4. Trips to Ikea no longer involve a large audience in the car park taking bets during loading.

it's amazing how much you CAN actually fit in the back - as long as it's not too wide, or long, for that matter

Nice list marmite

Will keep a lookout for you. Whereabouts are you, I might be close

Steve

The Fabia VRS is targetted at people who want a warmish hatch without the drawbacks...which is exactly what the Fabia VRS is.

It is a wolf in sheeps clothing, won't cost you an arm and a leg to insure, comfy on longs hauls aswell as dynamic on short hauls, you can fit 4 people in it comfotably with luggage and will still accelerate hard, excellent build quality, you can drive twice as many miles caning the VRS compared to caning a hot hatch (eg clio 182, mini cs, say 40mpg compared to 20mpg)......to be honest i could go on.

The point is, the car is a legend and im not being biased because im buying one. It would be vary unfair to both sides of any comparison to put the Fabia VRS up against any other car.

Please i would love someone to be able to give a name of any other car that will check ALL the boxes of the list above (and more cos which the VRS does)for just 11k NEW. Outstanding. If that what you want then it's the car for you.

It's the thinking man's car.

Not a car that a man with too much testosterone has.

(i.e driven by his pe * nis, drives like a di * ck)

Well put on the post above - that was pretty much how I thought when I got mine.

@Goochie and his points above - they're valid about trying to make a car something it's not, but I'm of the opinion that the std vrs is an excellent starting point by Skoda, and can be made better by the addition of a few choice mods.

Steve

Its a very good car standard, and very economically modded to get a lot more power without sacrificing any of the other good points. I too am biased.

It's the thinking man's car.

Not a car that a man with too much testosterone has.

(i.e driven by his pe * nis' date=' drives like a di * ck)[/quote']

For God's sake, don't fit an AmD One -Click! :eek:

John.

How long did you wait until you installed the one click? I have been advised that the engine will loosen up nicely with the miles and will not "run out" of steam before 4000. Mines just coming up to 3k

your saying you have to drive like a DI CK when you have a one click?

How long did you wait until you installed the one click? I have been advised that the engine will loosen up nicely with the miles and will not "run out" of steam before 4000. Mines just coming up to 3k

1) 2500 miles. as the engine loosens up, any efficiency will be in addition to whatever mods have been done ( generic, not custom of course ).

2) It might not run out of steam, but think of it as steam vs 'superheated' steam. Alternatively consider acceleration ( metres per second, every second ) on an X / Y axis graph with a remap as a straight line as opposed to a straight line which begins to curve off.

Am i making sense? The growl of the engine and the feel in your bo!!ox would probably be a better indicator.

John. :orb_big_g

your saying you have to drive like a DI CK when you have a one click?

Think of the classic novel 'Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson. Or the recent promotion: 'Dr Skoda & Mr vRS'.

We all have our darkside. Maybe Pandora shouldn't have opened the box. Maybe the 'Ark of the Covenant' was never meant to be found.

'Absolute Power corrupts.....Absolutely'.

( Sorry, I can't think of anymore quotes! )

Just remember, 'Walkie', by his own admission had to turn it off!

......you have been warned.

John. :orb_glare

don't let the torque cloud your decision on speed. a couple of cars trounced a fabia recently one in partivular wasrnning rough and had a 50lbft deficit aswell as an extra 200Kg or so. they do feel quick but don't let it lull you into a false sense of security

He he

Makes me laugh when I keep reading threads where words like better and faster are used. The standard Fabia vRS handles well. One may prefer a firmer ride with less roll, in which case, a set of Eibachs with dampers will give a result. Is it better? No just different.

Sure there are many cars quicker than the vRS as well. Are they better? Depends how you define it. If cost is not an issue, then everyone should run a Veyron. BUT we live in the real world and have to consider running costs.

As for the remaps, good stuff but remember more power = less component life.

So all these "improvements" to make the car "better" are merely tailoring the car to suit ones tastes.

I spent much of the last two days hurtling around roads that needed as much suspension travel as I could get; out near Pontefract and north of the M62 last night (will post a photo on the Photography board later) and down around the Peak District, through Sheffield and back to Essex today. So what other car out there would have been better for the journey than the standard vRS? Bently for the motorway miles I think, but bugger the purchase / running costs. A nice set of lowering springs on those shockingly poor roads north of the M62 would not be much help and probably make it feel faster and travel slower. So I can buy quieter, and quicker, but to do it all at 50mpg and still leave me smiling when I got home? I reckon the standard car has a lot going for it. Bottom line is that for the cash, the point to point pace is exceptional and the relaxed way it can cover the ground makes it truly a car above its league.

Chris

Agree 100%. Maybe we should stop calling it "modding" and start calling it 'tailoring'. Would be a boring place if we all had identical cars, wouldn't it?

Well put Chris

Steve

don't let the torque cloud your decision on speed. a couple of cars trounced a fabia recently one in partivular wasrnning rough and had a 50lbft deficit aswell as an extra 200Kg or so. they do feel quick but don't let it lull you into a false sense of security

Hi

I take it you are referring to the two Octavias and one Fabia videos? Trounced seems like a bit of an overstatement to me. A couple of seconds quicker to the halfway stage and not much more of a gap (in time terms) at the end of the runway.

Out in the real world, these differences would be quite small. Sure the Octavias wrugh out would leave the Fabia by a few seconds on any given mile strecth of road, but how often do any of us drive 10/10ths on the public road? Where the low RPM torque comes into its own is when you want to stroke it along and make progress. Here, the Fabia driven at up to 3000 / 3500 rpm is giving its best performance in a relaxed manner which would see the Octavias having to work a lot further up the rev range to carry similar pace.

Power is what makes a car quick at full throttle and revs, low to midrange torque is what makes a car quick in the normal driving day. So sure the Octavia vRS will be quicker than the Fabia vRS in a shootout (the difference was smaller than I expected), where revs are up and full gas is applied. However, when the two cars are running down the average B road just running bend to bend, the Fabia driver is going to be relaxed by comparison to the Octavia driver if both are making similar pace. Of course, the Octavia driver can make more ultimate pace, but as the video shows, it is not that much more for so much more effort. Each to thier own, but dont undereastimate the importance of torque.

Chris

Chris

Ive had my Fabia vRS for around 6 weeks now and have to say that i love the car. Yes i understand that its not the quickest car in straight lines.

I have a streach of road leaving work, which is a private road around 1/3 a mile long. As i leave work i make a left and greeted by a roundabout 50 yards later with a slight right sweep and another roundabout leading to a slight left sweep onto a straight aroung 800 yrds.

The fun i get booting the car aroung this private road is priceless, braking hard into the roundabout then comming off like a rocket. So much fun.

This is where the car belongs, all of these tests about straight line times, 0-60 and such forth dont give you a real impression of the furby.

I spent much of the last two days hurtling around roads that needed as much suspension travel as I could get; out near Pontefract and north of the M62 last night

Where abouts exactly, do you remember?

I live about 5 mins away and have probably driven on the same roads day in day out as I do

just wanted to make a quick point about the fabia vrs puma. The racing puma was recently voted the worst depreciating car on the market, can't see that being a problem with the vrs! As for the fabia ticking all boxes, the only car that i can think of that ticks more would be the Audi A3 TDI 130 Quattro i.e 4WD, but it costs a lot more to buy and insure, so for me the fabia is the one to go for!!

As for the fabia ticking all boxes, the only car that i can think of that ticks more would be the Audi A3 TDI 130 Quattro i.e 4WD, but it costs a lot more to buy and insure, so for me the fabia is the one to go for!!

The boxes I set myself further back in the thread was: cheap to run and insure aswell as the rest of the boxes. Therefore the Audi does not tick all the boxes, try again. Good effort though!

The audi does look good though, and you can say to your mates your have a Audi A3 Quattro! They'll love it.

Any other cars that tick all the boxes?

Ive had my Fabia vRS for around 6 weeks now and have to say that i love the car. Yes i understand that its not the quickest car in straight lines.

I have a streach of road leaving work' date=' which is a private road around 1/3 a mile long. As i leave work i make a left and greeted by a roundabout 50 yards later with a slight right sweep and another roundabout leading to a slight left sweep onto a straight aroung 800 yrds.

The fun i get booting the car aroung this private road is priceless, braking hard into the roundabout then comming off like a rocket. So much fun.

This is where the car belongs, all of these tests about straight line times, 0-60 and such forth dont give you a real impression of the furby.[/quote']

Just out of interest, what else have you driven in order to make this comparisson?

It is a wolf in sheeps clothing, won't cost you an arm and a leg to insure, comfy on longs hauls aswell as dynamic on short hauls, you can fit 4 people in it comfotably with luggage and will still accelerate hard, excellent build quality,

I'm not sure how much luggage your 4 adults carry, but I used to fill the boot up if me and the missus went away for the weekend anywhere! I'm also no longer sure I agree about excellent build quality, especially after so many of the cars seem to be suffering from leaks, fuel filler cap releases popping off, ARB bushes needing replacing, rear brake groaning and the dashboard creaks and rattles, but build quality is very subjective anyway

Still, if you want an economical, cheap diesel warm hatch, it's pretty hard to beat....

Chris

Still' date=' if you want an economical, cheap diesel warm hatch, [b']The Ford Focus CMAX[/b] is pretty hard to beat....

Chris

..

I'm also no longer sure I agree about excellent build quality, especially after so many of the cars seem to be suffering from leaks, fuel filler cap releases popping off, ARB bushes needing replacing, rear brake groaning and the dashboard creaks and rattles, but build quality is very subjective anyway

If you look on a forum of this size for any brand you'll find problems, Skoda is better than most European ones for reliability and bits dropping off.

Having worked for Ford a few years back however... :thumbdwn:

If you look on a forum of this size for any brand you'll find problems, Skoda is better than most European ones for reliability and bits dropping off.

Better than most does not excellent build quality make

Chris