Having been around a while I've noticed (especially with the latest brakes thread) that there seem to be two camps of Fabia vRS owners: Those with woefully ineffective brakes, poor handling and crap mpg, and those who find the brakes fine, the handling adequate and get better mpg.

Lighting the blue touch paper now :eek: who fits which category and how would they rate their driving HONESTLY?

I have an o4 54 vRS and drive it errm 'briskly' and My brakes are fine, not harsh and no fade, and the handling whilst a tad roly-poly is perfectly adequate and my average mpg is 48 , the brakes & suspension are standard, although the car has been mapped & modded to roughly 180bhp. A strut brace and arb are on the cards, so the brakes might become an issue then !

If you drive properly, the brakes are more than enough. I get ~42mpg on my 26 mile commute, with a nice 10 mile b road section when I'm on it. ~55mpg when I'm in no hurry. The roads have too much cack on them to truely test the handling on my car, bought in October, when the roads were equally as cacky.

I'm pondering Eibachs, but [a] want a go in a car with them fitted, and will wait to the roads are better to get a real picture to what it's doing.

Brand new car, bought Oct 05, with 6500 miles on the clock.

Very Satisfied with mine, handling leaps ahead of my old Fiat Uno and Vauxhall Astra Mark3. Brakes have plenty of stopping power. MPG varies according to traffic and stuff, anywhere between 42-60 mpg including some "spirited" driving!

You need to make some adjustments to the categories (pokes tounge in cheek):

Catergory 1

Woefully ineffective brakes, poor handling and crap mpg. These people have probably had more than one car in the past and have very little finance outstanding on the Fabia.

They're happy to consider another brand and see misting up windows, poor handbrake and inability to fill up with fuel without a special technique as a problem.

Category 2

Brakes fine, the handling adequate and get better mpg. Never hear a bad word said against Skoda, their fabia has no problems at all, Fords and Vauxhalls are all built badly and VW's are overpriced. They've probably never owned a car with such a powerful engine, probably never even driven one. A large portion of the car is on finance and they believe it will hold it's value for ever.

The brakes, fuel filler problems, misting up and poor hand brake are all part of the experience - after all TVR's need lots of TLC so why shouldnt' a Fabia.

Handling: OK (wouldn't want it any stiffer as I do 20k a year and can't afford chiropractor fees, and body roll is nowhere near as bad as my last two voitures francaises!)

Brakes: Bit hit and miss at times. Have a certain 'pucker factor' if I'm giving it some in the wet and/or if they've got rusty after standing for a couple of days in the rain, but it's nothing a bit of forethought (i.e. applying them gently in advance of when I really need them to get the water / rust off)

MPG: Disappointing, frankly. Seldom do better than 45mpg on the commute, 50mpg on long trips, even with BP Ultimate. I suspect this may have more to do with the special blend of town roads, motorways and roadworks that I have to put up with every day than anything else, although I do keep it above 2000rpm most of the time which isn't going to help...

[edit]

inability to fill up with fuel without a special technique as a problem

Fuel filler problems? Really? That IS a new one on me! I find taking the nozzle out of the holder, putting it into the filler port, filling the car, giving the nozzle a little jiggle, then putting it back in the holder has done me fine over the last 18 months - tell me more!?!

[/edit]

Lol @ Goochie

Chris

Lol @ Goochie

Chris

Me too. But have to disagree on one thing. The hand brake does work

Misting up - it's a bl*dy pain, yeah you can set the aircon etc in a particular way and it is a bit better, but it's the worst bar none (* note this excludes a car where the fan was broken, but then that was a bit of a sure-fire way of getting misted up car syndrome :P ).

I have now gone for the 'turn off aircon a bit before I get home' and it works fairly well. Still think it's a pain though.

Fuelling wise, to get it brimmed you have to let the air out a bit but it's no big deal, and unlike the Rover 100 that splashes you with fuel if you let the pump do it's normal thing, the only way to fill it being to know how much fuel will go in and then 5 liters before you get to that point, trickle in the rest, on the Fabia I've found no problems really. Just don't drop that nozzle down all the way and it works fine. Not had to angle it in a special kinda way at all

Brakes - work fine, feel is less than ideal, and the TT brakes are a definite improvement.

Handling - again, Eibachs, strut + rear ARB have made a massive difference in a positive way without turning it into a 'crashing across the road' vehicle.

Fuel economy - PD160 intake + green filter allow easier revving so that doesn't help fuel economy, I reckon it's 2-3 mpg worse on average. FMIC appears to have compounded it slightly at lower load on the engine, in the higher gears it's better though, so swings/roundabouts/etc...

Managed 45mpg avg from Manchester down to Oxford sticking pretty well to the NSL most of the way (unknown territory and all that). Can get better if you granny it for real. Most of the time I hit 38 mpg average over a trip to work when I end up doing a bit of progress-making, but a good 40 mpg is achievable with a reasonable mix of driving.

Weather conditions appear to make a really big difference though, much bigger than with the petrol cars I used to drive.

Body roll wise it's quite noticable and I'm glad it's reduced with the Eibachs.

The real question (assuming you wish to keep the car) is whether you can afford the insurance etc, and whether you feel the change(s) are worth it.

Although I just got my 'gear' based on reading this site, if you are able to drive a similar car, one with Eibachs, one standard, you'll be able to work it out for yourself.

The Eibachs passed the 'SWMBO test' as she didnt complain about a hard ride or anything like that

I'm with Apogee on the brakes, normally fine but need a bit of TLC if the car's not used for a couple of days. Since I've had the Eibachs, no problems with feel though they're a bit aggressive initially.

Suspension: Much better with Eibachs. Though could do with slightly more roll resistance... At this point my hands are staying firmly in my pockets though... At least until the weather improves and I can try to drive it more, erm... properly.

MPG - around 45mpg, though that's without hammering it on an 18 mile commute.

Main 'issues' are road noise through the tyres and still not being prepared to believe that the thing weighs 1300KG.

J.

......still not being prepared to believe that the thing weighs 1300KG.

Consider this then....... if you have a full tank of fuel and a passenger in the Fabia you're ALMOST the same weight as an Octavia estate with a half empty tank and no passengers

My new one is completely adequate for my average driving ability

Consider this then....... if you have a full tank of fuel and a passenger in the Fabia you're ALMOST the same weight as an Octavia estate with a half empty tank and no passengers

The weight of the vRS is 1315kg including 3 passengers and 'average load' whatever that means..... thats what it says in the brochure anyway....

Backlash time! :eek:

It's not a 'Fabia is great' thread at all, it's a 'Are the bad drivers the ones with crap mpg and poor brakes etc' thread.

But I was too polite to ask

The weight of the vRS is 1315kg including 3 passengers and 'average load' whatever that means..... thats what it says in the brochure anyway....

'average load' = 3 bags of shopping in the boot (you cant fit much more in there anyway), a glove box full of rubbish, all the water in the footwells, the water that has run off the misted up windows and half a tank of fuel (because the owner cant be bothered faffing at the pump to fill it all the way up)

You need to make some adjustments to the categories (pokes tounge in cheek):

Catergory 1

Woefully ineffective brakes' date=' poor handling and crap mpg. These people have probably had more than one car in the past and have very little finance outstanding on the Fabia.

They're happy to consider another brand and see misting up windows, poor handbrake and inability to fill up with fuel without a special technique as a problem.

[u']Category 2[/u]

Brakes fine, the handling adequate and get better mpg. Never hear a bad word said against Skoda, their fabia has no problems at all, Fords and Vauxhalls are all built badly and VW's are overpriced. They've probably never owned a car with such a powerful engine, probably never even driven one. A large portion of the car is on finance and they believe it will hold it's value for ever.

The brakes, fuel filler problems, misting up and poor hand brake are all part of the experience - after all TVR's need lots of TLC so why shouldnt' a Fabia.

I agree with Goochie to an extent but it depends what you expect from the car. My opinions are based on the Ibiza PD130 but they aren't that different. The Ibiza's job in our household is to provide cheap economical transport that's comfortable in all weather conditions and is reasonably fun to drive. The car is to remain standard and the brakes and suspension do a good job once mated with some decent rubber. MPG is in typically in the 40's which is adequate but not much better than my old Golf 1.8T. I've had a couple of mechanical failures on the car and both were the result of hard standing start launches (it just doesn't seem built for them), so inflicting the further strain of more power, better brakes and suspension may increase the number of failures. It's the least powerful car I've owned and as such I probably don't expect as much from it. Having to vent the tank to get a decent amount of fuel in is a total PITA, if I just fill it until the pump clicks off I get around the same tank range as in my Octy which to be honest isn't good enough for the workhorse it's intended to be.

.. there seem to be two camps of Fabia vRS owners: Those with woefully ineffective brakes' date=' poor handling and crap mpg, and those who find the brakes fine, the handling adequate and get better mpg.

[/quote']I don't fit in either camp: the brakes were indifferent until I fitted 312s; the handling is adequate-to-good, but vastly improved with the rear ARB, and I get 54 mpg. And I'm still a crap driver.

add another category.

People who like putting the fabia down for the hell of it.

goochie have you got any other cars?

Sadly not any more - Until the latter half of last year I had a 1969 Beetle

I think the Fabia is good. The brakes were good enough for the car, the handling is good enough for the car etc etc.

It's not perfect. But what car is? If you feel the brakes need upgrading then it doesn't mean they're not good enough for the car, just that they're not good enough for what you want to use the car for.

I'm sure the majority of Fabia owners in the world (mainly not on this site) think the brakes are great. Those that want more from their car or want to track it, will obviously see room for improvement.

My 1.2 Punto had adequate handling. Who needed to corner flat when the car couldn't pull past 50 very well anyway? I could have thrown it into corners at 60 and said the suspension is pants. But it wouldn't have made it true.

The Fabia vRS isn't made to beat track day cars or Porsche's. If you want to spec it up to be faster than it was designed to be then of course some of the components won't be good enough.

Putting coilovers on it and dropping it 60mm will make the ride quality terrible for what the Furby was designed to do. But may make it quicker. Every car can be improved upon or specialised. It doesn't make the standard car any less competent if used correctly.

Sadly not any more - Until the latter half of last year I had a 1969 Beetle

What cars have you owned?

I think the Fabia is good. The brakes were good enough for the car, the handling is good enough for the car etc etc.

It's not perfect. But what car is? If you feel the brakes need upgrading then it doesn't mean they're not good enough for the car, just that they're not good enough for what you want to use the car for.

I'm sure the majority of Fabia owners in the world (mainly not on this site) think the brakes are great. Those that want more from their car or want to track it, will obviously see room for improvement.

My 1.2 Punto had adequate handling. Who needed to corner flat when the car couldn't pull past 50 very well anyway? I could have thrown it into corners at 60 and said the suspension is pants. But it wouldn't have made it true.

The Fabia vRS isn't made to beat track day cars or Porsche's. If you want to spec it up to be faster than it was designed to be then of course some of the components won't be good enough.

Putting coilovers on it and dropping it 60mm will make the ride quality terrible for what the Furby was designed to do. But may make it quicker. Every car can be improved upon or specialised. It doesn't make the standard car any less competent if used correctly.

Nova 1.2 L

Nova 1.2 Flair

Corsa 1.2 LS

Renault 5 GT Turbo van

Corsa 1.6 Sport

Beetle 1300

Astra MK4 2.0 SRi

Integra Type R UK spec

Octavia 1.8T elegance

Nova 1.2 L

Nova 1.2 Flair

Corsa 1.2 LS

Renault 5 GT Turbo van

Corsa 1.6 Sport

Beetle 1300

Astra MK4 2.0 SRi

Integra Type R UK spec

Octavia 1.8T elegance

have you driven a Fabia VRS for a long amount of time / mileage?