Just joined, My other (and some would say better) half has had a Fabia 16v Elegance for some time, we've had our fair share of problems with it, most caused by a dealer that didnt believe there was a problem untill it went too far. Anyway that being that our current dealer sorted them all out (or most, still suspension knocking, but we will get that sorted). I needed a car that was gonna be a bit fun, and not cost me a fortune so test drove the Fabia vRS, and it rock's.. Certainly not as quick as my MR2 but hell that does 20 to the gallon!. I've ordered a Silver one with cruise and whatnot on it, should get it in the next week (dealer is swapping his red one for a silver one). 2 Things however I would'nt mind knowing. The dealer spoke of the chip that is being produced (aftermarket) for them, anyone tried chipping one yet, and if they have what's it like (performance/economy)

Cheers

Welcome to Briskoda, Ashleigh - You'll find plenty of talk about chipping the fabia vRS to 180BHP+ on here... There's already some being done, and more going TO be done.

Welcome Ashleigh. There are plenty of people thinking of getting their fabia vRS chipped, and a few have already done it - producing as Jason says, around the 180 mark.

It could be that the "official aftermarket chip" is a Skoda version of the Seat one mentioned in this post: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4936 However, although they are "officially supported" and won't "invalidate the warranty if fitted by an authorised Seat dealer" bla bla bla, they only give you about an extra 20 horses, i.e. a total of around 150. For an extra 100 and a bit notes, you could get a full Jabba treatment - rolling road, tests, chip, drive, etc which will give you approx an extra 30 on top. However, the official word is that this being a non-dealer fitted chip, it can invalidate the warranty. Some dealers use this as a scape goat, others will (and should IMPO) accept it and not say they won't replace the windscreen wiper motor which has broken down free of charge because you've chipped the engine.

If you're thinking about doing it, I'd recommend you talk to your dealer and see what his stance is. I suppose you could say that if Skoda could be releasing a chip upgrade, then would he still invalidate the warranty if you were to fit a third-party one? The worst he can say is "no, I won't support a third-party chip". And then you'll know and not have any potential nasty surprises

A guy at the dealer I'm buying mine from has a silver vRS, he's on about getting it chipped, he says the switchable one is the best to go for, and 'if it's not turned on when the car comes in, I cant see what we can do about it'

Anyone had any xperience whith the switchable version of the chips, how do they work (I assume they store both the original mapping and the new one and switch between them). The other reason I want a switchable one is I'm going to be doing a fair few miles a day and would like to 'lean it out' on the factory mapping down the motoway.

Thanks

Can't be REVO as they haven't released anything yet.....Jabba don't do the boost controller for diesels....probably APR then?

Don't think that APR do switchable for the diesel but i could be wrong.

can you get an option of different seat covers for the vrs

In fact, I don't think APR do diesel tuning yet.

Kenny, I think it's like the Octy - you get the covers it comes with.

the fabia is the opposite from octy silver and black reversed i think. no leather option?

Yeah that's right Kenny. Not sure about a leather option, i don't think so though.

Personally speaking, I don't like the colour coding on the Furby seats. I thought the Octy was bad to clean but the Furby's have so much potential to look quite mucky pretty quickly.

Not a fan but it wouldn't stop me buying one (subject to decent owner reviews and test drive)

Originally posted by Huck in this post

In fact, I don't think APR do diesel tuning yet.

Hmmmm.....REVO aren't quite ready to release their Furby code yet (according to REVO_Richard or was it Kev?). Don't know if they're doing switching even.

Missed out AmD.....sure Techie will know (well he should seeing as he works there;) ).

Well.....I stumped on who it is!

If memory serves (which sometimes it doesnt) AMD are doing the switchable one very shortly.

www.amdtechnik.com

And no leather option (else I would have had it), not colour options for seats. In fact very few options as there are so few cars available at the moment, I wanted to lease the car originally and they were talking of January delivery, and most dealers are quoting December / Jan for purchasing one! Oh and so you know heated seat are not available on them yet.

Oh yeah that's the other thing 've been meaning to ask, This will be (on the 1st when I pick 'Elma' up) the first diesel I've owned, after many fast petrols, Uno Turbo mk1, uno Turbo mk2, 405 Mi16, MR2 MK1 SuperCharger (still got, and is definatly my baby!), but never owned a diesel. Anyone got any 'newbie' pointers on maintaining and general care for an oil burner

Always wait for the light to out

Welcome to Briskoda.

And always wait for the engine to warm up before pushing it hard. You should do that with a petrol one, but because the injectors are oil-driven, until the oil heats up, it stays thick and doesn't exercise the injectors properly.

My vRS also takes 10-15 minutes to warm up on these coldish mornings.

Oh, and remember to pick up the black coloured pistol at the fuel station - not the green one! :p

Absolutly dreading doing that, Petrol in a Diesel at least aint as bad as 'tother way around. I love torque (hense the need for force inducted petrols in my list of cars!), and this is possibly the best oil burner I've driven, although the Ford TDCi Mondeo I had for a while wasnt bad. Cant wait to get to 1000 miles (of treating it nicely) so I can take her out on the track, see what mods need doing next.... I'm a reformist who has learnt the hard way to get the chassis sorted before bumping more 'go' through it. Anyone modded there suspension/brakes on the Fabia? and if so what experiences have you got / had?

Also as this is the first VAG car I'm even considering tuning, is there a list anywhere of tuning companies that are trusted, got a few names looking about the board, but hey! I'm midlands based but hey will drive anywhere for the right kit!