Not a VS post lol you can calm down now. Although this could be somewhat of a controversial topic, or moment of freespeech.

Well I am not slagging of the brand/model anyway so you can breathe a sigh of relief in that respect at least

Just wondered as there seems to be a strong tuning element and pursuasion amongst this group, naturally.

Does anyone actually like to keep their VRS in its standard form?

I haven't touched mine from new and quite happy with it as is at the moment, done over 2000 miles and feel nothing needs drastically modifiying yet. I can already begin to see some starting to cast me as a "big girl".

I do have an interest in building a completely off the wall, non-standard bike but thats a completely different thing to me to be honest - as NO one will ever have anything remotely like what I will build compared to the possibility of running into someone else in another VRS unless radically modded.....when you can't always visibly SEE where money has been poured into it - its a challenge to understand the motivation - except for personal satisfaction.

Its much cheaper to build a custom bike - and the performance aspect too...

I like the value for money I get by paying for a well made, reasonable performance car "as is" with the Fabia VRS and can't understand what might drive someone to upgrade it, rather than say go for the Octy VRS ? :confused:

However, I do respect the effort and motivation of those that are so keen on the modification, daresay improving the car beyond its original form. I just guess from practicalities side I just do not hold that level of commitment and interest to do it myself, so fair dues, and I think beside just the "tuning" aspect that draws so much interest, there are a lot of benefits of a site such as this in terms of community.

What kind of interest leads to this tuning interest to such a far degree that you are prepared to spend thousands though - as my mind boggles given I spent so little on the VRS as a sensible, long-term cost saving perspective ?

Like recent posts on Turbo'ing vehicles - while many things ARE possible, unless you are in the trade and quite easy to do this as soon as talk about it, isn't it just far easy to move models, or daresay even change brands??

Does my streetcred go down for actually liking the Fabia exactly how it is without any real mods besides what is available or subtle ones ?

Does it just show that I'm getting old and need to donn a flat cap already ?

Perhaps its just that I one of the "practical and sensible" / as well as striving for quality and performance kind of people that Skoda obviously hark to when selling their cars.

I must say I find the leather refit very, very nice but will have to hold that thought, only if the seats tear

I think modifying comes from a desire to make things better (and applies to computers, houses, etc) or just make them a bit more personal. I personally get used to the power of a car reasonably quickly and get itchy feet, so modifying for me is cheaper than changing a car every 6 months, although I try to be less reckless now than I used to be!

Chris

I think modifying comes from a desire to make things better (and applies to computers, houses, etc) or just make them a bit more personal. I personally get used to the power of a car reasonably quickly and get itchy feet, so modifying for me is cheaper than changing a car every 6 months, although I try to be less reckless now than I used to be!

Chris

I completely agree with this as I am the same. That and the fact the Fabia still does 40-45mpg when running 180bhp and 290lbft

When you buy a car, you are buying a complete package, warts and all. My modding has just been getting rid of the warts, e.g. I didn't like the black interior of the Fabia vRS, so I had a re-trim in a lighter colour.

Standard vRS is a nice car, with the emphasis on decent performance and comfort more than handling. With a bit of dosh spent on it, you can make the handling quite significantly better, increase safety by having more confidence inspiring (front)brakes in particular, and if you want more performance, perhaps a remap/tuning box.

Beyond that it gets very expensive for less gain achieved, so it becomes more of a hobby I suppose

My car was run without a remap for a pretty long time, I did handling mods first which allowed me to keep the insurance nice and low. Post-remap the insurance hiked as there are fewer insurance companies willing to 'touch it'.

Handling mods will give plenty of enjoyment and satisfaction, and less of your warranty is likely to be impacted by it

Regarding spending (far) too much money on it - yep I'm there now - it's one of those things, I started off with sensible stuff, then got a bit carried away. There are much better cars out there for less money, and the petrol turboed engines from varies VAG brands are vastly more tuneable for less money.

At the point where you are starting to spend serious money (or beforehand, ideally) you do have to evaluate what you want in a car. I wanted to keep mine, others have bought different cars.

I suppose it depends on what you get your personal enjoyment from, it could be the performance, it could be you having 'made your car unique' in some way.

I'd say that probably 95% of all VRS's on the roads that you see are totaly standard, so I'd say you are with the majority of owners here. This is a real enthusiasts forum and as such you will always get those who want to get the most out of their cars as they use them on track day's for example.

The majority of VRS owners out on the roads will only use their cars for getting to work and back and will have no intrest in modding what so ever.

For me it was a case of the senario Chris describes, plus the fact I knew what a remaped one could do as the demo I drove had been Revo'd and I knew that to buy a new car with the same level of performance as standard would cost a hell of a lot more and have higher running costs (eg. Octy VRS)

Mine's standard, due primarily to me being poor! However, i am exceptionally happy with it.

The standard car is quite a lot of fun for the money, and it always feels like you've got some power in reserve if you want to have a little playing time.

The best quality of the car I think is that you can do a lot to it but still keep it looking pretty much OEM, and keep a lot of the comfort

Mine is standard, but mostly because of insurance/warranty issues... If I keep it past it's warranty (instead of buying a new one) then I may do a re-map, but as scoobychris says, this is instead if buying a new one, to give it a "new lease of life" lol...

I'll keep mine standard untill I get bored, and can afford to mod and insure the mods.

In my eyes, it'd be my car, up to me what I do with it.

I ended up spending £2,500 more than my Vento was worth on it, but I enjoyed building and driving it. And ya can't put a value on that

Modding it is a hobby. The Fabia vRS is one of those cars that despite there being far better on the road, you get comfy with and enthusiastic about.

You "get into it" and modding-wise it's a dream. You can leave it standard - and its a great car, or mod it to the level of seriously threatening your marriage! (Perhaps a family therapist out there can help with modding-induced marital disharmony amongst certain Briskoda members???)

To each his own....

Cheers all

Bas

Interesting viewpoint on all counts, thanks.

I think I am somewhat between satisfied/not driven to modify at this time, plus concerns on warranty etc, plus concern on money it would require, and my budget !

I think its nice just to have a new reliable car - but a few select nutters would quite happily buy a complete dog on its street cred merits.

Obviously there is a fine balance and the scale various enormously and we are all on it somewhere.

I just can't believe the "kid" who spent something like 4.5k on a Renault 19 sallon, which was caught one of the Sky channels (think it was M&M),

It was a sales guy's car which was a Renault 19. But its a Renault 19 FFS! And it looked bad IMO (the rear spoiler in white contrasted so badly with the actual dark colour of the car), and the tuning was not exactly a seller for me.

And the kid STILL bought it. More money than sense ! The presenters weren't impressed by his stupidity of course.

Reminds me of my early mistake buying an absolute pig of a VW 1.6 Mk1 GTi mind ew that was only 1k so a bit of a difference there (plus I got my money back, as it was becoming a classic even back then).

Mind you I loved it even though I had to smootherite brush the lower doors and sills to keep the rust at bay :eek: and had to keep changing fouled injectors due to some kind of ****e in the tank

My vrs is completely standard. This is not just because of warranty, if I would've wanted something faster I would've bought something else. 130 bhp is more than enough for me for speed so I don't think I would go for a remap atall. I have thought about other mods though like an rear ARB and maybe upgrading the suspension.

And everyone likes a bit of leather

My Wifes fabia vRS is standard, she doesn't like driving my octi as she says it has too much power and difficult to drive around town. Her fabia in standard for is great for her as most her driving is round town, all that torque, that smooth power delivery what more could you want. I have to admit, whenever I drive her car I wish I had it and not mine.. mind you i know I would get bored quickly of the surge of torque but then no oooommmpppphhh to keep the power delivery going to the redline, guess I'm used to mine kicking in at 2,250rpm and keeping the same force while accelerating.

People mod cars for their own reasons Perfomance/ Economy My octi is more economical than before the remap/ Style/ Individuality.

My dad modified his Fiat Tempra TDi when I was a kid, he put stiffer suspension on it, to aid in towing the caravan and he also added an oil cooler to help cool oil somewhere (engine, gearbox, etc, etc, dont know which) ;) ;) When he told me off for modding my octi I said (do as I say not do as I do) we both modified our cars for different reasons but modding is modding. :D

Mine is completely standard. I'm really quite happy with the power and the inability to go round corners at utterly stupid speeds just means that if I do stuff it into a hedge backwards, I'll be going a bit slower when I do it.

The interior has everything I could want (except maybe power rear windows) and the stereo is plenty for me.

I would have a no-power increase remap if it would do away with my stutter though. Octi vRS replacement arrives soon!

mind you i know I would get bored quickly of the surge of torque but then no oooommmpppphhh to keep the power delivery going to the redline,

Erm... They really are better in that respect when remapped

Mines staying standard. My previous car was slightly modded with different wheels etc and my insurers hiked up my premium with that. I'm happy saying to them now my car is totally standard with nothing fiddled with and paying a nice low premium.

Not only that but having to make warranty claims when you've remapped it and shoved Eibachs on is only going to be harder as they'll opt out any which way they can.

I've only had it a day so I'm still getting used to the power my last car didn't have and the way it drives etc. My focus is now on saving to get married this year and to move house the year after and so I'll be spending my time and money 'modding' my house instead. At least the insurers don't complain about that.