I'm planning on getting a fairly late (05) fabia VRS, or even a shiny new one, I'm not completely sure yet.

What I'm interested in hearing is:-

Is there a decent Skoda owners club

Are there any problems which can raise their heads either within or outside the warranty period?

Is servicing fairly affordable? - I do lots on the other car myself, a Saab 9-5, but will keep the fabia within the dealer / specialist network until it's out of warrranty.

Is the boot big enough for a labrador for long journeys and on a not entirely unconnected topic, are there decent seat covers, which will keep a spirited driver in place while cornering, Is a leather interior a justifiable expense.

With the previously mentioned spirited driving, what fuel economy can I reasonably expect?

Does the pd160 upgrade, strut brace, and replacement filter make enough of a difference to justify the inevitable loading on the insurance premium.

Are most Fabs fitted with ESP and side airbags (Something I really must have in the car, anything that keeps either the car or me and the family in one piece is a necessity, and I'm a bit disappointed they're not standard in a car with this performance.

Oh, are ESP and Xenons retrofittable? I know cruise is. How about bumwarmers?

Sorry for so many questions, it's all take take take at the moment!

Personally I don't think there is enough room in the boot for a labrador to have a comfortable journey unless you put the back seats down. Servicing is in my experience affordable. I averaged about 55 to 60 mpg for my journey to and from work each day, 20 miles of A and 5 miles of B roads. There are no Side airbags fitted as standard in the VRS.Have no idea about bumwarmers or pd 160 upgrade. Had a standard 54 VRS myself did 22,000 miles in 18 months, no problems at all with it, thoroughly enjoyed my driving experience but had to get a bigger car due to father becoming disabled. Have an Octy elegance estate, would definately recommend that for your size of dog! And the rest of the family! Good car hunting.

Hi and Welcome! Dont think you can retrofit ESP as it is linked into all sorts of different systems, but someone may prove me wrong!!!

Think Xenons are retrofittable, but you'll need all the self levelling gubbins, front bumper with the washers in etc etc! Other than that I think the headlight looms themselves are the same, so you just need to find a Rear ended vRS with xenons fitted to rob the parts off!!

Ditto for heated seats, but you'll need the looms and switches!!!

Think it would be easier to buy a car with it all fitted TBH!

The PD160 & Filter uprgrade and Strut Brace have been covered loads, just have a look at the search function and it should bring up all the info you need!!!

To your question about MPG!! In my experience, if you drive like an old woman you can get 55-60MPG!!! If you like giving it some welly and have a right foot filled with lead (Like me LOL) anywhere between 42-48MPG!! At a steady 100-110 (On a private road to Hull one night Ahmen (it was 2am!!!) I averaged 35mpg!! Still not bad like I spose!

Dunno about the Woof! Think the boot of a furby is probably a bit small! maybe OK with the parcel shelf removed like!!!

HTH Steve.

A Labrador will not fit comfortably in the boot of a Fabia - you may well get it in but the poor dog will not be able to do anything except lie down.

Get an Octy estate instead - it can easily fit one (or even two) Labradors in the boot and can be specified with ESP / side airbags etc. The performance of the 2.0TDI (140bhp) will be comparable to the Fabia and may fit your requirements better.

Hope this helps

The Fabia is going to be a second car, and as such I'm perfectly happy to get a cage that goes in the boot with the back seats down. We won't be using the Fab with the dog, my wife, and the baby, the Saab estate is going to be the load lugger.

The fab will be for going to work and back, and into the hills with the dog, but the occasional trip down the country.

Thanks for the replies, keep 'em coming!

Green filter, PD160 intake & strut did not add to my insurance premium at all, at worst it will be about 50 quid as it does not increase bhp, it aids the revving higher up though which is sometimes nice. It's IMHO more essential with a remap to avoid getting a lot of smoke to at the very least have the intake. The green filter is a little better at letting air through but needs cleaning every 5k miles, which with a strut brace is a bit of a pain.

I'd change the paper ones every 10k service and get the PD160 intake, you can fit that yourself in a spare fifteen minutes (taking into account having a cuppa ).

There are seat covers available for sure. Dunno about the dog cage but I must admit an Octy sounds like a better bet from the spacious boot's perspective. Performance wise the Octy would be a tad slower due to larger weight but it would still be more than sufficient considering you are driving with a dog in the boot/back

I can think of one major problem with the VRS.

It can cause your wallet to open to never seen before angles and cash just flies out when faced with all the mods you can do:D

It starts of small time with maybe a cupra pipe and green filter, then someone suggests it would look cool if you dropped a set of Eibachs in to lower it 25mm, you look at the price and think "Bargin!"

Next thing you know you are drilling holes in your wheelarch and visiting the garage for a remap, then you realise you need to upgrade the brakes....

When you go to a local meet you realise that it is a bit like an AA meeting;

"Hi, my names Martin and I done X to my car"

Everyone welcomes you, and stares in marvel at your handy work. You sit back in your car and realise that your broke and your missus has left you. You think it migh have all been a nightmare, then you start the car and drive away. You put the car into third and floor that accelerator, the cloud of soot erupts from the back and you are on your way to the Moon.

You then realise you wern't too keen on the girl anyway and the fact that if left unchecked your desire to mod the car is not that expensive compared to most, you have actually bought one of the better cars you can buy.

Dog NO, Seat covers can't be used over side airbags, but put covers in the back and get dog a seatbelt, for the odd journey.

I can think of one major problem with the VRS.

It can cause your wallet to open to never seen before angles and cash just flies out when faced with all the mods you can do:D

It starts of small time with maybe a cupra pipe and green filter' date=' then someone suggests it would look cool if you dropped a set of Eibachs in to lower it 25mm, you look at the price and think "Bargin!"

Next thing you know you are drilling holes in your wheelarch and visiting the garage for a remap, then you realise you need to upgrade the brakes....

When you go to a local meet you realise that it is a bit like an AA meeting;

"Hi, my names Martin and I done X to my car"

Everyone welcomes you, and stares in marvel at your handy work. You sit back in your car and realise that your broke and your missus has left you. You think it migh have all been a nightmare, then you start the car and drive away. You put the car into third and floor that accelerator, the cloud of soot erupts from the back and you are on your way to the Moon.

You then realise you wern't too keen on the girl anyway and the fact that if left unchecked your desire to mod the car is not that expensive compared to most, you have actually bought one of the better cars you can buy.[/quote']

Probably couldn't be truer. I'm still waiting to get my vRS, but i've been on tuning web sites already checking out the prices and i can see it's too easy to mod the vRS, especially with the price of things.

Not so easy with my scoob, costs a bloody fortune for anything...

I'm planning on getting a fairly late (05) fabia VRS' date=' or even a shiny new one, I'm not completely sure yet.

What I'm interested in hearing is:-

Is there a decent Skoda owners club

Are there any problems which can raise their heads either within or outside the warranty period?

Is servicing fairly affordable? - I do lots on the other car myself, a Saab 9-5, but will keep the fabia within the dealer / specialist network until it's out of warrranty.

Is the boot big enough for a labrador for long journeys and on a not entirely unconnected topic, are there decent seat covers, which will keep a spirited driver in place while cornering, Is a leather interior a justifiable expense.

With the previously mentioned spirited driving, what fuel economy can I reasonably expect?

Does the pd160 upgrade, strut brace, and replacement filter make enough of a difference to justify the inevitable loading on the insurance premium.

Are most Fabs fitted with ESP and side airbags (Something I really must have in the car, anything that keeps either the car or me and the family in one piece is a necessity, and I'm a bit disappointed they're not standard in a car with this performance.

Oh, are ESP and Xenons retrofittable? I know cruise is. How about bumwarmers?

Sorry for so many questions, it's all take take take at the moment![/quote']Welcome to Briskoda.

Yes there is a decent owners club. This is it.

Problems on the 05 vRS? They are niggles more than problems, like squeaky rear brakes, gear lever rattles etc - for which there are known fixes (search the fabia forum)

Servicing costs vary but 10K service is about £90 and 20K/annual service is about £180 where I am. There are Haynes-type manuals, but they are in German.

The Fabia boot is not big enough for a dog on any length of journey. A leather retrim is a viable and practical option.

Fuel economy improves with age: say 48 mpg below 5K miles, rising to mid-50s after 10K miles.

Options like ESP and Xenons should really be factory-fitted. Retro-fitting is a grade-A PITA. That strictly limits your choice of used vRSes, since the majority don't have these options. Check the Skoda UK website's secondhand listings, and don't be put off by distance - dealers can move cars around fairly easily.