Coming home from work there's a really, really big roundabout. Coming round it at a fairly sensible speed, indicating correctly and with headlights on some lunatic in a Fiesta pulled out right in front of me - no more than 15-20 feet away. I was absolutely certain that I was going to pile straight into the side, but had the brakes on as hard as I could. Stopped about 6 inches away, stalled - I just didn't have time or the reactions to put the clutch in too. Fiesta driver flips the bird and carries on.

I don't intend to repeat that. Though part of me wishes I'd gone with Plan B 15 months ago and bought the Landrover Defender; the eejit would be a bit less smug with two and a half tons of 4x4 rolled over him.

The moral of the story being that Fabia brakes are considerably better than I'd expected!

Judging by passed reviews on 4x4's in accidents.... I wouldnt suggest you'd be well off in an accident. But luckily you didn't have an accident.

I will be looking for a brake upgrade as soon as more money becomes available.

yes the brakes on the fabia are good.... it makes you wonder why some ford jockey would try to pull a stunt like that??

Well the brakes on both the fabia's I've had from the dealer when my octy's been in were both absolutely sh*te!

I took the first one back after going 500 yards up the road cos it didn't feel safe to me, and they were both 06 plate cars with low miles!

These were 1.2 basic's mind so can't comment on the rest of the range.

Glad you had a lucky escape anyway. )

My Fabia brakes are spot on.I have been tempted by the reasonable cost of a 312mm upgrade, but until my disks need replacing, I don't see any reason to bother.

Slightly off topic, at work we have been told it is working out cheaper on insurance claims to actually run into idiots like these and damage THEM as opposed to causing customers whiplash etc by braking hard and avoiding THEM.

It is very tempting, isn't it.

A lot of people reckon the Furby vRS's 288mm brakes are poor, but when I was running 130bhp my Fabia's 256mm brakes seemed more than adequate even when tackling challenging roads relentlessly. I think maybe it's what you get used to, after my test drive of the Octy the Fabia's breaks seemed hopeless, but after driving the astra, the Fabia's brakes seemed incredibly powerful.

My VRs brakes have always been great, hope the new one I've ordered is the same?

I found them ok for normal driving but braking from higher speeds they fade very badly.

312's dont!

on my fabia comfort the brakes are ok but in the wet they are ****e!

on my fabia comfort the brakes are ok but in the wet they are ****e!

More likely tyres than brakes...

Guys we dont drive McLaren F1's......the standard brakes are easily good enough. Just my opinion, you go ahead and spend your dough.

Well the brakes on both the fabia's I've had from the dealer when my octy's been in were both absolutely sh*te!

I've had my 05 12K mile Fabia VRS for a week now, and yesterday it had to go back to the dealer for some panintwork they should have sorted before I picked it up. I had the salesman's 06 VRS as a courtesy car, and be brakes were definitley less powerful than my car.

312mm brakes on a fabia make significant improvements to the modulation (feel) of the brakes. 288mm brakes are plenty powerful enough for the job, but they do fade more rapidly and they feel terribly wooden in comparison to the 312mms.

Brakes are good as standard, the 312mm upgraded ones are better though.

With regards 'brakes are sh*te' - were they run in? Reason I'm asking is because I got near to killing myself when doing an emergency stop when I had low mileage on the car, due to brakes & tyres not being scrubbed in at all. Much better after a few running-in sessions.

Also IMHO the brakes FEEL cr*p as the car dives so badly so people tend to lift off the brakes thinking they are slowing down, whereas they are NOT.

Suspension upgrade made that virtually go away and the car feels much more controlled generally.

That all said, you can upgrade brake disc size, pads & fluid and all will improve things a bit. I don't do track driving, for which upgrades seem like a very good plan

Glad you are ok though, which after all is the main thing

I think before this, my first genuine emergency stop in a long time (and certainly first in the Fabia) I'd feared that there wasn't a lot of stoppability - the pedal starts to feel like it's at full travel fairly quickly, but it seems there's a lot more "grip" (for want of a better word) left after that point.

I'm still amazed I didn't hit the eejit. Still, now I know that the first upgrade I do won't be the brakes; it'll be the front-mounted recoilless rifle.

SMWBO wouldn't let me fit one of those, it would also be used to shoot those who drive with fog lights in the rain and when visibility is not poor enough generally, it would really make my day if it was legal (for me only :P )

Suspension upgrade made that virtually go away and the car feels much more controlled generally.

The Fabia does seem a bit bouncy on its suspension which means that under braking there is a big weight shift which means the front brakes have to work hard to stop the car. Uprating the suspension means there's less of a weight shift so the brakes have less work to do (as the rears help out more) and appear more effective. I'd be upgrading the suspension before brakes personally

Chris

SMWBO wouldn't let me fit one of those, it would also be used to shoot those who drive with fog lights in the rain and when visibility is not poor enough generally, it would really make my day if it was legal (for me only :P )

Indeed. Lady Bertie McHobnobs (my good lady wife - we kept our own surnames) vetoed my installation of a military surplus nautical strobe in the rear window. I was convinced it'd help to deter tailgaters (20 million candlepower being somewhat at the "bright" end of the scale), but she was foresquare against. Ah well.

@ScoobyChris - as per my sig I've done most of the handling/braking/grip related improvements, slowly working on increasing the smog to Jasonesque levels

As for Sporky's idea - that would do me nicely, very nicely indeed, or get one of those scrolling LED signs to say either Thank you or something opposite depending on circumstances (like 'turn OFF your foglights you... )

Hmm it just might be worth the investment

a defender vs a fiesta. If that was the case know which id rather be in

Or, even better, the Tatra 813 I've been promising myself for a decade or so...

The brakes in my Fabia comfort arent up to much compared to other cars , I had a test drive of a Mitsu Colt CZT and the 1st time i braked in it I nearly went thru the windscreen! Getting back into my Fabia , the brakes felt so poor untill I got used to them again. Maybe its coz theyre disc/drum , not discs all round?

I think mine are disc all round. I think.

Yep vRS Fabia has discs all round

A lot of more sporty model cars have discs all round, drum brakes have their own advantages and disadvantages, tbh on lighter cars drum brakes on the rear are not the worst in many ways as the bulk of braking is done by the front wheels anyway.

Mine's an Elegance estate, TDi. I'm pretty sure it has discs because I recall the thingy-bits (calipers?) getting in the way on the rare occasions I try to clean the wheels.