tweenster's S2000

[Sittingbull]

If and when you do ever change your car, someone is getting a well looked after one that's for sure.

[tweenster]

This week we had a decision to make about whether or not we keep the car; Mrs T scraped the rear wing on the gate post and the estimate to repair is £300.

 

The car is now 8 years old and is just about to hit 70,000 miles. It is a CAVE engine and uses some oil but certainly not an extreme amount. Mrs T uses it for her daily commute (25 miles each way) and the computer is currently showing an average consumption of 39mpg. It is running on Eibach springs and has a RARB fitted. The 1 previous owner was the motoring journalist for the local paper and had ticked almost every option, so it is very well specced. I have it serviced at the mai9n dealer and always pay for the extended Skoda warranty; I have lost count of how much work has been completed under the warranty but it must be well over £2000. And finally, It looks great in green and white and we both love driving it.

 

I have been looking for alternatives since Christmas but to be honest there is nothing that we want to change it for. I quite like the Yeti and suggested it to Mrs T; she took one look at it and said "It looks like it should have a wheelchair in the back!" So that was a 'No'. Webuyanycar gave a value of £3500 (before the scrape) although a quick look on Autotrader shows similar age and mileage cars between £4500 and £6000 (seems a bit ambitious to me!).

 

So, the question was: Do we pay for the repair to the bodywork and keep the car until it is time to go to the great scrapyard in the sky? Or find something else? The most we can lose is the £3500 the Webuyanycar would pay and I could recover some of that by breaking it if necessary. And every year it keeps going that figure will reduce.

 

So, we have decided to keep it. Mrs T wants dashcams fitted and we will get the winter wheels refurbed in white and then we will take care of it until it dies.

[Ootohere]

Best fix it if as cheap as £300.

 

If WBAC are really going to give you £3.500 cash money then a dealer / trader will give a bit more because WBAC are buying it to sell at there Car Supermarkets or it is going to their BCA.

 

Autotrader is showing Asking Prices not what you might get selling yours privately prices.

Which can be less, but then your can advertise on BRISKODA where people might want an honest car from a member.

 

EDIT.

I meant fix it and keep it. Missed that bit out, sorry.

Edited 4 May, 2019 by Skoffski

[tweenster]

1 minute ago, Skoffski said:

Best fix it if as cheap as £300.

 

If WBAC are really going to give you £3.500 cash money then a dealer / trader will give a bit more because WBAC are buying it to sell at there Car Supermarkets or it is going to their BCA.

 

Yes I understand that, but there still isn't anything else we want. Only Renault do a decent small hatchback with a powerful engine and an auto box. 

[Ootohere]

Try a Renault Clio RS Trophy then, they are a bargain, not to everyones taste.

I like a Leon FR 1.8TSI 180ps DSG   a grown up vRS IMO.

or a Polo GTI 1.8TSI 192 ps DSG.

Edited 4 May, 2019 by Skoffski

[tweenster]

1 hour ago, Skoffski said:

Try a Renault Clio RS Trophy then, they are a bargain, not to everyones taste.

I like a Leon FR 1.8TSI 180ps DSG   a grown up vRS IMO.

or a Polo GTI 1.8TSI 192 ps DSG.

 

I like all of those, and at the end of the day I could live with any of them. But they don't justify spending any extra cash on. And at the end of the day Mrs T chose the Fabia of the colour!

[jamie6210]

7 hours ago, tweenster said:

 

I like all of those, and at the end of the day I could live with any of them. But they don't justify spending any extra cash on. And at the end of the day Mrs T chose the Fabia of the colour!

Can’t disagree with her, the green is lovely! Not that I’m biased or anything 

[tweenster]

I had the opportunity to take the vRS out yesterday for about 40 miles and it reminded me what a fun car it is. It goes and handles well enough to put a smile on your face, and that is good enough for me.

[montecarlo]

Every time I see one of these part of me wishes I'd bought a vRS instead of a Monte Carlo but insurance for teeange children and and extra few mpg saw to that! I thought I'd just let you know about the seat issue that it isn't that rare, my drivers seat started smouldering on the road leading to the motorwat one morning and when I stopped I had a hole through my coat. Skoda said that it wasn't a safety issue and as my car's warranty had expired I had to pay for it myself, the local dealer wanted about £600 plus the parts so I bougght the parts and had it repaired by a trim shop for a fraction of the price

[Ootohere]

@montecarlo

I would be on to Skoda UK to refund you. 

It was a safety issue, there was a Service Campaign and TPI but no 'Recall' not even a voluntary Recall even though a Safety Critical matter.

The DVSA in the UK are too lax with the VW Group.  They allow them to take the pith.

http://skoda-auto.com/services/recall-actions

 

 

Edited 10 June, 2019 by Skoffski

[montecarlo]

Yes I agree, VW get away with far too much, it would probably be a different story in America. I did take it up with Skoda but it seems that once your warranty has run out they don’t want to know you unless you’re buying a new car. I noticed that you also had a problem with the dashboard illumination, my rev counter needle stopped working about a month after the warranty expired, I tried to get a goodwill claim because I’d always had it serviced at the main dealer, I’ve also sent them quite a few new customers over the years who have spent a lot of money there on brand new cars, but to no avail. Same old answer “sorry it’s out of warranty so you’ll have to pay” 

The dealer quoted me a fortune for a complete new instrument panel, plus fitting and recoding, no loyalty discount at all, so I said I’d leave it as it was and after a few weeks it didn’t annoy me any more, I’ve almost stopped using the rev counter completely now and just treat it as an old car fixing things that are important. There are quite a few electrical gremlins on the car apart from this, they all seemed to happen when it was about four years old, typical! We had intended to change it every three years for a new one so we might have never had these problems  but when we went back to get a trade in price it had lost more than half its original price and we couldn’t justify it because it still looked brand new. The plan now is to run it until it won’t go any more then start again.

[Tech1e]

7 minutes ago, montecarlo said:

Yes I agree, VW get away with far too much, it would probably be a different story in America. I did take it up with Skoda but it seems that once your warranty has run out they don’t want to know you unless you’re buying a new car. I noticed that you also had a problem with the dashboard illumination, my rev counter needle stopped working about a month after the warranty expired, I tried to get a goodwill claim because I’d always had it serviced at the main dealer, I’ve also sent them quite a few new customers over the years who have spent a lot of money there on brand new cars, but to no avail. Same old answer “sorry it’s out of warranty so you’ll have to pay” 

The dealer quoted me a fortune for a complete new instrument panel, plus fitting and recoding, no loyalty discount at all, so I said I’d leave it as it was and after a few weeks it didn’t annoy me any more, I’ve almost stopped using the rev counter completely now and just treat it as an old car fixing things that are important. There are quite a few electrical gremlins on the car apart from this, they all seemed to happen when it was about four years old, typical! We had intended to change it every three years for a new one so we might have never had these problems  but when we went back to get a trade in price it had lost more than half its original price and we couldn’t justify it because it still looked brand new. The plan now is to run it until it won’t go any more then start again.

 

Might be worth getting your cluster repaired or a recon unit rather than a new one.

 

www.actronics.co.uk

Edited 11 June, 2019 by Tech1e

[montecarlo]

That's quite helpful, Thanks, I will keep it for when something important breaks like the speedometer or fuel guage. I guess that it will still need to be recoded to the car by Skoda though?

[Tech1e]

31 minutes ago, montecarlo said:

That's quite helpful, Thanks, I will keep it for when something important breaks like the speedometer or fuel guage. I guess that it will still need to be recoded to the car by Skoda though?

 

If they repair your instrument cluster it will still be paired to your car, if not I am sure they have the tech to clone yours.

[tweenster]

Mrs T has been very poorly of late and has been told that she can no longer drive. The VRS is therefore surplus to requirements; should I put it in the garage, look after it and keep it to enjoy on a dry summer's day? Or sell it?

[Madvlad65]

On 30/11/2019 at 20:17, tweenster said:

Mrs T has been very poorly of late and has been told that she can no longer drive. The VRS is therefore surplus to requirements; should I put it in the garage, look after it and keep it to enjoy on a dry summer's day? Or sell it?

Keep it drive it enjoy it I'm in Edinburgh don't see meny on the road it's a thing of beauty (ps got the same colour)

 

[Madvlad65]

2 minutes ago, Madvlad65 said:

Keep it drive it enjoy it I'm in Edinburgh don't see meny on the road it's a thing of beauty (ps got the same colour)

 

PPS just noticed your blacked out headlights really like them.iam in the middle of blacking out/ changing the chrome parts / changing the badges where did you get them if you don't mind me asking/ did you have to do any mods to make them fit

[Madvlad65]

Just had these delivered hopefully look good once fitted

[tweenster]

Mrs T says she isn't ready to sell her car yet, so I'm going to clear out the garage and park it in their over the winter, whilst giving it a good clean, polish and wax, ready to appear, butterfly-like, in the Spring!

[tweenster]

As a result of Mrs T's illness, the car has not been used at all since November. It's being taken for it's MOT tomorrow so today I checked the oil and tyres (both needed topping up) and took her for a run in to Lincoln. The car started first time and drive without problem. After its MOT it is booked in for a service on 3 Feb. After that the intent is to get it into the garage and give it a good clean, polish and wax. The neglect over the last 3 months is apparent, as there is a covering of green algae in the door/boot shuts and on the rubber trims. Once that is all done it will be kept in the garage as a summer/fun car.

[tweenster]

Facebook has just reminded me that it is 6 years since we bought the VRS, and in that time we have covered some 55,000 miles. It has not all been plain sailing but we have always purchased  the Skoda Extended Warranty and had it serviced at a main dealer so issues have fixed under warranty without question. I still enjoy every drive in it.

[tweenster]

It's that time of year again when road tax and extended warranty are both due.

 

I have been contemplating changing the Fabia a lot recently, and researching the pros and cons of the alternatives. These include the Suzuki Swift Sport, Polo GTI, Mini Cooper S etc. But... the reality is that to do so is going to cost me a lot of money, maybe £10k+. And what would I get for that money? Something a little newer and maybe a little more performance, but this extra performance is unlikely to be noticeable out on the road. And you don't see many Fabia VRS out there, and even fewer in rally green and white!

 

I had to complete an essential journey yesterday, covering some 260 miles in the process. The Fabia was brilliant and thoroughly enjoyable, and returned a little over 40mpg in the process. How much better would the alternatives be?

 

So, I'm keeping it for another year. I still need to clear out the garage and get the car in there and give it a good clean, polish and wax but I will get around to that once this Covid19 crisis is over (I need a skip which is why I can't do it now).

[tweenster]

Following on from my previous post, I have just ordered a Bilstein B12 kit (delivery time is long - damn you Covid-19!!!) and will be fitting Brimma's old Braid wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres.

 

The intention is to also change top mounts and any obviously worn bushes at the same time - anything else I should consider doing at the same time?

[tweenster]

I've been working from home during Covid-19 so haven't had a lot of spare time to look after the cars; they come second to the overgrown garden at present! Anyway, decided that today I would give the cars some attention. Well, the VRS at least!

 

Gave it a pressure wash, snow foam, rinse, wash and dry then Autoglym Intensive Tar Remover, Autoglym Ultra Deep Shine polish, and finished off with Sonax Brilliant Shine Detailer. The down side of doing all this work is that you realise the number of stone chips there are; I did the tar remover step because I thought there were a lot of marks on the car, turns out they were mainly stone chips! I also have a very limited attention span, so after the washing I work panel by panel and today managed the roof, bonnet and the offside front wing. The rest will be done in the days/weeks ahead, I also cleaned and polished the front and rear screens with Rain-X. The car looks fantastic when its clean like this.

 

 

Edited 3 May, 2020 by tweenster

[tweenster]

The new Braid wheels will look fantastic when fitted; I just need to clean them properly and get the new tyres fitted.

 

Edited 3 May, 2020 by tweenster