Coming from a Swift sport I’m missing some sportier handling (= fun) in my 1.5 Octavia.

While I know it’s the wrong kind of car for practical family fun on a budget (VRS would have cost me 5k euro to register here I live), I’ve been toying with the idea of ‘what if I upgraded the suspension’ with Eibach pro kit (ie black paints and B8s If I understand correctly). 

 

However it seems testimonies are relatively sparse or from other combinations (h r springs with b4 or stock dampers or etc etc). 

 

Since the Eibach Pro-kit is a homologated off the shelf suspension mod, I figured it would be nice if people could share here in one place their experience handling, comfort changes vs stock (trailing arm pref, independant suspension ok), front bumper scapes, other, so a general consensus can be established.

 

So, sharing is caring, please type some helpfully arranged letters of the alphabet below if you would care to  (and help me get a better idea of what to expect / if it’s worth spending the cash for me too in the process  ) 

Please also state you engine and transmission too, as different weights mean different setups and handling characteristics. 

 

Cheers

S.

Edited 16 January, 20206 yr by superchiwawa

it's a lot of money so no I wouldn't say it's worth it. If you do lots of spirited driving then you may well enjoy it but you're not going to be carrying that much pace in the 1.5 anyway. A good used kit might be worth a go.

you will notice a much much bigger handling difference by upgrading the front and rear antiroll bars. the car will corner much flatter and you will notice a bigger improvement in handling to be honest then if you just change to the eibach pro kit without doing the ARBs. I was going from vrs to eibach pro/B8s so there may have been less of a ride/handling difference than going from 1.5 octavia to the eibach kit. the other advantage of ARBs first is they are cheaper than the eibach pro kit. decent tyres also make a big difference - michelin ps4 are very good

+1 to @encephalopathy - Can only speak from Pre-FL 230 VRS perspective and installed the Eibach Pro-Kit, which is great. However, I'm still awaiting ARB's to further improve cornering and handling. I've already got the aforementioned decent tyres in the form of Michelin PS4s 235 x 35 R19s all round.

 

But if interested, adding the Pro-Kit lowered the car by around 25mm (as stated), improved pitch and roll (reduction - although ARBs would further improve this), and generally made the road connection feel more pleasurable. I went from a Fiesta ST to the Octavia VRS, so the OEM setup felt a lot more 'plush' than sporty. The modifications improved it to where I want it to be, but handling and comfort aspects (especially in a family car) are massively subjective.

Edited 16 January, 20206 yr by Ads230

factor in new front/rear droplinks as well - my original ones failed within weeks of each other about 2 months after having the ARBs fitted - all the extra stress i must have been putting through them!

Yeah - my tardiness at getting them fitted is due to the cost of ARBs and 'associated parts' (i.e. drop links) which I thought I might need - seeing as the work is being done, makes sense to also address those. Costs need to be run past SWMBO (ARBs vs. new fridge... 🤦‍♂️)