Hi to All

Picked up the new vRS this morning from Hayes Garage at Little Clacton. The car is in red with cruise, heated seats and cd autochanger. Unfortunately a bit of emergency plumbing at home was required taking the shine off the day (DIY=Dont Involve Yourself), but still managed to rack up a couple of hunderd miles.

First impression then. The most obvoius thing that struck me was the way the engine delivers. Part throttle and nothing past 3300 rpm while it all settles down is what is reccomended in the handbook. Even within these constraints and with the engine obvoiusly feeling tight, the urge from just below 2000 is quite surreal. Making criminally rapid progress with absolutely no fuss is just too easy.

The brakes need to be nursed as well, so no heavy braking yet. The setup seems to pull the speed down OK, a little grabbiness over the first few miles is dissapearing now. Pedal feel seems OK, but need to bed them in fully before further comment.

Ride and handling wise, the dampers feel a little sticky with newness, however, the body control is generally good. The balance and spring / roll rates seem about right if your thing is Essex's bumpy backroads and lanes. Composure is retained at high speeds, although I am already contemplating a damper upgrade. The rear end can be easily bought into play and made to work in the corners, though as the tyres are new, this has not yet been fully explored.

The gearbox changes with a short, well oiled precision feel. Must remember not to try and reverse in 6th though

Refinement is astonishing for a supermini sized car. The engine has a bit of a thrum at idle, but as soon as it is on the move, the noise is very well controlled. Again, fast b road work is relaxed and peaceful just stroking it along at 2 - 3K. Dual carriageways were a concern for me as the car I test drove had the old gear ratios. Neednt have worried though. The revised ratios give better top gear response to throttle and cruising along at just above 2500 rpm is quiete and economical. Tyre noise is intrusive on some surfaces (particualrly ridged concrete) but I think this is a result of the Conti Sport IIs. I test drove one on the same surface with Toyo T1rs and it was a lot quieter.

After reading much praise for the xenons, I sort of expected the standard lights to be a bit pants. Far from it. The dipped pattern is well defined and is far superior to the Fiesta tdci I was running. Mains are pretty good also. So no need for a bulb upgrade.

The interior has impressed with the fit, finish and attention to detail. Seats are excellent and the reach adjustment on the steering wheel makes it easy for a tall lad like me to get a spot on driving position. The footrest is a welcome inclusion on the dual carriageway. The radio sounds pretty good, however, it is a bit fiddly and complex when compared to Fords big button in car audio. I will need to read the manual to figure it out, however, it appears to do no more than the intuitive unit in the Fiesta. The trip computer seems equally over complicated with its multiple memorys and autoresetting at 10K, but I am sure I will figure it out eventually.

Fuel consumption is OK for the days driving. I did a mixture of fast b road cross country, a road cruising and an irritiating 3 very short journeys to B&Q for plumbing bits and managed to average 47mpg. So about the same as the noisier, slower (much much) and less comfortable Fiesta.

The thought that keeps coming back to me is how little fuss it makes to pile on speed. The muscularity of the engines delivery and the nature of its tubodiesle delivery means that exiting a corner and squeezing the throttle gives a sensation not unlike being dragged towards the next bend by a very big very taught length of elastic. Trouble is, because of the lack of revs and fuss, you find yourself going much quicker than it feels.

Good start. First of my learners are in it tomorrow morning. Lucky barstewards.

Chris

All that and it's a driving school car :eek: Rather you than me, no one with less than 80 years driving experience is allowed to sit in my drivers seat, let alone drive it

Glad you like it though

Glad your liking your car!

As I say time and time again, it just keeps getting better and better with age. 6months and 14k miles on, I still have a grin every time I drive it!

glad you like it Chris as Tom_Vrs says, all of the things you note will get better with the miles! you will smile everytime you get in it to go to work! (and wait until you get the examiners commenting, I've had lots saying things like "nice car" "pulls well doesn't it?" ect ect.. all good stuff

note: 15,000 miles in mine so far, and no problems at all, just feels better than it did when new! (looking at new front tyres in about another 5k though!)

edit: keep us informed of your experiance with the car, I as a fellow instructor using one will be keen to hear

edit: keep us informed of your experiance with the car' date=' I as a fellow instructor using one will be keen to hear [/quote']

Hi

Did my first days teaching in it today. It's been one of those days when the fuel consumption didnt get a chance to realy impress. Started the day with a car swap, so an early morning round trip of around 40 miles at 2500-2700 rpm, followed by 6 hours of manouvers and a new driver. Still got 43mpg though, which is maybe just 1 mpg than the Fiesta would have done.

The driving school owner had a 20 mile "test drive" of it today and rates it very highly. I suspect he may well look into buying a few of the 1.4pd engined ones.

Unlike the fiesta, the Fabia has been a pleasure all day The students really like it and are getting on well with exploring the responsible use of a bit more power.

Chris

edit: keep us informed of your experiance with the car' date=' I as a fellow instructor using one will be keen to hear [/quote']

Hi

Did my first days teaching in it today. It's been one of those days when the fuel consumption didnt get a chance to really impress. Started the day with a car swap, so an early morning dual carriageway round trip of around 40 miles at 2500-2700 rpm, followed by 6 hours of manouvers and a new driver. Still got 43mpg though, which is maybe just 1 mpg less than the Fiesta would have done on a similar day (air con on as well in the afternoon).

The driving school owner had a 20 mile "test drive" of it today and rates it very highly. I suspect he may well look into buying a few of the 1.4pd engined ones.

Unlike the fiesta, the Fabia has been a pleasure all day The students really like it and are getting on well with exploring the responsible use of a bit more power.

Chris

Glad you like the car, altho as a driving school car, would it be economical to take advantage of the leather buy going on @ the moment for the seats as they are not the most practical of colours ?

That is my only dislike about the car.

Just imagine learning to drive in a Fabia VRS. Your students are so lucky! I had to drive a mark 1 Nissan Micra. Lawnmowers go quicker!

Glad you like the car' date=' altho as a driving school car, would it be economical to take advantage of the leather buy going on @ the moment for the seats as they are not the most practical of colours ?

That is my only dislike about the car.[/quote']

Hi Steve

It is a concern for me as well. I think the leather option would be nice (maybe red inserts in black seats with red topstithcing ) however, I may get a set of washable custom made seat covers mirroring the existing colours with a sympatex back and squab liner. Sympatex is a hydrophyllic membrane (similar to Goretex) that will keep the seat back dry when my learners are breaking into a sweat, by removing the moisture to the seat instead. The washable cover will be a little difficult make for optimum fit, but hopefully will work out OK.

Chris

Just imagine learning to drive in a Fabia VRS. Your students are so lucky! I had to drive a mark 1 Nissan Micra. Lawnmowers go quicker!

I considered that at the end of the day, the car is my office for 4 or more days a week, so I would best have a pleasant environment in which to work. That the Fabia vRS makes an excellet training car is good, because if it did not, I would not have bought it. Of course if I were chasing every last penny from the job, I could buy a Kia Picanto, but how much fun would going to work be then?

As people here and also at the dealers say, driving the vRS makes you

Chris

I considered that at the end of the day' date=' the car is my office for 4 or more days a week, so I would best have a pleasant environment in which to work. That the Fabia vRS makes an excellet training car is good, because if it did not, I would not have bought it. Of course if I were chasing every last penny from the job, I could buy a Kia Picanto, but how much fun would going to work be then?

As people here and also at the dealers say, driving the vRS makes you

Chris[/quote']

Well Said!

Such a good allr ound car for the money!! Nothing comes close IMO apart from maybe Ibiza 130 which is the basically the same car