Just to detract from the mountains of questions and problems often posted, just thought I'd chime in with something a bit different.

Drove from the Southwest of England, to Folkestone across the tunnel and on to Bruges this weekend in the little VRS. The little beast performed exceptionally. Didn't miss a beat; got out with no aches; returned (according to the notoriously wayward computer) 65mpg; and sat happily in stop/start traffic/50mph average speed zones/ cruising at 90.

She was an absolute pleasure to be in. Great for munching the miles.

No real point to the story, just wanted to recall my positive experience in case there's any potential buyers out there that are put off by the seemingly many problems in the forum.

They aren't bad long distance cruisers considering it's a small hatch back.

 

The only downside I find with them is the side winds tend to take them a bit more than other cars I've driven, but that's not really too bad unless it's blowing a gale. 

The only downside I find with them is the side winds tend to take them a bit more than other cars I've driven, but that's not really too bad unless it's blowing a gale. 

 

Yeah, I find that as well. I think it's worse with the lighter engined models such as my MPI, which is all aluminium.

My vrs's are pretty awful in cross winds. Worse than a 1998 Clio my girlfriend had lol.

I do a lot of long distance cruising in my 1.4TDI, my only complaint is that the road noise can get tiring. Other than that, I don't have any complaints

Edited 7 September, 201510 yr by Dazza95

As far as road noise goes you could look into some sound deadening material for the boot floor, door cards and foot wells. I've seen kits out there in the region of £70-£100 that would easily cover these areas and probably more in something the size of the Fabia.

 

http://www.deadening.co.uk/products/silent-coat-2mm-deadening-mat

I do a lot of long distance cruising in my 1.4TDI, my only complaint is that the road noise can get tiring. Other than that, I don't have any complaints

Likewise. I'd say the 14tdi is one of the underrated cars of the range. I'd like to see one with chipped to 100 bhp with upgraded front discs.

For one year ,we had a once a month trip from Midlands to Lochaber, and on to Inverness. Only problem on Motorway was keeping speed down. it could really do with an extra gear to get revs down as above 3000 it eats fuel .First time we did it was at night ,after we found out dad had stroke .only 420 miles ,in 6.5 hours including two coffee+P stops and one fuel stop. it couldn't care less if it's motorway munching or taking on Highland windy roads- it loves them all . Tight roads with limited overtaking- the turbo comes into it's own. Last year on an economy drive, I got a present of a set of tyres from my daughter. She'd fitted them to her Laguna to have it go terminal on her. She scrapped it and recouped on the bits,but kept the tyres. They were only a month old, no kerbing or damage, and same  size etc as mine. Only difference was the height/width ratio. but it makes a great difference in noise and road holding.

The vRS is a fabulous long-distance cruiser. It has great seats and plenty of legroom in the front so for two people it's more than big enough. And there is plenty of torque so you can just drift along in top gear with the odd surge off acceleration to keep it going. The engine is quiet enough to be able to enjoy the stereo too.

I've been all over Europe and Scandinavia in mine and it just keeps going. It's well over 200,000 miles now and still makes 140bhp on a rolling road.

I think people are unrealistic in their expectations of a Mk I Fabia vRS. The oldest cars are now 12 years old. The youngest are 8 years old. Unless they've really been loved then they're well on the way to becoming sheds and nothing lasts forever. Most cars these days are fixed, not maintained and that makes a huge difference over the long term.

Knowing that this is possible is one of the reasons I am persevering with my little car. 

Diesels make the best mile munchers by far, you can get huge performance and great economy, though not necessarily at the same time.

 

The 1.9 TDI and VRS are great for this. especially if remapped - this adds to the peak power/torque with no loss in economy at light throttle.

 

I drive quite gently these days and expect to get >60 mpg on long runs, while knowing I can easily overtake with sub-7 sec 0-60 acceleration from about 330 nm (old bmw).

I get similar or better economy from a fabia SDI but with that car I don't overtake as much. I have had 2x 1.9 TDI fabias and always thought they could be perfect with a bit more poke i.e. VRS.

 

I was very tempted by the 1.4 TDI but potential timing chain issues are a bit off-putting - had lots of experience of this "fear of failure" with various BMWs.

i presume ,that since this if the "FABIA 1" forum, we're talking PD engines, where the 1.4TDI is a 3 cylinder version of the 1.9TDI , and like that one and the Vrs has no Timing chain problems, as all the diesel versions in the MK1 series use a CAM BELT . One of the advantages of the 1.4 TDI is that it has less weight over the front, and is agile on tight roads . I'd say even more capable if mapped and the front discs/pads uprated.

How many cars out there can return 585miles on 50 litres of diesel? I drove to Aberdeen from South Wales last year 10 hr drive with 3 pit stops and coffee breaks also took our dog with us, didn't miss a beat, drove up during the night but came back in the day absolutely awesome scenery. My car is standard and clocked up 152k miles. Performance when needed and economy happy chappy.

i presume ,that since this if the "FABIA 1" forum, we're talking PD engines, where the 1.4TDI is a 3 cylinder version of the 1.9TDI , and like that one and the Vrs has no Timing chain problems, as all the diesel versions in the MK1 series use a CAM BELT . One of the advantages of the 1.4 TDI is that it has less weight over the front, and is agile on tight roads . I'd say even more capable if mapped and the front discs/pads uprated.

Some 1.4 TDIs used a "timing chain" to drive the balancer shafts and oil pump.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?369121-Oil-Pump-Failure-Skoda-Fabia-1.4

 

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=91244

 

Post by 659fbe is a good read

Edited 9 September, 201510 yr by poiuytre111

Some 1.4 TDIs used a "timing chain" to drive the balancer shafts and oil pump.

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?369121-Oil-Pump-Failure-Skoda-Fabia-1.4

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/?t=91244

Post by 659fbe is a good read

Got to admit I always have this worry at the back of my mind...as well as turbo failure especially as the car is at 112k.

My last car (E46 BMW) had a slight turbo whine when cold when I bought it at about 120k mls but was no different when I moved it on at about 260k mls. 

 

Look at the 1.9 TDIs with mega miles, a local taxi firm used to run passats and told me they had to change drive shafts every now and again but they liked to get rid of them at 300k "before they get unreliable".

Got to admit I always have this worry at the back of my mind...as well as turbo failure especially as the car is at 112k.

Just service it to schedule and use the engine to it's full capability (rev it regularly). That keeps it clean and free of gunky build-ups. If you're worried about turbo failure then stick another turbo on it. It's not crazy expensive and it'll be good for another 100,000 miles at least.

Pointless living in constant state of worrying 'when' it's going to go. If it's gonna go pop it's gonna go!

 

Just enjoy the car, keep it well serviced and treat it to an old Italian tune up every now and then!