Hi all,

 

Not been on the forum long at all. I've recently picked up an 04' vRS as above and have a few questions about it and would welcome some information/feedback. I may not have got away scott free with the purchase of this one, I had a quick look over it before buying from a dealer and wasn't able to test drive it before collecting (I know I know) It has service history up until 75,000 (97,000 now) with receipt of cam belt and water pump change @ 75,000 2 years ago.

 

Over all the car is in reasonably good condition, the paint work and interior is very clean, it shows little wear on the interior surfaces and underneath is the same, very clean. On closer inspection it seems to have a few modifications which I'll go over in a moment. I get the feeling it became a bit 'yo' in a previous owners custody, there's evidence of a sound system install in the boot, dynamat on the boot floor and a load of cabling which went in the bin upon discovery. Anyway I'll try and keep some order to this intro

 

List of mods I can see are:

 

rear adjustable ARB, set on the setting closest to the front of the vehicle if that makes sense, could term it as the 1st, or last setting depending how your looking at it.

A carbon tube intake, I'm assuming this is aftermarket as the pipe routing doesn't look standard - if so I'd like to return to standard if this won't effect the map too much

A Seat Sport strut brace

A full cat back stainless exhaust

Apparently a remap but no evidence to back this up

Replacement turbo but no evidence to back this up

HID's 

Different wheels, which are in very good condition with good tyres (incidentally, I slightly prefer the standard wheels, If anyone want's to swap for excellent condition OEM wheels/Tyres for this MY let me know. I'm in Cardiff, South Wales)

 

The bad points

 

The engine has a rock to it, it's imperceptible when the engines running/driving but with the engine off I can rock the engine back and forth by a good inch, seems slightly out of tolerance i'd say!

The dash water temp/petrol level lights flicker

The nearside headlight has a crack in it's mount which allows it to move around

 

Going to speak to the dealer tomorrow re the issues, know him fairly well so will see what happens there. 

 

Queries

 

When I turn the key to 2nd stage ignition there's an odd 'slosh/squelch' noise, sounds like the water system priming but not heard anything like this before, does anyone know if this is a standard thing?

It has green springs all around, standard?

The door vanity lights are insanely bright, blindingly so, these can't be standard can they?

It needs a stereo, does anyone have a standard working unit laying around

 

Aside of all of the above - goes bloody well 

 

It's going into 3 Arches Garage in Cardiff this week hopefully for a look over and service, Dean and the boys there look after my Impreza so it's in good hands.

 

Apologies in advance for the lack of photos, There will be more no doubt but by the time I'd finished with its first major valet it was almost totally dark; I only have these meager offerings

 

 

 

 

terrible quality I know, my iphone camera is almost dead, I'll pull out the dslr when the light's better

 

Cheers in advance

squelch is the fuel pump priming, does it as you get lower on fuel (or mine does).

 

if you fill it up it wont make the noise until around  half a tank if memory recalls 

Hello and Welcome to Briskoda

 

Looks like a nice car you have picked up there.... :yes:

cheers guys  

 

Good news about that noise Stew thanks for the info. Driven to the gym and back this evening and I'm easing into it, not sure what it is but I've got a 'feeling', slight unease, probably just because I bought it so quickly without doing my normal checks etc.

 

It's booked into 3 Arches on Thursday so me and the mad scientist will rip apart the block etc and see what's what. 

 

Where do people get their parts from for these? In the Impreza world there's Scoobyworld, Scooby Clinic etc where you can get most parts both OEM and aftermarket; whats the Fabia equivalent? I'm not spending big money on the vRS (that's for the Subaru) but I'm sure I'll need some consumables like brake pads, engine mounts, bushes, whatever else and I do like to keep my cars in good shape so some money from the toy fund may bleed off into the Fab

Taken directly from my PH thread for the Impreza so hope this largely translates ok

 

As mentioned I picked up a Fabia vRS last weekend to replace the MX-5 ( :() time for something slightly more practical and less prone to rust related issues in the future. So I've swapped to something with wiring related issues in the present (ish)

 

Got a relatively good deal on the MX and there seems to be quite a following for these little Skodas and I'm starting to see why. First the bad though.

 

After picking it up and looking at it a little more closely (I bought it by the 'stand 50 ft away from the car and ask if it's a good one' method) I notice a few rice related additions. a stainless cat back exhaust, a carbon tubular air filter thingy, a strut brace (race car) an adjustable anti roll bar (such race car) and a load of dynamat in the boot where someone had obviously had sweet stereo bruhh.. Money had been spent in these wrong areas. This was confirmed after I booked it in with Dean and the boys at 3 Arches Garage for a thorough inspection and minor service consisting of oil and filter; cam belt was done not long ago. 

 

The list of things needed is as follows:

 

Interim Service

Inspection

 

Supply & fit osf steering arm (wheel was a bit wobbly see) 

Supply & fit alternator belt

Supply & fit nsf drop link (such clunk)

Tracking

 

Parts used were

 

Oil filter

Engine oil

Screen wash

Drop link

Steering arm

Alternator belt

Pollen filter

 

Labour

 

Also fixed whilst there was a loose dog bone mount which re secured the engine as it should be and Dean tidied up some wiring in the engine bay putting it back to factory condition. 

 

So some money later the vRS now feels and goes superbly. The clonks from the front have disappeared, acceleration feels more eager and the whole car feels more taught. I'm extremely happy with it now, 3 Arches have done a great job, that's the Impreza and the daily being looked after by the 3 Arches boys. 

 

So first impressions on the car. It's my first diesel so I'm having to learn how to drive again. I have no point of reference but rather than revving on to gain speed as you would in a petrol, it seems its all about gears in the derv. The power is from 2k to 3/3.5k, after that the power delivery seems to flat line and progress reduces. I struggled with this concept for a few days and thought - is there something wrong? It doesn't seem so, rather than revving on (which my small brain is programmed to do) you just give it another gear @ around 3.5k and off the thing goes again, so it's all about gears not revs. I can see why  it's a 6 speed now. 

 

The handling is ridiculously good. As far as I know it's on standard suspension (springs are same green as the calipers?) and it's pretty roomy in the arches so don't thinks it's been dropped but crikey it's confidence inspiring in the corners. I went over Caerphilly Mountain earlier pretty much as fast as I could and it just stuck, no fuss, no roll. Really impressed. Brakes are crap though.

 

Well, that was probably an incredibly boring read for those of you who didn't tldr.

 

Why we're all here, pictures (the sun was in exactly the wrong spot for these) after a wash

 

 

 

 

I laid on the floor here for you all I hope you're grateful

 

 

 

 

 

handy foldy seaty things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not going to start it's own thread for this, as much as I like it it's a daily and isnt going to get the same attention as Impreza, so this is probably a one off 'for info only' thing.

 

One thing I do want to do is swap the wheels back other to the correct OEM for this MY. These ones are lovely and in surprisingly good condition, they look new, but I want the other ones.

 

So there..