MC_Bodge - i love the look of the Fabia! It's chunky, has enough skirts and vents to look purposeful without being over the top, and it's proportions are great!

For some reason it always makes me think:

i had a 10 minute blat against one of these about a month ago on some long straights/nice sweeping bends and I couldn't get by it. Mine is remapped and I assume his was also as he had a full car with by the looks of it lots of luggage too, it was very impressive and no doubt if it wasn't carrying so much weight that day it would of simply driven away from me.

The fiat/vauxhall engine responds very well to remapping-circa 200 bhp is not out of the question.

I rekon the furby would trounce the astra....

Having driven the 130bhp astra and a 150bhp signum/vectra the engine is laggy and the gearing is silly.

Also remember the CDTI lump is 16v and the fabia is 8v so the fabia will feel more grunty at low revs, the Astra will come into it's own at higher RPM.

Also remember the CDTI lump is 16v and the fabia is 8v so the fabia will feel more grunty at low revs, the Astra will come into it's own at higher RPM.

I always believed, that 16v came more alive at lower revs!

Thats exactly my point. The ASR on the Octavia and Fabia is useless for drag starts but in the 350Z it is very useful indeed as it reduces power rather than cutting it - and it is the fastest way to get off the line without wasting power in a smoke trail

If the Astra has a similarly clever TC system he could leave it switched on.

But the astra has the even more useless "sport" button sharpen up throttle response on a diesel

I always believed, that 16v came more alive at lower revs!

Better volumetric efficiency but you chase the power and torque up the rev range...