Spotted the red Fab vRS on 'Trader the other day. Some of you may have seen it. Standard spec, appears tidy from the pics - but 115k and it was only registered end of June 2004 :eek:

It's obviously up at a keen price, £5600, but set me thinking - what are the knock on effects of doing 40k+ a year in a vRS? I suppose it would all depend on how an individual car felt and what parts had already been replaced, but how much life would you think was left in it? 200k?

I feel in some ways that the car is likely to have been treated fairly sympathetically, clearly by spending much of its life at mway speeds. So items such as brakes wouldn't have had that hard a time of it. I suppose it would be items such as shocks, bushes etc and could well be on its original clutch.

Anyway, some points for discussion there. Certainly the highest mileage I've seen on one so far

Steve

40k in a year? I managed 37k and I am now on 43k

0k - Creaky doors - Still an issue

4k - Creaking clutch pedal - Warranty 2 hrs

16k - Front offside wheel bearing went - Warranty 2days

22k - Paint peeled off front bumper - Warranty 2 days

25k - Flywheel went, took the clutch with it - Warranty 1 week

35k - Rear brakeline cracked - Did this myself because the dealer would take too long

37k - Rear window delaminating - Waiting for it to get bad enough to get it replaced under warranty

39k - Turbo went - Warranty - 4 days

40k - Headlamp washers - Fitter didn't attach pipe after above repair, not the cars fault but still part of my experiance - 1 hr

In relation to all the other "consumable items" such as brakes etc they seem to wear pretty well. The car is as tight as it ever was and performance is better than ever but then I suppose it would goven the amount of stuff that had to be replaced

Useful post - but do you feel the car could stand up to this mileage for another two successive years? And then continue to be reliable thereafter, albeit on a more modest annual mileage?

Steve

My experience of the Fabia was it didn't wear mileage very well and the things which went wrong tended to be annoying things which you wouldn't expect to wear out (eg sensors).....

Chris

What mileage was yours on when you sold it Chris?

Steve

What mileage was yours on when you sold it Chris?

82.5k IIRC...

Chris

Useful post - but do you feel the car could stand up to this mileage for another two successive years? And then continue to be reliable thereafter, albeit on a more modest annual mileage?

Steve

Nope, not in my hands. It's going in the next 6 months and probably being replaced with a Signum. I love the car to bits despite all this and am trying to figure out ways of keeping after that by maybe giving it to the Wife who does 5k a year. She is a special car that although a little pedantic sometimes has a lot of qualities you wont find in any other car. She is running fantastic at the moment, everything is right and I hope the next 6 mionths stay that way.

I am hard on cars though, they are tools to me (Although the Furby has got to me at an emotional level if you know what i mean, it's a work and a plaything that I have maintained and cherished like no car I have ever had) my last three have all done in excess of 100k in my hands.

My Astra Di did 44k in 9 months. That dropped a driveshaft, needed all new rear brakes and a new AC condensor.

My GolF pd100 did 118k over 2 1/2 years and that was a wreck needing £1500 of work for the first MOT.

When I sell it I would be confident that many others would have plenty of good use out of it but it will require a bit of care. I would much prefer to see it go to someone who would appreciate it and look after it because if they do they will have the same experiance that i have had.

I spot a pattern Mr Decron

Chris

Quite possibly:rolleyes:

Of course The Furby obviously isn't in anyway shape or form modified in the slightest. Ever. Nothing

Mind you the three Cavaliers I had before all these were completely bomb proof. The SRI i had (God rest its soul) had done 260k. That thing still flew! I may also be more pedantic than most as if there is a fault with something I MUST FIX it or get it fixed. I can't leave it.

I drove the Wifes Punto on the weekend only to find the ARB was knocking. "it's been like it for weeks, I had got used to it"

I can't do that

Might go have a look at this Fabia, for curiosity's sake more than anything. It's only down near Cannock.

EDIT: Link to the vehicle in question

Steve

I was looking at that yesterday and was considering trading in my PD100 for it.

I'm a bit put off by a car with that high mileage though, mine has done 106k and I've had to replace quite a few parts on mine recently - it's not necessarily expensive things, but just when you think it's running well, something else goes wrong. It's a never ending cycle and I'd imagine it would be the same with that car.

That said, If you do go and look at it and it's in good condition, let me know. I'd be tempted if they'd give me a decent part-ex price on mine!

If I've got a bit of time, I might pop down on Sunday. They seem to trade in high-milers, looking at the other stock.

Steve

What a potential can of worms.

Don't open it Steve

That's what I'd like to investigate TBH. I'm buying, don't worry - well, not at the moment anyway

My next vehicle could quite possibly have 100k or more on it anyway, but there's also the issue here of the relatively small amount of time that it's taken this Fabia to reach this mileage.

Steve

At that mileage it's probably had a pretty easy life just sat on the motorway...

I thought that, and if someone is relying on it to do 40k a year, they must've maintained it to a reasonable level...

At that mileage it's probably had a pretty easy life just sat on the motorway...

Or a driving school car :eek::eek::eek:

Chris

Can't see how Chris. It would have had to do around 120 miles a day, 7 days a week, for it's entire life. That's one busy driving instructor

Steve

I worked out (very roughly) that with 40k miles in a year, for a guy working 40 hour weeks, 50 weeks a year, he would only need to cover 20 miles an hour....

And that would exclude pleasure miles at the weekend. Our very own Sharkie has done a similarly huge number of miles in 18 months I think.

You would very quickly see if it was a driving school car though, but I was just making the point that just because it's high mileage doesn't necessarily mean it's had an easy life!

Chris

Thats the highest milage one ive heard of so far! It makes the Audi Coupe I looked at at the weekend look barely run in! (K reg , 2.6E , 180,000 Miles on the clock ,

You would very quickly see if it was a driving school car though, but I was just making the point that just because it's high mileage doesn't necessarily mean it's had an easy life!

Chris

See exactly where you're coming from. In fact, as soon as I hit submit to that post, I had a thought that it actually may be possible as a learner car, especially if you do take into account personal mileage!

Steve

the engines seem to be very good for high mileages , we occasionally see Galaxys with the PD115 OR 130 in the workshop that are used as taxis with 200k on them

my 42.5k VRS needs a front ARB now , but i was expecting that and should of really had it done before the warranty ran out , but other than that its going ok

Or a driving school car :eek::eek::eek:

Chris

mine would crack that easy if I were to keep it.....

800-1000 miles a week at the moment.... (here in the lakes I may drive 20 mins to the next town/next lesson, but down the A66 thats 20 miles!)

75k so far, and it's an '05 model (may)

work?

two sets of new front discs, three sets of pads

one set of rear pads (original discs)

numerous front tyres

one set of rear tyres

EGR valve

Gearbox

front control arm bushes

the odd scratch and scuff

er.... thats it.... (not in order!)

clutch still feels like new (they didn't replace it when they did the gearbox) .. no undue rattles or creaks, still drives like new (honestly!) (Rob drove it at the last meet, ask him!)

nothing to be done to it at the moment... but it's getting ready for new rear discs and brake fluid.

not bad really... doesn't feel tired, drove all over the back of Robs PD140 octy at the cat'n'fiddle! (sorry Rob lol....)

edit: to be honest it only gets caned when I drive it when not at work, most of its life is 2% throttle...... gentle speeds (for the gears chosen)

Why not ask Neo-VR?

Well I had a 51 plate Seat Leon Tdi which I sold for