Test Drove this Today...

[Jabozuma]

Never had MK1. MK2 vRS hatch had burnt rear wiper motor, changed under warranty with nice good will gesture from SUK and disconnecting cold air snorkel (for the lack of better description) and...

that's it.

Nigggles:

a small noise coming from drivers window, sound system barely passable (crap with bass) and foor well liner carpets really cheap crap material. Had a period of slightly elevated oil usage but not any more.

I adore the DSG, amazing thing! It is extremely versatile and can be set to do exactly what you want it to do. "D" for when you cannot be bothered, "S" for track work and manual for spirited driving.

Engine (CTHE here) is spectacular. Power is from tickover to red line, relentless, smooth, unbroken delivery giving me the biggest of grins, especially when you see screwed up faces of drives sitting in their "fast" cars costing 2, 3, four times more and smelling my exhaust .

Handling and braking is perfectly fine for normal driving, even spirited type. Car is very sensitive to tyre choice and different people like different tyres. Tyre size is also important. 205wide tyres are not stable over 100mph in straight line and under braking -tested on Authobanhs.

In factory standard harchback vRS is unsuitable for track work really or to put it another way one can learn a lot . Brakes overheat after few hard braking events and fade to next to nothing. Too much body roll overloads working corners leading to tyres disintegration, ask sharkrider . It really needs 215 boots-massive difference in driver confidence and high speed stability.

As for fuel consumption is purely dependant on your driving style. I get anuthig from 12mpg on track, 26 if booting it all the way to 47mpg in windy B-roads and through villages if mpg chasing.

Comfort is personal thing of course but is perfectly fine for day to day commuting and up to 200 miles trips then it gets tiring - too noisy.

The other car to do day to day comparison is wife's 520d. I much prefer to drive my vRS and she does too . Insurance and tax are low for the performance and comoared to say clios or ctr's lrt's say.

Love the car and want to buy another Skoda

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[Orta]

Wow, I hadn't realized how active this forum is! Thanks for all the data guys I've tried to absorb it all in.

 

Fair to say the consensus is that the Mk2 is good, but the MK1 was better (Better in the world it was released in 2003-2007). To be honest I did consider the Mark 2 when I changed cars a few cars back and what put me off was the DSG and the Petrol. I don't really understand why they didn't put a diesel in the line up as an alternative just like the Octavia (There's a petrol AND Diesel one of those!). The 140bhp one perhaps?

 

I think I'm a little concerned that it may be an "Oil eater" and words like "replacement engine" terrify me. However what is swinging it is that I would like the practicality of an estate. Anyone have any feedback on the estate version? Suffer from the same niggles? Unique ones?

[Ootohere]

If you are looking at Hatches or Estates built after September 2012 they should have the revised engine and engine management.

That should help reduce any worry on engine problems that some of the vehicles had in the first 2 years of production,

and continue to show problems still as time & miles goes on.

 

The Hatch and estate have almost all the same components/Drivetrain other than the Estate has different Rear Suspension components.

Some think the Estate handles better as standard and i agree with that.

 

george

[sharkrider]

The estate is awsome here is my build thread on Phantom http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/290466-phantom-fabia-ii-vrs-estate/

[Binzie]

I have had both mk1 and mk2 vRS

I had an SE mk1 that I loved dearly the seats burned me regularly it ate console bushes but once mapped oozed torque and grunt

 

But "Blue 1" was poorly .... owl noises boost pipes popping and making armed police think im a terrorist and on his last day his master cylinder shat itself all over the work car park

He limped to the dealer (when I got my only spotted...spot?) and got swapped for "Blue 2"

 

I love the revs, the exhaust note having had derv for 10 years, i love 2 blips on the left paddle and the shove, I love the torque steer the cruising mpg and that there are not many

 

I pulled up at the lights in a the Mk 1 se next to a red vRS full of yout's I new instantly I was outside of the cars demographic  

[Ad Lav]

I would have a new cthe mk2 vRS estate in blue with black gigaros.

As long as the oil issue is fixed...

[mrburdon123]

I would have a new cthe mk2 vRS estate in blue with black gigaros.

As long as the oil issue is fixed...

Like this

26k on the clock, none oil user......but a cave engine.

Dyno stock showed 177bhp. Now with a chip box fitted, the bum dyno says it's much quicker but it's due on the rollers again soon.

Never missed a beat and first mot passed with no problems at all.

Edited 25 June, 2014 by mrburdon123

[Ad Lav]

Exactly - but for now I'm enjoying 60 + mpg and fun

[Furbytom]

I've had the original Mk 1 vRS, a Mk 2 vRS hatch (CAVE engine) and now got a Mk 2vRS Estate (CTHE engine).

The Mk1 was awesome back in the day - great mpg, loved the diesel torque and it was something different from the norm. Wouldn't really fancy one now tho. The narrow power band, limited outright pace, dated interior and sloppy nose heavy handling wouldn't really do it for me. Things move on.

The Mk2 cave hatch was good -reliable (I had a good one no oil use), pokey performance and a lot of car for the $. Wife loved it. I never rated the ride and handling both of which are poor imho (in stock form). The DSG can be great fun and also relaxing when you need it.

Mk2 CTHE Estate moves the game on a little further. The CTHE engine is a huge improvement - better engine/exhaust note, more fun power delivery (seems less linear to me) and feels faster. Finding the ride and handling much better too although still far from perfect. The boot though is just awesome -sooo much carrying capacity for such a little car. Has been a hugely useful tool for lugging about baby gear!

All three VRS have never given us any trouble at all. Shame there isn't going to be a Mk3 vRS really so our current one may be kept for quite some time (which is unusual for me!)....

I'd say definitely go for a late model CTHE with plenty of warranty and I don't think you'll be disappointed. It's far from the last word in hot-hatchery but as an all round value for money package they are great. :-)

[Jabozuma]

Yes, forgot to mention, I am on 5 year warranty

[MidlifecrisisT]

I love my estate. 7 months ownership. Never had a mk1 so can't compare. I've also never driven a mk2 hatch so not sure how different it drives to the estate version. Mine is CAVE engine. Checked with Skoda before I bought the car to see if any oil issues were recorded and to find out if any other warranty worked was carried out by Skoda. They confirmed that the car was clean :-)

For the type of engine/performance, mk2 vrs mpg is great. If you take it easy, you get good mpg and even if playing hard, it's still respectable figures considering the power that is availiable.

I've driven some autos in my time and always hated. Used to think it took the fun out of driving but the DSG really is incredible. Once gotten used to, it really is brilliant and doesn't feel like an auto. Hardly any lag in D and I've started to drive it in triptonic recently which is so much fun. You pretty much have 99% control of gears IMO.

Same with any car, there's always going to be pros and cons to a car. For me, there are more pros than cons to the Fabia vrs. The brakes are pretty crap at speed and you need to whack decent tyres on. Make such a difference. Same with any car obviously. I've never had an issue with handling personally but I don't throw it around that much if I am honest. I've heard that Eibach springs can help with this, so this is something that I'm going to sort for my car eventually.

Great cars to drive and great to look at!!

[Orta]

What's all the CAVE and CTHE stuff about?

 

Anyone got any pics of the Estate's rear hatch and an example (Humorous is preferable) of what will fit just to give me a real idea of how did it is.

[Ootohere]

The engines in the 4 different Twincharger cars (& vRS Estate)

 2009 -2012  1.4 TSI 'CAVE',,  

Ibiza Cupra, Fabia vRS, Polo GTI,  Audi A1 185 ps

 

Then changed for a 1.4 TSI 'CTHE',  different internals, ECU & engine Management.

2012  after the Summer,

delivery & First Registered in the UK Sept-Oct-Nov  time 2012 in the Fabia vRS Hatches & Estates.

 

2013 the Revised Ibiza Cupra is Launched and Seat give the new Details on the CTHE Engine, Lower Emissions,Better Economy, etc 

better than the CAVE engine they had in 2009-2012

 

There are only about 500 Estates from 2010-2014

 

Check with Skoda UK what warranty work if any has been done,

If it has had a New Engine, thats not a problem really.

If it had an Oil Consumption test & no new Engine, take that as a warning.

If it had a Breather Mod done and nothing else, take that as a Warning.

There is a Early White Estate around that is on its 3rd engine which a really hopeless workshop did the work on.