..and fair play it was quite good!

I'm a great believer in getting out there to explore the limits of your car in conditions such as these!

The best thing i ever did was when we had a snowstorm back in 2000 i took my old car to a abandoned industrial estate and used the biggest empty car park i could find to practice controlling and correcting under and oversteer!

I spent a good 3 hours there and i believe this gave me invaluable experience!

I woke up this morning at 6am and i saw the conditions outside so i thought i would give my VRS and all its electronic toys a good challange

So i decided to drive up a local road that is very rarely used as its quite steep in places at 1:5 :eek:

The temp was around 0*c so there was plenty of ice around!

Going up the hill was quite impressive with the ASR and the MSR going into overtime the dash light was flashing like mad (whilst i was trying to keep a steady rpm of 1800rpm in 3rd) and fair play my baby pulled me up with no problems, i was impressed

Then i came back down! :eek:

Well i did'nt think at the time but i fitted my 312mm brakes yesterday so perhaps the ECU has'nt adapted to them but what i experienced was quite un-nerving!

The ABS worked fine and was in overtime with the brake pedal gently pulsing away allowing me to steer around the corners with the help of the ESP whilst the EDL was kicking in a fair bit too!

I've never had a car with EDL before and when it does kick in my god the brake pedal pulses quite hard!

At times it was quite hard to keep the brakes on, and i'm no wuss either!

A bit nerve racking when coming down a 1:5 hill

Perhaps this is why the newer Fabias have the MBA option now :confused:

IMHO if that is the reason, its a sensible move by Skoda

Anyway the car performed quite well allowing me to come down safely and was quite impressive, there was only one point where i felt the car was'nt going to stop so i turned the key, switched off the engine, cut-out the electronic aids and used the 'snow plough' effect to stop the car in a matter of 5 metres.

Some of you may wonder why i'm writing this...

...well i just wanted to explain what happens when the ABS, ESP, MSR, ASR and the EDL (god thats a lot of toys!) kicks in as i'm sure some of you have never experienced this!

I have been in a car with a ex of mine who yelped and took her foot of the brakes as soon as the ABS kicked in due to the brake pedal pulsing as she did'nt know what to expect not good :thumbdwn:

So thats why, and please when the brake pedal pulses due to the ABS don't take your foot of the brake!

Oh and please don't do the same as i did if your not confident in your car or hav'nt experienced ABS, go and find a empty car park or airfield somewhere

Oh yeah and the ex crashed her car btw

For those that don't know:

ABS - Anti-Lock braking system

ESP - Electronic Stability Programme

EDL - Electronic Differential Lock

ASR - Anti Slip Regulation - posh name for traction control

MSR - Engine Torque Control - part of the ASR system

MBA - Mechanical Brake Assist

Apoligies for the essay :P

Nice one, i've not taken my Furby out in the ice yet, looks like it'll be alright:thumbup:

How many of those abreviations does the standard vrs come with.

Am I correct in assuming that on a new vRS with the ESP option added I will get all the rest of those initials included?

I used to own a V6 Cortina (yes I am old!) and whenever it looked cloudy it used to hide in the garage, i then used the War Office's " 2Cv, much better ! You could drive it through 3ft snowdrifts !

Well i have a 55 registered vrs that comes with asr button but not sure about the rest of all that.

Had a whole car park to myself at 8 oclock this morning, covered in ice .....fun isn't it

i've got ABS!!! :rofl:

How many of those abreviations does the standard vrs come with.

All Fabia VRS's have:

ABS - Anti-Lock braking system

EDL - Electronic Differential Lock

ASR - Anti Slip Regulation - posh name for traction control

MSR - Engine Torque Control - part of the ASR system

ESP - Electronic Stability Programme Is available on the VRS as a £400 option

New Mk2 Fabia VRS's from 55 plate onwards have all the above (not sure on ESP) plus:

MBA - Mechanical Brake Assist

I think

Mines a new 55 regsitered one, so im guessing it has the brake assist, could be the reason why i almost put myself through the front window compared to my old mk3 astra lol

All Fabia VRS's have:

ABS - Anti-Lock braking system

EDL - Electronic Differential Lock

ASR - Anti Slip Regulation - posh name for traction control

MSR - Engine Torque Control - part of the ASR system

ESP - Electronic Stability Programme Is available on the VRS as a

Definitely ESP works very well, and it reduces the amount of interfering with the engine power for a bit longer - it first has a go with braking-related stuff to get the car round the bend

Strangely I did the same thing when I was over in NL during Dec' 05 - had a bit of fun with ESP on & off. It was amazing how it got the car round a bend that a car obviously without it couldn't manage - separate post on that somewhere round that time :P

MBA - hmm what does that do then compared to not having it ?

MBA - is it when the car decides if you are doing an emergency brake and effectively brakes the car as hard as possible without the abs interfereing or wheels locking. \if \i am correct I believe a luxuary maker had early problems with cars shunting them on motorways because a) the system was cutting in when the driver wasn't braking to a stop and the car driver behind qwas incapable of stopping so quickly.

Cheers - must admit I've not had much trouble just kicking the brake down hard if I am doing an emergency stop. Touch wood only twice last year, but still nice to know the brakes work

I did some offroading days and it teaches you how to control a vehicle and feel how it reacts - which is great if you drive a car with no electronic aids at all!

Going down a very steep hill, taking your feet off the pedals and using engine braking is an eye-opening experience

Chris