Hey all I'm quite a new member and registered to ask for buying advice as lately I've been considering buying a Skoda Fabia VRS. I've been into Honda scene in the last two years so I may sound a bit biased. My first car was a 1999 Honda Civic 1.5 which I had for 18 months. It was overall a good car, very reliable, good on fuel, would get 500 miles from full tank (£50). As a Honda enthusiast, I had the car modified too so got a lot of attention from other Honda enthusiasts lol and went to a few car meets. Parts were easy to get hold of but I wouldn't say they were cheap or expensive than VRS as I haven't checked theirs. Only thing I didn't like about the car was the power as it was 115hp stock. Also no power steering and non LSD gearbox. People were telling me to do an engine swap, put a proper VTEC engine as I will love it more but I didn't have enough funds back then. So next I bought a 1.8 VTi model which felt massively different and I really loved the VTEC lol. Had it all modified and was loving the car but the fuel economy is poor and now I've decide to keep this as a weekend car and buying a sensible daily. I've looked into the Skoda Fabia VRS, they are within my budget of £3,000, insurance is cheaper than the civic. I'm 100% certain it is massively better on fuel too. I don't know if parts are easy to get hold and cheap or not? Also is standard suspension good as I want ride comfort and also not a fan of massive arch gaps so may want to lower it depending what size wheels I put. I like these in black colour. Oh and the main thing is, I probably get bored of 130hp stock power, would I only require a simple remap that takes it to 190hp or upgrade a few other parts like turbo, intercooler etc.

 

As you will find out there are MASSES of tuning parts for the Fabia VRS, engine, suspension etc. Mainly because it used common VAG parts from MK4 Golf, Seat Ibiza, Skoda Octavia, VW Polo etc. It is more a case of how much money you want to spend!

A simple remap will get you 170bhp, no other mods needed.

 

Also, you don't have to put 'lol' at the end of every sentence, you're not on the ricer forumz now.

Welcome, Honda's are good cars, but modding them is expensive, my mates got a integra type r. Parts are crazy expensive £400 for air intake mod :P .. Makes our pd160 mod cheap lol.

 

Read all the project threads, that's the best place to start, you can learn everything you need to know on this forum, its a great resource

Thanks for quick replies, didn't know parts were interchangeable from other models on these. Quite similar as Honda EG/EK/MB/DC2 parts fit interchangeably. Joined a few owners Facebook pages and seen some helpful advice unlike Honda pages which usually end up in arguments haha. Hopefully I'll look into buying one of these next month.

mpg aside, I'm not convinced it's what I'd consider an upgrade although I might adjust that once my Ibiza is back on the road

can't really recommend spending a load of money trying to make it something it's never going to be though, fairly disappointing :( call it quits with a remap?

Agreed with the above, if your buying it for a daily it's pointless ploughing load of money into it trying to make it something it's not. This is coming from an owner as well! I bought mine after owning various hot hatches to save money on running costs while still having something fairly sporty and desirable. For that it fits the bill perfectly. 

 

They are good cars don't get me wrong, just don't expect it to be fun compared to petrol hot hatches. Running costs and performance are good and it has some nice low down-mid range umph which makes driving it quickly a doddle. But it handles like a shed on a skateboard and even with mods, unless you go silly, is never going to be as good as a proper hot hatch in terms of handling. 

 

My advice would be to test drive a few examples to see what you think, coming from a Honda VTEC the vRS will feel very muscular low down but you may miss that high end buzz. I had an EP3 Type R running close to 250bhp so going from that to a diesel which revs out at a little over 5 took some getting used to! But it's not all bad, what it lacks on top end buzz it makes up for in low down shove and point to point it's actually quite quick with a remap. Just have to adjust your driving style to suite the power delivery. 

In terms of handling it'll be a major downgrade from the Honda. You'll have to do the springs and dampers or fit coilovers and probably a RARB too. Standard brakes will wilt if used enthusiastically more than about 2-3 times in a short space of time.

 

In your position I'd also consider the Polo and the Ibiza FR and sport 130. Facelift FR 5 door is what my brother has. Remapped to 169BHP on a custom remap with 317lbft.

 

Would also mention that comfort is relative in these cars. Seem to suffer from the VAG common problem of thumpiness over transverse ridges and small bumps. Many reviews of these cars and the MK4 platform cars pitted against their peers from about 10-15 years ago on Evo, Autocar etc.

I'll look into these Polos, Ibizas and Leons and see which one is suitable for me. I did consider a Polo at first but I liked the look of Leon better but within my budget range, I assume the Fabia might be the ideal choice. I think I'm better off test driving to see which one I like. I don't plan on modding the car heavy, just probably lower it a little as not a fan of huge arch gaps, need atleast 170hp as hate going slow uphills and the odd exterior styling bits. I'm quite a fan of EP3s but it's not a suitable car for daily, I'm still keeping my old civic as a weekend car so I could have bit of fun with but if that had to go, it would be the EP3 as a replacement. 

Buy a Fabia, you won't regret it