceeded my expectations greatly! 

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my only gripe is its a little bit loud

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I believe that there is a thread  somewhere on this site describing how someone installed sound deadening material in a Fabia vRS.