What did you drive before your vRS?

Why did you buy a vRS?

Just how quick are they?

And are they reliable?

To be honest I love my capri, no car can touch it on looksm but its not reliable, and it's not quick enough, unless I go for cosworth conversion, and then it starts getting expensive.

I want a new car which is fast and relaible. It was a choice between the Honda Civic Type R and the octavia vRS.

The only think im not to keen on the vRS is that it is FWD and the bank end just doesnt look all there, its bottom is a bit too round, but a WRC spoiler can sort that out.

Well, a mate of mine was in a similar position of wanting something

fast and reliable. He wasn't too impressed with the vRS, it wasn't quite

what he expected and the dealer was apparently "arsey".

So he's ended up getting a Clio 172, which I don't really understand, but

then I like big cars...

The FWD is something that puts me off, but then if you want RWD you either

have to get an old car or a Beemer these days, neither of which are

particularly appealing options!

Once you're inside the car, you can't see how it looks so don't worry about it!

Rob.

Ok....I'll bite first.

Octavia SLX TDi estate (have previously owned Golf VR6, Renault 19 16v)

Wanted something that was:

reliable

good performance/economy compromise

good interior/boot space

all the toys e.g. CC, EW etc

Quick enough; asK the BMW Baters Club (LLB, TaviaRS;) )

Apart from the coil packs 9but then that affects all 1.8T engines)...YES.

I did think about the Civic Type R but with a nipper a 3 door wasn't practical and I wasn't going to pay the insurance. Liked the Leon Cupra but not the reliability or interior/boot space. Also the Seat not as economical.

Having previoulsy owned an Octy I knew is was reliable and good value for money. I wanted the same but with a bit more performance; the vRS fitted the bill. IMHO nothing comes close!

Cheers.

Adrian.

Had an ancient Mondeo before the vRS due to practicality (left at train station) and money constraints - but saw the opportunity of my impending fatherhood to argue that i needed a more modern and safe car.

Chose the vRS as my mother has a Leon Cupra (so knew about and liked the engine / performance etc for the money) but wanted the bigger size & boot of the Skud. Thoughts on others were (wait for the flamers :blowinup: here from all owners of the following vehicles):

Clio 172 (flimsy), Focus (too expensive for a Ford and will probably end up being targeted by your local scum), Scooby (liked the car but didn't like the image & horror stories on running costs), Golf (why versus the vRS?), Civic R (considered but still a bit expensive). In the end I was either going to get the vRS or a second hand Fiat Coupe for fun and a practical car as well, but got to scared of the reliability issues that might surround the Fiat

BTW if you like the back end going out get an old knackered 911 - great fun for completely uncontrolled fun :silly: - obviously need an airfield to do this without killing yourself!

The 911s are incredibly solid aren't they? Seem to recall Jeremy Clarkson having a

great deal of trouble destroying one...

Looked at getting one of these to compliment my Astra, and although they were no

doubt good value, they were still quite expensive! Not to mention insurance...

Rob.

Saw it - Loved it

Bought it - loved it

Drove it - loved it

Polished it - loved it

drove it hard - love it

seeing startled/quizzical/envious faces every day - love it even more

Sad but true

Not a vRS (SLXi 1.8T) but .....

Had a 2.0 Mondeo (cheap, comfortable, EXTREMELY reliable but a bit boring). Had clocked up 73000 miles in it at under 5 years old so time for a change. Was looking toward a 2.5 Mond (had one of these as a company car before the 2.0) but none to be had for sensible money. Saw the SLX outside the local dealer and test drove it. Impressed with the overall package and got a reasonable PX deal so bought it. It had 27000 on the clock in November - it now has 37000 and so far it's been reasonable value.

Performance not electrifying (until last Friday - now it definitely has grin factor ), handling so-so (but I know I need better tyres), reliability - hmmmmm. So far one coil pack, one water pump and a spare key that won't code to the car. We'll see what another 6 months brings - by which time it'll have 50k miles on it.

Oh - and I think my 928 looks better than any Capri, ever! Sorry.

Originally posted by sixtysixofonehundred

Saw it - Loved it

Bought it - loved it

Drove it - loved it

Polished it - loved it

drove it hard - love it

seeing startled/quizzical/envious faces every day - love it even more

Sad but true

But then you are a sad bloke 66.

Like the rest of us RS owners then.

PS Became a sad RS owner - loved it - and still loving it.

For 15K (discounts aside) there is NOTHING BUT NOTHING that even comes close.

BUT NOTHING

That'll be NOTHING, then?

Originally posted by day tripper

What did you drive before your vRS?

Why did you buy a vRS?

Just how quick are they?

And are they reliable?

Drove a Fabia 1.4 8V comfort before my RS.

I loved the Seat Leon Cupra but my Seat dealer offered a far lower trade-in value for my Fabia than my Skoda dealer did (800 pounds!).

They're quick. Really quick. Plenty quick enough. Tested a WRX last week (don't tell anyone ) and found it seemed slower than my RS. Can't really explain it, but it just lacked the urge. Maybe the torque comes in at a higher point in the WRX.

Mine's been utterly reliable for the last 30k miles.

After the WRX experience I think the RS is going to be very hard to replace. My new job has a cheap car on offer but no Subarus (maybe a Golf R32 will do it).

I go along entirely with Des and 66. This is my first ever 'quick' car so the grin factor comes into play but the car is so well sorted and, as mentioned by Des again, for the money you can't touch it. Do not underestimate the Skoda factor. The car turns heads, full stop.

I looked at the Type R, lovely motor but a bit small.

Porsche 928 - one of my all time 'dream cars'. I see an S2 on the way to work most mornings.

Also, I digress. Saw my first 4x4 hatch today, very nice. You mostly see estates. It was in Meadowhall car park, black with the same wheels as Tavia4x4 and a narrow lip spoiler on the boot. They ride quite high.

Day tripper

Before the RS i had another Octavia , the pre facelift 1.8 Turbo slxi (150 bhp). Before that I had the Brooklands Capri and I was sad to let that go i suppose , but getting bits was starting to be a chore (took ages to find a decent fuel tank after mine started leaking) plus the rust was starting to mak itself known!

928's have nothing on capris lol!

Well I had a 944 Lux and i have to say the Brooklands was a much better car in every respect , apart from the image aspect of it , the Capri still has a 'naff' image whereas the Porsche was given respect on the road.

My previous 2 cars were BMW323i coupe , and before that VW Vento VR6 , both bought at 3 years old .

The main reason I bought the vRS was initially , value for money , after reading all the various good reports on them , but having had the car for 5 months now I find that I'm more impressed with it each time I drive it , it's more fun to drive than the BMW , it just begs to be driven fast ! I could not agree with Rich more when he wrote

but the car is so well sorted

. Do yourself a favour and buy one , you won't be sorry , you will be I'm sure over the moon with it , as I am

Duncan , 360 Modena , wonderful car , terrific performance , but if you are , shall we say broad in the beam , they are horribly uncomfortable , I know from experience as my brother has got one , they are built for 10 stone Italians , console yourself with that fact .

MY,

just had my RS since saturday, I was amazed that while in the dealer doing the paperwork , two people came in to ask if they could hvae a drive in it, one had a BMW and the other was a VR6 , both said they wanted a higher level of driver involvement and had heard what a bargain the skud is. I have done about 600 miles in it so far and it is without doubt the best value, relativly rare car you can buy. I cant decide at the moment which it thinks it is Rally Car or Touring car! . The performance is good enough to keep you occupied , Personally I think cruise is a must, and certainy increase the MPG on the motorway.

morgan

Originally posted by Freakcrab

Tested a WRX last week (don't tell anyone ) and found it seemed slower than my RS. Can't really explain it, but it just lacked the urge. Maybe the torque comes in at a higher point in the WRX.

Freakcrab, had a similar experience and also found low-end grunt to be disappointing. Precisely the reason why I preferred the Octy over the WRX.

I chopped in a 97 Astra 2.0 16v sport when i bought my vRS, i kept that car 4 years and i loved it, but the Octavia is on another planet in comparison.

Why did i buy a vRS.?

1) its still "different", not many of them around here, so it gets some really envious looks.

2) The price.

When you all went for a test drive, did the dealer come with you?

It took me ages to find any dealership with an RS that they would allow on a test drive.

I eventually got to drive one and yes, the saleman was in the car with me. But he was sound, urging me to go faster and faster.

What did you drive before your vRS?

Various things, usually understated but quick. I love cars that people don't expect to be quick. Last one was a chipped pug 406 V6 estate, complete with "Go green, go diesel" sticker in the back

Why did you buy a vRS?

Looked at a scoob, didn't like the running costs or the costs needed to make it quick enough or the image it was starting to get oh and its too common Loved the equipment and VFM on the RS.

Just how quick are they?

Adequate

And are they reliable?

YES. Mine's done 80,000 miles in 18 months. That includes just over 7,000 miles on various tracks . Only problems have been coil packs, mine's eaten 5. Other than that, no problems at all.

Ah, the Civic Type R! A nice car, comparable in so many ways. Check the spec very, very carefully (eg aircon is an option) also, check the servicing costs. I've posted up my service costs on here, do a search and you'll see they are more than reasonable, actually they are cheap. I preffered the old V-TEC system rather than the new iV-TEC, it gave much more of a kick when the cams changed. The new one is just too smooth.

Hope that helps.

Chopped in my X plate Alfa 156 with sequential box for the vRS. Was looking for something same size as baby daughter had arrived and with all the kit and decent performance. Civic type R came into the frame but it's torque is delivered way to far up the rev range for everday use.

I do a lot of motorway chugging and wanted something that has talk at the bottom end for all those stop start situations you come accross, accelerating from 50 in a lot of so called quick cars in top is a nightmare. Ideally started looking at big turbo diesels such as the A4 2.5 V6, however that's 10K more than the vRS which gets all the same kit, space and is even quicker, OK the fuel economy is slightly worse, but 10k buys a lot of fuel!!

Highly recommended. Ridings in Preston let me out loose twice in their vRS, neither time with a salesman, total road time over the two trips was about 3 hours !

When I was still "umm"ing and "ah"ing over what sub-15-grand car to buy, I looked very hard at the vRS, Type-R and Cupra. The Civic Type-R is sweet, but insurance is expensive and it's far too obvious - nobheads in Novas will want to race you at every set of lights.

The Cupra was nice - felt slightly faster than the vRS, but I'm not convinced about the 6 speed gearbox, and I've heard some horror stories about reliability.

The vRS just fits the bill - not too showy, but with enough muscle to back up the styling. Very nice interior (if you like cleaning your car) and low (ish) insurance and fuel consumption. My only complaints are the "buzzing" speakers and the water that drips in when you open the boot. Would be nicer if it had four-wheel-drive and 225 HP, but that's another story...

All in all, what else can you get that's just so good for so little money? And don't even think about mentioning that MG monstrosity.

Originally posted by Witchfinder-at-Work

... And don't even think about mentioning that MG monstrosity.

Crikey yes! I'm sure "understated but quick" used to be a British talent. When are MG going to produce something that goes but doesn't have LEGO stamped all over it?