Thought id share my towbar fitting experience with you as i read a lot of threads about the problems with this car and towbars.

This is my car with a bosal swan neck towbar on it. I think they retail at about £110 plus £10 for a electrics set.

Easy to fit by removing the rear lights and then bumper and bumper bracket. Find the holes that are covered in tape and underseal and offer up the towbar bracket.

Now the important bit:

The holes in the chassis are slightly bigger than the bolts supplied and if you pull down at the rear of the towbar frame and push the frame up where the inner bolts are and then tighten them all up your frame will have a 1 to 2 degree tilt on it. This will allow you the fit the swan neck and it clear the bumper by about 2 to 3 mm. You only have to make a bumper cut 50 mm by 60mm deep on the bottom which cant be seen once the swan neck is on. Electrics bolt on the other side of and are neatley tucked away. There are even big grommets in the rear panel to take the cable through 6 scotch locks laterand bingo its fitted. I broke a clip of the boot side panel you have to remove to get to the bolts on the light clusters but they are only 1.70 to buy new.... bargain.

Is your insurance company happy with you towing with the vRS?

Not told them to be honest as i use it with a bike rack mostly and to take a tiny trailer 1 mile to the tip 3 times a year.

Just wondered as the main issue most people have with fitting a towbar to the vRS is that it isn't type approved not that they can't find one to fit.

The place I bought my vRS from had paid someone to take the towbar off and dumped it. I made him get it back for me and it's currently sitting in the boot. I'll get round to fitting it back on soon.

Pic of it before he took it off: http://littlepaul.com/pics/vrs/vrs1.jpg

Dead neat that fireman

Wish this bar had been available eighteen months ago

had to chop a lump out of the bumper to fit ours which was badged up for a Ibiza.

Like you only use for a bike rack and small trailer

Looks like a good job fitting that.

Are you aware that the VRS is'nt type approved for towing therefore towing anything is illegal ? Insurance will be void of your in a accident towing etc...

I'm afraid my VRS is up for sale for this reason.

@Matt D - you gonna get yourself a PD100 & then do a little remapping on it?

yep im all aware of the insurance problem regarding this but i think for the amount of times i tow in a year its worth the risk.

@Matt D - you gonna get yourself a PD100 & then do a little remapping on it?

No mate something totally different, Land Rover probably

yep im all aware of the insurance problem regarding this but i think for the amount of times i tow in a year its worth the risk.

Please send

A guy in Germany has actually gone through the paperwork with DEKRA and now has a street legal RS with 800 kg towing weight.

With the current EU-regulations it should be possible for people in other countries to take advantage of this.

http://www.skodaforum.de/thread.php?threadid=20118

Thanks for the link - it will be interesting to see if this can be used for sure, I havent got a towbar but a removable one would be interesting

yes im going to tow a 3 foot trailer 1 mile to the tip 2 or 3 times a year at 30 mph topps if im lucky. I can just imagine the carnage now as it causes a major accident and everybody dies as they swerve to avoid it and ram the pavement probably knocking a load of people over standing pointing a fabia vrs and saying "look there goes 1 of those skoda cars with a towbar on it. What an irrisponsible idiot he must be....look how out of control it looks"

Wish id not bothered posting

It's a valid point about the insurance nevertheless Please don't take it as a personal insult or anything, it's not in the same league as 'mr no roadtax no insurance no mot' by any means -

Really what we're after is to get some kinda type approval so we can just get a towbar fitted & use it if that's what you wanna do.

I have a feeling you'd control your trailer very nicely

Did a little research... please correct me if I go wrong.

Where you say the car is not type approved for towing I'm assuming you're referring to the European Directive 94/20/EC thing, and that it is illegal to even fit a towbar to a vehicle which hasn't been submitted for testing and approved. All vehicles which are approved for towing then have this detailled on the VIN plate under the bonnet (usually), which lists the vehicle capacities.

Apparently, the top weight (actually mass but that's another debate) under the VIN is the Maximum Vehicle Weight.

The second number is the Train Weight, which is the maximum that should be moved by the vehicle; so less the first number is the maximum towing weight.

I have an Octy vRS and took this picture of my VIN plate.

Do yours not have this?

Comments?

What about this one??

http://upload.alfa145.com/files/40/fabia3.jpg

... well.. it wasnt me who fitted that.. i got the car like this.. and im thinking about removin it

What about this one??

http://upload.alfa145.com/files/40/fabia3.jpg

... well.. it wasnt me who fitted that.. i got the car like this.. and im thinking about removin it

That isn't a vRS is it?

No, it isnt... its a 2002 Fabia 1.4 16V

Did a little research... please correct me if I go wrong.

Where you say the car is not type approved for towing I'm assuming you're referring to the European Directive 94/20/EC thing' date=' and that it is illegal to even fit a towbar to a vehicle which hasn't been submitted for testing and approved. All vehicles which are approved for towing then have this detailled on the VIN plate under the bonnet (usually), which lists the vehicle capacities.

Apparently, the top weight (actually mass but that's another debate) under the VIN is the Maximum Vehicle Weight.

The second number is the Train Weight, which is the maximum that should be moved by the vehicle; so less the first number is the maximum towing weight.

I have an Octy vRS and took this picture of my VIN plate.

[img']http://littlepaul.com/pics/vrs/VINplate.jpg[/img]

Do yours not have this?

Comments?

I had a look at my vRS Fabia vin plate and the numbers are 1720, 1720, 960, 800

so I assume this means there is no increase in the train weight and therefor no towing capacity?

any other ideas?

I had a look at my vRS Fabia vin plate and the numbers are 1720, 1720, 960, 800

woo hoo ive become a real rebel now as ive towed my trailer to centre parcs last week and not a probem did i occure. lol

Was at the stealers and couple in front were asking about towing with a vrs, being nosy I earwigged, when stealer came back to them he said he could not find any info on the vrs max weights but told them the weight for a 100bhp and said the vrs would be able to pull more. So if you see a black vrs pulling a '2 ton' twin axle caravan anywhere whilst driven by a polite elderly couple i'll know he made the sale :lol:

Didn't the dealer look at the tech spec in the Fabia RRP List and Tech Spec brochure dated 05/04? The figures for the Fabia vRS there are:

Kerb weight* lbs (kg) - 2899 (1315)

Total weight lbs (kg) - 3792 (1720)

Payload* lbs (kg) - 893 (405)

Max roof load lbs (kg) - 165 (75)

Towing unbraked max lbs (kg) - N/A

Towing braked max lbs (kg) - N/A

Nose weight max lbs (kg) - N/A

* Weight depending on equipment level.

I had a look at my vRS Fabia vin plate and the numbers are 1720' date=' 1720, 960, 800

so I assume this means there is no increase in the train weight and therefor no towing capacity?

[/quote']

I think you're right.

So fitting a towbar is still an illegal insurance invalidator then ?